20100206三Wed.艺术讲座 Artists Talk #01
青原社井冈山大学人文纪录中心
国际讲座系列 2010年第一期
Photo provided by Mei Ann Teo
“为”而后“知”：纪录剧场之改造力量 对话旅美新加坡导演Mei Ann Teo（张玫彦）
何为纪录剧场？纪录剧场如何在社区当中起到改造和愈伤的功能？一部社区纪录剧场作品的上演，何以成为该社区的历史性时刻？作为人文纪录中心邀请的2010年第一位国际访问艺术家、旅美新加坡知名导演Mei Ann Teo生动解读一部这样的社区纪录剧场作品，为井大听众介绍“纪录剧场”这种艺术形式的基本理念，和它在类似于吉安这样的社区中的功用。
主讲人：Mei Ann Teo（新加坡剧场及电影导演、美国加州太平洋联盟学院驻校艺术家）
时间：2010年1月6日周三晚7点（讲座）、1月7日晚7点（沙龙）
地点：井冈山大学5栋104（讲座）、井冈山大学11栋103（沙龙）
主办：青原社井冈山大学人文纪录中心 协办：井冈山大学青原青年纪录社、戏剧社
主讲人简介：活跃于国际舞台的旅美新加坡华裔剧场和影片导演和教育家Mei Ann Teo（张玫彦）长居美国加州。张玫彦当前为加州太平洋联盟学院的驻校艺术家，负责该校的戏剧项目，擅长结合纪录等多种手段创造富有挑战的原创剧场作品。她的作品在全美国巡回演出。她还与美国加州、纽约包括“公共剧场”（美国最负盛名的文化机构之一）在内的剧场合作。张玫彦曾经在多个大学讲学，她的电影作品参加过多个国际电影节。
“Knowing through Becoming: The Transformative Power of Documentary Theatre” A lecture/workshop on how documentary theatre can transform and heal a community in crisis. Through the reflection of a production that was called “a seminal moment” in the history of a community, and the demonstration of techniques used, Mei Ann Teo will speak on the profound healing and rebuilding effects this art form can have. BIO Mei Ann Teo is an award winning Chinese Singaporean theatre/film maker and educator working internationally and based in California. She serves as the Resident Artist at Pacific Union College where she helms a drama program concentrated on creating provocative original work through collage and documentary theatre techniques, and this work has toured all over the United States. She has worked professionally with the Theatre of Yugen, Crowded Fire, Cutting Ball, Berkeley Rep, Bay Area Playwrights Festival, and in NY, Urban Stages and The Public Theater, one of the most elite cultural institutions in the U.S. She lectures at major academic conferences nationwide and her short film has screened at international film festivals.
20100205二Tue.沙龙 Salon #01
图：付戈 Photo: Fu Ge
今晚举行了2010年第一次沙龙。暂定今后每周二晚上在办公室举办沙龙，交流思想，主题不定。周四晚上举办放映分享，分享编辑完成的片子或者拍摄的素材，之后讨论。今晚沙龙的主题是寒假作业。
每一位志愿者、青年导演和青年纪录社成员都需要在寒假期间用文字做四个口述历史的作业，三个纪录人，一个纪录机构。建议三个人中一个是纪录者认识的人当中最年长的一位、一个是纪录者最熟悉的一位、一个是纪录者新近认识的人。机构是纪录者最熟悉的一个机构：学校、村委会、小卖部、医院或者父母工作的单位。写好的文字发给我们通过邮件和博客分享。希望通过这些文字的训练能够帮助年轻人观察、思考周围的世界。旅美新加坡剧场及电影导演Mei Ann Teo（张玫彦）正好今天开始访问我们，因此也参加了活动。
We held the first salon of 2010 tonight. We expect to have a salon every Tuesday evening when we can exchange ideas with one another on a wide range of topics. Every Thursday evening, we will sit down and watch completed films or footage and discuss what we see. At tonight’s salon, we discussed assignment for the upcoming winter vacation.
We asked every one of our volunteers, young filmmakers and members of the Young Documentarians’Club to conduct four oral history assignments, in which they will each document three individuals (the oldest person they know, the one they know best, and someone whom they just met) and an institution that they know best (a school, a village committee, a dime store, a hospital or the company their parent works in). The students will send us what they write and we will share them through emails and blog entries. We hope that through these practices our young people will sharpen their observations of the world around them. For tonight’s event, we were happy to have with us also Mei Ann Teo, a California-based Singaporean theater and film director who started her visit earlier today.
20100105二Tue.考试前Before the Exams
晚上九点左右，图书馆里还有很多个这样的学生在里面查找资料。At 9pm, many students are studying in the library.
1月7日是考研的日子，他们还在为此准备着！Graduate School Entrance Exams start on Jan. 7th. The seniors are bending over their books for the exams.
期末考试即将临近，五栋教学楼的自习室坐满了前来复习的学生。As the finals are looming large, the classrooms are packed with students.
(图文：卢磊 Photos & Text by LU Lei)
20100104一Mon.课桌 A Desk
又是无聊的一堂课，我本是想听来着，毕竟最后一周，也是极为关键的一周，什么泄题啊，划重点啊，全在这一周，但是，老师小又极小的声音让我罢了。我立刻趴倒在桌上，郁闷今天起那么早却没有收获到什么，桌上的图吸引了我，虽然这东西画得还不是很好，可是让我这个极其没有绘画天赋的人惊讶了一下，毕竟我连拿起笔画下的勇气都没有。
在大学里，大家讨论的最多的话题应该是爱情吧，一个飘渺的词，听的歌里，看的电影里，连课桌上也满是爱情，“爱你× 一切×好 怨你× 生活灰暗”，我想她（他）应该纠结在一段爱恋中吧。
Here I was in another dull lecture class. I meant to concentrate on what the teacher was lecturing. After all, this is the last week of class for the semester – and a most critical week as well: during this week, the teachers tend to narrow down what students would expect on their exam paper or occasionally leak the specific questions one would be asked in the final exam. Yet, I was put off by the almost inaudible voice of this particular teacher. I rested my arms and head on the desk, regretting that a morning was being wasted despite an early rise. This drawing on the desk, however, attracted my attention. However unprofessional it might look, the picture impressed someone like me, who is anything but a painter and who can hardly find the courage to draw a thing.
Romantic relationship is probably the most popular topic among college students. An evasive term, romance has been sung about, filmed about, and drawn about on the desks of a classroom. “Love you X All is well Hate you X Life is grey.” Whoever drew this picture must be struggling in a relationship.
(图文：李文娟 Photo & Text by LI Wenjuan)
20100103日Sun.大学生新年New Year on Campus
电脑和呆宿舍是现在很多大学生过元旦的选择 Many students chose to celebrate their New Year with their computer in their dorm.
这个是元旦期间宿舍晚上十一点以后的情景，一般男生宿舍十点到十二点之间亮灯的宿舍是最多的 A photo taken after 11 pm during the New Year. Normally boys’ dorms are the busiest between 10 pm and midnight.
元旦期间期间学校食堂变的十分冷清 During the New Year, university cafeterias are rarely used by the students.
照片、文字：付戈 Photo&text by Fu Ge
20100102六Sat新楼New Tower
今天Today
2009年2月Feb.2009
2008-10-17
开元洲际大酒店 Kaiyuan Intercontinental Hotel
国际-洲际-球际-星际-系际
international-intercontinental-interplanetary-interstarry-intergalaxy
20100101五Fri. 2010
江西福主 Taoist God of Jiangxi Province
去过西方的朋友想必都对西方的葡萄酒文化印象深刻。去朋友家做客，最省事的就是带上一瓶葡萄酒做礼物。瑞士朋友Roger住在纽约曼哈顿。他的地下室藏有上百瓶葡萄酒。问他为什么喜欢葡萄酒。Roger回答，每一瓶葡萄酒的味道都不一样。打开一瓶酒，他都等待着这瓶酒给自己味蕾带来未知的惊喜。
我想类似的话可以用来描述元旦的感受罢。
In China, we do not have the wine culture as one finds in the West. Roger, our Swiss friend, has a cellar of a couple of hundreds of wines in his Manhattan house. When asked why he is so much fond of wines, our friend answers that every bottle of wine comes with a different taste. Therefore, whenever he opens a new bottle, Roger is anxious for something that will surprise his palate.
A similar eagerness, I think, is what I feel on a New Year’s Day. A New Year’s Day like this one.
090307六Sat.2009过年2009 My New Year No.5
简艺，男，33岁，生长于吉安，离开15年后返回，创办此项目。以前和吴文光一起创办中国村民影像计划，后做纪录片《超级女生》、剧情片《冬笋》。作为城市的一员，第一次尝试拍摄自己的生活。去年中84岁的奶奶去世，即将过年了，92岁的外婆又去世。按照当地风俗，家中戴孝，正月不能去别人家拜年。一家人只能聚在一起，第一次过一个没有奶奶和外婆的新年。然而，家中最后一位老人，88岁的爷爷，又突然病倒……
JIAN Yi, male, age 33, born and brought up in Ji’an, left for 15 years and came back in 2008 to set up this project. JIAN worked with Wu Wenguang on launching the China Villager Documentary Project and later produced documentary SUPER, GIRLS! and narrative feature BAMBOO SHOOTS. JIAN documented his New Year as a member of the local community. JIAN’s dad’s mom passed away in mid-2008 and his other grandma passed away right before the New Year so the family had to stick together for the funeral and also for the reason that they were not supposed to visit others’ houses during the New Year due to the death of their family member. For the first time, the family had to celebrate a New Year without the grandmas. But, then, the last first generation member, Grandpa, also fell ill….
090306五Fri.2009过年2009 My New Year No.4
李艺泓，男，17岁，家住农村，井冈山大学大一学生，第一次使用DV。年前奶奶去世，家里忙乱，没有机会拿到DV机器拍摄。后来，表哥送了一台旧DV，马上开始拍摄。从来没有拍摄过，凭着直觉去拍自己的村子，还有以前中学的补习班。去年没有考上大学的同学，现在还在书堆里面“自强不息”，不过，宿舍仍旧还是蛮好玩的，比大学宿舍有活力。
LI Yihong, male, age 17, born and brought up in the countryside, freshman of Jinggangshan University, first-time DV user. LI’s grandma passed away before the New Year and the family was occupied with the funeral. After that, LI’s cousin gave him a used DV camera as a gift and LI started his first shooting in his village soon based on his intuition. He also went to visit his former classmates who failed to go to college and were now back in the high school classroom cramming for the upcoming exams. The atmosphere in the dorm was still familiar.
090305四Thur.2009过年2009My New Year III
肖齐平，男，33岁，中学教师、环保人士、项目组织者之一，以前用DV拍摄过一些环保素材。这是第一次尝试拍摄自己的生活。去年爸妈从郊区养猪场搬来城里住，全家第一次在城里一起过年、弟弟也要在新年期间结婚。
XIAO Qiping, male, age 33, high school teacher, environmentalist, one of the founders of the project. XIAO used DV to document environment issues before. This is his first project documenting his own life. Last year, XIAO’s parents moved to live in the city from the outskirts, where they had raised pigs for decades. For the first time, the whole family celebrated their New Year together in the city and XIAO’s brother’s wedding was also about to take place.
090304三Wed.《2009过年》2009 My New Year No.2
邵大央，男，74岁，中学退休语文教师，第一次使用DV。不公平的待遇使得退休的老人们年前去有关部门上访。春节期间，去老伴的哥哥家拜年，不得不面对哥哥的伤心事情。
SHAO Dayang, male, age 74, retired high school Chinese language teacher. First time DV user. Unfair treatment brought the retired teachers to the office of the education authorities. During the New Year, SHAO and his wife went to visit her brother and were confronted with the grave reality.
090303二Tue.《2009过年》1《2009 My New Year》1
青原社民间记录工作室和井冈山大学人文记录中心2008年底创办于毛泽东革命诞生地江西吉安，专注于独立影像，保存民间记忆。
《2009过年》每部短片片长10分钟，共计50分钟。4部为DV格式，1部为HDV格式拍摄。
今天和今后几天，我们讲在此博客上分享五名社区影像作者和作品简介以及作品剧照
肖爱兰，女，21岁，吉安农村长大，大学毕业，深圳供职，08年经济危机后返乡，第一次接触DV影像。回到吉安后在城里帮哥哥照看他的电脑店，春节回到村里。没有想到DV机器还可以拍照，生活有了很多乐趣。胡锦涛总书记今年在井冈山过年。大家边看电视新闻边聊天。大年初一，一场瑞雪，年轻人都很兴奋。朋友结婚，几个女孩子边走边商量怎么送礼。
Founded at the end of 2008 in Ji’an of Jiangxi, known as the cradle of China’s Maoist revolution, IFCHINA Original Studio for the Future and the Participatory Documentary Center at Jinggangshan University focus on promoting independent documentary-making and preserving individual and communal memories.
Each of the five shorts, under the same title 2009 My New Year, runs for 10 minutes. Four were shot on DV-PAL, one on HDV.
Today and in the next few days, we will share on this blog brief bios and synopses of the five community filmmakers and their films as well stills from their respective film:
XIAO Ailan, female, age 21, born and brought up in rural Ji’an, college graduate, had briefly worked in the prosperous coastal city of Shenzhen before coming back to town amid the economic crisis. First time digital video (DV) user. She helps her brother managing his small computer store in town. Went back to her home village during the New Year. The DV camera brings joy to life. When President Hu Jintao spent his New Year at this area, XIAO and her family chatted about the news while it was on TV. Ji’an was covered with snow on the New Year’s Day and the young folks were excited to see it. On their way to a friend’s wedding, XIAO and her girlfriends discussed their gifts.
090302一Mon.编辑Editing
把自己的两台电脑搬到办公室，一个简陋的后期编辑工作室就这么建立起来了。目前，我们没有一分钱资助，项目的运转仍然靠我们自己掏腰包。目前只能这样，希望《2009过年》系列纪录片做好之后，能够让我们有些改善。
今天，社区导演之一邵老师完成了《2009过年》十分钟版本的粗编工作。73岁的邵老师是一名退休教师，现在是我们社区导演中年龄最长的一位。另一位导演22岁的肖爱兰则拍摄了14盘素材，今天也已经完成了相当一部分的编辑工作。她家住农村，拍摄的过年影像非常丰富。志愿者、青年导演李艺泓昨晚通宵在办公室编辑他的《2009过年》。肖和简分别拍摄的作品也即将编辑完成。五位作者分别编辑一个10分钟的短片。
Moved two of our own desktops to the new office and a simple postproduction editing room is thus complete. Up to this day, we have not secured any funding yet, so every cent we spent came from our own pocket, which is not very deep. We hope that after 2009 My New Year, our first documentary series, is completed, we will be able to convince some funders.
Today, Mr. Shao, one of our community filmmakers, has completed his ten-minute rough cut of his 2009 My New Year. 73-year-old Shao is a retired teacher and is the most elderly among us all. Another filmmaker, 22-year-old Xiao Ailan, has worked her way through the bulk of the 14 tapes of footage she took during her New Year. Xiao’s family lives in the countryside, so her footage shows a much richer content than ours. Li Yihong, one of our student volunteers and a young filmmaker, has spent his entire last night sitting in the office editing his footage. Douglas Xiao and Jian Yi too are both near the end of their rough cut. Each of the five filmmakers will edit a 10-minute version of their film.
090301日Sun.食堂University Canteen
090228六Sat. 厕所涂鸦Bathroom Graffiti
朋友在大学的女洗手间隔板上拍摄的涂鸦。显然，曾经有很多在这里如厕的人，利用这个公共空间真诚地探讨感情问题。
A friend took photos of these graffiti on the toilet walls in one of the university’s lady’s rooms. Apparently, many of the ladies who used this public sphere tried to seriously discuss issues of relationships and sex.
090227五Fri.学校橱窗 Window onto the Campus
看见这个橱窗，展示校园生活。
第一张照片是井冈山大学举办《喜迎奥运、热爱祖国》演讲比赛时候拍摄的。旁边写着“北京好，奥运好”和“激情飞扬”。
第二张照片是两名女孩在户外学习，标准的摆拍，底下写着“在知识的海洋里遨游”。
Saw this window display on campus life. The first photo was apparently taken during the “Happily Welcome the Olympics, Love Our Motherland” Campus Speaking Competition at Jinggangshan University. The captions read: “Hi Beijing, Hi Olympics” and “Exhilarating Passion.”
Below the second photo, in which two girls were apparently posing for the camera as reading, the caption reads: roaming in the sea of knowledge.
090226四Thur.板书Words on the Board
午饭时分，在井冈山大学的一间教室，发现了这块未擦的黑板。
Found this classroom at Jinggangshan University during lunch time. The words and sentences on the board, apparently left over from the last lecture in the morning, are (from left to right):
sovereignty, overflow, democracy and legal system
- Modern China – Society and Its Nature
- The Opium War: Year Zero of Modern China
- Semi-Feudal and semi-Colonial nature of the Chinese Society
(1) Basic characteristics of the Chinese semi-Feudal and semi-Colonial society
- Changing relations between the social classes
- Old classes were changing
- New classes were taking shape
- Principal conflicts in modern Chinese society and its place in history
Semi-colony, self-protection, heresy, culture genes, Feudalistic, Man and Nature are one, conventional thoughts, ceding land, Lulin Uprising
090225三Wed.《2009过年》第一次编辑会1st Editing Workshop
A found food package bearing the brand name: China Ox (or Awesome)
今天晚上在办公室分享了《2009过年》四位社区导演拍摄的素材。加上志愿者李艺泓同学在假期期间得到一台二手DV机器，也拍摄了一些素材，总共这一期作品将会有五部。这些作品将送往今年春季在云南举办的《云之南》纪录片节。
Tonight we shared footage shot by four community filmmakers on their New Year. In addition, Li Yihong, one of the Project’s student volunteers, received a second-hand DV camera as a gift during the vacation and was also able to film part of his New Year celebration. So in total we are expecting five docs for our first series. These works shall be sent to this year’s YunFest, coming soon in a month.
090224二Tue.“欢乐欢乐中国年” “Happy Happy Chinese New Year”
在大街小巷里经常听到一首歌。调子很俗媚的那种。其它记不住，只记得其中反复的一句：“欢乐欢乐中国年”。
不知道从什么时候开始，我们开始歌唱自己的“中国年”（Chinese New Year）。我只知道我过的是新年，是“年”，不是什么“中国年”。我们祖祖辈辈都是这么过的，他们没有认为自己过的是什么“中国年”。只有一边过着年，心里还惦着西方人怎么瞅自己的人才会沉迷于“中国年”这样的说话，居然还把它唱出来，唱出来还满大街放。听起来是“爱国”，其实是中国人自己生硬长出西方的眼睛来看自己，刻到骨子里的自我种族歧视。
英语里把他们下的国际象棋叫做象棋，咱们的象棋叫做“中国象棋”。照这样下去，“中国年”过多了的我们会不会有一天也学着他们叫呢？于是有一天，我们在自己城市的街头，看见两位白发苍苍的“中国老人”在街头下着“中国象棋”，心里面居然涌上一阵莫名的感动。
自从名模吕燕国际扬名之后，一些人就开始骄傲于自己的“东方面孔”了。看似终于“自信”了，其实，心里头稀罕的还是西方人的看法，还是用西方人的眼睛来看自己。
Streets of all kind have been haunted with a song of a sweetened and greasy tune. I cannot remember anything of this song but this line: happy happy Chinese New Year.
Not sure when we Chinese started to sing about our Chinese New Year. For me, I celebrate my New Year, not my “Chinese New Year.” Neither did our ancestors ever thought that they celebrated their “Chinese New Year”. Only those Chinese who celebrate their New Year while always bearing in mind how Westerners view us will celebrate the term “Chinese New Year” and even go on to put it in tune and sing it loud all over the nation. They make us believe they are patriotic jerks, but they are actually a bunch of reverse racists, indulging themselves in an artificial Western eye.
In English, they call what we call International Chess “Chess” and our chess “Chinese Chess.” Could there be soon one day, as we are getting used to our Chinese New Year syndrome, when we too also adopt these terms in Chinese?
Since Lv Yan, the Chinese super model, made her name internationally, some of us began to take pride in our “Asian facial features.” It looks like our self-confidence is growing. But in nature, it’s still all about the West, about how the West sees us, about seeing us through a Western lens.
090223一Mon.流动广告Walking Ads
一队人，往往穿着制服，有时候敲锣打鼓，拎着一个长条幅，招摇过市。吉安街上经常有这样的流动广告。纽约的街头也有很多的活广告──街角某个地方，一个人，或举着一个牌子，或将两个牌子串起来，望脖子上一挂，前后各一块，上面写着某个餐馆的名字。印象比较深的是第六大道上著名的IFC影院旁边的Subway（赛百味）快餐厅外，穿着Subway标志性绿色衣服举着绿色牌子的拉美男子。第一次看到这样的流动广告是11年前在伦敦街头。街上经常碰到有男子脖子上挂着硕大的牌子，牌子上写着新上映的电影的名字，吸引大家去他们家影院看片。第一次看到这个还是蛮新鲜的，因为他们挂着牌子的样子让我想起文革时期的批斗。我想他们的流动广告可能也是打擦边球吧。在街上立户外广告肯定得花钱，那我挂着广告在人行道上呆着，不碍谁事，你总不能驱赶我。就好像在欧美，公众场所可以拍摄，这是他们的逻辑。
吉安的流动广告还是蛮有中国特色的。一是人多势众，劳动力便宜，这是国情，在英美要弄这么些人来，（而且是站在马路上抛投露脸的，相对低廉的非法移民干不了）老板可是负担不起的。二是，锣鼓喧天，讲究一个热闹、红火。三是，吉安的流动广告那是真流动，满大街地走，不敢停留，九成是怕城管管，这更是国情。在这里你挂一广告在街上呆几分钟，城管就嗅着了。就好像在我国，公众场所不允许拍摄。这是我们的逻辑。
Carrying a long piece of banner, a team of folks, often in weird uniforms, and with deafening gongs and drums, sails its way through the main streets. This kind of walking ads is so common that has almost become part of Ji’an’s daily scene. In NYC too one often finds similar walking ads in the street — sometimes it is a man holding a panel high, some other times it is two pieces of plates hanging down from a guy’s neck — both with ads on the panel/plate. I well remember the Hispanic Subway (chain fastfood diner) guy wearing signature Subway green not far from the IFC Center on the 6th Ave. The first time ever I saw such ad was eleven years ago in London, where I often bumped into guys with plates (written the name of the new movie that was on) hanging down from their neck, trying to attract people to their cinema. Back then it was a novel experience for me to see this, because these images reminded me of the Culture Revolution, when people were forced to wear plates written with their names and political “crimes” when they were criticized and denounced in public meetings. I guess the sponsors of these walking ads were trying to avoid the good amount of money they otherwise would have to pay for outdoor ads installed in the street. “I’m just a guy hanging out on the pavement with this plate on my neck” — this is their justification. It’s like in the West, one can film in a public space.
Ji’an’s walking ads have a strong taste of Chinese characteristics. For one, there’s always a good number of people in the team who holds the banner — labor is cheap here. In NYC, it does not make sense to hire so many people for such a purpose. For another, the cheerful noise created by the gongs and drums. For yet another, the walking ads here literally walk all over the place. They do not stay at any one place because they do not have the guts to, unless they have paid or are well-connected with the notorious and fierce urban management officers, who have a very good sense of smell. It’s like in this country, one cannot film in a public place — this is our rational. China’s.
090215日Sun 今日起休博一周 This Blog is Suspended for a Week from Today
090214六Sat.老影院Old Cinema
090213五Fri.蜂Bees
090212四Thur.春情 Yes, It’s Seasonal
090211三Wed.发展 Development
a photo taken when first arrived back on 2008-10-17日刚回来拍摄的照片
最近拍的，离上一张拍摄时间相差几乎四个月a photo taken recently, almost four months after the first photo was taken
090210二Tue.春天Spring
远离北京的沙尘暴，春天原来也可以很美好。
Far beyond the reach of Beijing’s sand storm, Spring too can be very pleasant.
090209一Mon.元宵Lantern Festival
做元宵making festival food
孔明灯flying lanterns
090208日Sun. 拼音 Pinyin
在医院发现这个绿板夹。看看你能否读懂上面的字：
ZHONGHUASUL IAOBANJIA
Zhi Liang Di Yi Gu Ke Zhi Shang
Sheng Yi Xing LongNian Nian You Yu
……
没有一个汉字。净是些罗马字母。初看时还以为是用哪个欧洲国家语言写就的（因为一看这几行字肯定不是英语）。再看时才知道是拼音。想起以前经常在街上看到一些店名、标语什么的也用拼音来写。比如“诗婷小吃店”底下写着“ Shiting Xiao Chi Dian”。拼音Shiting（诗婷）看起来像极了英文的“shitting”（拉屎）。又比如“建设社会主义新农村”，底下写着“jianshe shehui zhuyi xin nongcun”等。
在我国，懂拼音的几乎一定懂汉字。懂汉字的却不一定懂拼音。懂汉字的人比懂拼音的人要多得多。没有汉字的辅助，即便懂拼音的人往往很难知道一大堆拼音代表的具体是哪几个字。那么，为什么非要用拼音来表达呢？用几句成语来说就是，为什么非要多此一举，画蛇添足，脱了裤子放屁呢？两种可能性：
一、替国家推广“汉语拼音方案”。
二、堆砌几个罗马字，使自己的产品或者店面看起来比较“洋气”。
第一种可能性并不是特别大。毕竟，现在是商业社会，国家又不给补贴，这些私营企业犯不着为了高尚的拼音推广事业，将大部分不懂拼音的人拒之门外。毕竟和推广产品比起来，推广拼音算不上什么。第二种可能性就比较好理解了。毕竟，有几个罗马字母在上面，东西看起来还是比较洋气的。
以下是绿板夹拼音的汉字翻译：
中华塑料板夹
质量第一顾客至上
生意兴隆年年有余
Found this green board in a local hospital. At first, thought the lines were written in one of the European languages other than English. After a second look, I realized that actually the Roman letters were actually Pinyin, the Chinese phonetic system which we use to mark the sound of Chinese characters. It reminds me of some name boards or slogans I have seen before in the street. For instance, “Shiting Xiao Chi Dian” written below the original Chinese characters they present. Shiting, actually is the sound of two Chinese characters “shi,” meaning poetry, “ting,” meaning a good physical figure. The entire thing means “a diner named Shiting.” Another slogan reads “jianshe shehui zhuyi xin nongcun,” written below the Chinese original phrase which means Constructing New Socialist Villages.
In this country, people must be educated to learn pinyin and so those who read pinyin at all must almost always read Chinese characters. But not everyone who can read Chinese can read pinyin. There are far more people who can read Chinese than those who can read pinyin. Even if one can read pinyin, it is usually still very difficult for one to comprehend the sentence because many words share the same sound. Therefore, why taking all the trouble of writing in pinyin at all? Two possibilities:
- Help the state educate people of pinyin.
- By assembling whatever Roman letters one can find, one can make their names or slogans more “exotic” and chic.
The first possibility is not very convincing, because now the market economy rules that the private businesses must attract as many customers as possible. So it is highly unlikely that they will take the personal risk of putting off customers who do not read pinyin for the sake of promoting pinyin. Promoting pinyin is nothing compared with promoting their own business. The second possibility on the contrary is quite convincing because with a few Roman letter around the board does acquire a certain degree of exoticism. Below is the translation of what is written on the green board in the picture above (with all typos included):
CHINA-BRANDEDPLA STICCLIPBORAD
Quality First Customer First
Booming BusinessMore to Spare Every Year
090207六Sat.2000年樟树A 2000-year-old Cinnamomum camphora (L.) Presl.
这是一棵位于吉安市安福县的樟树。树龄2000年。是江西省树龄和胸围第二的樟树。
This tree, whose biological name is Cinnamomum camphora (L.) Presl., if this makes any sense to you at all, is of a kind very commonly seen in this part of the country. This particular one, however, is very unusual because it is believed to be 2,000 years old, making itself the second oldest and fattest Cinnamomum camphora (L.) Presl. tree in the province.
090206五Fri.婚礼Weddings
今天据说阳历阴历都是双号，于是有很多的婚礼。
We have many weddings today, because it is said that today is an even-numbered date on both the lunar and solar calendar.
090205四Thur.八荣八耻 Eight Prides & Eight Shames
街上随处可见的宣传牌。左边写着这些年最重要的精神文明指导原则、国家主席、中共中央总书记胡锦涛提出的“八荣八耻”。号召全体民众“牢固树立八荣八耻社会主义荣辱观”。“八耻”中的最后一条是“以骄奢淫逸为耻”。右边是一个黄金首饰的金行的广告。这个广告牌署名是“精神文明办公室”宣。
An outdoor advertising board commonly seen in the street. The left side of the board is occupied by the “Eight Prides and Eight Shames,” the most important national ideological guidelines of recent years, initially proposed by Hu Jintao, Chinese President and Communist Party leader, who advocates to the whole nation that they should “firmly uphold the EPES Socialist views on pride and shame.” The last Shame of the eight is “feel ashamed in luxury, lustfulness and laziness.” The right hand side of the board is an ad for a local firm for luxuries. The last line of the board reads: propagated by the city’s “Spiritual Civilization Office.” Below is a literal translation of the EPES.
以热爱祖国为荣、以危害祖国为耻，
Take pride in loving Motherland, feel ashamed in jeopardizing it.
以服务人民为荣、以背离人民为耻，
Take pride in serving the people, feel ashamed in turning one’s back to the people.
以崇尚科学为荣、以愚昧无知为耻，
Take pride in upholding Science, feel ashamed in being stupid and ignorant.
以辛勤劳动为荣、以好逸恶劳为耻，
Take pride in hardworking, feel ashamed in loving leisure and hating work.
以团结互助为荣、以损人利己为耻，
Take pride in uniting and helping others, feel ashamed in being selfish.
以诚实守信为荣、以见利忘义为耻，
Take pride in being honest and credible, feel ashamed in forgetting justice when seeing profits.
以遵纪守法为荣、以违法乱纪为耻，
Take pride in being disciplined and law-abiding, feel ashamed in breaking the law and disciplines.
以艰苦奋斗为荣、以骄奢淫逸为耻。
Take pride in struggling in hardship, feel ashamed in luxury, lustfulness, and laziness.
090204三Wed.立春Arrival of Spring
今天凌晨回到吉安。回来时候，听见鞭炮声声。不是欢迎我们回来。而是欢迎春天回来。今天立春。
据说，立春的那一刻 — 必须是那一刻，早一秒、晚一秒都不行 — 能够把鸡蛋在桌上立起来。我们试了一下，不行。可能，没有赶上春宵那一刻吧。
We arrived back at Ji’an at mid-night. When we were just about to hit home, we heard lots of fireworks — not to welcome us back, but to welcome the coming back of Spring. Today is the Arrival of Spring in lunar calendar.
It is said that at the very moment of the arrival of Spring — not a sec earlier or later — one can erect eggs upright on the table. We tried it, but failed. Supposedly, we missed that very moment of Spring.
JYmSL
090127二Tue.本博主休假 Oops, The Blogger is on Vacation Leave.
我们今天到达广州，需要在这里两周左右。因此，接下来两周里，这个关于吉安的博客将不定期更新，无法再做到每日更新。祝大家过年好！
We arrived in Guangzhou today, where we will spend the next two weeks or so. During this period, we will update this blog only periodically, rather than keep it updated on a daily basis like we did in the past three months.
JYmSL
090126一Mon.新年快乐 Happy New Year!
今天是农历新年。吉安下雪了。祝大家新年快乐！
It is lunar New Year today. It started snowing last night. Wish everybody a great year to come!
JYmSL
090125日Sun.过年─主席来访Chinese New Year-the President Is In Town
今天是大年三十除夕。这些天，市区主要街道和桥梁都挂上了大红灯笼、树上也缠满了银色灯泡。感觉很新鲜。以前过年好像不是这样的。另外一个感觉有点浪费，因为大白天的，树上的灯泡也都亮着。今晚看新闻才知道，中共中央总书记、中央军委主席、国家主席胡锦涛这两天在井冈山过新年。难怪吉安城张灯结彩的…… 下面转载一下通讯社对胡总书记访问井冈山地区的统一报道。建议将该报道编入小学生作文教材。
Today is the New Year’s eve on the lunar calendar. These days, we found many of the main streets are decorated with red lanterns, many trees with silver bulbs — all these look very novel to people living here. Also it looks wasteful too, because the bulbs are on even during the broad sunlight. We found out in the news tonight that Mr. Hu Jintao, General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, Chairman of the Central Military Committee, and President of the country, is going to spend his Chinese New Year on Mt. Jinggangshan tomorrow. No wonder Ji’an is putting up all these make-ups. Below is a literal translation of the official report of the visit, which must be adopted by all media in the nation. Second graders would feel insulted if you would say that the report was written no better than a second grade essay. The reason I am using literal translation is to give English readers a taste what level of language we have to put up with on a hourly basis in the mainstream official media.
中新网1月25日电 中央电视台消息，中华民族传统节日春节到来之际，革命圣地井冈山到处张灯结彩，洋溢着喜庆祥和的气氛。1月24日至25日，农历腊月二十九和除夕，中共中央总书记、国家主席、中央军委主席胡锦涛在江西省委书记苏荣和省长吴新雄等陪同下来到井冈山市，亲切看望慰问革命老区干部群众，代表党中央向全国各族人民致以节日的问候和新春的祝福。China News Agency Network, Jan. 25. China Central TV news, as the Chinese nation’s traditional festival Spring Festival is around the corner, divine revolutionary place Mt. Jinggangshan has been decorated with lights and colors all over the place and is bathing in a happy and peaceful air. Between Jan. 24 and 25, which is the last two days before the lunar New Year, Chinese Communist Party Secretary General, State Chairman, [Chinese Communist Party] Central Military Committee Chairman Hu Jintao, accompanied by Su Rong, [Party] Secretary of Jiangxi Province and Wu Xinxiong, Jiangxi governor, goes to Jinggangshan City, where he visits, in an amiable manner, cadres and [revolutionary] people of the revolutionary base. On behalf of the Party’s Central Committee, he speaks to the people of all ethnicities in China festival greetings and New Year blessings.
井冈山革命斗争时期，气势雄伟的黄洋界是著名的五大哨口之一。红军曾在这里凭借险要地形，以不足一营的兵力，打退了敌人四个团的进攻，取得了黄洋界保卫战的胜利。胡锦涛登上黄洋界，瞻仰了哨口营房、战壕、炮台等革命旧址，并向黄洋界保卫战胜利纪念碑敬献了花篮，深切缅怀革命先辈的丰功伟绩。During Jinggangshan’s revolutionary struggle period, lofty Huangyangjie is one of the famed guarding passes. Red Army, with less than a barrack, making good use of the perilous hills, defeated four of enemy’s regiments, achieved the victory of Huangyangjie Defense Battle. Hu Jintao climbed to Huangyangjie, paid a tribune to old revolutionary venues like old army camps, trenches, cannons, etc. He presented flower baskets to the monument of Successful Huangyangjie Defense Battle and recalled deeply the tremendous accomplishment of the revolutionary fathers.
在参观井冈山革命博物馆时，胡锦涛看望了老红军、红军后代和劳动模范代表，向大家表示诚挚的慰问。总书记紧紧拉着4位90多岁的老红军的手，关切地询问他们的身体和生活情况。总书记还一一了解了几位劳动模范的工作和生活情况。While visiting the Jinggangshan Revolutionary Museum, Hu Jintao visits Old Red Army [soldiers], Offsprings of Red Army [soldiers] and representatives of Model Workers and greets them in sincerity. The Secretary General tightly holds the hands of four 90-ish Old Red Army [soldiers] and asks with great concerns their health and life conditions. The Secretary General asks each of the Model Workers their working and living conditions.
随后，胡锦涛同老红军、红军后代和劳动模范代表围坐在一起，亲切地交谈起来。After that, Hu Jintao sits together with Old Red Army, Offsprings of Red Army and representatives of Model Workers in a circle and converses in a fondly manner.
老红军程建强、谢元珍和全国劳动模范黄又卿等纷纷表示，感谢党和政府对自己的关心，感谢总书记专门前来看望。他们由衷地说，这些年来，每当遇到困难，中央领导同志总是来到第一线，给全国人民以极大鼓舞。相信在党中央坚强领导下，我们一定能取得新的更大成就。Old Red Army Cheng Jianqiang, Xie Yuanzhen and National Model Worker Huang Youqing, etc., expresses one after another that they thank the Party and the government for their concerns, thank the Secretary General for taking this special trip to visit them. They speak in sincerity that in all these years, whenever there is difficulty, [Party] Central Committee leading comrades always come to the forefront, give people of the whole nation tremendous encouragement. [They] believe that under the strong leadership of the Party Central Committee, we are bound to accomplish even more greatly.
节前是群众置办年货的高峰期，胡锦涛特意前往井冈山市绿滋肴超市，实地了解节日市场情况。超市里各种商品琳琅满目，采购年货的人流熙熙攘攘。胡锦涛走到粮油、蔬菜、肉类、山货等销售点前，详细询问商品的价格、货源和质量等情况。The days before the festival are busiest shopping time for people. Hu Jintao pays a special visit to Lv Ziyao Supermarket at Jinggangshan City, where he asks of the market situations before the festival. The supermarket is full of all kinds of commodities and filled with crowds of shoppers. Hu Jintao goes to the selling points of staple food, oil, vegetables, meat and mountain specialities, and asks about the prices, sources and qualities of the commodities.
得知超市物价稳定、销售红火，胡锦涛十分高兴。他叮嘱超市工作人员，要根据顾客需要，丰富花色品种，稳定商品价格，严把商品质量，提供热情周到服务，让群众买到放心满意的节日用品，为扩大消费、拉动内需作出积极贡献。Knowing that the prices are stable and sales are hot in the supermarket, Hu Jintao is very happy. He requests the market staff to further extend their commodity variety based on the needs of the customers, to firm up the commodity prices, to strongly control the quality of the commodities, provide warm and considerate services so the [revolutionary] people can buy festival commodities that satisfy them and contribute positively to promote consumptions and domestic demands.
看到总书记，在场的群众纷纷簇拥过来，激动地向总书记问好。胡锦涛向他们挥手致意，给大家拜年。一时间，超市里真情涌动、暖意融融。Seeing the Secretary General is around, the [revolutionary] people at the spot crowds around and greets the Secretary General. Hu Jintao waves to them as a greeting and says Happy New Year. For that moment, the supermarket is overflew with genuine feelings and melting warmth.
胡锦涛十分关心节日期间的电力供应。在华能井冈山电厂，总书记考察了集控室和汽轮机房，详细了解企业生产经营、设备运行和节日期间供电情况。总书记向节日期间坚守的电力生产第一线的企业员工们表示亲切的慰问和衷心的感谢。胡锦涛说，群众生活一刻也离不开电，搞好春节期间的电力供应尤为重要。他希望电厂抓好安全生产，保障电力供应，让人民群众过一个亮堂、欢乐、祥和的春节。Hu Jintao is very much concerned with the power supply during the festival. At Huaneng Jinggangshan Power Station, Secretary General inspects the general control panel and the engine workshop, asks the details of the enterprises‘ production, sales, running of the equipment, and supply plan for the festival period. Secretary General gives his fondly greetings and heartfelt thanks to the staff and workers stuck to their forefront positions of power supply during the festival. Hu Jintao says the [revolutionary] people cannot live without power for one moment so it is important that they ensure power supply during the Spring Festival. He hopes that the plant will make sure that they produce safely, supply stably, and make sure [revolutionary] people live a bright, happy and peaceful Spring Festival.
农历除夕中午，胡锦涛前往位于井冈山麓的厦坪镇菖蒲古村，进村入户看望老区群众。During lunch time of the day before the New Year’s Day, Hu Jintao goes to Changpu Ancient Village of Xiaping Township at the foot of Mt. Jinggangshan. He goes into the village and household to visit [revolutionary] people of Old [Revolutionary] Base .
村口古樟树枝繁叶茂，村里家家户户装饰一新。大红的灯笼、吉祥的春联，把小小的山村装点得喜气洋洋。The ancient tree at the entrance to the village is flourishing and every household of the village is decorated like new. Big red lanterns, auspicious New Year antithetical couplets decorate the little mountain village with a happy atmosphere.
总书记来到村民吴建中家，在吴建中家的堂屋，胡锦涛同主人一家拉起家常。去年的收成怎么样？搞农家乐能赚多少钱？孩子在外地打工工作是不是稳定？The Secretary General comes to villager Wu Jianzhong’s household. In Wu Jianzhong’s living room, Hu Jintao chats household issues with the host. What was the income of last year? How much money can they earn out of running a Rural Family Happy (rural toursim) business? Are their children having stable jobs as migrant workers?
吴建中告诉总书记，他家搞的农家乐餐饮生意挺好，加上两个儿子一个在外地打工、一个在本地跑运输，去年一年全家收入超过了14万元。Wu Jianzhong tells the Secretary General that his Rural Family Happy dining business is doing fine, that one of his sons leaves the village and works as a migrant worker while the other works locally and runs a shipping business and that the entire household income last year was over 140,000.
听到这些，胡锦涛脸上露出欣慰的笑容。Hear these, Hu Jintao’s face shows a smile of gratification.
随后，总书记走进吴建中家的厨房，兴致勃勃地拿起锅铲，同主人一道炒栗子。胡锦涛还来到院子里，同主人一道推石磨，磨起了豆腐。吴建中端上一碗水酒，总书记高兴地品尝了一口。农家小院里传出阵阵欢声笑语。Afterwards, the Secretary General goes into Wu Jianzhong’s kitchen and happily takes up the stir-fry tool and fry chestnut with the host. Hu Jintao also goes into the yard and pushes the mill with the host to grind Toufu. Wu Jianzhong presents a bowl of water wine. The Secretary General happily has one sip. There from the rural yard comes out waves of laughters and happy words.
村口的小广场上，乡亲们有的在吹唢呐，有的在拉二胡，有的在跳扇舞，气氛十分热烈。On the little square at the entrance to the village, some villagers are blowing (Chinese clarinet) suo-na, some are playing er-hu (a two-stringed Chinese fiddle), some are dancing with fans, the atmosphere is fairly hot and exciting.
乡亲们激动地唱起了红军歌。胡锦涛被乡亲们质朴的歌声深深感染，同大家一道唱了起来。Villagers excitedly sing up Red Army songs. Hu Jintao, deeply infected by the plain songs of the villagers, starts to sing along with the others.
临别时，乡亲们拥到路边，送上一篮篮花生、年糕、红鸡蛋。胡锦涛向乡亲们挥手作别，再一次祝愿大家生活越来越富裕。At farewell, villagers throng to the roadside and present baskets of peanuts, New Year cakes, red eggs. Hu Jintao waves farewell to the villagers and again wishes them wealthier life still.
喜庆的鞭炮响了起来，热情的祝福声此起彼伏。五百里巍巍井冈，涌动着总书记与老区人民心心相印的浓浓情谊。Happy fireworks went out. Warm greetings one chases another. Flowing in the five-hundred-li (250 kilometers) of Jinggangshan is the heart-to-heart dense friendship between the General Secretary and the Old Base people.
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090124六Sat. 过年–宣传 Chinese New Year — Publicity
今天在市区发了500张传单。500张传单，500个人。假设有200个人转身或者回家之后把它丢进垃圾桶，200个人忘记了这件事情，那希望也有剩下100个吉安人会开始关注我们这个项目。
我们做这个项目就是希望它像吉安的樟树一样，长在这里，靠这里的土壤把它滋润养大。所以，我们最重要的参与者和支持者是吉安人自己。
当然，作为一个非盈利的项目，我们目前没有筹集到任何资助。纪录片拍摄活动只能依靠我们自己的投入在进行。选择在这个时候进行宣传，是因为知道过年期间，有很多在外学习工作的吉安人都会回到这座城市。这是一年当中惟一一次能把我们活动的信息传达给他们的机会。我们希望他们了解了我们项目之后，或许能够以不同的方式给与我们支持。比如，他们或许愿意给自己在吉安的父母、亲友买一台DV机器做为过年的礼物。
吉安电视台对我们项目的采访将安排在元宵前后进行。但是，那个时候，很多回家过年的同乡可能都已经离开了。
以下是我们希望宣传的信息：
We handed out 500 copies of literature today among crowds at the railway station and the downtown area. 500 hand-outs to 500 people. Suppose 200 of these 500 ended up throwing our hand-out into the trash bin right away or when they hit home, 200 others have already forgotten about it, there is still hope that the remaining 100 will in one way or another start to get to know us.
The reason? We want this project of ours to be like a tree of a truly local breed. We would like it to grow with nourishment of the local soil. Therefore, our most important participants and supporters cannot be anyone else but Ji’anese themselves.
Up till today, we have not yet mobilized any financial support for this non-profit project of ours. The community film production that is going on at the moment is financed by our money from our own pocket. The reason we are carrying out this community outreach at this moment is that we know it is the best time to reach out to many of the Ji’an “expatriates” (Ji’an natives who study, work or live elsewhere) who are back in town to visit the rest of their family. This is probably the only time in a year to send our message to them. We hope that after they get to know our project some of them might give us support as we move on. For instance, some of them might want to buy a digital video camera as a New Year gift for their parents or relatives.
Below is the message we are sending out to the community:
学会DV 学会摄影 记录生活 终身爱好
回家过年的吉安同乡：
如果你已经或者打算为自己家乡的亲友购买一台照相机或者DV摄像机, 却不知道怎么教你的亲友使用它们，请与我们联系。我们为吉安同乡提供完全免费的DV培训，我们的目的是希望培养一批用DV记录自己人生的社区导演。
- 我们是谁？
井冈山大学人文记录中心 及 青原社民间记录工作室──全国首家专门致力于参与式纪录片创作的非盈利艺术机构。创作理念是将摄像机和照相机交到普通人手里，让他们记录自己的生活。
- 我们在哪里？
《青原社民间记录》（www.artisimple.wordpress.com.cn）是第一个专心记录吉安人情生活的中英文双语博客，自从2008年10月13日至今，每天都有新的记录照片和文字。
- 我们现在做什么？
《2009过年》第一个吉安人过年的系列记录电影作品。四名普通的吉安人，最年长的70余岁、最年轻的21岁，拍摄自己过年。目前正在制作当中。
- 我们的组成？
本项目由吉安同乡、 井冈山大学特聘教授、 美国纽约新校大学（The New School）研究员、原北京广播学院讲师简艺先生（百度搜索：“简艺导演”）主持。艺术工作者小E、民间记录者肖齐平先生和井冈山大学人文学院、艺术学院、信息与传媒学院共同推动。
- 和我们联系：ifchinalab@gmail.com 电话：0796-8882118
简艺先生，生长于江西吉安。定居北京十余年。记录者、制作人。
井冈山大学特聘教授。
美国纽约新校大学（The New School）中印研究所研究员（2008－2010年）。
英国剑桥大学客座研究员（2007年）。
美国亚洲文化协会亚洲艺术家奖助金获得者（2008年）。往年的获奖者包括吴文光、郎朗、金星、陈凯歌、蔡国强等中国艺术家。
英国大使馆英国文化协会（British Council） 杰出青年电影英才年度人物中国区三名终选候选人之一（2007年）。
印度Osian’s Cinefan电影节南亚青年导演训练营导师。
2005年，与著名纪录人吴文光合作，创办中国村民影像计划，在全国招募十名村民，教他们拍摄纪录片和照片。村民们制作的纪录短片于2006年在中国中央电视台、中国教育电视台、中山大学、清华大学、英国剑桥大学、牛津大学、美国耶鲁大学、哥伦比亚大学、纽约大学、圣母大学、香港国际电影节、新加坡国际电影节、瑞士尼翁纪录片电影节等处放映。
写作、导演和监制故事片《冬笋》，2007年获加拿大31届蒙特利尔国际电影节铜天极奖和2008年西班牙巴塞罗纳亚洲电影节数字电影大奖。
导演纪录片《超级女生》将于2009年2月在享誉全球的纽约现代艺术馆（MoMA）、4月在美国历史最悠久的表演艺术中心布鲁克林音乐学院（BAM）公映。该片2007年正式入选英国27届剑桥电影节，并应邀于2008年在美国纽约大学(NYU)、新校大学、南加州大学（USC）、加州大学洛杉矶校区(UCLA)、加州艺术学院(CalArts)等处放映。
美国圣母大学(University of Notre Dame)国际和平专业硕士（1998年）、北京广播学院（现中国传媒大学）国际新闻专业硕士（1999年）、江西师范大学教育管理专业（1995年）。1991年9月－1993年6月在江西省吉安师范专科学校（现井冈山大学）就读（未毕业）。
1999年－2004年，北京广播学院讲师。2003－06年，为欧洲联盟与中国中央政府合作项目工作，任传媒专家、摄影师、制片人。后为多个欧洲联盟与中国中央政府合作机构（包括农村发展项目、能源项目和生物多样性项目）提供纪录片制片和传媒咨询服务。他的摄影作品曾经在全国七个省区和位于布鲁塞尔的欧洲委员会总部、斯特拉斯堡的欧洲议会总部大厦、欧洲委员会驻华代表团展览。
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090123五Fri.过年–谁的新年？Chinese New Year-Whose NY after all?
两只等待出售的小狗在寒冷的天气里相互依偎取暖。几天之后的新年里，他们即将成为某家人餐桌上的美食。
Two little dogs for sale huddle together in the cold wind. When the New Year arrives in a few days, they soon will become a great dish on the table of some families.
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090122四Thur.过年-脚踏车Chinese New Year-Vehicles
快过年了，附近农村的一些居民会来城里的菜市场做些小生意。下面是他们的一些交通工具。
As the Chinese New Year is around the corner, some farmers living in nearby villages come to trade in town. Here are some of the vehicles that get them here.
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090121三Wed.社区导演拍摄中Community Filmmakers in Action
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拍摄工作坊之后，两名社区导演加上两名组织者都开始了拍摄自己的春节。我们从外婆的葬礼开始拍摄。肖老师从全家人过小年开始拍摄。邵老师第一盘磁带拍摄的是老年人的一次活动。肖小姐拍摄的是从吉安城里回到家庭所在的村子的经过。
今天下午，我们去邵老师家里送给他十盘空白磁带，并且实地教他操作DV机器。之后，去文山市场记录肖小姐拍摄自己陪表弟买衣服的过程。
Since the last session of the production workshop, two of our community filmmakers plus two of the organizers have started filmming their Chinese New Year preparations. We started by filmming Grandma’s funeral; Douglas Xiao started his production by documenting their family reunion on the “Minor New Year’s Day,” a day that is a week ahead of the New Year. Mr. Shao, the 70-year-old gentleman, filmmed a gathering of his peers; Miss Xiao documented on her first video tape her experiences of going back to her home village.
This afternoon, we visited Mr. Shao at his home and gave him ten blank video tapes as a gift. We also tutored him on the spot. After that, we went on to visit and film Miss Xiao, who was filmming while helping her cousin shop for clothes.
090120二Tue.美发店 A Hairdresser
据称是吉安最上档次的美发店Said to be the fanciest hairdresser in Ji'an
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090119一Mon.迎接春运 A Warm Welcome
吉安火车站前 In front of the railway station
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090118日Sun.节日Festivity
09017六Sat.促销 Promotion
The banner reads: ”Auction: Cell Phones – Starting from 1 Yuan”
090116五Friday捡钱及《家》摄影作品一Found Money & “Home” Photo Project 1
圆圆 珍珍 和女主人王四英 Yuanyuan, Zhenzhen and hostess Wang Siying
以下是珍珍自己拍摄的自己家里的照片。珍珍以前从来没有拍摄过照片。Below are photos taken by Zhenzhen of her home. Never before has Zhenzhen taken any photos with her own hands.
生前反对火葬的外婆的肉身在今天中午被火葬了。为此，家里花钱租用了最贵的焚烧炉。火葬场共有三个炉子。最贵的那个炉子工作人员会多烧一会儿，而且保证在焚烧过程当中不会翻动尸身。而便宜的那两个呢，工作人员为了节省电费，会不断翻动尸身，以让它尽快燃烧成灰。
⋯⋯
最近总捡钱。两周前捡到50元，买了吃的给一名住在商场楼梯底部空当处的无家可归残疾老人。其中包括将钱给旁边的一个小吃摊，让他们接下来每日给该老人送一个热茶叶蛋。今天又捡到人民币200元整。由于捡钱地方是城市的较为贫困的地段，我们担心这钱是附近经济困难的居民无意中遗失的。对于这里的经济困难的居民来说，200元可以是一个月的生活费。
为了防止别人冒领，我们在捡钱地点附近打听的时候，假意说自己“丢钱”，问是否有人看见。如果我们询问的人是丢钱的人，一定会说她/他也有同样的遭遇。问的没有结果，决定将这200元钱送给捡钱处附近一家贫困的人家。
这户人家借住在一个拆迁了一半、空空如也的一幢旧楼的一层。女主人王四英，48岁，和年近70的同居男友带着10岁的女儿珍珍、丈夫弟弟9个月的女儿圆圆、家狗黑黑一起生活。王四英出生在附近一个农村，6岁丧母，7岁丧父，（“要是父母都在的话就会笑死”），10岁时候，摔断右手，至今残疾。以前有过一次婚姻，丈夫是个哑巴，婚后不久，王四英就因为残疾没有劳动能力被公婆赶出家门。十年前在河边的一个庙里面认识现在的同居男友。生女儿珍珍。珍珍是一个懂事的女孩，学习好，我们看见她在不断地帮母亲做家务。珍珍说自己在学校踢毽子得了三等奖、口算比赛得了一等奖、50米赛跑得了三等奖、跳远比赛得了一等奖。但是母亲王四英依然认为她“好吃懒做”。旁边一个老太太补充说：女孩子不要野，不要好吃。好吃的女孩子别人会认为不懂事，于是会不喜欢，边走边吃会被别人认为是叫花子，没规矩。好吃的女孩子容易上男人当。没有几个男人是好的，会害女孩子。好吃的女孩子最容易上当。
我们说珍珍的耳钉好看。王四英说，不好看，像鬼样。王四英希望自己早点死，生活这样，活着没有什么意思。他们家里绝大部分东西都是垃圾堆里面捡回来的，光钟就有6个，但是只有一个时间是正确的。她的男人在外面扫大街挣钱，一个月收入500元，但从来不给钱给她。（“世上哪有那么好的男人”[会给自己女人钱花]），除了购买柴米油盐之外，剩下的钱男人全部都买烟抽了。男人的弟弟两夫妻在外打工，将9个月大的女儿圆圆寄养在这里。我们在那里的时候，王四英正在给圆圆喂饭。一只成人用的大碗，里面用水泡者糙米，没有菜，没有油。圆圆长得像男孩。王四英认为，长的像男孩的女孩会将来会生男孩。她告诉我们，生男孩的人家里是祖宗有福。至于女人呢，则是嫁给好男人有福。
王四英认为我们是好人，原因是因为我们很“和气”，和他们说话，“看得起”她们。
我们现场教珍珍使用相机。珍珍接着拍摄了自己的家。在此分享几张珍珍拍摄的照片。
考虑到王四英无法掌握现金，我们去附近的超市为她和珍珍购买155元的生活必需品和学习的文具。另外拿出5元与剩下的45元一起放在红包里面给了珍珍，作为压岁钱。
Grandma, who strongly opposed cremation in her lifetime, was cremated this afternoon, two days after her death. The family paid for the most pricy cremator stove for this purpose. There are three cremator stoves in the crematorium. For those who pay more to have the dead body in the most expensive stove, the staff promise to burn the body for a longer time and would leave the body alone during the process. For those bodies that go into the other two cheaper stoves, the staff will keep turning the bodies so they can get burned to ash more quickly and the crematorium could save money on electricity in this way.
…
We have had the good fortune of finding cash on the street lately. Two weeks ago, we found 50 Yuan on the street. With this money, we bought food for an elderly, disabled gentleman who makes home at a space below the stairs of a supermarket. We used part of the money to pay a vendor nearby, so they can send a warm, cooked egg to this gentleman every day. Today, we again found 200 Yuan on the street. Knowing that the area is the de facto slum of the city, we were worried that the money might have belonged to someone who is really poor. For a financially disadvantaged person living in this city, 200 Yuan can be the total amount s/he can live on for an entire month.
Fearing that someone might fake a story in order to get the money, we went around by telling people that we actually “lost” some money and asking if they have seen it. We assumed that if the person we asked was the one who lost the 200 Yuan, s/he would surely tell us that s/he too had the same misfortune of losing money. Having found no one who responded in this way, we decided to give all this money to a poor family living close to the spot where we found the money.
This family we found lives on the first floor of a half-dismantled, deserted apartment building. The hostess bears the name of Wang Siying, age 48, lives with her 70-year-old boyfriend, 10-year-old daughter Zhenzhen (literally “dual precious”), 9-month-old niece Yuanyuan (“dual round”) and a dog Heihei (“dual black”). Siying was born in a nearby village. Her mom died when she was six and her dad died a year later. (“I would have laughed to death should my parents be alive.”) She broke her right hand when she was ten and has become permanently handicapped ever since. Siying had a marriage more than a decade ago. Her ex-husband is dumb. The marriage did not last long because her parents-in-law, unhappy about her disability, soon kicked her out of their home. Siying met her current boyfriend ten years ago in a temple near the river. After that they had their daughter, Zhenzhen. Zhenzhen is a good girl – hardworking with both school work and housework. While we were there, she was always busy with some house chore. Zhenzhen told us that she won many prizes in school: third in kicking shuttlecock contest, first in oral calculation, third in 50-meter dash, first in long jump. Her mother though still complains about her “laziness and gluttonousness .” An elderly lady who was sitting with the family at the moment added: Young girls should always remember that they must not be unrestrained or gluttonous. Gluttonous girls would be regarded by others as silly and would put people off. Eating while walking makes one look like a beggar or a rude person. Men always take advantage of gluttonous girls. It is hard to find a good man these days. Men always take advantage of girls when they can, and gluttonous girls are the most vulnerable.
We commented that Zhenzhen has some nice earrings. Siying, the mother, said, oh, no, they look like hell. Siying said she wanted to die as soon as possible, because her life is not worth living. Most of her stuff at home were found in the trash bins. They have six clocks, and only one of them works at all. Her man sweeps the streets for a monthly income of 500 Yuan (some 75 USD). He never gives her a cent. (“No man in this world gives money to his woman.”) Apart from buying house essentials, the man spends all the rest on smoking. The man’s brother and his wife both left the town to look for jobs, leaving the 9-month-old Yuanyuan to the couple. While we were there, Siying was feeding Yuanyuan with a big bowl of rice – sheer cooked rice with water, no oil, no nothing. Yuanyuan has a boyish look. Siying maintains that boyish looking girls will in the future bear male offsprings. Siying told us that couples who bear sons are blessed. As for women, their best blessing is to marry a good man. Siying thinks we are “good people,” on the ground that we are “nice” and that we even talked to them.
We taught Zhenzhen how to use a camera. Zhenzhen then used our camera to photograph her home. Here in this blog entry, we share some of her photos.
Knowing that Siying has no control of money in the family, we went to a nearby supermarket and bought some house essentials for the family and some stationary for Zhenzhen. By then, 155 of the 200 Yuan was gone. We took out 5 Yuan from our own pocket and added it to the remaining 45 to make it 50 and gave it to Zhenzhen in a red packet, as a New Year gift.
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090115四Thur.肉身 Death Control
昨天上午92岁高龄的外婆忽然去世了。外婆（见2008年12月31日博文）出生长大在吉安。吉安是毛泽东游击队“农村包围城市”所占领的第一座城市。那时候外婆才12岁。她在她的城市里面见到了游击队领袖毛泽东。站在路边看热闹的时候，进城的红军还邀请她加入。
外婆在资本主义社会长大，从来都不是一个无神论者。她反对火葬。外公26年前去世之后被土葬了，坟墓中给外婆预留了位置。那个时候国家还没有强制推行火葬。现在外婆去世了，可是我们家庭中没有人能够决定怎么埋葬她，因为根本就没有选择——国家规定所有去世的人的尸体必须火化——即便如外婆，有先前预留下来的土地，仍然需要将尸体先火化，再埋葬。而火葬场也是由当地政府特许的公司来经营。一般的人需要花钱将尸体在那里火化，然后将骨灰埋葬在该公司经营的公墓里面。据说，几名合伙人投资几千万元建的“回归园”一年后就收回了成本。之后，每一年的入项都上千万。
计划生育控制了生命的起点，计划火葬控制了人的终点。
外婆后事处理的帐单如下：
殡仪馆（火化、租用灵堂、购买炮仗等）费用：人民币3537元
请“八仙”（即八名负责抬棺和安葬的工人）安葬和修墓的费用：14000元
寿衣、帽、鞋、袜、被等：340元
草纸、香、炷、花圈等：325元
办完丧事之后请“八仙”等人员用餐费用：570元
购买香烟、白布等费用合计：1426.30元
Yesterday, just as we were arriving at Hong’an, my 92-year-old grandma passed away. Grandma (see blog entry on Dec. 31 of 2008)was born and brought up in Ji’an. Ji’an was the first city captured by Mao Zedong’s rural guerilla in 1920s, when Grandma was only 12. Grandma saw Mao in her city and was encouraged to join when the guerilla passed by her on the street.
Grandma grew up in a Capitalist China and had never been a atheist. She opposed cremation. Grandpa was buried in a normal tomb when he died 26 years ago and a connecting space was reserved for Grandma. Back then, cremation was not yet forced upon all dead citizens of the country. Now that Grandma died, nobody in our family can possibly decide how to dispose her body – because there was simply no choice – the state law dictates that all dead bodies must be cremated, even if one has already a space reserved from a long time ago, like my Grandma did, and then have the ashes buried. The funeral home and its crematorium are monopolized by a private company that has obtained a special approval from the local government. Normally, the relatives would have the dead body cremated before burying its ashes into a tomb space bought from the same company. The Homecoming Garden, the local crematorium, is owned by a few partners who got back their multimillion Yuan investment only one year after its opening and has continued to bring multimillion Yuan of financial returns on a yearly basis.
The one-child policy controls people before the birth. The forced cremation controls people after their death.
Below is the list of spending on Grandma’s funeral (in RMB, 100 RMB=65 USD).
Funeral home spending (cremation, rental of funeral space, purchase of fireworks): 3,537
Wages for the “Eight Immortals” (i.e. eight workers who carry the and bury the coffin) and cost for rebuilding the tomb and making the tomb stone, etc.: 14,000
Costs for clothing to be put on the dead body: 340
Costs for the paper money, incense, wreath, etc.: 325
Cost of a banquet for the Eight Immortals after they have done their work: 570
Miscellaneous (including cigarettes, cloth, etc.): 1,426.30
JYmSL
090114三Wed.卡特总统 President Carter
今天下午在红安为卡特中心拍摄卡特总统的访问。现场有很多的中美安保人员和中国记者。记者们争抢的时候毫不留情。因为我们是为卡特中心工作，因此格外受到照顾，卡特总统所在的所有地点都可以进行拍摄。在此先放上一张卡特总统与村民的合影、卡特访问“新农村”医务室外(可以看到众多的随行和安保人员)的图片以及村子的照片。
卡特来华是为了庆祝中华人民共和国和美国建交30周年。卡特执政时政绩平平，卸任后一直致力于推动全球公平选举和给穷人建房，有说法说卡特执政一般，但是美国最了不起的一个前总统。中美建交是卡特在任时候做的一件大事。卡特这次访问红安小村子，是应现任中国对外友好协会副会长、前国家主席李先念女儿李小琳之邀访问李先念的故居。行程如下：今天下午2点半从武汉到红安县高桥镇李先念故居。访问医务室、一家农户、李先念故居、李先念纪念馆、贵宾室休息、发表演讲、茶室吃点心、返回武汉。
我们提前一天到高桥。在李小琳会长的努力下，李先念出生的小村子如今已经变成了一个社会主义新农村。新型住房去年建成，国家投资大部分，农民出小部分。我们住在其中一家农户家里。这家农户姓李，据说爷爷和李先念是亲戚。李先生家有一辆新买的别克轿车，还在磨合期。李先生靠承包李先念纪念馆一些相关工程挣了一些钱。另一部分收入来自于接待工作。我们住在他家二楼的两间卧室中，每人每晚住宿加早餐收费人民币100元整，每个房间有两张床，相当于每房间每晚加早餐200元。据说，来这里红色旅游加革命教育的公务员都会在这里住一晚上。
吃午饭前，这个村的村委会主任来李先生家玩。韩主任自称50多岁了，但长相只有40，怕我们不信，他还给我们看他的身份证。韩主任说，邀请卡特总统来这里访问，对于村子将来发展旅游业有很大的帮助，是村子发展经济的一个重要契机。为此，身在北京、心系家乡的李会长做出了重要贡献。当然，年愈80、千里迢迢赶来此地的卡特未必能想到这么一层。
韩主任还主动告诉我们，他今天下午要“扮演”另外一个人。为了向卡特总统展示社会主义新农村的新面貌，政府和村里特意选了一个家里“卫生条件”比较好的家庭让老人家参观。但是，“遗憾的是”，这家人家老人尚在，可是儿子却有些残疾，恐怕卡特总统看了不舒服，而且和新农村的样子不太和谐，于是决定由这位村委会主任来“扮演”这个儿子，接待总统并介绍情况。
下午，我们果真看见这位主任的扮相，说实话，还是很不错的。可能习惯了向领导汇报情况，主任出口就是一长串政治正确的词汇。遗憾的是，翻译同志并没有完全翻译，最后到卡特耳朵里的，只有很简单的一些内容。
Representing the Carter Center, we documented former US President Carter’s visit to Hong’an this afternoon. There were heavy security and many Chinese reporters on the spot. Reporters were very competitive. We were lucky to be the only ones to get to all venues where President Carter was present, thanks to our connection with the Carter Center. Here in this blog, we share one photo of President Carter with villagers, one taken outside the village health clinic when President Carter was visiting its inside (You can see many associates and security staff.), and one of the village itself.
Carter was visiting China to mark the 30th anniversary of the formal establishment of diplomatic relations between the People’s Republic of China and the U.S. While he was not a remarkable president when he was an incumbent, President Carter has remarkable accomplishments as a former president as a prominent world leader in championing fair elections and housing for humanity worldwide. Carter’s visit to this small Hong’an village was an achievement on the part of Ms. Li Xiaolin, vice president of the Chinese Friendship Association and daughter of late Chinese president Li Xiannian. The village President Carter visits was the village where Li Xiannian was born and brought up. Here’s President Carter’s itinerary: arriving at Li Xiannian Library at 2:30 pm, dropping in at the village health clinic, visiting a villager’s household, Li Xiannian former residence, Li Xiannian Library, giving a speech, eating snacks at the tea house, returning to Wuhan at around 4:30 pm.
We arrived at the village one day before Mr. Carter did. The village, where late President Li was born and brought up, has grown into a “new Socialist village,” thanks to Li’s daughter, Xiaolin. New households were completed last year, with the bulk of the investment from the state budget. We stayed with a family, who turned two of their bedrooms into double-bed B&B rooms, where visitors can stay. They charge RMB 100 Yuan per person bed plus breakfast. We were told that many civil servants who are sent here to receive “revolutionary education” stay with one of such families for one night or two. Mr. Li, our host, owns a new Buick car. He earned his money out of construction contracts with the Li Xiannian Library.
During lunch time, a Mr. Han, came to visit Mr. Li. Mr. Han, in his 50s but looking 40, is the director of the democratically elected village committee, which runs the village affairs. Director Han explained to us how President Carter’s visit to this little village would potentially boost its tourist industry and thus economy in general. To make this possible, Madame Li Xiaolin, who is based in her Beijing office but is dedicated to the well-being of her father’s home village, has had great contributions. Of course, though, Mr. Carter, who came from afar, might not necessarily realize his own contribution.
Director Han went on to tell us that he himself was going to be an “actor” this afternoon. In order to show Mr. Carter the best side of the New Socialist Village campaign, the local government and the village have selected the most “sanitary” household for our famous American friend to visit. But, “regretfully,” the elderly lady who lives in the household has only a handicapped son, whose disability, the selecting committee fears, might make Mr. Carter feel uncomfortable, and might look too ugly to fit into the idea of a Socialist harmonious society. Therefore, our Director Han, who is both quite abled and capable, was selected to “play” the son of the family and to brief the former president of village life.
This afternoon, we were quite impressed with the seamless acting skills of Director Han. Director Han, having been used to reporting to higher officials, was extremely skillful in churning out words of the highest politically correct level. The only regret might be that our interpreter did not get all of those fabulous wordings through to the ear of Mr. Carter.
JYmSL
090113二Tue.红安Hong’an
红安原名黄安，因为出的“红色”将军多，故改名。和吉安一样，红安是老革命根据地，两个“安”在近代历史上都远不安宁，无数生命消失在内战中。如今，如同吉安，红安也期望“红色旅游”能够给它带来政治上和经济上的利益。但是，远没有吉安幸运，红安无论是知名度还是“开发”力度，都远不如吉安及井冈山。或许因为井冈山是毛派发源地的原因吧。
Hong’an (“Red Peace”), originally known as Huang’an (“Yellow Peace”), got its current name because it has yielded many “red” (Communist) generals in recent history. Like Ji’an, Hong’an is an old communist “revolutionary base” and the two cities named as “An” (“peace”) saw very little peace but lots of lives lost in the communist civl wars in the 1920s-30s. Nowadays, Hong’an, like Ji’an, is expecting to profit politically and economically from the so-called “red tourism,” a tourism industry encouraged and supported by the sate targeting at developing economies of regions known as old “revolutionary bases.” Yet, Hong’an is not nearly as “lucky” as Ji’an and Mt. Jinggangshan both in terms of recognition and investment. Perhaps, the reason is that the latter two were the base for the orthodox Maoists.
JYmSL
090112一Mon春运 Transporting People by the Billion
JYmSL
春节前，火车站Train Station, two weeks before the Chinese New Year
090111日Sun.社区工作坊最后一天Last Day of the Workshop
《铁友牌》汽车喷漆工作间，名字非要翻译成英文，结果意思就变成了《绑你》牌工作间
Tie You Brand – a workshop where cars get painted. Tie You, the name of the brand, is actually how its original name sounds. Literal translation of the brand name is: Iron Friend.
今天下午是社区影像工作坊的最后一次活动。除了邵老师因为开党代会没有来之外，其他五位影像导演都来了。今天的活动是分享昨天的“家庭作业”——每个人拍摄一段过年将要拍摄的人物或者场景。放映素材，然后讨论。
明天就要出发去南昌，然后去湖北省红安县。1月14日，在那里拍摄美国前总统卡特访问前国家主席李先念故居。我们此行是应美国卡特中心的聘请，纪录卡特总统在红安的访问。今年是中美建交30周年纪念，而卡特总统是中美建交时候的在任总统。我们离开吉安的这几天里，这个博客要么就要暂停几日，要么可能会发表一些我们在南昌和湖北的见闻。具体怎么做，我们到时候再看吧。
We had our last session of community documentary workshop this afternoon. Five of the six community documentary filmmakers showed up – the one who did not was Mr. Shao, who called us in advance to say that he would have to miss the session because he had to attend a Communicty Party session. During this last session, we shared footage from yesterday’s assignment – filmming a scene or a person which the filmmaker would film during the Chinese New Year. We had a lovely discussion after each short screening.
Tomorrow morning, we are leaving Ji’an for Nanchang, the province’s capital city, from where we will go to Hubei province. On January 14th, we will be filmming former U.S. President Jimmy Carter’s official visit to a village there. We are working with the Carter Center on this assignment. President Carter is here in China to mark the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomat relations between the People’s Republic of China and the U.S. We probably will have to stop writing new blog entries while we are away from Ji’an, or alternatively, we can post what we see and hear in Nanchang and in Hubei. We will see what we will come up with.
JYmSL
090110六Sat.社区影像工作坊Community Documentary Workshop
摄影：邹建丰 Photo: Bobby Zou
下午举办了社区影像工作坊。昨天的11名报名者今天只来了6位：70余岁的退休教师邵老师、美术教师刘老师、英语教师肖老师、音乐教师左老师、电视台编辑辜先生和深圳返乡的肖小姐。加上报名参加过年摄影拍摄的吉水县第二中学的英语教师邹建丰先生，总共有七位。有这么些人参与，已经超出我们的预料。最初做好了准备，可能只有一个朋友参加。现在有七名，已经比预想的要好。
今天的活动先是大家相互介绍自己的生活以及过年的打算。大家一起来分析过年拍摄的一些想法。最后，每个人在小区里面拍摄环境和人物，再逐个看片和交流。在小区拍摄的时候，遇到保安的强烈阻挠。他们不许拍摄的理由是小区的公共空间属于他们物业公司，他们禁止任何人拍摄。即便是居住在此的业主，也没有权利在他们住宅空间之外的地方拍摄。让人想起了在沈阳火车站拍摄的经历：当时火车站保安不让拍摄，反问他为什么不让拍摄，可能是以前从来遇到这样的反问，保安情急之下说：因为这是公共空间！
众所周知，在中国拍摄东西是比较难的。因为，地方无论大小、级别无论高低，管理者有一种“反镜头”下意识。比如上面的保安，有的是为了保住自己饭碗，执行公司的“规定”，有的根本已经形成了习惯，看见镜头就想把它盖起来。而且，被他们粗暴地制止的拍摄者，往往因为太习惯于这种粗暴的干涉，很少会反问一个“为什么”、“凭什么”？这样便助长了这种“反纪录”的风气，让这些粗暴的管理者躲在自己阴暗的角落里洋洋自得。传统的惯性让我们习惯了被管束，而忽视了质问这种管束的权力来源和它的合法性。但是，一旦拍摄者不依不饶的追问和反问，这些粗暴的管理者的无理和他们苍白无力的辩词一起被暴露在了阳光之下。
有朋友说，拍摄难，是因为单位无论大小、个人无论地位高低多多少少都会有一些不那么的能够见光的东西，因此就特别害怕被暴光。这种说法或许有一定的道理，虽然人人都有猫腻这一点在一定程度上恰恰是个人对体制的一种不合作和抵抗。
Six of the eleven applicants from last night showed up for this afternoon’s training workshop: 70-year-old retired teacher Mr. Shao, high school fine art teacher Ms. Liu, high school English teacher Mr. Xiao, high school music teacher Ms. Zuo, television editor Mr. Gu, and Ms. Xiao, who returned from the coastal city of Shenzhen due to the current economic recession. The above six plus Bobby Zou, an English teacher from a neighboring county who is interested in photographing his Chinese New Year, are all the participants of our workshop today, in addition to two of our volunteers. This is already way better than what we had expected. We would be very pleased to work with even just one person.
We started today’s session by having every participant talk about his/her life, daily routines and plans for the coming Chinese New Year. During this round, we shared our thoughts on how to go about the shooting based on what we heard from each individual. After that, every participant was given twenty minutes to shoot (1) a scene; (2) an interview in the residential compound where we had our workshop. Their footage would then be reviewed and commented on. While we were shooting in the compound, the security guards gave us a hard time. They tried to stop the shooting by arguing that the public space of the compound belongs to their company (the property management company), so nobody is allowed to shoot in the public space, not even the residents themselves, who, according to the guards, were not supposed to shoot anywhere else than their own households. It reminded me of the security personnel at a railway station of a major city I’ve been to. When questioned of his right to do so (stop me from shooting), the security guard, looking like he was questioned for the first time, answered in haste: You cannot shoot here because it is a public space!
As it is known to many, it is very hard to film in China. For “anti-documentation” is in the subconsciousness of many who are in the position to run a space. The guards mentioned above did what they did partly because they wanted to keep their jobs, and partly because they just hate lenses. What makes this worse is the response of those whose right to film in a public space is violated. They rarely challenge the abusers with a “why” or more. Their compliance spoils the abusers, who feel all the more righteous about their own actions, and keeps the anti-documentation culture alive. For a long time in our history, we are used to all kinds of restrictions on our personal freedom so much so that we overlook our rights to question and challenge the legitimacy of the power that set all these restrictions on us. Yet, it takes only one person’s persistent questioning to expose the abuser’s absurdity to the broad sunlight.
A friend once said that it is difficult to film, because all companies and individuals, regardless of their size or social status, cheat in one way or another. Therefore, they are afraid of being caught on record. This might be right. The fact that everybody cheats, though, can be viewed as the individual’s resistance and non-cooperation of an omnipresent system.
JYmSL
090109五Fri.社区导演 Community Filmmakers
今天晚上和社区导演第一次见面。本来定在井冈山大学人文学院办公室举行活动。到了学校才知道，包括我们办公室在内的教学楼皆因为第二天的研究生入学考试而封闭了。于是，活动临时改在附近一个居民区里进行。一个被改装成周末英语补习班教室的底楼车库被我们临时征用为这两天的工作坊活动场所。由于地方小，人一到齐，便显得济济一堂。出席的有11名报名者及其他的朋友和6名志愿者：褚丽娜、刘然、傅戈、谢梦瑶、赵亚。先相互介绍，然后介绍项目的前因后果，接着看欧盟村管项目资助、草场地工作站组织的中国村民影像计划第一期的短片，最后是讨论。
报名者中有一名电视台编辑、一名警察朋友、一名公务员、一名有多年拍摄经验的邮政局退休职工、三名教师、一名退休中学语文教师、一名80余岁的的老人、一名家住农村、先前在深圳工作刚因经济萧条而返乡的年轻女孩和一名多年从事商业摄像的职业人士。其中一位报名参加活动的教师朋友在现场发现那名80余岁的老人竟然是自己的亲外公。两人分别报名参加工作坊，事先并不知道对方也参加了。
下午碰到一位八十多岁的老人。子女都长大了有了自己的家。老人和其中一个女儿住。但是因为女儿家“楼层较高”，不方便老人上下，便在楼下给老人租了一个房间居住。老太太年轻时候在煤矿工作，老伴十年前就已经去世。老太太房间里有一台电视机，但是早就已经坏了。老太太不看书不看报。除了偶尔有过路的邻居问候一声、家中子女来送饭以外，老人天气不好的时候就一直躺在床上，好的时候就坐在靠门的椅子上晒太阳。床到门的五米间距是她每天24小时能移动的最远距离。
First meeting with the community documentary applicants is scheduled to take place tonight. We arrived at the university half an hour earlier than our scheduled meeting time only to find that the building where our meeting venue was had been closed down for the graduate school entrance exams the next day. We had to make a quick decision on the spot to move to a friend’s garage in a nearby residential area. The garage had already been turned into a mini-classroom by a friend who moonlights on weekends as private English tutor to high school students. The small size of the room made our folks look like quite a crowd. Eleven applicants and their friends as well six volunteers (Chu Lina, Liu Ran, Fu Ge, Xie Mengyao, Zhao Ya)showed up. After a round of self-introduction, the workshop organizers briefed the applicants how the Project came to be like what it is and showed short documentary films from the China Villager Documentary Project, sponsored by the EU project on China’s village governance and produced by Caochangdi Workstation in Beijing in 2005-06. A discussion followed the screening.
Among the applicants who showed up, there was an editor with the local TV station, a policeman, a civil servant, a retired postal service worker who has years of exposure to digital video cameras, three high school teachers, a retired high school teacher, an 80-year-old gentleman, a girl originally from rural area but had worked in a coastal city for a year before coming back to town when her company was hit by the economic recession, and a professional commercial videographer. One of the high school teacher found out that actually the 80-year-old gentleman, among her fellow applicants, was actually her mom’s dad! They applied to us without knowing the other too had applied.
Came across an elderly lady when we photographed an old apartment building this afternoon before the meeting with the community filmmakers. Her grown-up children all have their own family to take care of. The 80-year-old lady was supposed to live with one of the daughters, but since the daughter’s family lives “rather high up ” in the building, she was placed in a room alone on a lower story. The lady worked for a state coal mine when she was younger. Her husband passed away a decade ago. She has a TV set in her room. It’s been years since the TV set ever worked. The elderly lady does not read. Apart from occasional greetings from neighbors who pass by and visits of her children during meal time, the lady was all alone by herself in bed or, when there is a sunny day, she would move herself to a chair by the door. The five meters between her bed and the door is the farthest she can physically get during the span of 24 hours in a day.
090108四Thur.高峰坡High Peak Slope
高峰坡路口starting point of HPS
高峰坡是吉安城里的一个坡。以现在的眼光看，它算不上什么坡。可能是因为以前机动车少，人和自行车都觉得这是一个真正的坡，故有其名。
1980年代，大家比较穷，既没有机会去广东打工，窝在这小城市里面也没有什么娱乐，因此打架是这座城市精力旺盛、富有创造力的年轻人中很流行的一种业余生活。小城市有几个街道派出所，就有几个以居住的街道做为身份识别的打架团伙，甚至更多。有点像杨德昌导演《牯岭街少年杀人事件》的台湾社会的那种感觉。在我儿时印象中，当年最凌厉的打架团伙来自于高峰坡和宝华楼两个地段。在路上见到这两个地段的小孩，都不由得肃然起敬。多年以后，才知道这个地段当年居住的多为屠夫，磨刀霍霍，手执利刃，为生计可以杀猪砍肉，被人惹毛了，也一样能砍。
后来，经济发展了，能出去大城市的都出去了，小城市本身也红的黄的有更多的娱乐了。当挣钱花钱成为最大的娱乐的时候，打架的风气便衰败了。房地产开发也将以前的街道重新组合成新的生活小区，邻里之间也开始互不相识、老死不相往来。身体都互相懒得接触了，架于是也没有兴趣打了。
如今的高峰坡，一边的一半是没有拆完的旧房子，另外一边半是冷清衰败的旧屋子和一些小吃店。这条街曾经凌厉的年轻人都不知道花落何处了。依然出没在这里的，基本上都是一些老年居民。
High Peak Slope is a slope in the city of Ji’an. To a current eye, HPS can hardly count as a slope at all. The only rational for its name might be that back then when the street got its name there were not many automobiles – this inclination was articulated by men and their bicycles who communed on this street.
Back in 1980s, when almost everyone was as poor as the others and there were no coastal cities where one can go and become a migrant worker and the little city of Ji’an had so little to offer for recreation, the energetic, creative young people living in the city somehow found gang fighting obsessively entertaining and addictive. In every street where there was an outlet of the police, one would know of one gang or more who identified themselves with the street they resided in and fought gangs from other streets. This is a scenario one finds also in the Taiwanese society depicted in Edward Yang’s film A Brighter Summer Day (1991). In my childhood memories, the most savage of all gangs were made in High Peak Slope area and the Treasure Tower area. When you met a kid from one of these areas, you’d make sure you whisper his name in reverential tones. It was only years later that I learned that HPS residents were mostly butchers. With fine knives in their hands, our butchers could be very straightforward in their way of serving their customers for a living or protecting their kids from “injustice”.
Later on, the nation’s economy took off. Whoever could find a living in the prosperous coastal cities are gone. And the little city of Ji’an, like many of its peers, also began to exploit itself for greater variety of physical fun. When money-making and shopping became the people’s number one recreation, gang fights dwindled. Modern real estate biz also contributes by reshuffling the living spaces and the people live in them. People now live in residential areas based on new commercial ideologies which turn neighbors into strangers who do not merge. When people no longer merge or have no physical contact, their enthusiasm for a physical fight also declined.
Today’s HPS looks crippled. Half of its one side are houses halfway dismantled. The other three fourths are old, half deserted houses and cheap diners. Nobody knows exactly where the once savage young people are now. The only people who still haunt this place are mostly elderly people.
090107三Wed.中印纪录片项目Dochindia: Doc-China-India
一家美容店的卫生间窗户 The bathroom window of a beauty salon
介绍一个姐妹项目的博客：dochindia.wordpress.com.cn
这个博客是《霓虹灯后》——一个多国的纪录片项目的网站。这个纪录片项目将摄像机交给生活在中国和印度的数十亿普通公民中的几个，让他们去纪录这两个古老国度的不断变化的现实。该项目是位于美国纽约市的新校大学中印研究所第二期“中印研究员”（2008年至2010年）的合作项目。由新校大学研究员、独立制片人简艺先生和新校大学研究员、在韩国首尔及美国纽约任教的学者Jeesoon Hong博士监制。印度PUKAR总监、中印研究所资深顾问Anita Patil-Deshmukh博士为印度制作统筹、中印研究所资深所长Ashok K. Gurung先生为顾问。北京本地培训员和制作主管为唐志小姐。孟买本地培训员和制作主管为Reshma Rudbe女士。
如同青原社民间纪录项目一样，中印项目也是由位于中国的简单艺术工作室负责运作。位于韩国首尔的Sungkonghoe大学东亚研究所为该项目提供了首批拍摄资助。
2009年元月，两位分别居住于印度孟买贫民窟和北京城中村的女孩获得项目资助一台DV摄像机，开始用它来纪录自己的生活。具体拍摄时间是2009年1月至6月。之后即开始后期编辑，编辑地点初步选定在位于中国江西省吉安市的青原社民间纪录工作室。中印纪录片博客将及时分享中国、印度两名女孩的拍摄心得以及项目消息。欢迎各位经常去访问该姐妹项目的网站。
The web address of a sister project: dochindia.wordpress.com.cn
This is the official website of the Behind Neon Lights – a transnational project documenting the changing realities in China and India from the perspectives of some of the a couple of billions living there. The project is a result of collaborative work of the second cohort (2008-10) of India-China Fellows with the India China Institute of the New School University in New York City. The Co-Producers are Mr. JIAN Yi, a Chinese fellow and an independent filmmaker and artist, and Dr. Jeesoon Hong, a New School fellow and a researcher based in both Seoul and New York. Also in the team are Dr. Anita Patil-Deshmukh (India production coordinator), Director of Mumbai-based PUKAR and Senior Adviser of the India China Institute, Ashok K. Gurung (advisor), Sr. Director of India China Institute. On the spot, we have Ms. TANG Zhi, our local tutor and production manager in Beijing and Reshma Rudbe, our local tutor and production manager in Mumbai.
Like the IFCHINA project of this blog, the China India Documentary project is managed by ARTiSIMPLE Studio of China and its IFCHINA project team. The initial funding for the production of the project came from IEAS (The Institute for East Asian Studies, Sungkonghoe University, Seoul, Korea).
In Year 2009, two local female filmmakers, living in the slum or “urban village” of Mumbai and Beijing, are going to document their lives with a digital video camera. They will shoot their films between January and June and start the editing process right after, most probably in Ji’an, where our current project is based. There at their blog site, we are going to share the insiders’ views as well as updated information about the project itself written by the producers and other participants. So please do visit their site too.
090106二Tue. 今天 Today
090105一Mon.繁荣 Prosperity
给逝者烧个厨房过去Burn an entire kitchen so the dead can use it in his world.
准备烧给死去亲人在阴间使用的玩意儿Gadgets to be burned to people in the other world
冥币 Cash to be used by the dead in the other world
090104日Sun城管与模特Urban Management Officers & A Mannequin
090103六Sat.味道Taste
外婆92岁了，住在“老年公寓”。除了偶尔起来如厕，几乎所有时光都在床上度过。世界，对她来说就是从枕头看过去的那一小块天花板和床角的蜘蛛网。
外婆小时候是家中九个小孩中最小的一个，最是受宠。家境好，大姐夫又是这个城市里国民政府的一县之长。如今，所有能够给她恩宠的人都早已作古。现在的她，像一棵老树上挂着的最后一片枯黄的树叶。
老人家干瘦，特别“贪吃”，嘴巴似乎是身体中唯一还活跃的器官，尽管她如今只剩下左下牙和右上牙两排永远不会碰到一起的牙齿。
或许，外婆只不过是在用“吃”与这个世界交流。在所有的感官都衰败了、手无缚鸡之力的时候，味觉或许是她能够与外界交流的唯一方式。对于外婆来说，这个再没有什么值得眷恋的世界就是水喝在口里的凉热、面条的软硬、水果的酸甜以及猪肉在舌面上与硬腭摩擦的感觉。
Grandma is getting 96. She lives in the Old People’s Dorm. Apart from occasional toilet trips, Grandma spends all her remaining time on bed. To her, the world is but the piece of ceiling she gazes at from her pillow and the spider net across from the bed.
Grandma was the youngest and the most endeared of all nine children of her parents. Her family was quite well-off, and the husband of her eldest sister was the county’s governor of the then Republican Government. Now that all those who doted on her are long gone, Grandma is like one last withered leaf hanging down from an old tree.
Grandma is dry and skinny. She is always asking for something to eat and her mouth is the only active organ of her body, although the only teeth left in her mouth are either in the lower left corner or the upper right corner of her mouth so they can never grind.
Perhaps for Grandma, eating or tasting is a way of communicating with this world. When all her other senses are failing and there is little strength left to even reach out her hands, tasting is probably her only meaningful contact with the outside world. For Grandma, this world of ours, where there is so little left to feel attached to, means nothing but what her mouth feels — the temperature of the water, the shapes of the noodle, the juice of the fruits and the pork that she grinds between her tongue and her palate.
JYmSL
090102五Fri.镜子Mirror
一分钟前，餐馆老板在此烤熟了刚屠杀的两只完整的小狗
Just a minute ago, a restaurant owner barbecued entire bodies of two freshly-slaughtered dogs
两个外乡人来到一个小城。他们就像是一面镜子。当地人在里面照见了自己。
一名身份是中学教师的社区影像报名者问，拍的这么多东西，会不会影响国家？
⋯⋯
唉，拍自己家的柴米油盐、家长理短，关个国家什么事？
人啊，做回自己，就那么难吗？
Two outlanders arrive in a small town. They immediately became a mirror, in which the locals see themselves.
A high school teacher who’s interested in applying for the community documentary project asked: will the footage we shot hinder national security?
…
Alas, what the heck does your filmming your daily life have to do with national security?
Can’t we make a better sense of the world we live in? Can’t we Chinese belong just to a HUMAN world?
090101四Thur.社区影像报名者Applicants
新年好
A Good New Year
截止今天，报名参加《2009过年》社区影像活动的人数已经达到了12位，他们的名单（其中有些姓名仍需要进一步确认）如下：
纪录片：
肖齐平，中学英语教师，有DV机器
李坚（警察） 及 太太（社区工作）：能借到DV机器
郭昌春（电力部门）及太太王华（护士），有DV机器
万老先生，80多岁高龄，有DV机器
辜先生：当地电视台员工，有摄像机可以使用
肖爱兰，打工在深圳，经济萧条导致裁员回乡，机器需要进一步确认
李荣华，退休司机，机器需要进一步确认
肖开先，电脑店老板，有DV机器
刘述颖，中学美术教师，打算购买DV机器
摄影：
胡亮，19岁，北京打工返乡
胡运美，35岁，中学英语教师
邹建丰，39岁，中学英语教师
Up till today, there are altogether twelve applicants for the first community documentary production – 2009 Chinese New Year. Below is the list of the applicants (some names need to be confirmed):
Documentary film:
Douglas Xiao, high school English teacher, owns a Digital Video camera
LI Jian (a policeman) and his wife (a community service staffer), able to borrow a DV camera
GUO Changchun (a staffer at the State Grid company) and his wife (a nurse), own a DV camera
Mr. Wan, in his 80s, owns a DV camera
Mr. Gu, works for local TV, able to use cameras of the TV station he works for
XIAO Ailan, a former migrant worker in Shenzhen, came back to town after having been recently laid off during the on-going economic recession
LI Ronghua, a retired driver, whose DV camera needs to be confirmed
XIAO Kaixian, a computer store owner, owns a DV camera
LIU Shuying, a high school fine arts teacher, intends to purchase a DV camera
Photography:
HU Liang, age 19, former migrant worker in Beijing, recently returns to town
HU Yunmei, age 35, high school English teacher
ZOU Jianfeng, age 39, high school English teacher
081231三Wed.岁末End of the Year
坟头：10月中旬献的花 On the tomb: Flowers offered in mid-October
今天的花 Today’s flowers
2008的最后一抹夕阳撒在“夕阳红老年公寓”上
The last beam of sunset casts on a dorm building at the “Beautiful Sunset Old People’s Home”
2008岁末，一个大晴天。这一年发生了很多，下一年还不知道会怎么样。祝大家新年好。
At the end of Year 2008, it was a good sunny day after all. This passing year was eventful, to put it mildly. What shall we expect for the coming one? Wish everyone a great year to come!
JYmSL