Imperial News

From the archives: changing landscapes in China

by Jenn Rowater

Alumnus Nelson Kardos (MSc Biochemistry 1973) shares his memories of time working in China from 1976 to 2003.

An American brought up in Philadelphia, Nelson says he chose to study at Imperial “because it had the very best programme in the world for biochemical engineering, including an industrial scale fermentation pilot plant.” He credits the College for having had a profound and continuing influence on his life. He particularly valued the merging of theoretical science with practical engineering applications and the encouragement to set himself high standards for excellence.

He describes what led him to work in China:

“I was able to first visit China in 1976 as a foreign expert for the pharmaceutical industry thanks to introduction and references from my Imperial professor – Sir Ernst Chain. Professor Chain had won the Nobel Prize for medicine in 1945 for his development of penicillin as the first antibiotic. He helped a number of countries start up their own penicillin plants, including China in 1954. I was interested to do some work in China as it represented an opportunity to work with an ancient culture that was about to burst into the 20th century. While the Cultural Revolution formally ended in China in late 1976, it remained a closed society until the early 1990s.  I traveled back and forth frequently between China and the USA, making 132 trips to China over a 22 year period, with a cumulative stay there amounting to six years. This was a period of extraordinary change. I found the Chinese people stimulating to work with, and admired their energy to catch up to the outside world. I worked in China until 2003, and since then the pace of change has only increased.”

Below are some of the photographs Nelson took while working in China between 1976 and 2003.

South China

Chinese countryside – peasants in the field using an Archimedes screw for irrigation, 1976Chinese countryside – rural water collection and distribution, 1976Guangzhou – moving heavy goods by bicycle, 1976Guangzhou – May Day Festival – traditional lion dance, 1976Guangzhou – May Day Festival – lion dance, close up of performers, 1976Guangzhou – May Day Festival – Red Guard orchestra, 1976Guangzhou – Performance of revolutionary ballet “Yellow River Boatmen”, 1976Foreign visitors entering rural Chinese elementary school for performance, 1976Guangdong countryside – village market, 1985Guangdong countryside – rice planting – peasant with buffalo, 1985

 

Beijing

Beijing – Forbidden City, barbers working outside the palace wall, 1979-80Beijing – Summer Palace, outer lake1979-80Beijing – Summer Palace, hilltop pavilion, 1979-80

 

East China

Zhejiang, Xiaoxing town – canal barge picking up jugs from distillery, 1984-86Zhejiang, countryside – village canal, 1984-86Zhejiang, East Lake Park – water taxi departing, 1984-86Hefei – Town blacksmiths at work, 1985-86Hefei – Sidewalk cobblers at work, 1985-86Hefei – Festival – lion dancers, performers resting, 1985-86Hefei – Festival, minority tribes people from Yunnan Province, 1985-86Huai Bei City – Education Day Parade, organised by local Communist Party, 1983-86Wuhu – Unloading barge along Yangtze River, 1983-86Wuhu – Outdoor market, 1983-86Central Anhui countryside – Chinese farmer with buffalo at road side, 1983-86

 

North West China

Xian, ancient imperial palace – family at dragon head pavilion, 1986Xian, Terra Cotta Warrior Museum – food vendors, 1986Qin Lin MT area – Chinese farm, corn harvest, 1985-86Qin Lin MT area – Chinese farm, harvesting wheat with oxen, 1985-86Qin Lin MT area – Threshing grain on the highway, 1985-86Qin Lin MT area – Chinese farm, chilli pepper harvest, 1985-86Qin Lin MT area – Town, sidewalk pharmacy, 1985-86Qin Lin Mountains – terraced fields, 1985-86Qin Lin Mountains – pharmaceutical plant (for medicinal plant extraction), 1985-86Urumqi – Herding sheep on the city streets, 1986Great Wall – at Simetai, 1984-86

Article text (excluding photos or graphics) available under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike Creative Commons license.

Photos and graphics subject to third party copyright used with permission or © Imperial College London.