Nanjing, Zhang Xinlu
We meet Xinlu (Lulu) on the street. She recently returned from Canada, where she spent four years learning Digital Arts. The course of her major was classified into eight programs, each of which did cost her family 2,750 dollars. She stopped after the fourth section and decided to come back to Nanjing, for she had acquired all the necessary skills through the course, such as how to write an academic paper or deliver presentations in the field of Digital Arts.
After being abroad for such a long time, Lulu finds it difficult to accommodate herself to the life in China again. At some point she describes her feeling as “horrible”. One thing she minds much is that Chinese people do not greet each other heartily. “In Canada, people say hello to each other in the morning bus, even though they do not know each other,” she says. “Here nobody does this anymore. In everyone’s eyes, I can sense their mistrust of strangers and their silent questioning: ‘what do you want from me?’ ”
Lulu has got an offer from a famous art university in London. However, her parents do not allow her to further her study in art, claiming that art students cannot find well-paid jobs in China. Lulu is not too disappointed about their decision, because now she also believes that it is only with a large fortune that she can realize her dream of traveling, painting and making photos.
Lulu states that her current goal is to earn a great amount of money. She does not take being an artist or taking a boyfriend into her current consideration; claiming that art and love consumes money. She tells us: “There is no love between my parents, which seems not that problematic. However, can you imagine a love without a house and a car? Love needs these, so love needs money!”
Given the question: “Suppose you have two choices for your future: one is your true love and two thousand RMB per month, and the other is no love but ten thousand per month RMB. Which one do you prefer?” Lulu hesitates for a while and answers firmly: “One: true love.”
Chinesense is a project of Dutch photographer Anton Hazewinkel. With photos and interviews he records the daily life of individual Chinese; most of the time in Beijing.
The blog’s aim is to present and document contemporary China. Facts, photos and interviews are recorded “as is”, usually without opinion or comments. Short stories include detailed information on people’s hometowns, their family, their monthly income, the rent they pay or how much they spend on food every day. Occasionally fictional stories or videos are posted and, last but not least, there is always an emphasis on the photographic context.
For more photos of Anton go to his website or go to: a mobile friendly slideshow with a summary here
2012-12-06 07:20:30
Source: http://chinesense.com/2012/09/nanjing-zhang-xinlu/?lang=en
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