100 years of the new kiln

Author: He Ming
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-02-01
Features: Spanning eight years and dozens of trips for interviews, young photographer He Ming presents his new work. A remote and impoverished mountain village, a group of hardworking and simple people, stories of ordinary yet profound significance, and beautiful yet seemingly distant hopes. Every villager is exceptionally kind. I remember several years ago when I interviewed Liu Shengli in the village, he dug through a broken box at home to find his ID card and insisted on giving it to me as a souvenir. When I said no, he said, "If you don’t take it, it’s as if you look down on me!" To show my friendliness, I had no choice but to seriously accept the ID card that smelled of mothballs. Only then did he say, "He Ming is really considerate!" Before last Spring Festival, when I went back to Xinyaozi, Liu Shengli shouted from afar at the village entrance and asked for his ID card. He said, "This spring, the township re-registered the household registration, but because I didn’t have an ID card, they wouldn’t give me a new one. Now our whole family is registered as black households—we don’t even have a single book!" He added, "The township cadres said I’m still the head of household." I jokingly asked Liu Shengli, "What’s the use of a household registration?" He smiled and said, "It’s useful—land allocation and children’s education both require it." At that time, I laughed, and he laughed heartily too. Upon returning to Beijing, I quickly sent him the ID card I had preserved for so long through express delivery.
After reading He Ming’s book, I got to know these real farmers. I feel even more confident. Through their experiences, many of my views on the history of the People’s Republic have been given tangible proof. Their struggles and efforts today have filled in a gap in my reference frame. As a Chinese with 800 million fellow farmers, carrying a complete village in my heart and understanding its fundamental relationship with society, I feel at ease no matter what I say or do. Xinyaozi is changing. In such large-scale efforts to improve their own circumstances, Chinese farmers will surely struggle left and right for decades until the reasons for their general unrest disappear and a new equilibrium is established. Perhaps this will become one of the most significant changes in human history this century, and its outcome and impact will greatly alter the world. I hope He Ming can track this change through his village, giving us a sense of direction and allowing future generations to see a complete and vivid story.
—Wu Si
Xinyaozi is a remote and impoverished small village in northern Shaanxi. Since 1903, when its first resident arrived, Xinyaozi has weathered 100 years of storms. For a century, people have tilled the land here, married and had children, and experienced birth and death. They have nurtured dreams and harvested hope, stubbornly resisting natural disasters and the temptations brought from the city. By the end of 2004, the village had grown to 282 people. In this book, photographer He Ming focuses his lens on this small village, on ordinary, hardworking, and simple farmers who, despite a touch of helplessness, still hold dreams of changing their fate, as well as their innocent and lovable children. Beside the photos, He Ming narrates their true living conditions and the dreams of their ancestors in a seemingly straightforward yet deeply moving manner. Reading it evokes sympathy, sorrow, and a profound sense of admiration for their simplicity, as well as inspiration from their beautiful aspirations and tenacious struggles.
A century of Xinyaozi is the story of a remote small village, and it is also the true reflection of hundreds of millions of Chinese farmers.