Ryan Pyle Blog: Newsweek "Year in Images"

Hello.

I'm very honored to have been included in 2009's edition of Newsweek's "The Year in Images" issue. It's always nice to have your work recognized and it's even nicer to have one of your images published as a defining image of the year. I'm very proud to have a strong relationship with Newsweek. They've been very supportive of my work in China and I've throughly enjoyed my collaboration with their editors on every occasion.

The image chosen, see above, was of the BaLing Bridge. The bridge is a massive suspension bridge in rural China that is set to help connect the Southwestern cities of Guiyang and Kunming, two relative backwaters that could very well be at the forefront of China's next round of powerful economic growth.

The image was used, by Newsweek, as an example of China's stimulus package of USD 585 billion - which mainly went to infrastructure projects like this one. While the bridge was obviously planned, and construction had begun, well before the financial crisis it is nonetheless a symbol of China's commitment to connecting the countryside with the wealth and business opportunities enjoyed in coastal cities and provinces.

I'm not an economist, but I guess if China keeps spending on infrastructure and helping more businesses tap cheap land and labor further inland even more rural residents will be lifted from poverty and China's industrial revolution could very well continue for another decade or more. Fingers crossed these infrastructure projects get used and help deliver real progress and improvement in people's lives. China doesn't have much more room for anymore "white elephants".

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Ryan Pyle
Photographer
ryan@ryanpyle.com
Website: www.ryanpyle.com
Archive: http://archive.ryanpyle.com
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