saab
newbie
Reged: 12/11/2007
Posts: 9
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I am visiting Beijing next week on business and want to take some time out taking pictures. Does anyone know of any potential problems that I might encounter using my camera in public places and tourist locations? Will I need permission? will I get hassled? Are there any issues doing this in the more rural areas of China? Will using a tripod be risky? Thanks for your help!
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DubiousDrewski
journeyman
Reged: 09/01/2008
Posts: 50
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I think it depends on what you'll be shooting. Recently, with the upcoming Olympics, many Chinese journalists have been imprisoned and many western photographers have been sternly warned to stop taking photos of certain things.
What things, I'm not entirely sure. The article I read didn't go into specifics. But knowing China, I can assume that they would be sensitive to foreigners shooting anything incriminating, like say....their permanently gray murky sky? Or incidents where their citizens are shown to be living in poor conditions.
It all makes me so mad. But that's for a different forum.
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ermintrude
Hinkypuff
Reged: 30/06/2003
Posts: 12459
Loc: London, UK
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I don't know about rural China but I had absolutely no problems shooting in Beijing except one room within the Forbidden City where they just said it wasnt allowed but eventually let me do it but without flash. As far as I can see they are trying to be more and more inviting to tourists. Other parts of China might be very different though.
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CircleOfConfusion
addict
Reged: 22/01/2006
Posts: 420
Loc: Bedfordshire
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There really is no problem using your camera in China, I've been to Beijing and had no problems at all and like wise with more rural parts (check out my blog if you want to see any photos).
However, technically it is illegal to take photos of militarily sensitive areas, this includes things such airports, train stations and possibly police stations etc. and it might not be the best idea to snap away at policemen and soldiers. Although saying this I often saw tourists snapping away whilst waiting for trains with no problems and taking pictures of the soldiers/guards at Tianamen square is fine.
As for taking photos of people it would be good to learn a few phrases in Mandarin and ask people first, although they are not likely to say no from my own experience. but be considerate of the fact that there are still a lot of rural and urban poor that don't want to be stared at by tourists and some people might expect a few Yuan in exchange for a photo. This discretion is particularly true for minorities people such as the Muslim Hui people or Tibetan monks etc., although in some places you might get chased by people asking for a photo to be taken in exchange for some Yuan.
Not sure about tripods, you can probably use them most places as long as you don't get in the way. As for temples and religious buildings there is usually no restrictions, but it can be disrespectful to take photos of the main shrines.
All in all you're not likely to have any problems unless you are a journalist after photos of people who might be victims of government polices!
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Steve
My Photography Blog Updated 27/01/08
My Flickr page
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slimpanatella
newbie
Reged: 15/01/2008
Posts: 4
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Quote:
Although saying this I often saw tourists snapping away whilst waiting for trains with no problems and taking pictures of the soldiers/guards at Tianamen square is fine.
Not always - one guard sternly shooed me away when I asked permission to take his pic outside the gates of the Forbidden City. But yes, I found that in general a lot of people were happy to have their picture taken when asked, but many weren't. Fair enough.
If you're obviously non-Chinese you'll also find yourself the subject of Chinese photographers - on our month long trip a couple of years back I must have had my picture taken a dozen times, usually with the snapper's smiling family. It's a fantastic country. I loved every second of it.
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dream_police
"Evenin' all"
Reged: 26/09/2007
Posts: 174
Loc: Alderley Edge, UK
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I was in Beijing, and I began to take some photos of the police/army arresting someone, rather roughly to say the least.
My guide stopped me very abruptly!. If I had been caught there would have been a good chance I would have joined him in the back of the van, so I would advise against that.
Other than that I had no problems, apart from some locals in the hills that didn't like being photographed, but all they did was to keep turning away.
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Stanilaus
Member
Reged: 01/08/2007
Posts: 126
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hmmm, you would only have problems taking photos in China if you were a photojournalist taking photos of politically sensitive things (like military installations, radar etc) or if you purposefully sought out things that are extremely damaging to China's image, like illegal coal mines, AIDS villages etc.
If you are going to China as a tourist taking tourists photographs then you will have absolutely no problems at all, just exercise the same judgment that you would when taking pictures anywhere in the world.
I lived in China for 3 years, have a look at my pics here and you'll see that you can take photos of whatever you like
Tom
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My Photos
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nanstallon
journeyman
Reged: 11/10/2005
Posts: 81
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I took photos of steam trains in China some years ago, and had no problems at all. Better than can be said for Britain these days!
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