join me on my journey to collect interesting people and places.
curious gong
old pine tree and white phoenix
- my favorite from the colorful realm exhibit at the NGA. new spirit animal—white phoenix?
“Burnt by lightening nevertheless / she’ll walk this terra infinita // lashes singed on her third eye / searching definite shadows for an indefinite future”
— Adrienne Rich, in memory
This picture does not do an adequate job of capturing the hustle and bustle of Yaxiu, one the markets that are popular among foreign tourists in Beijing. What used to be an outdoor market with ambitious Chinese entrepreneurs (mostly from Anhui or one of the other poorer provinces in China) hawking their wares has now been “beautified” by bringing the stalls indoors. Although the vendors now wear matching vests and are more likely to take plastic, the idea of the place is much the same as it was before Beijing was made more palatable for tourists in preparation for the Olympics. Almost every type of consumer item can be found here and at a quarter of the price—if you’re able to bargain. In many ways, Yaxiu represents much of the worst parts of China—rampant consumerism, shoddy goods, knock-offs, rude customer service, likely terrible labor conditions. However, I can’t help but find a romantic quality that permeates the whole place (maybe it’s the rose-colored glasses with which one always views her motherland). There is the exercise of acting—vendors pretending to be upset when you’ve bargained well, you faking that you’re not interested in something to get a better price. But even better than the acting is the quickness with which the facade is dropped once a successful sale has been made. Once money changes hands, goodwill abounds and the scene ends. There is also the odd multiculturalism. Yaxiu is a global village—African traders buy goods in bulk to sell in their home countries, American, European, and Arab tourists bargain for their share of cheap consumer goods, Chinese vendors who have mastered small talk in a variety of languages chitchat. Is there anything more beautiful than this?
