城
Hometown
My hometown is a typical "fallen city" in the Northeast China.
When refering "The Mountain City", the first that comes to mind is Chongqing, but my hometown is also known as the mountain city. We can climb the mountain right in the center of the city . Probably like all cities, there are natural scenic spots which do not look as good as they are in the promotional videos.
As a typical northeastern industrial city, the old and stubborn industrial atmosphere remains everywhere. The train station and steel mills in the center of the city highlight the identity of the city of coal and iron; factory buildings and residential buildings are intertwined with each other. A lot of kids of my generation had the experience of exploring abandoned factory buildings, though most of them have left the city.
You will not see neatness or glitz in my records but you may feel the aesthetics hiding in clutter and dilapidation. The natives here love this place. They don't have wheat, but they're still willing to grow flowers in the wasteland.
October, 2020
The mountain city is--no matter where you are in the city, you can always see the mountains because mountains locate inside the city.
Residential buildings, factories and slender chimneys against each other are the most common sights in the town.
Residential buildings in the old town. To protect against wind and cold in the winter, most of the older windows are nailed with materials for wind and heat insulation and then removed in the spring.
Typical old apartment with tight guard rails and tangled wires. The ladder was locked to the guardrail, and if it wasn't locked it might be stolen and sold for scrap metal someday.
The most common thing you see in the city are closed doors of houses, stores and factories.
Some houses have sofas in front of the door. Someone used to sit here, but now the sofa is covered with dust.
A cat staring at me.
A store that's closing and having a clearance sale.
The graffiti on the wall means: Mr.Zhang is an asshole.
It's a scrappy punk aesthetic that belongs here. But for the owner of the vehicle, he just didn't want it to get rained on.
Exterior of a funeral goods store. The outside is littered with marble headstones.
With only old people left in the old town, the funeral business is one of the few good businesses left.
You might think a red barricade with dark green glass is an unintentional aesthetic, but its owner just wants to be tough on thieves who break in at night.
A truly stable composition is one that looks stable physically.
A two-story building about to be demolished. For various reasons buildings designated for demolition often take a long time to be completely obliterated, and people may continue to live here, doing some small business.
The fence is irregularly lined with plants. Apart from the ruins, you can just as easily find this moment of tranquility in the old town.
Even a cluttered old street can be made clean after rain. Yet the rain still can't wash away the cigarette butts that are everywhere.
“着力改善人民群众居住环境”。 "Investing in improving people's living environment"
