Book Projects in Progress
Ethnic Portraits of Yunan, China
Pumi Grandmother
One early summer, Kit flew to Lijiang from Kunming in Yunan Province. With a local guide and driver, they ventured into Tibetan, Naxi, Pumi and Lisu villages. From Shangri-La County they drove into the Wexi Lisu Nationality Autonomous County off the Shan Wei Highway into the villages in the mountain and the ravine.
At the foot of the Five Phoenix Mountain, the author visited the Shangri-la Horse Race Festival, the largest sport, recreational and entertaining event where people from Shangri-La and its neighboring counties attend.
The photographic journal will consist of over 200 images made by the author. It also records her thoughts and expressions about the people and the landscape.
Memoir of a Canal in China
Kit Hayward 1991
The Grand Canal (also known as the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal), a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is the longest canal or artificial river in the world. Starting at Beijing, it passes through Tianjin and the provinces of Hebei, Shandong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang to the city of Hangzhou, linking the Yellow River and Yangtze River. The oldest parts of the canal date back to the 5th century BC. The total length of the Grand Canal is 1,776 km (1,104 mi).
Twenty five years ago, the author embarked on her first backpacking photographic journey after resigning from the directorship of a major development project in Hong Kong. Driven by curiosity in this foreign country, but her place of birth, she took the adventure with a friend, hitched-hiked on canal barges and traveled along the Grand Canal from Hangzhou to Zhenjian, making stops at Chong Fu, Jiaxing, Ping Wang, Souzhou, Taihu, Wuxi and Changzhou.
It was an epic journey and was doubtful whether foreigners before her had taken similar one. She was rewarded by incomparable experiences and photographic shots from hundreds of rolls of films. After a revisit to the nine canal towns that has been planned for 2016, the author will compose a memoir of this amazing canal in China.