When I travel in China I stay out of the tourist tracks as much as possible. Often I visit villages where no other western people have been before. I remember in 2007, when we got out of the car in Buja – a village high in the Pamir mountains in Xinjiang – the whole village fell silent. People stopt doing what they were doing and just stared at us. Then they started to move and in a little moment we were surrounded by people asking questions. I didnot feel comfortable. The crowd was a bit too big and surpressing for me. But then it got better and I felt free to move around. The dwellings along the river looked like fortresses. The thick walls were at least 2 meter high. Old willow trees were standing in the yard to give shade in the hot sun. The fresh green from their leaves made a bveautifull contrast with the dusty beige mud of the walls and the whole surrounding. Inside these high walls there were several houses. Some were of the new type the government offers to farmers needing help. These houses are build of concrete with big windows to let in a lot of light. This may seem healthy, but in this area not very well suited to the climate. Must be very hot in summer and cold in winter. But these government farms are the same for all regions. The older houses were traditional mud houses. At the end of the yard there was a door in the wall. The oldest man in the house showed us around and opened what proved to be the door to his house. He was the patriarch of the family, with a long white beard and high leather boots. He was 89, his wife a very frail woman of 86.
The walls of their house were about 1 meter thick. From a small window in the roof beautifull light streemed on the mud platfrom where people sit during the day and sleep in the night. It was a good house he told us. He had build it himself and all his children had been born there.
This Patriarch’s Home is one of the pictures that will be on show in my exhibition that opens coming sunday February 21st in Art Space Fred Wagemans, Beetsterzwaag, The Netherlands. At the opening at 15.00 I will tell more stories from my diary. There will be picures from 2005, 2007 and 2008.
One more picture from a very different corner of China. This is from a very small hamlet in Xishuangbanna in Southern Yunnan on the border to Laos. Farmers here live in houses build from mainly bamboo. The families live on the first floor, stables and storage is on the ground under the living areas. These hamlets are surrounded by primeval rainforest. It can be very difficult to reach them, especially during the rain saison. I remember our car more sliding then driving through the mud. I was very happy to arrive safely and finding both a very good meal and a wonderfull nights’ sleep in this beautifull house. Also this picture will be included in the show.
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