AU BORD DU FLEUVE, SUR LA FRONTIÈRE SINO-CORÉENNE

I grew up in the town of Dandong, on the lower reaches of the Yalu River, just opposite North Korea. When I was a child, what I knew about this neighbour country on the other side of the frontier river was what I had learnt in the classroom: The North Koreans were our closest friends, we had helped them to defeat the American imperialists, and we were supposed to look on North Korea as a younger brother. This fraternal atmosphere prevailed until the early 90ies. China's policy of reform and opennness was then beginning to produce its first results. Since then, while the vitality of China is clear, when you look at the multitude of tower blocks that are rising up, the landscape of the North Korean bank of the river has stayed exactly as before. (Noja)