6th-7th May 2011 Trial Point 3 Nothing is innocent
GPS 28.59”929’N 105.49”890’E Altitude：668ft
After lunch we set off to Point 3. The next 100 kilometers took us four hours to cover: from concrete motorway to muddy tracks. After asking directions for no less than 20 times, with the help of two mobile GPS and two maps, we finally arrived- this time at place without any factories or big buildings. Standing next to the river, I felt the closest to it since the project started, there’s no other sound apart from the river. I haven’t experienced this quietness for years in China.
The sand was very fine. The bed cost £1 per person per night.
In the morning I woke up in the songs of birds and small noise of the tiny port. However, the next 20 minutes changed my view about this place. Our host came up and started talking to me. As he went on my heart sank deeper and deeper. This stretch of the river has deep water and no reef; it has been rented to him from the government. It’ll be developed into a beautiful port and he’ll make a lot of money from it. Apart from this, the sand, stones, his shop and the basic port he built over the last 10 years will all create big fortunes for him when the time comes. He told me that ‘if you live next to the mountain, you ‘eat’ the mountain; if you live next to the river, you ‘eat’ the river’. Now I can see how literal this is. The duck we had last night was hunted next to the river; all his income comes from some aspects of the river; and his future, his sons’ and grandsons’ futures all lie on the river.
This says to me again: in China now, nature is shown no mercy. No mercy at all. Nothing is innocent, everything is valued only by their economic potential. If this is the known result of my ‘point system’, then I’m not sure if I want to continue.
6th May 2011 Trial Point 2 A breath of relief
GPS 28.52”478’N 105.26”981’E Altitude：723ft
In the morning we found Trial Point 2 without problem. It’s in the city centre of Luzhou, next to some high apartment buildings. To our surprise again, having just left the busy city centre, the river at Point 2 is reasonably pleasant and quiet. At least there’s no digger in the immediate area, although another big bridge is being built around the corner (for which I chose to turn a blind eye). There’re buildings on both sides of the river but the river banks are almost left alone apart from being covered by some vegetable patches. There’s a ditch leading to the river but the water doesn’t smell or have strange colours. Many swallows were flying next to the water, and I could see some green grass—-first time during this trip!
At some point a bright-coloured paper house appeared on the bank. I suddenly realised this had something to do with the piles of ashes I saw before. What are they for? I quickly went to the ‘house’ and set up the camera. Before long a group of people arrived with some loud Chinese traditional music. They started running around the house, chanting something at the same time——this is a ceremony for worshipping their dead ancestors. Traditionally they’d do this at the graves but the city is so big now, there’s no space for such things like burning a paper house. So they’ve come to the river, the only place with some open space.
This for me, is one of the charms of the ‘Point system’—-you can never foresee what’s happening next.
5th May 2011
Trial Point 1 – A hit on my head.
GPS: 28.48”400’N, 104.52”322’E. Altitude：869ft.
We drove for over 4 hours from Chongqing upstream along the Yangtze, and located the Trial Point 0 without much trouble. From Google Earth there is a big island in the middle of the river, and the Point is right next to the island. When we were getting close the landscape along the river seemed reasonably tranquil, Perhaps I can get something ‘pictorial’? However things changed very quickly when the Point location came into view: the island is being dug out by over twenty diggers and trucks. The stones forming the island are dug away to a nearby outdoor factory and turned into sand to build the road from Yibin to Shanghai. A bit further from bank, the land was covered by many small factories, and the dark red water from the factories was flowing to the river.
I am deeply saddened by this view. The concept of a river in my mind is so different from reality, and this has been proven again and again during my journey along 1000 kilometres of this river. I fear that all my points will fall on locations like this. I am not even sure if it’s worth going on.
4th May 2011 Three rainy days
It’s been raining for 3 days in Chongqing and the visibility is really bad. I haven’t taken a single photo during this time but it’s been a productive time.
Firstly, I’m finally setting off to do a ‘trial point system’ tomorrow for 4 days. This is one of my original ideas for tackling the river: to divide its length in equal sections, to travel along the river but only take photographs at the dividing points. In 2009 and 2010 I tried this system on the River Ribble, but the Yangtze is a whole new story. It’s simply tooooo big! Now I have many questions towards this system but things will only get clarified after the test. I have randomly pinned down a starting point near the city of Yibin, about 400km upstream from Chongqing. From there I’ll travel downstream, taking photographs at the dividing points of every 100 km. For the time being only 5 points will be tested but hopefully I can have a taste of this method. Two local friends are going with me, it’s great to have friends and to discuss plans with them.
We have also decided to have my residency exhibition in a new art gallery-cafe in Jiangbei District in Chongqing. Now I have a nice place to work for, I can collect more pebbles and take more photos.
Also I’ve spoken to a famous geologist and explorer, Mr. Yang Yong, who is going to the source area of the Yangtze this summer. It’s possible that I can join their team and go to Tibet. How exciting!
I’ll let you know how our point system goes…
1 May 2011
Today’s experience seems to be damaging for my emotional well-being.
I went to downtown Chongqing with the intention to find the photo lab but even the policeman seemed to know nothing about their local area. So I gave up the idea and walked to Chao Tian Men (the Sky Gate), where the confluence of Jia Ling Jiang and the Yangtze River is. It is obviously the centre of Chongqing.
I was immediately swallowed by the endless skyscrapers. To see them from a distance is one thing, to completely emerge into them is absolutely another thing. The weather was of typical China, overcast and extremely foggy. I walked in the extremely dense high-buildings, people, cars and noise, feeling weightless and soulless. It was indeed a human world, everything is made for and by us, including the limited number of plants. How does it feel to live in a concrete world like this all the time? According to Taoism, human and other things in the universe, such as mountains, rivers, plants and animals, are in the same energy circle; by standing on a mountain top, humans can absorb energy from the universe without obstacle. If this is correct, then what’s happening here? There is nothing else for us to exchange or absorb energy. Does that mean we are more fragile? Without fresh recharge of life forces? If human beings are also part of nature, then we seem to be cut off from everything else that’s nature. I thought of making pictures, but my instinct is to run away, to find a breathing place.
So I thought of my approach to the project again. Perhaps I just need to follow my heart, if city centres are unbearable, then I can escape to the river side. At least there’s a belt of a few hundred meters’ width that isn’t covered by buildings, people, or cars yet.
