| Portrait of a People is a great achievement for someone who by his own admission knows almost no Chinese and, when he arrived in China, had zero knowledge of the country or its people. |
卡特承认自己几乎不认识一个中国人，当他刚来到中国的时候，对这个国家和人都一无所知，因此出版这样一本画册对他来说，委实是个不小的成就。 |
| Indeed, Carter says the book happened by accident when, after he returned from his first round trip of China, he was urged by family and friends to publish his pictures. But since he decided to publish and promote the book, he has gone about it with the drive and professionalism one would expect someone who was once a publicity-savvy full-time political campaigner in the United States. |
卡特说，事实上此书的出版是一个偶然，是他第一次中国游归国之后，在家人和朋友的鼓励下出版的。然而自他决定出版并宣传该书起，他就如同一名深谙宣传之道的美国全职政治活动家，在这当中展现出非凡的干劲和专业水准。 |
| Perhaps the book's main strength is its spontaneous, empirical approach, the lack of any detectable agenda. As Carter put it, "I am no apologist for China. I'm the first to reveal its flaws. I was not out to make the country look beautiful but I wasn't out to target it either. Everything in the book is just the way China presented itself to me. It's an honest portrayal." |
这本书的主要优点可能在于它采用了自发性和经验性的拍摄方法，不会让人感觉到是在预先安排好拍摄对象的情况下拍摄的。正如卡特所说：“我不是中国的辩护者。我是第一个暴露它不完美之处的人。我拍摄照片不是为了美化这个国家，也不是为了攻击这个国家。这本书中所展现的一切正是中国呈现在我镜头前的。这是一个忠实的记录。” |
| China: Portrait of a People is published in Hong Kong by Blacksmith Books and Haven Books. |
《中国：一个民族的画像》由Blacksmith Books和Haven Books出版社在香港出版。
（China.org.cn 何珊 译）
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![Tom Carter (L) shares his photos with local people in China. [File photo]](http://images.china.cn/attachement/jpg/site1007/20091009/0011432100f50c38e62304.jpg "Tom Carter (L) shares his photos with local people in China. [File photo]")
