Wedding photography

As I've blogged previously, an important part of a Chinese wedding is to have some spectacular pictures taken, which are often a vastly superior distant relative of the type of wedding photos taken in western countries.

I recently went through this process just last month, and what a 12-hour marathon it was. I'm very pleased to report that the results, however, made it worthwhile. It involved several costume changes, a trip to some nearby mountains, and lasted until well after the sun had gone down.

Wedding photography is very big business here in China. You can tell that simply by the sheer number of these photography places that can be seen in any city or town. The cost is usually upwards of 4000RMB (way more than the average monthly salary), so maybe that helps to explain why it needs an entire day to carry out... then a few weeks for Photoshopping (wrinkles and blemishes disappear... looks just like me, but better! Then the obligatory skin whitening), then more time for printing and binding, since photos are then made into a fancy book, plus huge prints are made, more than a metre across.

Though it's not the place that we used (mainly due to a combination of the ridiculous pricetag and the way-too-pushy staff), there's a place on Xi'an's South Street that I like, because they have live models in the window to advertise their business. You can sometimes see the people going out, or returning from, their outdoor photoshoots, resplendent in their wedding clothes (or whatever costumes they're wearing). 

Here are some pictures that I managed to snap of some other folks having there pictures done, though unfortunately not in their intended setting - here they are perched on the curb in the middle of Xi'an's South Street. I remember the day well. This was 12th May 2008, the day of the earthquake in Wenchuan. Though there was little damage caused here in Xi'an, everyone certainly felt it. As everyone poured out into the street these folks joined us... I suppose it didn't seem like a good time to stay indoors and change their clothes.

I'm sure these people will be thinking about their experience today - exactly one year after the earthquake happened. 

Birds of a feather

There are things that I've come to understand about China. People will never believe that I like spicy food. People will respond to my spoken Chinese with mime. Mashed potato will always be served cold, surrounded by a moat of milk, with coloured sprinkles on top. I accept these things and try not to let them get me down.

But there are other things, things that I don't think I'll ever understand. I've already written about one such example, when landlords actually raise the rent after apartments have been sitting empty for months, to recoup the money they've already lost. This seems an unusual business decision to me. But there's another one, a more obvious and highly visual one, that I'm sure many others have noticed...

If you need to buy some flowers in Xi'an, where do you go? Flower street, of course. What about a neon sign for the front of your shop? Head on down to neon sign street. Desperately need some goldfish? Simply take a bus down to goldfish street and ye shall be rewarded. I can't help but wonder.... is it really a good idea for stores that sell identical items to be located right next door to each other in a single long strip? Often, they have exactly the same prices too. Where is the competition? How can that be a good business idea? I've heard that if a couple of similar shops, nearby to each other, seem to have a good business, then that just encourages many others to open identical shops next door.

A sign-making shop, next to a sign-making shop, next to a...

Doesn't this just dilute how much money is being brought into the available stores in that particular identi-shop strip? Once the saturation point has been reached there simply won't be enough business/money to spread around... right? Whatever happened to finding a gap in the market? Wouldn't it make more sense to find out where there are NO florists, and open one there? Well, not in China.

Six florists in this photo, but there are plenty of others nearby

The thing is, this Chinese system doesn't seem to work.... so why does it persist? 

Luck.

It's all about how lucky you are. If business is poor, the store makes a loss and has to close, then what is the cause? Location? Lack of advertising? Wrong product or pricing? Nope - the guy just wasn't lucky enough. So, sure enough, another one will open in its place a few weeks later, opened by someone that believe they will be luckier than the last one. And so the cycle continues.

There seems to be a general belief that the path to riches goes something like this:

1. Open a shop (preferably selling little crappy things that nobody really wants, which are really cheap, and can only possibly yield a profit of 1 RMB.)

2. Plan is complete - you are rich.

There are no possible alternatives or deviations from this plan. At least, not in the minds of the myriad shop owners, and potential shop owners, of Xi'an. Did you have any idea that is was so simple? Let's all go and open stores in a shopping mall right now! Oh wait, you probably shouldn't bother, since they're all empty caverns...

The Shaanxi Squat

Back in my school days I remember spending a lot of time sitting cross-legged on the floor. During school assembly, or at home in front of the TV. It seemed comfortable at the time, but my aging, unexercised lower limbs just don't have the required flexibility any more. I can bend to meet all the necessary angles required to sit on a chair, and that's about as far as I go.

Life in China makes more demands of peoples' thighs. What with all the stair climbing (buildings of eight floors or less have no lifts) and walking, and... well, I won't dwell too long on the delights of a visit to a non-Western style WC, but as you can probably work out from this picture it doesn't involve sitting down, but requires the 'user' to squat. 

Moving swiftly on, I'm focussing on the act of squatting itself. Chinese people are great at this. If it was an Olympic sport, then that would surely have been another gold medal in the bag for the PRC. It can be seen everwhere: In the street, at home, in school. Waiting, smoking, chatting with friends, eating. On the ground, on a wall, beside a chair, even on a chair...

Spotted this guy a couple of days ago in a local restaurant, thought I might sneak a quick photo using my phone, over my shoulder.

I don't know why, but although I've seen people squatting like this wherever I've been in China, it does seem more common here in Xi'an. Therefore, I propose that henceforth this manouvre be known as The Shaanxi Squat. I'm fairly good at it too, though I find it difficult to hold for long periods of time. I've yet to work up the courage to attempt an on-seat squat, but maybe one day...

Sorry, more toilet talk, but this warrants a mention too: On a couple of occasions I've seen footprints on the seat of a western-style toilet. No need, really.

Be careful the safe

What better way to escape from a Wednesday afternoon at work than to be carted off to a health and safety workshop? I'm certain this is a familiar scenario to people all over the western world. Sadly, no such thing would ever happen in China, the land of blatant disregard for human safety (in spite of the occasional redundant sign).

Traffic lights are just for decoration, right? (I've personally witnessed at least half a dozen car crashes over the past couple of years, compared to one in my previous 28 years in the UK.) Hiking up mountains is aided by "safety rails" that are barely up to knee-height... more of a trip-hazard really. How many people can you fit on a motorbike? Come to China and you'll find out. Having said all that, it is actually quite refreshing to be in a country where daily life has not had all the fun thoroughly beaten out of it with a large and pointy health and safety regulations stick. I rather enjoy careering around the streets of Xi'an on the back of someone's moped. (I try to forget that driving lessons are optional here... Want a license? Just buy one.) A small part of me (not my lungs, obviously) loves that it is ok to smoke anywhere you like. Including in hospitals. (But I don't like it in lifts.)

The street where I live is populated by many businesses that make neon signs for shops. As such, there's always work going on out in the streets. (If there's not enough room inside, they just drag everything outside onto the pavement and do it there.) I don't entirely love the smell of burning plastic that fills the air, but I do marvel at the guys welding the metal sign-supports together. Welding masks? Ok, what about goggles? Why bother when you can just turn your head away? Has anyone really thought that through? Welding, whilst not actually looking at what you're welding? (Hmm... Maybe I've found the reason why Xi'an has a hospital that specialises in reattaching severed hands!)

Possibly my all-time favourite example of lack-of-fear-of-potential-death in China was also witnessed right here in Xi'an. These are some pictures from the first summer that I arrived here, in 2007. I was walking atop the ancient wall that encloses the city centre when I noticed this guy sitting on his little stool, hanging onto a rope, which disappeared over the other side of the wall...

He looked a little nervous as he smiled casually at me. I tried to just walk by. It was none of my business what he was up to. I walked. I walked some more. I thought I'd made it, but I just had to look. It was like trying to ignore an itch - I just had to look. I walked towards the side fo the wall and stuck my head through so that I could see outside. What was on the other end of that rope?

Well, I suppose it was easier and significantly cheaper than to hire some kind of lifting platform to hoist him up from the ground on the outside of the wall. Practical, don't you think?

Remember kids: Be careful the safe.