Road hawks
(Hawkers selling from the roadside: Suzhou, China)
We were with Ying’s mum when we left the Humble Administrator’s Garden, by which time, twilight was already upon us and suddenly taxis were scarce. We ended up walking for about forty minutes, desperately searching for any car that would take us. I took this photograph along this tiring journey home whilst we were still leaping off the kerb at intervals and flailing our arms at passing cars.
The variety of roadside goods provided along the way was astounding to my western eyes. You can see socks in the foreground, attractively displayed around the rims of laundry basket and slightly further back, the miniature mountains of dried fish piled onto a sheet. The hawker has brought scales and plastic bags and they’re sitting with him at his kerbside shop. Further away still, more socks, underwear, various clothing items, toys, dried fruit and all manner of other knick knackery. The immediacy of China is what I find arresting and it never dies, this enthrallment with the convenience, the urgent, constant selling, services and movement. In urban China, it seems that nothing really ever stops, in fact I hardly detect it slowing at all. In the west, it feels as if the Economist and the BBC are forever monitoring China and its imminent ‘rise’ to superpower status and we have been experiencing this hotbed of activity first hand. It’s exciting and I hope to be constantly riveted by China’s dynamism and how much it will change in the time I might spend there.
By the way, I’ve decided to take weekends off writing this, at least until the Christmas period is over – *pipless jam is working some serious overtime!
