15th May 2011 A full day in Chongqing
During a photography session in the morning I noticed a group of people gathering at a small, dark corner squeezed between a green belt and a wall. There were incense being burnt so it must have something to do with an ancestor ceremony again. Unable to find a path, I walked through the vegetation to talk to them.
So here is the story: they buried their parents’ cinerary caskets into the rocks of a small outcrop.. Being high on top of a hill and facing the Yangtze River directly with an open view, this used to be a great cinerarium location according to Chinese Feng Shui theory. But over the years so many apartment blocks have been built in this area. The river view is completely obstructed. Further more, property developers also turned this hill into their ‘green belt’ and built more blocks behind the outcrop. In the end a space of only two metes’ width were left for the graves. There is no path or anything for access. As a result, most people decided to dig out the caskets and move them to somewhere else; now only a few caskets are still there. This family decided to keep their dead parents there because “ it’s better if they can avoid moving.”
I asked them how they feel about this. They said: “ The city is developing so fast. We don’t have a choice.” As every Chinese I’ve asked about this kind of situation. They always have the same answer without any doubt or emotional change…..
In the afternoon we went to the old town near Chao Tian Men. I found the messy, organic old town in stark contrast to the posh ‘property show rooms’ which are dominating in the city scenery. We also enjoyed the cable car across the river. With the many new bridges, cable cars are not useful anymore so most of them have be demolished. We even found a beautiful youth hotel with Chinese-style decoration——the first oasis in Chongqing. The city is becoming fuller to me.
13th May 2011 Art in China
I’ve been back to Beijing for some meetings and delivering some talks at Sichuan Fine Art Institute and Chongqing Technology and Business University. The contemporary art scene in China seems very interesting.
In Beijing I talked to a friend who is working on a few financial projects relevant to the arts. According to him some ‘culture assets&equity exchanges’ in China (which are backed up by the state) are currently testing out the market with art works. Apparently one ’exchange’ bought in one painting, then sold it between the staff themselves for a few rounds at first. When the price was bounced high, a lot of public money followed in blindly. So somebody made a lot of money in this game but most of them lost. Now the government has realised the risks in this and is starting to take control. Another ‘exchange’ is said to try a new project using commissioned artworks as a way to generate profit through selling out in auctions.
Up to now, all the artists I’ve met in China seem to make a good living. Almost all the artists in Chongqing teach in universities with a stable salary. Besides that, some collaborate with international funds, others take advantages of the domestic resources. There seems to be a big demand for the arts: paintings and sculptures are particularly popular. A painting by a known artist is easily sold for a few thousands pounds at least. Business in graphic design is good too because they can take up a lot of commercial projects. To teach has another advantage: they have a lot of students to help them in all aspects of the production. For art students, the university fee is higher than normal. But if they can get into a good subject, such as design, they can find highly paid jobs even during the study . Some students take on temporary jobs such as teaching children how to paint. In China many school children choose an art form as a serious hobby, because they can get extra points with this when they have to pass the university entry exams. Therefore art teachers are particularly in demand. Art universities are rich too, for example, Sichuan Fine Art Institute charges about £1,500 per student per year. And they have over 15,000 students!
8th May 2011 Trial Point 5 Playtime with the river
GPS: 29.39”074’N 106.52”999’E Altitude: 534ft
Trial Point 5 is the last point for this trip. Due to limited time we’ll have to catch up with Point 4 on another day. P4 is next to a train station so we don’t need to hire a car.
We drove towards the direction of Yichang, past some farmland and found P5. As usual, people are building a road next to it. By now I’ve come to understand that a water channel like this is an obvious route for us too. So it’s ‘logical’ to see so many ‘riverside road’ being built. I thought of River Ribble in the Yorkshire Dales, there’s always a railway and a road parallel to the river. It’s just that I don’t get to see the time when they were building these. But China is still developing so infrastructures like roads are much needed and are being built everywhere.
So I ignored the muddy road and scrambled downhill to the waterside. For the first time during the trip it’s sunny. So I sun-bathed for a while, played with the water and mud, and took a couple of pictures of the water. On the way up I persuaded myself to take a couple of the road too, in case I’ll need them when pictures are put together.
So far I’ve completed most of the ‘Trial Point System’, but I feel it isn’t time to say if it’ll work on the entire river yet. I still have over two weeks left to learn more about the river.
6th-7th May 2011 Trial Point 3 Nothing is innocent
GPS 28.59”929’N 105.49”890’E Altitude：668ft
After lunch we set off to Point 3. The next 100 kilometers took us four hours to cover: from concrete motorway to muddy tracks. After asking directions for no less than 20 times, with the help of two mobile GPS and two maps, we finally arrived- this time at place without any factories or big buildings. Standing next to the river, I felt the closest to it since the project started, there’s no other sound apart from the river. I haven’t experienced this quietness for years in China.
The sand was very fine. The bed cost £1 per person per night.
In the morning I woke up in the songs of birds and small noise of the tiny port. However, the next 20 minutes changed my view about this place. Our host came up and started talking to me. As he went on my heart sank deeper and deeper. This stretch of the river has deep water and no reef; it has been rented to him from the government. It’ll be developed into a beautiful port and he’ll make a lot of money from it. Apart from this, the sand, stones, his shop and the basic port he built over the last 10 years will all create big fortunes for him when the time comes. He told me that ‘if you live next to the mountain, you ‘eat’ the mountain; if you live next to the river, you ‘eat’ the river’. Now I can see how literal this is. The duck we had last night was hunted next to the river; all his income comes from some aspects of the river; and his future, his sons’ and grandsons’ futures all lie on the river.
This says to me again: in China now, nature is shown no mercy. No mercy at all. Nothing is innocent, everything is valued only by their economic potential. If this is the known result of my ‘point system’, then I’m not sure if I want to continue.
6th May 2011 Trial Point 2 A breath of relief
GPS 28.52”478’N 105.26”981’E Altitude：723ft
In the morning we found Trial Point 2 without problem. It’s in the city centre of Luzhou, next to some high apartment buildings. To our surprise again, having just left the busy city centre, the river at Point 2 is reasonably pleasant and quiet. At least there’s no digger in the immediate area, although another big bridge is being built around the corner (for which I chose to turn a blind eye). There’re buildings on both sides of the river but the river banks are almost left alone apart from being covered by some vegetable patches. There’s a ditch leading to the river but the water doesn’t smell or have strange colours. Many swallows were flying next to the water, and I could see some green grass—-first time during this trip!
At some point a bright-coloured paper house appeared on the bank. I suddenly realised this had something to do with the piles of ashes I saw before. What are they for? I quickly went to the ‘house’ and set up the camera. Before long a group of people arrived with some loud Chinese traditional music. They started running around the house, chanting something at the same time——this is a ceremony for worshipping their dead ancestors. Traditionally they’d do this at the graves but the city is so big now, there’s no space for such things like burning a paper house. So they’ve come to the river, the only place with some open space.
This for me, is one of the charms of the ‘Point system’—-you can never foresee what’s happening next.
