China, May 2004
I took a four-week trip to
China in March and April 2004, my second of three during winter and spring. (For
the other two, see China Dec03–Jan04 and
China May04). This one had four one-week segments
that were Beijing, Inner Mongolia, Beijing, and Hefei (University of Science and
Technology). I
took digital pictures with my Canon EOS 10D and its three zoom lenses, 16–35 mm
(effective focal length of 25–50 mm), 24–70 mm (effective 40–110 mm), and 28–105 mm
(effective 45–170 mm).
Viewers should feel free to use these pictures for any purpose.
I ask only that you let me know that you are copying them, mostly to satisfy my
curiosity as to who is interested and why.
I shot at ISO 100 and 200 outdoors, and 400–1600 inside and
at night. I used flash only once on this trip, and was disappointed with the
results.
How best to view these photos
It is extremely important to view these photos properly in
order to get the most from them. They are 1024x682 pixels, which means that they
need to be viewed on a monitor that is set to at least 1024 pixels wide. The
standard setting of 1024x768 will be fine, as will the next-higher setting,
1152x870. In either case, I strongly recommend viewing them in the Web browser's
full-screen mode. For Internet Explorer, this requires three short steps:
(1) Go to one of the introductory pages or a page of photos.
(2) Remove any frames on the left, such as Favorites.
(3) Go to full-screen mode, either by View/Full Screen or by
hitting F11.
After taking these steps, turn down the lights in your viewing room and sit
close to the screen. The goal is to try to match the angle subtended by your
screen with the angle of view in the original picture, which in most cases is very wide. So sit as close to the screen as you can focus your eyes. After
you take these steps, the pictures will suddenly become three-dimensional and
extremely lifelike. You will be "in" the scenes.
Flight from Detroit to Tokyo, 26 March 1 2 3
Beijing, 27 March–4 April
28 March—Dust over Beijing
1
2
3
29 March—Dust storm in Beijing
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
30 March—Visiting SEPA
1
2
31 March—Fragrant Hills
1
2
3
4
5
6
Inner Mongolia, 4–10 April
4 April—Beijing to Hohhot
1
2
3
4
5 April—Hohhot to Erlenhot
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
6 April—New desert—Erlenhot to Xilinhot
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
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13
7 April—Lost in the desert
1
2
3
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5
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7
8
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10
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14
15
16
17
8 April—Gao's hometown
1
2
3
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5
6
7
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10
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12
13
9 April—Pingyao
1
2
3
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5
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7
8
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10
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16
17
9 April—Dinner with Gao's family in Taiyuan
Hefei and USTC, 16–21 April
16 April
USTC Campus
1
2
3
4
5
6
Institute of Polar
Environment 1
2
Shanghai Ballet at USTC
1
2
3
4
17 April
West Campus
1
2
3
Dumpling restaurant
Mountain
1
2
Research Island
1
2
3
4
21 April
Synchrotron
1
2
Yin Xuebin's house