Beijing ZOO

Czasami o tobie myślę, głównie myślę, że ty o mnie nie myślisz. Jest mi z tym dobrze. Rzadko wspominam, a najczęściej gdy siedzę tyłem do okna, słońce odbija się w podłodze i słyszę szum ulicy. Wtedy wydaje mi się, że jestem w jednym z miejsc, które kiedyś nazywałam domem. 

Here live only sparrows

In the middle of 1958 Mao Zedong started the "Sparrow war". He blamed birds for destroying yields and causing famine. All Chinese were obliged to exterminate sparrows, using slingshots, batons, knockers, drums, pots - everything which haunted, made sounds and did not allow birds to sit. It took 15 minutes for a sparrow to die of exhaustion.

* * *

While I was passing first buildings, I felt the void, total emptiness and heard only the voice of birds rushing over my head. It was a beginning of February but the days were very hot. Temperature was upto 30 degrees Celcius.

I was surrounded by abandoned houses without windows, doors and roofs. Scary, empty eyes of buildings which where vibrant and full of life few months ago. The shadows were painted on the facades. I crossed next alleys looking into homes as on Chirico's images. I was overwhelmed by desolation and mess of scattered stuff: children's notebooks, backpacks, hats and pots. On the square in between wreckage of crushed windows there were cards left by some poker players. I was entering the buildings; New Year's decorations lost their colors; the sun was shining through the breaks of missing tills, sparrows were bouncing merrily between batons. I was climbing to higher floors, passing following rooms in the middle of Kafkaesque labyrinth from dreams. Narrow streets, slits between houses, outdoor kitchens, bricks, glass, columns, till the top of the building. I was jumping over obstacles without destination. It was so stuffy that my head was spinning...

Suddenly someone touched my arm. I turned around and saw an old short man with an honest smile.

'What are you doing here?' he asked.

'Photos.'

We sat on the tiny bench, which he had brought form inside.

'Tao Zhuang will be demolished like other villages. The government needs new places for factories. All people were resettled.'

He poured hot water into a little bowl and gave it to me. Few green tea leaves were floating inside. Drenched in sweat I was listening.

'I keep an eye on this till the demolition, I am the only man here. Please take photo of me and my home. These two are mine: the new and the old one.'

He poured some water to my cup. We were sitting on a wooden bench in the center of place which will be wiped out from the face of the earth in a moment and we were watching cheerful sparrows making the nest in the building's slot.