Traditional Small
Towns in China
3 Mayl 2007
For thousands of
years, the cosy street scene shown in the
picture below dominated much of China's
landscape. These small towns served as
cultural and economic hubs for surrounding
villages.
A typical Chinese
town, particularly in the south, oftern
features winding streets, narrow waterways,
arched bridges, with houses tightly arranged
around slab-paved pathways. The rooms along
the main routes in the town are normally used
as shopfront and fully open to the street,
with living quarters located upstrais and at
the back of the property dotted with one or
several inner courtyards.
During market fairs days, the
stalls selling local products, many of them
being fresh trimmings directly from farmland,
would densely line the sides of the roads:
seasonal vegetables in bamboo containers,
nuts in wicker baskets, bean products on
timber boards, and small groceries displayed
on clothes, and clay figurines presented as
an early version of slot machines.
Life in small towns as such is
intimate, you can smell the food from your
neighbours, and know the world just by
sitting in the front room with a pot of tea
on the red square table: You see local people
and travellers from distant land passing by,
watch wedding or funeral processions parading
through, observe the change of seasons that
brings the change in the streetscape, witness
the unfolding of human dramas which never
abete. The streets are like shared living
rooms, that provide stages for people to
share their feelings, emotions, and life
experiences.
