China Casserole: Beijing at Work

Beijing is a city at work. I am convinced that this is the one city that never rests. Living in here I have discovered a million occupations that I was never aware of before. I decided to dedicate a day of my life in watching working people and documenting their efforts.

I took off to the streets of Beijing on Sunday, the 25th of May at 4am and spent 24 hours meeting people who were earning a living while talking to me. They were street sellers, construction workers, shoe makers, repairmen of all kinds, restaurant staff, security guards, prostitutes, shop assistants, puppy breeders, policemen, hairdressers and many others.

I encountered many different reactions while attempting to take a snapshot. Me, a curious foreign intruder, was met with understanding, fear, excitement and anger. More often than anything, I was regarded with suspicion. I was asked over and over again, why it is that I want their picture. Why would I be interested in what they do? And why would anybody be interested in how they spend most of their waking hours? And with my poor Chinese I usually managed to splutter something like: My teacher and I enjoy watching. It is very important. Which they probably did not understand, but appreciated by attempts to communicate.
The workers showed me their children with pride and explained how they make a living. I tasted unknown kinds of fruits, pastries and teas. I also toured a construction site, played pool, sliced pineapples and learned to smoke like a real Chinese car mechanic. Most of the time I forgot to take pictures. Despite of that, I collected about five hundred photos during the day.

After much pondering, I decided to select and present 24 of those, as a symbol of feverish activity on the streets at any time of the day or night. They may not be the best photographs that I took, but they best represent what I learned about the working people of Beijing in those 24 hours. This day will remain a fond memory of mine, because I took a full day to learn by observation.

This project was my effort to create a small marker in time. It documents work and serves as a tribute to the working people of Beijing.