Worn sole, worn soul
Apparently, in shoe factories in China, it takes two hundred pairs of hands to make a running shoe. Cutters stamp sheets of fabric to form soles, stitchers then…
Street Stories
Les poissons
Best heard with Les poissons. It was an open street of poultry and seafood massacre, and a very busy day for everyone at the market. The word glee…
The promise of a leather jacket
Who doesn’t want to look as handsome as James Dean, decked out in a dangerous looking leather jacket with a fur collar? The salesmen were not ethnically Chinese,…
The makings of a humble pancake
For poor construction workers, each meal is about loading up enough carbohydrates to carry them through the day of heavy lifting, shoveling or jack hammering. The foundation ingredients…
And then they were gone
I’ve lost them. I was away for 3 weeks and returned to a shell that left nary a sign of its past existence. Only 3 weeks ago, I…
Office space
They all called me 小姑娘 or “Young miss”. This group of workers is by far the most cheerful lot since I started visiting construction sites and photographing workers…
Bringing down the roof
You see them almost immediately as you emerge from the Dalian Road Metro (大连路地铁站) station along Changyang Road (长阳路), a jarring picture against the late afternoon sun. Two…
All they need is each other
The room could only be described as unremarkable. Enclosed by bare and washed-out walls, there was a simple bed, a table and a chest of drawers with the…
They always look so innocent
“Look at my flying dragon!” PING!! Plastic connected loudly with glass. My knees buckled and my heart literally fell to the floor. My camera lens was just attacked…
The Last Squawk
When I was growing up in Singapore, chickens were also sold live and you would get to pick them out right from their cages. A vivid memory I had…