Noodle Maker, Hong Kong

Photograph by Jodi Cobb

In a haze of flour dust, a noodle maker tries to keep cool during the last days of the Walled City, whose planned demise will draw a collective sigh of relief from all Hong Kong. Teeming with open sewers and refuse, the "city" will be remembered for its legendary vices, such as child prostitution and murderous drug rings.

From the National Geographic book The Photographs .