The Value of Time

As I carefully wrap my Hui-An hat to send back to Hong Kong, I am once again pondering  a question that has been milling around in my head since the beginning of the China trip. In China, what gives an object value? Or more specifically, what do I value in an object from China? The ideas I had brought with me from London about appreciating locally and hand-made objects have all be thrown into question out here. In China, “Made in China” is no longer the imported product, it is what is made locally. You also suddenly realise that most things that are “Made in China” are hand-made, only at lightning speeds by workers producing identical objects as if they were machines.

So why am I so precious about this hat?  Perhaps it is because I know that these hats are made only to order as it takes this skilled craftsman a month to make each one. Perhaps it is because I know that once this generation of hatmakers stop making these hats, they will no longer be made, the younger generation have not the patience to learn or practise this craft. Maybe in China that is what I am starting to value, “time”. The time and commitment of the maker gives me the responsibility as the owner to give the object the same amount of  respect and care as they did. In a world that is always in a hurry to get somewhere, time is becoming more and more scarce. I wonder if China, in it’s hurry to catch up with the West, is losing something along the way, the value of Time.

2 thoughts on “The Value of Time”

  1. Love this article… it makes me sad, and happy that its still out there.
    Hope your really feeling that value of time, and enjoy it for some time.

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