How Are You and How Were You

–My Parents and My Parents

It was thirty years ago. My parents got married, because in about 5 month, their daughter, me, would come to the world. Getting pregnant before marriage, my parents were hippies in the 80s’ China.

When my parents met, my mom was an actress for a type of traditional Chinese opera, called Yue Ju. She toured in the region of her hometown with a local troupe. And my dad, after several years of trying to enter the university, he finally gave up and opened a tailor shop. When they got married, my mom quitted her actress job and became a tailor as my dad. I’m glad that being an actress for a traditional local opera wasn’t a career my mom was pursuing, otherwise, this could become a sad story. Yes, I never hear her singing or playing any instrument. I believe the only reason for her to be an actress was that she was selected to be one, as she was good looking, and she still is.

In the picture, my dad in his early 20s was sitting on a sawing machine against the open window in their tailor shop. Not long after that, he went on a trip with his friends to the north of China, seeking opportunities to provide the family with a better life. During that time, my mom and the 3-year-old me, we become best friends. The two of us stayed in the tailor shop. In summer time, we would often go and visit an old couple living across a small pond, right behind a clump of bamboo; in the misty spring rain, we went to the field near a river and searched for the right herbs for hours to save our dying little chick; when it was snowing in the winter, we tied a small piece of stone to a wood stick and dip it to the snow—we called this game snow fishing, I could go snow fishing forever.

After about a year, my dad settled in a city in Inner Mongolia. After a short while, my mom and I took a train for a whole three days and join him. That is the story about my parents when they were in their early 20s, and I’m glad I was involved.

How do You eat When you are Eating (2014)

]]> http://www.xiaoxiaoyan.com/?feed=rss2&p=643533 0 http://www.xiaoxiaoyan.com/?p=643359 http://www.xiaoxiaoyan.com/?p=643359#comments Sun, 13 Nov 2011 07:02:14 +0000 http://www.xiaoxiaoyan.com/?p=643359 How Are You and How Were You

-Dad and His Gang, and Dad and His Gang

These are my dad and his gang in the late 1980s. In the late 1980s, after the reform and opening-up policy carried out in 1979, private businesses are allowed to run in China. My dad was one of these young people who traveled to different cities around the country and was trying to seek the opportunities to start his own business during that time. I wish I could experience that era, it was the best time for young people.

-Du Yan and Me and Du Yan and Me

Brother Du Yan is two years older than me, he is the son of my parents’ very close friends when we were living in Inner Mongolia. We grew up together, I treated him as my big brother and just like other big brothers, he treated me as his “slave”, but my love to him never decreased.

This photo was taken in the mid-1990s, when I was about nine years old. According to my memory, at that time, Du Yan’s family just got a new VCD player, and we were so happily singing Karaoke. Brother Du Yan was a good singer, and I think his talent of singing and passion for Karaoke never fades–look at the Santa Claus’s hat with “Party World” (the famous chain Karaokes) on his head.

–Alison and Marcus and Alison and Marcus

This is my friend Mark and his sister Alison. I met Mark two years ago in China when both of us were traveling in Xi’an, he was on one of the stops of his world wide trip, and I was on a trip for my graduation.

The photo was taken on Alison and Mark’s annual family trip, and the place was a beach in Turkey (maybe — Mark). Alison got married in 2008, and Mark stopped at Thailand two years ago, without figuring out his next stop until now.

How Are You and How Were You

–Xiaoxiao and Xiaoxiao

I decided to start this series called How Are You and How Were You after I found out two of my Facebook photos taken in different periods actually looked very alike. Playfully, I juxtaposing them together. The effect surprised me, in the beginning, I felt I did not change at all, however, when I looked into the image, it seemed the image kept switching between an angel and a devil.