ATs education from Beijing collector Mr. Guangtao / AMCHPR 2023 tour

中国计划经济时期国产表收藏与研究 / Collection and research of domestic watches during China’s planned economy period

There will be more to come from my meeting with Mr. Guangtao in Beijing while I was with my friend and mentor Mr. Li Wei, but this valuable and very comprehensive textbook by a very well-known Beijing watch and clock collector and writer, Mr. Bao Gang, arrived today, a gift from Mr. Guangtao.

Mr. Guangtao has his own jaw-dropping personal collection (some of which you'll see in an oncoming post), and he mentioned this book to me during our discussions.

I'm hugely grateful to receive it, and excited about reading it (I can't read Chinese, but my phone can). It's considered among the very best and most informative, if not the best, books on China's Watch (and clock) history available anywhere.

Even skimming it today has opened up new areas to explore, a number of brands and companies I had never or hardly heard of, and details and insights that are new to me.

Mr. Li Wei, me, and Mr. Guangtao

I found this description in Chinese, so here's the Google translation:

《中国计划经济时期国产表收藏与研究一书》是北京知名国表收藏家包刚老师多年来集收藏经验及史料文字，实物研究为一体专门描述新中国手表文化发展主题的工具书，是一部国表珍品的大图典，全书320页，大量关于国表发展历程中出现的珍贵史料及实物照片在此书中形象的把新中国手表半个世纪的历史回忆再现 "

The Book of Collecting and Researching Domestic Watches During the Planned Economy Period of China" is a reference book specially written by Mr. Bao Gang, a well-known collector of domestic watches in Beijing, to describe the development theme of watch culture in New China over the years. This is a large illustrated dictionary of national watch treasures. The book has 320 pages. It contains a large number of precious historical materials and physical photos about the development of national watches. This book vividly reproduces the historical memories of half a century of new Chinese watches.

And some photos from the book (including a couple of partial translations to show the depth of the taxt...

The book contains photos of...I guess one could say "signature photos" of various places referenced, and this photo of "Elephant Trunk Hill" in Guilin is one of them.

And I've been there :-) (my photo)

I have some exploring to do, and I'm grateful for the support from Mr. Guangtao.