Ryan Pyle Blog: The Gap Between Rich & Poor

Hello.

For anyone out there who has had this conversation with me, they will know that I feel very strongly about the destabilizing force that the gap between rich and poor is creating in China. Those who have moved in to the cities in search of a better life has more or less found some version of it, those who have stayed behind in rural China have fallen even further behind. The question is why?

China's political leaders have, for the last 30 years, have focused entirely on developing China's cities. And, for the most part they have done a good job. But their focus on China's urban centers has left behind some 70% of the countries population (rural residents) who still have to deal with an often kleptocratic and corrupt local government. So if the gap between rich and poor is so great and the life quality between China's urban and rural residents so large, how does China keep it's 700 million farmers happy? What keeps them loyal to the system that consistently see's them losing out to urban residents? It's a question I have never been able to answer.

One of the most interesting developments in China over the last five years or so has been the media's aggressive push to publish corruption scandals in Chinese newspapers throughout the mainland. In the past year alone there have been several full page spreads about massive corruption at China's SOE's as well as within the government ranks. Leading me to ask the same question again, what keeps this current system afloat? Stability? Fear?

Earlier this year, while 700 million Chinese were living day-to-day, the world learned that the Chairman and CEO of China's High-speed Rail Network at embezzled over USD 100 million and held 18 mistresses; a life style and an amount of money that could never be comprehended in rural China. To top it off his position was mainly a political posting in a publicly traded State Owned Enterprise.

With the gap between rural and urban residents getting bigger, how much longer will people stand for this kind of rampant corruption that exists in China? Perhaps the bigger question, beyond corruption, is just the blatant stupidity shown on a weekly basis by China's privileged class. Below is an article by Reuters that indicates a Sinopec Executive has been disciplined for spending over USD 230,000 on alcohol for a lavish party. Many of the bottles of local alcohol cost USD 1,500 each, as much as 5 times the annual income of a farmer in rural China. Another example of insane decision making by a privileged member of China's SEO elite.

At some stage the political and economic elite in China are going to have to realize that their jobs and careers, and perhaps this country's stability, are at risk because of the corruption, embezzlement and impotent legal system that exists in China. Institutions need to be stronger than the men/women who hold positions of power. Corruption by government officials and SEO executives is a slap in the face to much of China's 1.3 billion people who are striving to create a better life for themselves and their families.

Also make note of the story below: where did the executive get the USD 230,000 for the alcohol purchase? Was the party a corporate sanction party or a personal party? Was the executive using ill gotten corporate money or personal money? Is there a corruption inquiry going on? There are a lot of unanswered questions here. My guess, knowing how things work in China, is that this guy bought the booze using company money and it was sanctioned by corporate bosses and the alcohol was used for corporate smoozing. The equivalent of a big weekend in Vegas. But once the purchase popped up in online chat rooms someone needed to "take the fall" to save the public reputation of the company.

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Original Story: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/25/us-sinopec-drinks-idUSTRE73O3VX20110425

Copyright: Reuters

April 25th 2011

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese oil refining giant Sinopec has demoted a top executive who bought 1.6 million yuan ($245,900) of wine and spirits after details of the purchase leaked onto the Internet and sparked an uproar over extravagance at the state-owned firm.

Sinopec, which is Asia's top refiner, said Monday that it had demoted Lu Guangyu, who was general manager at the company's operations in the southern province of Guangdong, for "seriously harming Sinopec's image."

The company also fined Lu an unspecified sum and ordered him to pay back 130,000 yuan for alcohol he and his associates had already drunk, it said in a statement on its website (www.sinopecgroup.com).

His purchases included 480 bottles of Moutai, an expensive Chinese liquor traditionally drunk at state banquets, Sinopec said, adding it had re-sold bottles which had not already been drunk.

Some of the bottles cost almost 12,000 yuan each -- far more than the average Chinese earns in a month.

State media and China's spirited internet users said the purchase of the alcohol, which was meant for internal company use, was especially galling considering how much gasoline and diesel prices had risen recently.

Many Chinese are also struggling to make ends meet as inflation climbs. Consumer prices rose 5.4 percent in the year to March.

Sinopec Corp is the company's listed arm. ($1 = 6.507 Chinese Yuan)
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Ryan Pyle
Photographer
ryan@ryanpyle.com
Website: www.ryanpyle.com
Archive: http://archive.ryanpyle.com
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Ryan Pyle Blog: REMINDER - TONIGHT - MKRIDE @ UofT

Hello,

I just wanted to update all our MKRIDE Fans that I'll be speaking publicly, for the first time, about The Middle Kingdom Ride, that I completed with my brother Colin Pyle in late 2010. Our 65 day - 18,000km - motorcycle journey earned us both a place in the book of Guinness World Records for the most kilometers completed in a single country. A brief is below. Please be sure to RSVP at the following LINK.

Details:
The Middle Kingdom Ride
Brothers Colin and Ryan Pyle’s circumnavigation of China by motorcycle

Friday, April 15
6:30-8:30 pm
Innis Town Hall
2 Sussex Avenue
(at St. George, south of Bloor)

Join award-winning documentary photographer Ryan Pyle (University of Toronto graduate and AI Affiliate Member) for a discussion of his photography career, his motorcycle expedition, and the challenges of filmmaking. Samples of his photography and video clips from his motorcycle film will be included in the lecture.

An informal reception will follow.

An Asian Heritage Month Event | Register online at www.utoronto.ca/ai

_________________________________________
Cheers,

Ryan Pyle
Motorcycle Rider, Producer, Director, Photographer
Guinness World Record Holder

Film: The Middle Kingdom Ride
A 65 day - 18,000km - Motorcycle Adventure through China

www.mkride.com / ryan@mkride.com

**Charitable Partner** - SEVA FOUNDATION

**Corporate Sponsors** - The Middle Kingdom Ride could not have happened without our wonderful corporate sponsors:
BMW China, Touratech, The Tomson Group, Airhawk, Pelican Products, Kodak, Oakley,
Cardo Systems, Lowe Pro & Mandarin House.

You can follow The MKRIDE at:

@ FACEBOOK

@ YOUTUBE

@ http://twitter.com/#!/MK_Ride

Ryan Pyle Blog: MKRIDE Lecture @ University of Toronto

Hello,

I just wanted to update all our MKRIDE Fans that I'll be speaking publicly, for the first time, about The Middle Kingdom Ride, that I completed with my brother Colin Pyle in late 2010. Our 65 day - 18,000km - motorcycle journey earned us both a place in the book of Guinness World Records for the most kilometers completed in a single country. A brief is below. Please be sure to RSVP at the following LINK.

Details:
The Middle Kingdom Ride
Brothers Colin and Ryan Pyle’s circumnavigation of China by motorcycle

Friday, April 15
6:30-8:30 pm
Innis Town Hall
2 Sussex Avenue
(at St. George, south of Bloor)

Join award-winning documentary photographer Ryan Pyle (University of Toronto graduate and AI Affiliate Member) for a discussion of his photography career, his motorcycle expedition, and the challenges of filmmaking. Samples of his photography and video clips from his motorcycle film will be included in the lecture.

An informal reception will follow.

An Asian Heritage Month Event | Register online at www.utoronto.ca/ai

_________________________________________
Cheers,

Ryan Pyle
Motorcycle Rider, Producer, Director, Photographer
Guinness World Record Holder

Film: The Middle Kingdom Ride
A 65 day - 18,000km - Motorcycle Adventure through China

www.mkride.com / ryan@mkride.com

**Charitable Partner** - SEVA FOUNDATION

**Corporate Sponsors** - The Middle Kingdom Ride could not have happened without our wonderful corporate sponsors:
BMW China, Touratech, The Tomson Group, Airhawk, Pelican Products, Kodak, Oakley,
Cardo Systems, Lowe Pro & Mandarin House.

You can follow The MKRIDE at:

@ FACEBOOK

@ YOUTUBE

@ http://twitter.com/#!/MK_Ride

Ryan Pyle Blog: Where Did All The Features Go?

Hello.

In terms of breaking news consumption, the first quarter of 2011 has been intense.

We've had an Arab spring, a devastating earthquake in New Zealand and an double-catastrophe in Japan that as shocked us in to a realization of our fragile our existence is in this world.

And through all that we've had journalists running around dodging bullets, getting arrested, having their lives threatened and working within range of a major nuclear disaster. As one correspondent on CNN mentioned, we've had a years worth of international news coverage in the first 3 months of 2011. So, given that I write a blog about what's it is like being a photographer, and I am pretty self absorbed, my big question is: what does all this mean for people like me, the content producer?

Well, sadly it doesn't mean much. You see, I don't chase; I plot. In other words, I am not a breaking news man, I'm a features guy. I'm not very good at chasing the story, or documenting a breaking news story, or working in a war zone. I prefer to lay low, prepare and plot. I like to set traps and execute. The chaos involved in documenting breaking news is not an easy environment to work in; and I have great respect for the people who risk their lives to report in these situations; but I knew long ago that it wasn't for me.

While the crisis in Japan, New Zealand and the wider Middle East has contributed to some excellent news coverage and wonderful commitment by Newspapers and Magazines, it's been all breaking news all the time; and it's been an exhausting journey. So I have to ask: what happened to the feature story? What has happened to the well researched and well executed peace on a historical, business or cultural aspect of a geographical region or a people? There haven't been any, because there are already so few pages in newspapers and magazines and they have devoted, rightly so, much of their content to documenting the breaking news. I might also add here that there has been some stunning photography coming out the of the Middle East and Japan in the wake of these stories developing.

I was at a meeting with a few writers a couple of weeks ago and we were all joking about how impossible it is to pitch a feature story anymore, because there is so much pressure on the editors not to "overspend" that stories have to be basically a sure thing before anything can get "Green Lit"; and we joked about how boring that has become. One of the best parts about being a documentary photographer was the investigation aspect of the job, about not knowing what it would all look like until you got there, about trying to piece it all together for the folks in New York and London. Now everyone wants a storyboard of what the feature will look like when you don't exactly know what is happening on the ground, which is a huge problem when working in China specifically. Gone are the days of spending time, observing, plotting and executing; because that takes too much time and costs too much money for the newspapers and magazines of today. What's in fashion at the moment, and has been for several years now, is digital breaking news, print first and absorb later. Sure, some of this has worked, some hasn't; but the feature story has an important place in how we share information about what is happening in the world, and this information takes time to collect and it takes time to digest.

Breaking news is obviously crucial, but let's not lose track of the fact that the features stories still have an important role to play in this world of high-tech, speedy content creation.

Note: My blogs often allow me to try my hand at satire. Of course I feel deeply for the people of New Zealand, Japan and the folks striving for greater freedom in the Middle East; I've only used these examples to make a point that the "feature story" is getting lost in the mix of all the breaking news.

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