With the restoration and transformation of the historical and cultural blocks in the old urban area in recent years, the old courtyard will be rejuvenated, and behind this, it also continues the deep-rooted courtyard complex of the old Qingdao people. Although the simple and wonderful times are gone, the good thing is that someone helped us get it back. He is the famous documentary photographer Wu Zhengzhong teacher.
Since the 1980s, Wu Zhengzhong has been fond of the old Qingdao people's city culture, and this auction has been nearly 40 years. In his lens, it is also more of a reflection of the most ordinary living conditions in the city, those old streets and courtyards that have experienced vicissitudes, and the warmth of the city between people, which is also the driving force that stimulates him to continue shooting. And every time you walk into the old courtyards in Wu Zhengzhong's lens, you will arouse a warmest emotion that comes from our hearts
From the corridor of No. 116 Jiaozhou Road, the corner of the old courtyard. In 2006
Fish dried by new tenants. Almost all of the old houses here are now leased to foreigners who come to work or do odd jobs. In 2011
"Since 2007, the old residents of this hospital have moved away one after another, and now only 5 are left. There are now more than 70 families in this old hospital, most of whom come to Qingdao to work. Old man Sun Xiulan in the accumulation of No. 116 Jiaozhou Road said. Sun Xiulan, 80 years old this year, has lived in this old courtyard for nearly 70 years, is the first generation of old tenants in the old courtyard, and is also a witness to the history of this old courtyard.
Sun Xiulan settled in Qingdao when she was 14 years old and has been living in Jihouli. She worked as a builder, carrying cement, carrying bricks, and climbing scaffolding with her grandfathers. In order to save money, she lives with her husband, two uncles, uncles, and mother-in-law, and the house is only about 10 square meters. After liberation, the original landlord handed over the house to the public, and during this time they no longer paid the rent. Later, she and her wife and 4 children still lived in this cottage. A few years ago, the children bought a new house outside and moved away.
More than 90% of the residents in Jihouli are foreigners, that is, new tenants. Since the end of the 20th century, Qingdao has gradually shown a large-scale wave of immigration after liberation. In 2009
In recent years, with the acceleration of the scale of urban construction, residents in the old courtyard who can afford to buy a house have bought houses outside, moved out of the old courtyard, and leased the original house to new tenants. Like the first generation of old tenants, the new tenants are mostly farmers from all over the country who do small business, decorate their homes, collect waste, clean up garbage, or work in small restaurants and shops to do miscellaneous work.
In the morning, a new tenant from the Northeast is wearing makeup on the corridor. In 2009
A new tenant waiting to pick up water. In 2002
A stylishly dressed new tenant who has dried his clothes. In 2014
Wang Desheng, 33, took out silk flowers from the storeroom and prepared them for the stall. Wang Desheng came to Qingdao from his hometown of Weifang 10 years ago and rented two rooms of less than 20 square meters in this courtyard, one for opening a shou clothing store and the other for a warehouse. In 2009
Chen Zhaoqian, a new tenant from Linyi, Shandong, who likes to raise pigeons. He and his wife are both sanitation workers. In 2010
Mr. Zhang, who is engaged in the decoration industry from Hunan to Qingdao, is in contact business. In 2010
Ms. Guo, a new tenant who cooks and repairs her manicure, came to Qingqing from her hometown in Hunan with her husband. In 2010
Wang Fuxin's lover, 41, came to Qingdao with her children from her hometown of Weifang to visit her husband, who works as a stevedore at the Qingdao port terminal. At noon, the family made dumplings to eat and called the compatriots who lived downstairs. In 2009
Most of these old courtyards in Qingdao's old town have a history of more than 100 years, and the rooms are not large. However, it is still more suitable for these new tenants who cannot afford to rent a good house.
Ms. Qiu (right) carries the child to Ms. Wang's house to visit the door. They came to Qingqing from their hometown of Jiaozhou with their husbands, and their husbands were engaged in the decoration industry. They each rented a house of about 8 square meters in this courtyard. In 2009
The children of the old tenant Sun Xiulan and the new tenant Ms. Wang are amused and playful. In 2009
Children and girls combing their hair for new tenants in the hallway. In 2010
New tenants take photos of their children on their phones. In 2012
The children of the new tenants, one playing the guitar, the other using the cardboard box as a drum, beating the beat, enjoying the fun. In 2013
Chen Yang, 10, came to Qingdao from his hometown of Shaanxi at the age of four, and his parents made a living from kebabs. In order for Chen Yang to learn music, his parents rented a piano for him and bought a violin. The family of three lives in a semi-basement with an area of about 10 square meters. In 2011
The new tenant's child teases the pigeons in the cage. In 2011
Many new tenants come to Qingdao alone, not only to bear their own food and accommodation costs in the city, but also to support their wives and children in the countryside. Wang Fuxin, who has been coming to Qingdao from Weifang for 8 years, works as a stevedor in Qingdao Port and sends money to his wife every month. Whenever the farmers are idle, their wives will come to Qingdao to see Wang Fuxin, and they feel quite satisfied. The wife hopes that her husband will earn more money, buy a house of his own in Qingdao in the future, and become a new citizen of Qingdao like the old tenants of the predecessors. This is also the desire of many new tenants who come to Qingdao to start a business.
In 2017, Jihouli was expropriated. In 2021, the old courtyard is empty, and the relevant departments have begun to demolish its interior.
Like the new tenants in other old courtyards, the new tenants were run around to have a place to live. I hope they are all right. In 2021
In 2016, with the government levying the old courtyards such as Guangxingli, new tenants and the few remaining old tenants began to move out of the old courtyards one after another. In May 2021, the old courtyard began to demolish illegal buildings, cleaning up the garbage and debris accumulated in the courtyard for many years, and soon the old courtyard will show a new look. I hope that the old courtyard and the new tenants are all right.
Wu Zhengzhong
June 2009
Amended May 2021
Qingdao is accelerating its march towards its goal of becoming an international metropolis, and the new and the old of the city are playing out every day, and they are changing. It can be said that it is both exciting and emotional. I am a participant in it, and I am an outsider. This may be the photographer's position – here I photograph the new and the old of a city with great affection, and I also taste the sweetness, bitterness and bitterness of a city and the past and present lives with great affection. —— Wu Zhengzhong
Wu Zhengzhong is a documentary photographer who has become famous since the 1980s. His most famous works are those about the secular life and the city of Qingdao. Even from the perspective of more than 30 years later, it is still very enduring: all have nothing to do with the grand purpose, but they are vivid and dense; there is no ambition or attempt to witness history and criticize society, but it is full of a pyrotechnic atmosphere that has precipitated the taste of years and life conditions, steaming and steaming, breathing in and out among the internal organs of the grass and mustard people, flowing back and forth; quietly exuding their true blandness and ordinaryness outside the country's politics, ideology, and the system of great unification.
What is valuable is that although Wu Zhengzhong's photographic posture is highly personal, he never talks to himself and is closed and isolated. Although he has no intention of recording social changes, the traces and contexts of changes are naturally generated by his continuity in time (since the 1980s, more than 30 years) and spatial extension (almost every corner of old Qingdao). His delicate touch and intentional portrayal of human sophistication, as well as the humorous ridicule that permeates familiarity, is like a kind of silent adhesive that moisturizes things, and will walk the streets and alleys at will, adhesion and glue into a vivid picture book of the land and things of one side. Or rather, a man and a city—an umbilical cord between him and Qingdao. ——Excerpt from Li Nan's "The Beauty and Attractiveness of Photography"
Wu Zhengzhong's "Happiness Building" under the lens, indelible urban memory
Wu Zhengzhong's lens of Qingdao, the time of the shadow wall of the old courtyard
This group of graphic photos thank teacher Wu Zhengzhong for authorization, if you need to reprint photos, please contact the author for consent.
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