AMERICAN PHOTOJOURNALIST TOM CARTER COMPLETES GROUNDBREAKING 33 PROVINCE JOURNEY ACROSS CHINA

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Grandmother and granddaughter -- Jiangsu

Beijing, China – American photojournalist Tom Carter has announced the completion of a groundbreaking journey throughout all 33 Chinese provinces and autonomous regions, and took his place amongst the few living Westerners able to make the claim.

With limited Chinese language skills and an even more limited budget, Carter backpacked alone across the vast 9.6 million sq. km. Middle Kingdom, visiting over 200 cities and villages.

Coal miner -- Linfen, Shanxi

“I’m exhausted and broke, but it feels good to join the elite ranks of the few in history who have had the ambition and the energy to see China in its entirety – Marco, Mao and Tom!” said the jubilant San Francisco native.

Guarding the metro -- Beijing

Commencing in early 2004, Carter’s expedition included some of the most remote locations in the country: from the steaming jungles of Xishuangbanna in Yunnan to the frozen banks of the Amur River in Manchuria; from the sun-baked deserts of Xinjiang to the kungfu kingdom of Shaolin; from the Yellow Sea to the Himalayas. En route, he discovered and photographed immense geographic and ethnic diversity.

Fortified tulou villages -- Fujian