Changing China

from Photographers Blog:

Temple of Heaven

China's elderly find life and joy in exercise

By Grace Liang and Lucy Hornby

BEIJING - Gao Mingyuan has found joy at age 66.

Joy, in his case, consists of bending himself double and hooking his legs around a pole that runs behind his shoulders, in a Chinese meditative martial arts tradition.

Gao is one of many Chinese seniors, freed from the rigors of work and raising children, who are turning to martial arts such as tai chi, bopping to trendy beats or singing patriotic songs as they seek health and friends in parks across the country.

"We forget all our troubles when we practice," he said as he contorted himself at the Temple of Heaven, where seniors exercise beneath the gnarled trees at dawn.

Beijing Games: picture of the day

Rickey Rogers writes: Pictures of sports idols don’t get much better than this one. Argentine soccer legend Diego Maradona kisses the hand of modern-day Brazilian idol Ronaldinho.

The rivalry between their countries, their differences in personality and the arrogance for which Maradona is known all make this fraction of a second one that in the sports world speaks volumes.

The original caption reads: Former Argentine soccer player Diego Maradona kisses the hand of Ronaldinho of Brazil after the medal ceremony for men’s soccer at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games August 23, 2008.  REUTERS/Alfred Cheng Jin

Beijing Games: picture of the day

Rickey Rogers writes: A combination photograph as Germans Christian Gille and Thomasz Wylenzek crash into a buoy after winning silver in the C2 1000 m final, gets the vote of Picture of the Day.

What seems like good fun as one team member drags another into the water, suddenly appears to be a real-life drama judging by their situation as they are saved by a rescue boat.

The rowers are completely exhausted by their efforts in the race and can’t right their canoe and climb back in on their own.

The original caption reads: In this combination photograph Christian Gille and Thomasz Wylenzek of Germany crash into a buoy and then are rescued by race officials after winning silver in the final of the double canoe C2 1000m event at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. REUTERS/Darren Whiteside/Hans Deryk (CHINA)

As per yesterday, feel free to send in suggested captions.

Beijing Games: picture of the day

Russell Boyce writes: A big celebration for a first medal win for Afghanistan gets the picture of the day nomination.

New Delhi based Reuters News Pictures photographer Desmond Boylan captured this special moment as Afghanistan’s Rohullah Nikpai celebrated beating Spain’s Juan Antonio Ramos to win a bronze medal during the men’s -58kg taekwando bronze medal competition at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

For a selection of other great Reuters pix from the Games click here.

Beijing Games: picture of the day

Russell Boyce writes: The men’s +105kg weightlifting produced grunts and groans, strains and shouts as men lifted weights up to 258kg.

It also produced an amazing series of portraits as these heavyweight giants battled it out for the gold medal, ferocious and hard faced giants every one of them, or at least so it seemed.

Amazing just how wrong first impressions can be as winner, Germany’s Matthias Steiner, wept on the podium clutching his gold medal and a photograph of his late wife Susann.

PHOTO (TOP): (Top row L-R) Viktors Scerbatihs of Latvia, Evgeny Chigishev of Russia, Grzegorz Leszcz of Poland, Maama Lolohea of Toga, (bottom row L-R) Artem Udachyn of Ukraine, Matthias Steiner of Germany, Jeon Sangguen of South Korea and Ihor Shymechko of Ukraine compete in the men’s +105kg weightlifting competition at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games August 19, 2008 in this combination picture. REUTERS/Yves Herman

PHOTO: (BOTTOM): Matthias Steiner of Germany holds a photo of his late wife Susann as he poses with his gold medal in the men’s +105kg Group A weightlifting competition at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games August 19, 2008. REUTERS/Alvin Chan

Beijing Games: picture of the day

Picture of the day has to be the victory celebration of the fastest man on earth, Jamaican Usain Bolt, after winning Olympic gold at the 100 m sprint.

This picture was shot by London-based Reuters staff photographer Dylan Martinez and the composition is perfect.

The winner looks up, while the silver medallist can only look on; it’s full of action, with both men off the ground. With a closer look you can even see that Bolt’s shoe lace is undone.

For a selection of other great Reuters pix from the Games click here. For the previous day’s chosen picture click here.

Beijing Games: picture of the day

We actually have two pictures of the day for Friday, on a similar theme. These two shots are truly inspirational… The Games aren’t just about perfectly toned bodies, after all!

TOP: Andreas Tolzer of Germany (L) fights Janusz Wojnarowicz of Poland during their men’s +100kg repechage judo match at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games August 15, 2008. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

BOTTOM: Lasha Gujejiani of Georgia (blue) fights Ricardo Blas Jr of Guam during the men’s +100kg preliminary judo match at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games August 15, 2008. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

For a selection of other great Reuters pix from the Games click here. For the previous day’s chosen picture click here.

Beijing Games: picture of the day

Gary Hershorn writes: Photographers at the Olympics are always waiting for the cliché medals ceremony images, those being a bite or kiss of the medal.

As corny as they may be, once in awhile the framing all comes together and actually produces a nice photo that newspapers love to publish. Alain Bernard kissing his gold medal after winning the men’s 100 meters freestyle final was one such photo.

Alain Bernard of France kisses his gold medal for the men’s 100m freestyle swimming final during the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games at the National Aquatics Centre, August 14, 2008. REUTERS/David Gray

Gary Hershorn is news Editor, Reuters Pictures, America. For a selection of other great Reuters pix from the Games click here. For the previous day’s chosen picture click here (and if you’ve got a strong stomach, go here).

Look away if you’re squeamish

If you’re in any way squeamish, look away before you’ve spotted what is wrong!

Russell Boyce writes: Officials gather round a young man who has a distressed look in his face. Parental looking figures try to help. What is the matter, the mind asks? The eye is drawn from the distressed face to the hand that is being held … no, that looks OK. Then the eye is led along to the elbow. Oh no … elbows shouldn’t bend that way!

PHOTO: Officials attend to Janos Baranyai of Hungary after he injured himself during the men’s 77kg Group B snatch weightlifting competition at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games August 13, 2008. REUTERS/Yves Herman

Russell Boyce is Reuters chief photographer, Asia. For a selection of other great Reuters pix from the Games click here. For yesterday’s picture of the day click here.

Beijing Games: picture of the day

Gary Hershorn writes: Underwater photography is a tricky thing to get right but Germany-based photographer Wolfgang Rattay has perfected the art of making dramatic images from a most unusual angle.

Today’s photo of Michael Phelps winning his 10th all-time gold medal (the 11th came later) was perfect in its beauty and painting like feel. The image captured Phelps in the lead and on his way to gold.

Original caption: Michael Phelps (C) of the U.S. swims to a world record and gold medal next to Nikolay Skvortsov (R) of Russia and Takeshi Matsuda (L) of Japan in the men’s 200 meters butterfly final at the National Aquatics Center during the Beijing 2008 Olympics August 13, 2008. REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay

Gary Hershorn is news Editor, Reuters Pictures, America. For a selection of other great Reuters pix from the Games click here. For the previous day’s chosen picture click here.