China Glimpses —
Fragmented tiny stories from China
China Glimpses –
2017 - 2019
Is a collection of photographs taken in and around China between 2017 and 2019. Most of these images where taken in places that are connected to my personal life, others where taken in passing. The paper horse, for example, is from a tomb-sweeping store that sells shrine and grave supplies. It’s the last station that allows visitors to stock up on stuff for the afterlife. My maternal grandparents are laid to rest at the nearby cemetary. My mother doesn’t like to go shopping for the afterlife, so I was never allowed to even set foot in that store. On our last visit however, they had this hilarious looking paper horse right outside. I looked at my mom, she looked at me and we both looked back and forth at the horse and I knew that she knew that I would try and buy it. Then there’s the man with glasses carrying plastic bags or as I call him “Mr. Cats”. When I lived in Shanghai, I was lucky enough to have the campus of Jiaotong University close by. Not only was their sports field about the only place within the dense cofines of the Former French Concession that granted some visual space, but it was also kept up pristinely. Lots of greenery and and beautiful trees and their very own Lawsons convenience store. As you can imagine, cats loved that place, the campus I mean and Mr. Cats, well, he loved cats. Most people only bother with kibbles, but he brings them fresh drinking water twice a week. He mumbles to them but never touches any of them, then he just goes about his day. All in all, these are all images that I like to think back on when thing about my time in China and what I’ve learned in my time there as a Chinese-not-so-Chinese person. Like that Mahjong shed in that half-open garage. Gambling is illegal on the Mainland but like so many things in China that people aren’t supposed to dosaythinkandactupon, they still dosaythinkandactupon these things in hiding. On that particular day, it was about 40 degrees Celsius, the sun was scorching, I guess this just goes to show that there is always a limit to what people are willing to put up with. Thinking back, these memories feel fleetingly surreal. There is a story to every picture here and I’d love to hear from you if you would like to hear about them.
2017 - 2019
Is a collection of photographs taken in and around China between 2017 and 2019. Most of these images where taken in places that are connected to my personal life, others where taken in passing. The paper horse, for example, is from a tomb-sweeping store that sells shrine and grave supplies. It’s the last station that allows visitors to stock up on stuff for the afterlife. My maternal grandparents are laid to rest at the nearby cemetary. My mother doesn’t like to go shopping for the afterlife, so I was never allowed to even set foot in that store. On our last visit however, they had this hilarious looking paper horse right outside. I looked at my mom, she looked at me and we both looked back and forth at the horse and I knew that she knew that I would try and buy it. Then there’s the man with glasses carrying plastic bags or as I call him “Mr. Cats”. When I lived in Shanghai, I was lucky enough to have the campus of Jiaotong University close by. Not only was their sports field about the only place within the dense cofines of the Former French Concession that granted some visual space, but it was also kept up pristinely. Lots of greenery and and beautiful trees and their very own Lawsons convenience store. As you can imagine, cats loved that place, the campus I mean and Mr. Cats, well, he loved cats. Most people only bother with kibbles, but he brings them fresh drinking water twice a week. He mumbles to them but never touches any of them, then he just goes about his day. All in all, these are all images that I like to think back on when thing about my time in China and what I’ve learned in my time there as a Chinese-not-so-Chinese person. Like that Mahjong shed in that half-open garage. Gambling is illegal on the Mainland but like so many things in China that people aren’t supposed to dosaythinkandactupon, they still dosaythinkandactupon these things in hiding. On that particular day, it was about 40 degrees Celsius, the sun was scorching, I guess this just goes to show that there is always a limit to what people are willing to put up with. Thinking back, these memories feel fleetingly surreal. There is a story to every picture here and I’d love to hear from you if you would like to hear about them.
All images copyright of Guannan Li