My China - The faces of China/August 2006, Photos: Yafa Kfir & Gili Dekel

My china

Home page: www.yafakfir.com

Chine is big, very bigImmense and mighty

all the adjectivesof size and power

fit it. This vast China

is made of people.

Each one has his own dreamhappiness, pain and sorrow Fear of the government

and hope.

Giving people a face - that‘s what I like

Here, I brought fewof the men and women

that I engravedon the memory card

of my camera

People. Like you and me – and different.

I walked among them, a stranger.

I saw human beingsI took a moment of their happiness, their

freedomof their mundane and the gleam of dream in

their eyes

Brining it all to you, my friends

This country is so big and impressive:Fascinating with its history and

spaciousnessThere are men, women and children

They do not look like each other,There are tribes, different types of

ChineseBrown, yellow, faired skin

Thin, fat…

In China art is different,different music

special foodand lots of people

more than I ever saw.

This is China whose future is hastily built - right before our eyes

Devouring metal, glass and stone from all over he globe

Building bridges, highways, glamorous cities

And one child – one child only – per family.

This is China of magicNo other word to describe it

Culture and artArchitecture and agriculture

PoetryMeditation and philosophythis infinite culture of the

East

In this China, there is alsoEvil that is powerful than any man

dictating rules, oppressive, hurting, killingThe Tibetans, the opponents of Mao and his

likes

The baby-girls murdered in their cribes because they were not boys…

Putting the old people of Beijing in high-rises

They are sad, they don’t return home all the day long, left off in the streets…

This is China of beauty, ugliness and cruelty -

of beautiful paintings on silkdone with fine, soft, brushes

of evil and goodnesslike the world.

And there are dreams and wishesand promise

you can see it – in people’s eyes

I drove across it, I walked, soaking up, drinking in, its beauty

I loved being there, in a different word, foreign to all I know at home,

This is “my” China,Scenery and cultures, but mainly people

And there, just like here, a picture of mother and daughter breaks my heart…

and there is no escape from the pain.

I brought few crumbs

The rest is waitingfor

Time, time to load it

Home page: www.yafakfir.com