Back in the 70s, being a printing technician was a well earning profession. In pockets of Sheung Wan still remain a few printers, but many have closed down, or will in this coming year. Digital technology has changed the nature and speed of printing, and rising rents are forcing printers to sell their machines and retire. This printer tells us how their machine is only for printing numbers (such as on memberships cards or receipts), their next door neighbour does the foiling, and another printer does the letters… It is truly a complex collaboration for even the most seemingly simple things. Paper products have become so disposable as a result of the speed and convenience of digital production. If our forests are to stand a chance of survival, perhaps we need to slow the process down again.
AiJiLun inspects my crudely drawn sketches of ideas for birchbark items, somewhat baffled at her perceived complexity of them. I met her just under 2 years ago (More is Equal to Less). She has no recollection of who I am, oblivious to the fact that it was the few days I spent watching her work and talking to her niece-in-law (Fire of Knowledge) that I became fascinated with the Oronchen and birchbark world.
It was this fascination that initiated my return to Northern China and to Tuohe. As I wandered around this tiny village, recognising faces but no longer the buildings, I am struck by how much yet how little had changed. Bulldozed and rebuilt beyond recognition was where I stayed on my previous visit (The Great Firewall). Most of the residents have been or are in the process of being relocated to a large area just on the outskirts of the town in rows of tidy identical terraced bungalows. Driving slowly down one of the lanes, we attempt to drop off an uncle of a friend who has trouble recognising his house from all the others that look the same. This is the new landscape of modern village life in China, and those caught up in the change are still finding their way.
There is something enchanting about antique clockwork, the logical precision of something that spans infinite time. As we tick into the future, it makes us acutely aware of the present, and grounds us to our past.
Mass-produced shadow puppets, dancing to pop rap songs in the street, surrounded by tourists and shoppers. A single dance capturing the direction in which China is moving.
The ivory trade threatens a whole host of endangered species. Despite the bans, despite the publicity of the long term negative and irreversible effects of poaching, there is still a thriving ivory market. While I fail to see the appeal of ivory, it is time for those who do, to reflect on where their ivory comes from, the selfishness of contributing to such an economy, and seek alternative materials.
Birdkeepers own birds to admire, compare and show off. They walk them every day, inside the cages, socialising with fellow bird-walkers. Apparently only a healthy bird will sing, and those paraded in the parks, they sing. But what are they singing? Singing to join the birds flying around outside the cage in the trees?
