Life and Travel in China

SHENZHEN 1982!!! I found a video from Shenzhen on the Internet, from 1982 (when I was born). It's amazing how everything has changed. I guess it's the center of the town, because there are crowds of people shopping, and besides, foreigners wouldn't venture too far with a camera (which was probably expensive equipment back then). Based on the clothes, surroundings and hairstyles, I conclude that it's really 1982. See for yourself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-R8cbOg1tHw. You can also compare it with my photos, it is very likely that the film was shot in this area, and now everything looks completely different: http://www.fotochiny.com/albumview.php?idpreview=333&kat=architektura&str=4, http://www.fotochiny.com/albumview.php?idpreview=556&kat=miejsca&str=2, http://www.fotochiny.com/albumview.php?idpreview=29&kat=architektura&str=6, http://www.fotochiny.com/albumview.php?idpreview=257&kat=miejsca&str=4.

Lately, I've been seeing construction workers in my neighborhood more and more often. Some renovation of sidewalks, construction of new skyscrapers and a new hotel near the exhibition center (I will, of course, add photos to the website). Let me tell you, these people are exhausted. Thin, with some residual muscles, skin black from the harsh sun, short, gray hair. Of course, it's better for them to earn some money on construction here than to starve in the countryside... but still. To think that later, for a night in such a hotel, a guest will pay as much for an ordinary room as the worker's monthly salary? And the owner of such a hotel or office building plays in casinos in Macao, drives a Ferrari and keeps several mistresses... this is justice. Nothing will change in China, because such a group of prominent people must always earn a fortune by exploiting ordinary people.

Shenzhen is a pathetic city and the local government has no idea how to promote this metropolis. They organized a Fashion Show (clothing fair). You could count the number of foreigners on your fingers, but there were crowds of Chinese in the exhibition hall. Of course, admission is paid for everyone, because this city is focused only on money. There are hundreds of companies inside, nothing special. We only saw two rather pathetic fashion shows on the catwalks. The first one bored us with a band, and the second one banned photography and some pathetic porters and people from the factory chased anyone who held a camera in their hand. I decided to spite them a bit and kept aiming at the models (from this point I could only take photos of the heads of the crowd surrounding the catwalk). Of course, one guy quickly ran up, another, a third, and an argument that we couldn't take photos. Why these shows? This Fashion Show? The Chinese have already copied everything from the Italians, the French... and they decided that you can't copy from them.

The funniest thing is that the Chinese themselves can't communicate in their own language, so how can I learn Chinese properly? For example, when asking about something in a hypermarket, or asking for an address, or giving my name, I have to spell it, or rather syllable it. Such a theoretical example (of course, this does not refer to Chinese words, but I mean the same way): RA-DO-SŁAW, RA as in RAMa, DO as in Literally, SŁAW as in SŁAWny. Not only can each syllable have four different accents and completely different meanings, but it can be written in several, sometimes a dozen, ways. And that's why they have to explain it to themselves that RA is as in the word RAMa, and not as in the word RAbarbar.

On Sunday, a group of about 30 people organized a protest at the Shenzhen City Hall. I was just passing by with my camera. Nothing special was happening, security, people waiting for some VIP at the exit gate, no banners, just normal waiting. I guess they wanted to talk to someone. One guy called out to us to take photos. But what? Besides, the security guards were constantly looking at me. I will take photos and then I will have to explain it to the police station for two weeks. Thanks, but I don't get involved in politics. At the end, about 40 policemen showed up. They got into two buses and waited. After 20 minutes, we realized that either the VIP had escaped through another exit or that he would not show up so quickly and we went our separate ways. People waited calmly.