Translated…
From Ürümchi, 1988
The sun from about eight in the morn, continually, splashed down on the streets of Ürümchi, the distant, reddish yellow mountain tops lined up, everything became like a colorful stage, moving around, with great fluidity.
The smaller busses, the taxis, the bicycles, the carts of all shapes and sizes pulled by mules, and those elderly with long, white beards, riding the horses from the tribes. Everybody, busying about, going in and out of the seemingly messy, but orderly crowd.
On a smaller patch by the corner, the assortment of vendors from a multitude of tribes, they were, all from different tribes that’s for sure. The place where that old corner was, there would be, the young and handsome barber, just quietly, and, there were, seven, to eight customers, lined up for their facials, haircuts.
The busying young barber, lifted his face, and skimmed that man with the cameras, and, his moustache twitched to the side, with his chin protruding, “pointed” toward me, a sort of a smile, I suppose, no big deal, or maybe, he’s saying, “Yeah, I’ll let you take my pictures. I saw him, holding up that small shaving knife piece, sharpened on the leather piece by the side for a bit, and, practiced the cuts in midair, with the sunlight flashing towards him, with his left palms, pinning down the customer’s head, he was very focused, very skilled, and, every seven, to eight minutes, he’d gotten a brand new head and chin to shave.
The stubborn man holding on to his camera, walked around the marketplaces, then, lifted up the camera, the young barber looked at this man, with a messy head of hair, or perhaps, hadn’t shaved himself for a week or so, and, showed the scissors in his hand, then, tilted his handsome face, ordering, told this particular audience, to stand in life, then, shrugged his shoulders, started laughing, without, making a single sound.
So, this, is a traveler’s observation of goings-on in the locality where he’d visited, and, he’d became a participant in this “mime” that’s happening, and that, is what life is all about, NOT just observing, but participating in the goings-on as well.
and here’s the photograph, from UDN.com…
