Old Photos (6) (Treasure Edition)

Author: None
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-08-01
Features: The birth of photography provided a vivid and stable reference for people to understand history. Compared to written records, photographs are often more direct and certain. With the click of a camera's shutter, a scene of history is frozen just like this. "Old Photos" attempts to make changes in this regard, placing photographs at the center of observation and letting the photographs speak for themselves. Sometimes, the words and meanings contained in a photograph go far beyond what a few simple historical conclusions can encompass, and history can only become vivid and lively by acknowledging and listening to the words of the photograph. "Old Photos" has always been dedicated to presenting historical details. This is partly related to the characteristics of the photographs themselves, because any photograph is composed of numerous details. Even an ordinary family photograph, the expressions of the people, the styles of their clothing, and the objects in the scene are all laid bare, making it impossible to hide them. It can be said that displaying old photographs is displaying the details of history. This applies to photographs. The narrative of details is also evident in the text of "Old Photos." In this issue, Mr. Sanmu's "Teacher-Disciple Relationship in Different Eras" features a student's "dedication letter" to his teacher during the Cultural Revolution. This individual not only failed to observe the etiquette of a "disciple" but spoke to his teacher in a tone of instruction, filled with numerous spelling errors and crude language, making it worthy of inclusion in a modern "Book of Laughs." Ma Siyao's "Grandpa" describes the Great Famine in the early 1960s: "Grandpa developed edema, and pressing his limbs left indentations. He couldn't work during the day and had to lean against the wall to walk. At night, Grandpa sat with a few elderly men of the same age, also suffering from edema, on a heated kang (traditional bed), a large pot placed on the ground. Inside, they simmered a few beans and some sheep bones picked up from the roadside, claiming it could cure the edema. The old men drank the soup, chatted, and stayed up until dawn." The detail revealed here—their relentless survival and the demeanor of "drinking soup and chatting until dawn"—is precisely the "alphabet of life" that Roland Barthes of France described. It is like a series of vibrant notes, composing a moving symphony of life. The meaning conveyed by this detail cannot be encompassed by any of the various historical conclusions about that famine. Details are like a magnifying glass for history, making the dust-covered years and hazy pasts vividly apparent. What "Old Photos" does is merely provide a small stand for these magnifying glasses.