Plane from Hetain to Urumqi
Misty morning
Train from Urumqi to Lanzhou
Dusty morning
Monthly Archives: October 2010
Wild Carpet Chase
Hetain
Where had he been going?
What did he have planned originally?
He was walking on his way to somewhere, minding his own business, when 2 strangers asked for help. They were searching for a crafts maker, but all they had was a name, a photo and the area. He did not know the man, nor did he know the place. However, instead of just apologizing for not knowing, he became search party leader. He spoke very limited Mandarin, but all that was required was to follow as he walked and occasionally stopped to look and think. He inquired in Uyghur at a CD shop, the bank, a phone shop, 2 men sitting on a cart, a family in the courtyard of a closed carpet shop… The glint in his eye gave away how much he was reveling in the challenge; our shared laughter gave away how much we were enjoying each other’s company. As all our leads came to dead ends, we jump on the back of a motorbike-truck and head speedily somewhere. And it was halfway to there that we said goodbye. With a tug of his beard, he confirms with the driver the destination, jumps off, signals to give the driver 3RMB and disappears into a mass of people.
Never did find the craftsman, but instead found an intriguing 79 year old.
Home Simple Home
Kashgar
“No-one wants to learn, even if you paid them money!” This sixth generation Uyghur potter’s story sounds so familiar. His children have no interest in learning the family secret formula, and he laughs ironically as he gives his response to the question of whether he has apprentices.
He continues “People do not buy these things to use in their homes anymore, tourists buy them as souvenirs.” It seems that while tourism is able to keep this craft alive for the time being, the next generations are not so keen to become souvenir makers.
Visiting the market later on, I see what people do buy to use in their homes: Mass-manufactured, perfectly finished, minimally decorated china without any crude charm or obvious decoration. Perhaps it is a sign of development and changing tastes to suit the modern world. Cheap for everyone to buy, visually simple as not to be obtrusive in brightly lit white walled houses. Is it modern living that has forgotten to include space for the products of craft, or is it the craft that needs to develop to fit into the modern home? Probably both.
Luxury Sweets
Urumqi
Addictively delicious mochi.
Old Meets New
Hulun Buir Grasslands
Cosy traditonal yurt with mini-wind turbine.
Fresh Local Produce
Thattaway!
Somewhere between Alongshan and the top of the mountain
Road signs, building landmarks, maps and GPS systems. These are all methods that modern drivers rely on for navigation. Without these, up a mountain, the only option is to ask for directions. Unfortunately, after encountering one serious cyclist and a lone worker guarding camp over the winter (who appeared not to have seen any humans for a while), no more help was to be received. It makes me wonder, when did we become so dependent on these artifical forms of navigation? When did we become so removed from the natural environment and lose the ability to navigate using the sun, stars and the mountains?
The destination was never found, but the journey was filled with spectacular scenery. Where modern man may have lost the ability to navigate using nature, it is impossible for him to forget how to be in awe of such natural beauty.
The Great Firewall
Tuohe
Heated wall.
The homestay may have had an unpredictable electricity supply, but the house’s central heating definately worked. Fires inside double layered separation walls turn them into giant radiators that not only kept the rooms warm, but dried the washing!
More is Equal to Less
Tuohe
Oronchun Aunty makes every item by hand using traditional birch bark skin craft methods. If you wanted to buy one bowl it would cost you the same as if you wanted to buy ten, or even if you wanted to buy a hundred. To her, the value of each and every bowl is identical. They are made of the same material and each have the same function. In the modern world, where terms such as “limited edition” and “mass-production” can determine an object’s value, are we overcomplicating design? Are we so spoilt for choice of what to buy that we have lost the ability to appreciate the pure and simple value of function?
Fire of Knowledge
Harbin – Alihe
As I travel north, I find myself increasingly drawn to discover the cultures of the ethnic minority groups that live within the borders of what is geographically China. Observing from the outside, China appears to be one vast country. Observing from the inside, it appears to be one central and dominant country of Han people, surrounded by smaller countries of ethnic minority people. However, the borders of these ethnic minority countries are fragile and disappearing as Han and capitalist culture infiltrates.
This week I met 2 inspirational people. Both with a sad acceptance that much of their own history and culture has already been lost, but are themselves the flames of hope that what remains might survive.
In a year Wu Yisheng qualifies as a agricultural veterinarian, he has studied hard and it would be a financially secure job. Instead however, he plans to open a small craft shop selling fish skin products. He was taught by his mother to make Hezhe fish skin clothing, but understands the limited demand such a product has in the modern world, thus his desire to expand to other products to keep the craft alive.
Wunan and her husband record and promote what still exists of Oronchen culture. On sale in her shop are birch bark containers that her aunt has made using traditional methods, she says that drastic action is required to progress and therefore save the craft. In the past, natural development was possible, but after so much outside disturbances to their culture this is no longer the case.