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• Format: Softcover / Over-sized Photography Monograph with complete 4-piece document archive
• Language: Trilingual text (Chinese / English / Japanese)
Core Item Description
For your consideration is a pristine First Edition (2002) copy of the highly sought-after, out-of-print photography monograph, \"The Old Lanes of Chongqing\" authored by renowned architectural preservationist and photographer He Zhiya (何智亚). Published by the Chongqing Publishing House, this volume is famous for its haunting, high-contrast black-and-white documentary photography capturing the vanishing, traditional stilt houses (Diaojiaolou), narrow stone alleys, and local community life of Chongqing’s historic Yuzhong District before major 21st-century redevelopment.
Ironclad Diplomatic Provenance
What makes this specific copy exceptional—and a true museum-quality piece—is the intact 4-piece ephemera archive found tucked inside. This paperwork establishes a definitive historical paper trail, proving this exact volume was transported across the Pacific as an official diplomatic cultural gift presented by a Chinese municipal delegation to senior government and business leaders in Seattle, Washington.
The accompanying archive includes:
1. Official Government Business Card: The original card belonging to Mrs. Mu Fujun (穆福君), then Vice District Chief of the People’s Government of Yuzhong District, Chongqing.
2. 3-Page Internal Diplomatic Email Chain (Dated Sept 9–18, 2002): A fascinating, printed correspondence between Lili Hein (Trade Development Alliance of Greater Seattle) and George Northcroft (then King County Government Executive, later GSA Regional Administrator). The emails detail the planning of a high-level trade meeting at the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce on September 19, 2002.
Historical Significance of the Archive
The document printout lists the complete 14-member delegation of government officials and state-enterprise petroleum, trade, and dietary managers who traveled from China to study Seattle’s downtown business core restructuring and franchise methodologies with executives from Nordstrom.
Because the book\'s author, He Zhiya, was a senior administrator within that exact Yuzhong District urban planning department, this book was uniquely chosen as a cultural symbol to showcase the very urban fabric the delegation was learning to modernize. The email also features vintage handwritten notations reading \"Juan Ying\" (Welcome) and \"Shie Shie\" (Thank you).
