A New Photo Album 'China'

choi

A Billion Contrasts; a 20,000-mile search for the face(s) of China. Fast Company, April 2012
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/164/the-faces-of-china
(book review on Mathias Braschler and Monika Fischer, China. Hatje Cantz, 2012)

Quote: "Before we went, we had the stereotype of the Chinese as all the same. A huge mass. The gray Chinese. But it was the total opposite. The people in the north are as different from those in the south as in Europe--like Scandinavia and Italy."

Note:
(a)
(i) For egoistic/egoistical (adj)m see egoist (n):
": a believer in egoism
2: an egocentric or egotistic person"
(ii) egoism (n; First Known Use 1800):
"a : a doctrine that individual self-interest is the actual motive of all conscious action
b : a doctrine that individual self-interest is the valid end of all actions
2: excessive concern for oneself with or without exaggerated feelings of self-importance"

(iii) COMPARE

egotistic/egotistical (adj), whose noun counterpaert is egotism (Latin ego + English -tism (as in idiotism); First Known Use 1714):
"1a : excessive use of the first person singular personal pronoun
b : the practice of talking about oneself too much
2: an exaggerated sense of self-importance : CONCEIT"

All definitions are from www.m-w.com.

(b) I would say that "egoistic"--instead of "egotistic" or "egotistical" (the latter used in this article)--is a better fit ("selfish" in this context). The photographers choose the wrong English word, perhaps because they are Europeans (most likely Germans, as attested by the "K" in Monika).
(c) One may view sample photographs (without caption) in photographers' website
www.braschlerfischer.com/
, by clicking "China."
(d) Publisher's web page about the photo album.
http://www.hatjecantz.de/control ... 0003336&lang=en