It seems like people are reacting positively to EastSouthWestNorth's series of photos that he calls "Humanizing China".  The series has three parts so far, titled <a href="http://www.zonaeuropa.com/02191.htm" title="EastSouthWestNorth: Humanizing China photo series">Survival</a>, <a href="http://www.zonaeuropa.com/02194.htm" title="EastSouthWestNorth: Humanizing China photo series">Relationships</a> and <a href="http://www.zonaeuropa.com/02196.htm" title="EastSouthWestNorth: Humanizing China photo series">Desires</a>.

Turning into my grumpy old man mode, if there's anything I think there is too much of in this world, it's positivity.  So let me give an alternative and perhaps more cynical interpretation of this series in the context of its publication to a non-Chinese audience.

The first series of photos, which even <a href="http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~takoyaki/archive/200412.html#p23" title="China, Shanghai, Books">I reiewed positively</a>, I would re-title as "Work".  I think this series of photos was the most striking and humanizing of the three.  Why?  Because the people in the photographs are working, taking on a challenge in order to survive.  And this is the most universal human experience, struggling to survive.  People from any country should be able to appreciate these photographs, and draw common connections between themselves and the subjects.

The second series of photos is ineffective because the photos do not keep close enough to the theme of relationships.

The third series of photos is largely disappointing because I feel it does the least for "humanizing" the subjects.  For the most part, the photographs are of people doing distinctly culturally Chinese activities; so sure, there may be a lot of emotion communicated to a Chinese audience, but it does nothing to humanize the subjects when viewed by weblog readers coming from other cultural backgrounds.  For them, the subject of the pictures will be foreign and distant because of their own ignorance of the cultural context for the photos.

Finally, why do I enclose in quotes the word "humanizing" in the previous paragraph?  Because I find that idea to be a little insulting:  why do Chinese people need humanizing?  It seems like some more thought could have been put into the title.  Something like "drawing connections" or "the billion faces of China".