contrastingchina

[contrastingchina]

Time for the Railway Man

“This is close to the street where you have the exhibition. This guy has been there for years. I remember the first time I came to Kunming, he was there trying to attract people. Especially when he sees foreigners. I am curious what his story is and I was trying to talk to him, but his Chinese is too obscure for me to understand. The biggest contrast for me is the realities colliding here. He is kind of living in his own world with his railway uniform and without much motion. People are just busy passing by. Not paying attention as if he wasn’t there. Look at him, he is not a typical street person. He must have some kind of story, craving for attention but nobody seems to care. I hope now he can be remembered. In Poland you can also see people on the street and by-passers are not looking. Maybe they are homeless people, but there is more to them.” Janusz Kolondra, Poland

[contrastingchina]

New Horizon

“The mountains you see are very typical for Chinese paintings and then the high-rise buildings that are constructed – it can’t get more contrasting than that. This scenery is close to where I live behind the West Mountains. It used to be just beautiful nature. And then all of the sudden those buildings are popping up out of nowhere. Though I guess the contrast makes the picture, something is happening. Life is change, change is life. We have high-rises in Europe, but not to the extent as we see here. A few high-rises in the middle of nowhere. Sometimes I wonder whether people are living there. There is nothing around, no infrastructure just nature.”Slovakia is quite small and there are not many people. We don’t have this kind of phenomenon.” Ivan Poprac, Slovakia

[contrastingchina]

Recycle Yourself

“I was amazed by the lady. She is not poor. Older people don’t want to sit around doing nothing. They want to feel useful. And they don’t like things going to waste. It’s a good virtue. The younger generation doesn’t have time for thrift. Maybe they will when they get older. Maybe they will also use the tooth paste all the way up. Now they don’t have time for that or they don’t care. So them people like this lady – I respect them. She already does a great job babysitting and still she goes through the rubbish trying to recycle. I would want all the households in China to do the same: sorting out the trash.” Jane Tsui, China