A photographer captures the traditional "apartments" of China's Hakka minority.

摄影师捕捉的中国客家传统“公寓”

特别鸣谢翻译一组7号 叶闻博 提供的翻译，译稿版权归译者所有，转载请注明出处

Full Frame features photo essays and conversations with photographers in the field

此处全文为Full Frame的摄影作品与对话

It was about five or six years ago that I first read about the Hakka Tulou "apartments" in Yongding county, Fujian province. And from that moment on, I was completely fixated on visiting and trying to understand more about them.

五六年前我第一次听说了客家土楼这种在福建永定农村的住宅。 并且从那时候起我完全迷恋于访问和尝试理解他们。

In 2008, UNESCO granted the Tulou "apartments" World Heritage Status. UNESCO cited the buildings as exceptional examples of a building tradition and function exemplifying a particular type of communal living and defensive organization. The Tulou is "the most extraordinary type of Chinese rural dwellings" of the Hakka minority group and other people in the mountainous areas in southwestern Fujian, UNESCO said.

2008年联合国教科文组织授予土楼公寓世界文化遗产的称号。 联合国教科文组织称此楼为展示楼宇传统和功能的绝佳例子，同时也是展示独特社区生活与防御组织的的出色的例子。土楼是中国乡村住房中最最不寻常的一种，是少数客家人和福建西南山区少数民族的建筑。

The Tulou is typically a large enclosed building, rectangular or circular in configuration, with a very thick weight supporting earth wall (up to 6 feet thick) and wooden skeletons, between three and five stories high, housing up to 80 families. These earth buildings usually have only one main gate, guarded by 4 to 5 inch thick wooden doors reinforced with an outer shell of iron plate. The top level of these earth buildings has gun holes for defense against bandits. They are a testament to the unique cultures that exist throughout China.

土楼实际上是典型的大型封闭式楼房，形态呈矩形或圆形，承重墙为很厚的土墙（达6尺厚），结构为木质，大约三到五层楼高，最多可容纳80个家庭居住。这些土质楼房通常只有一个由4到5英寸厚的铁片包裹的加固木门作为正门。这些土楼的顶楼配有枪孔以作防御贼寇之用。他们是中国独特文化存在的一个佐证。

It was my first trip to China that ignited my interest in becoming a photographer. I traveled there at the age of 22 after graduating from college — the only destination on my maiden voyage to Asia. China was (and still is) crowded, vast, complicated and misunderstood — it was exactly the type of challenge I was looking for. Thinking back to that first trip, I can remember that the country was a complete sensory overload. The sights, the smells, the noises; it was all vastly different from what I had experienced up until that point.

我第一次去中国之时就引发了我成为一名摄影师的兴趣。22岁大学毕业后我去了那，也是我探索亚洲旅程的首站。中国曾经（并一直是）很拥挤，辽阔，充满复杂与误解，而这正是我所追寻的挑战。回想当时首次的旅程，我依旧记得那种超负荷的感觉。 视觉，嗅觉，听觉，都与我在那时所经历过的一切不同。

That trip lasted three months and involved mostly hitchhiking through China’s remote Xinjiang and Tibet provinces. I had a little point-and-shoot camera and instantly became obsessed with trying to document everything I was seeing and to relate those details to friends and family back home. When I returned to Toronto, after my first trip to the mainland, I immediately told my family I was packing up moving to China. Two weeks later I was on a plane with my used Canon EOS 1 (film) camera and 50mm lens. I had left Toronto for good.

那段旅程持续了三个月，搭便车走遍了遥远的新疆和西藏。我有一个小卡片相机，它使我开始沉醉于记录一切我所看见的和那些有关家乡朋友与家庭的细节。当我完成第一次中国大陆之旅回到多伦多时，我立刻告诉我的家人说我要收拾行囊去中国。 两周后我带着佳能EOS1胶片相机和50mm镜头登上了飞机。我离开了多伦多。

The spirit and the idea of being a photographer and documenting China had been born on that first trip. China, my adopted home, had stirred up something inside of me that I didn’t know existed, very much acting as my muse for an entirely new way of thinking about and viewing the world.

精神与想法在我首次作为摄影师记录中国时诞生。中国，我的第二故乡，激起了我心底我不知道的一些东西，如我的女神一样打开了我的思考和审视世界的角度。

About the photographer:

有关摄影师：

Born in Toronto, Ryan Pyle spent his early years close to home. After obtaining a degree in International Politics from the University of Toronto, Ryan realized a lifelong dream and traveled to China. In 2002 Ryan moved to China permanently and began taking freelance assignments in 2003. In 2004, Ryan became a regular contributor to The New York Times covering China, where he documented issues such as rural health care, illegal land seizures, bird flu and environmental degradation. More recently he has branched out to mostly magazine work, expanding his portfolio to include the Sunday Times Magazine, Der Spiegel, Fortune, TIME, Outside, Forbes and Newsweek. Ryan Pyle is based full time in Shanghai, China.

Ryan Pyle生于多伦多，早年时间在故乡附近度过。在获得多伦多大学国际政治学位后，Ryan发现了他毕生的理想是去中国旅行。2002年Ryan永久移居中国，并在2003年开始接受一些自由的工作。2004年Ryan成为纽约时报涉及中国话题的定期供稿人，他的记录包括农村健康保障，非法侵占土地，禽流感和环境恶化等问题。最近他发展到杂志工作，扩展他的经历到星期日时报，明镜周刊，财富杂志，时代周刊，户外，福布斯和新闻周刊。 Ryan Pyle目前全职供职于中国上海。