Fantastic portrait of rural China for the New Year

Fantastic portrait of rural China for the New Year

In the pictures of the photographer Zhang Xiao from the Shehuo Festival, an ancient celebration that in parts of northern China during the lunar new year , life in the country is alive through a fantastic lens. Village dwellers who are disguised as cranes, roosters and mythical lions pose between fields or on fallow fields. Costumed actors pass brick houses that stand against a blurry background while the eyes of their masks appear lost in thoughts. In a harvested wheat field, a group of almost a dozen men is lined up to keep a colorful dragon doll.

The surreality of tradition

in his book "Community Fire" explained that he was the surreal "alienation" Mythical roles that she had to hold. "Her characters seemed to come directly from the sky and ... formed a huge theater stage that went beyond the borders of reality and transported a collective of sleep hikers into a dream world," he wrote. "I wandered around among them and photographed them quietly because I didn't want to wake her up."

The roots of the Shehuo Festival

The Shehuo Festival has its roots in agricultural practices in which the fire and the country are revered. The folkloric rituals of Shehuo (often translated as "earth and fire") included traditionally prayers for prosperity and rich harvesting or driving off demons. The celebrations vary depending on the region, but typically contain different performers, from stilt runners to opera singers who move through the streets or stage performances.

celebrate in harmony with the Lunar New Year

Today, the celebrations with the Lunar New Year, which begins on Wednesday. Therefore, they have taken over many of the customs - such as temple festivals and lion dances - which are practiced throughout China during this period. (The celebrations for the Lunar New Year usually last over two weeks, with the Shehuo Festival being celebrated on the 15th and last day of the season.)

The challenge of urbanization

The Shehuo celebrations were recognized by the Chinese government in their UNESCO-like list of the "intangible cultural heritage". But the place of the festival in a rapidly urbanized country remains threatened, said Zhang and added that most of the actors he met were migrated to the cities and only returned to their villages at the holiday.

The influence of E-Commerce era

With the hope of documenting the disappearing traditions of the festival-as well as the associated costumes and props-Zhang photographed Shehuo events in villages in the provinces of Shaanxi and Henan for a decade. A selection of his pictures that were taken between 2007 and 2019 was also exhibited in the USA in the Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology at Harvard University (and over 100 of them were published in "Community Fire").

tradition vs. commercialization

The photos not only document rites, rituals and folklore, but also the spread of mass -produced props that have changed the festival since the beginning of the 21st century. A picture shows a stack of expressionless plastic masks, while a number of 12 creepy photographs show smiling props that hang in thin tag bags of trees. Zhang dedicates several pages of his book Screenshot recordings of the Taobao shopping platform operated by Alibaba, where shehuo articles can be purchased at bargain prices. The prices range from a elaborate costume for a two-piece lion dance for only 360 yuan (approx. $ 50) to a selection of headgear that cost less than 17 yuan (approx. 2.40 US dollars).

a mixed blessing for the villages

The increase were cheaper and e-commerce was a mixed blessing for these villages. Some of them - including Huozhuang in the province of Henan, which is strongly represented in Zhang's project - took the opportunity. The photographer documented several small family workshops that buy semi -finished products online in large quantities before you finish them by hand and then offer them for sale on platforms such as Taobao.

The loss of craftsmanship

"In some villages, practically the entire population was mobilized to produce and sell Shehuo props," writes the photographer in his book. But economic possibilities goes hand in hand with a loss of traditional skills and customs. Materials such as paper and bamboo were replaced by cheap wire frames, plastic and synthetic fabrics, according to Zhang, which grew up in a rural area of ​​the province of Shandong, but now in Chengdu, one of the largest metropolis of China in the southwest.

a worrying commercialization

A propary manufacturer third degree told Zhang that he "regretted the gradual disappearance of traditional craftsmanship". But most of the villagers that the photographer hit were indifferent to the loss of the cultural heritage, as he claims. While Zhang as a documentarist took on the role of a "silent viewer" during his orders, he nevertheless regretted regret about the rapid commercialization of the festival. "People don't focus on how to improve product quality and craft," said the photographer, who is currently working on a documentary about life in rural China.