Photos in the News: China in Agony

Of all the photographs to come out of China after the major earthquake that hit the country on May 12, the one above has stuck with me more than any other. The man on the motorcycle has his dead wife strapped to him; he is taking her from the town of Hanwang to his village, where he will bury her. I saw the photo first in Germany’s Stern magazine, where it was credited to photographer Colin Galloway, a photographer based in Hong Kong. American Photo's intrepid intern Mary Goodwin also found the image online credited to Qilai Shen. Perhaps someone can verify who actually took the picture.
     Another amazing image appeared on the front page of yesterday’s New York Times (below). It shows Jiang Guohua, Communist Party boss of Mianzhu, kneeling to ask parents of earthquake victims to stop protesting shoddy construction. (Photo by Shiho Fukada.) Perhaps some American executives of FEMA should have done this after Hurricane Katrina.—David Schonauer

Comments

[Jeff]

Strong images would be an understatement here. I'm with you on the FEMA comment.

[Geir Ertzgaard]

And who said photojournalism was dead?

[Jim Johnson]

This is a terrific post. Thanks.

[Qilai Shen]

HI There,
Saw this link while googling, since I am the person who took the picture, I thought I should write and clarify it up. The German agency Laif, who syndicated the picture from Sinopix, made a mistake in the byline, and thus it appeared in Stern under another Sinopix photographer's name who also went to the quake area. A bit of side news, local media found the man on the bike, he buried his wife in their plot of rice fields in front of their home.