The book is a kaleidoscopic view of a country on the cusp of change - a country always yearning for something new, yet constantly reminded of its past glory; a country caught between the need for improving living standards for all and the hard decisions of what has to be given up in the process;a country where everything is happening so fast it's a blur and capturing it with words and images amount to sculpting in time.

Besides portraying everyday lives on the ground and up close, Zhou makes one exception by examining the Great Wall from an international space station. With the help of an astronaut, he busted,once and for all, the urban myth about the Wall as the only man-made structure visible from outer space.

China the Beautiful is Raymond Zhou's paean to his motherland, written after returning home following a long absence, which provided him with new perspectives and new opportunities to travel to places he had previously only read about. It is anything but a guidebook for roughly half of the country's provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities.

Zhou takes a multifaceted approach to each place he writes about. His real interest is always in ordinary people - their joys, concerns and anxieties, the breath-taking beauty of the sceneries, and the quandaries between economic growth and ecological preservation.

The book is a kaleidoscopic view of a country on the cusp of change - a country always yearning for something new, yet constantly reminded of its past glory; a country caught between the need for improving living standards for all and the hard decisions of what has to be given up in the process;a country where everything is happening so fast it's a blur and capturing it with words and images amount to sculpting in time.

Besides portraying everyday lives on the ground and up close, Zhou makes one exception by examining the Great Wall from an international space station. With the help of an astronaut, he busted,once and for all, the urban myth about the Wall as the only man-made structure visible from outer space.

Foreword by Zhu Ling

Preface

Part One: Close to Home

Beijing Municipality

Looking at the Great Wall from up high -- very high

Wannabe extras dream of stardom

Guangdong Province

Out of Guangzhou, Africa trade booms

Zhejiang Province

Hollywood in central Zhejiang？ Give it a break！

Jiangsu Province

Yixing: Pour to rich

Master Xu's feats of Clay

Collecting scraps of history, one certificate at a time

Suzhou: Paradise intact

Fujian Province

Heavenly Mountain

Part Two: Remote Places

Gansu Province

Surprise, the Yellow River is blue

Droughts root of poverty in Dongxiang

Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region

Letters from Xinjiang

Turpan: Where all paths crossed

0inghai Province

Letters from Qinghai

Tibet Autonomous Region

Dawa Dondop: Local son also rises

Letters from Lhasa

Part Three: Beautiful Mountains

and Beautiful Waters

Yunnan Province

Monkey business

Double exposures reveal clearer picture

Guizhou Province

'Emerald' a possible heritage site

Emerald masterpieces

Sichuan Province

Letters from Chengdu

Chongqing Municipality

Celluloid Chongging

In Chongqing, it's all in the cards

Part Four: Rising from the Ashes

Hunan Province

The sleepy town of Phoenix

Hunan television: The one to watch

Milk of love is magic potion for children in need

Liaoning Province

Rebirth of the rust belt

Then and now: Sea change in landscape

Hebei Province

30 years on, memories of Tangshan quake still shake them...

Rescuers tell stories of a shattered city

Henan Province

Henan stigma highlights regional bias

Tudging down a blessed coal mine

Justice, Bao style, dispensed with a smile

A French apprentice at Shaolin Temple

Henan Museum: An archeological paradise

Eostern Zhengzhou: a glimpse into the future

Back to the future for revival of past glory

Acknowledgments

Photo Credits