Dispatches from Chengdu
May 3, 2010
This is a big day on the Enterprise: updates from Sichuan province.
I’ve been living in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province, since the end of January. The semester in Nanshan finished up in early January and then I went to Shanghai for two weeks to see what the big deal was (not that big a deal, as it turned out). Having no great plan other than to get out west, and wanting to go before the New Year’s travel season started in February, I flew to Chengdu on January 28 and have been here ever since.
By sheer luck, my first day here was about the nicest day of weather we’ve had — actual blue skies and a breeze and shadows on the ground. I walked down a long street populated entirely by laminated signmakers to the People’s Park. After a glass of tea by the boat pond (but no ear picking) and a stroll through the little amusement park, I knew how I felt about Chengdu. Cities can strike you just like people do and when you’re lucky you find some tenor in a place that resonates, maybe in the colors or the people or just the geometry of the streets. It’s a great place, even though the sky is white all the time.
In the coming days I’ll add captions to the photos, but for now here is an overview of today’s posts.
Chengdu Chengdu Chengdu: Notes from sitting on the street corner in the QingYang district, watching people go by.
Pandas: I didn’t think pandas were that big a deal, almost too cute for their own good, but they are awesome. Photos might not win you over; you’ll have to visit.
The Past Is Always with Us: A strange moment in the Chengdu Library.
The Past Is Always With Us
May 3, 2010
Back in February when everything was closed and there wasnt much to do, I went to the central Chengdu public library to see if I could get wi-fi and just to take a look around. On the fifth floor there is a room of foreign books, which is not a bad collection (Churchill’s six-volume memoir of World War II, lots of British novels). There is a whole aisle of English textbooks. On the second floor up from the floor, at the very end of a shelf, is a copy of Writing Nature.
Writing Nature was published in 1995 by St. Martin’s Press College Division. My name is on the copyright page. I was the associate editor. My first job after college was as an editorial assistant and after a year or so I was given this book to edit. And I truly edited it — long letters to the author, red penciling, long lists of potential subtitles (a textbook requirement), all the old-fashioned care. I even approved the cover design, which was how I first learned of Andy Goldsworthy, though I knew nothing about typography then. Not too long after the book came out, I was laid off and that took me out of editorial work and eventually into graphic design.
And now I am in China, and not really even a graphic designer these days, and then here is this book. This book that I was so proud of, am still somewhat proud of, although it’s crazy they let me even touch it. I was 23. In a month I’ll be 40. We printed probably 5,000 copies, maybe a little more. This has to be the only copy anywhere in China. The temptation is of course to make this book’s sudden and so totally unlikely appearance in a Chinese library mean something. But what? We’re both, it and I, in a place where we don’t quite belong but have ended up.
Li Jing Hua Yuan
May 3, 2010
It’s kind of crappy and there’s no fridge and certainly no washing machine, but it’s my house! In China! The rent is about $150/month plus $10 or so for water and electricity and only sometimes can I steal wi-fi from the neighbors, but it’s on the 11th floor facing south and the birds in the courtyard are so loud in the morning they wake me up when I leave the door open.
ALPHABETS FOR CHINESE CHRISTMAS
- Text : Lhasa :: 05.17.2010
- Text : Dispatches from Chengdu :: 05.03.2010
- Text : The Past Is Always With Us :: 05.03.2010
- Image : Li Jing Hua Yuan :: 05.03.2010
- Image : Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding :: 05.03.2010
- Image : Chengdu Things :: 05.03.2010
- Image : Chengdu Places :: 05.03.2010
- Image : Chengdu People II :: 05.03.2010
- Image : Chengdu People I :: 05.03.2010
- Text : Chengdu Chengdu Chengdu :: 05.03.2010
- Text : Goodbye Nanshan :: 01.17.2010
- Text : Sisters :: 01.09.2010
- Text : Alphabets for (Chinese) Christmas: The Photos :: 01.08.2010
- Text : Seventh Grade Sings! :: 12.15.2009
- Image : Jiaozi :: 12.11.2009
- All Dispatches
