Cao Fei / Ou Ning: The Dazhalan Project

By Janina Bach

Just south of the spaciousness and communist splendour of Tiananmen Square lies one of the last remaining historic quarters of Peking. Tourists flock to this vestige of traditional Peking life where souvenir stands offer imitation goods in narrow alleyways. Chinese tourists are lured into small hotels built during the Emperor's rule where candidates once resided while taking their government employee exams. Street vendors sell corn and pieces of melon on sticks and suddenly vanish with their roll-carts or cardboard boxes when they suspect the police are coming. They reappear just as suddenly when the coast is clear. In the evening, deep in the labyrinth of alleyways, one can find dozens of small restaurants. With their grimy tables, cigarette smoke and bubbling pots, this is where one can enjoy traditional Chinese meals.
This quarter, called "Dazhalan", was once the commercial centre of the city. Today, it's densely populated by the city's poorest inhabitants - small-time street vendors, migrant workers, prostitutes, retirees. Those who are young and successful leave the area whose stench is caused by a lack of sanitary facilities and an inadequate water supply.
The filmmakers Cao Fei and Ou Ning selected Dazhalan as the location for a documentary film about life in this historic city quarter with its one and two-storey buildings enclosed by the skyscraper-studded mega city of Peking. Their ten-person film crew, which includes photographers, camera operators and sound technicians, spends several days a week filming in Dazhalan.
In their artistic approach to the city's urbanisation process, Cao Fei and Ou Ning were interested in various areas of conflict caused by the imbalance between modernisation and tradition. The goals of urban planning and historic landmark preservation have little in common with the needs of the quarter's inhabitants. There is a long list of buildings in Dazhalan which are registered as historic landmarks. However, talking with residents, the filmmakers learned that the obligatory preservation measures for these landmarks are insufficient to improve the catastrophic living conditions of their inhabitants. For the 2008 Olympic games, there are plans to refurbish the centre of the historic quarter. The city government has agreed to provide the inhabitants funds to carry out the renovation work. In photos and film, the artists explore the conflict between the government and the inhabitants of Dazhalan centred around how much money the city will provide and whether it will be sufficient to improve their living conditions. It is important for the artists to establish a basis of trust with the inhabitants in order to put them at ease in front of the camera. According to Cao Fei, the problem is that "in Chinese culture, people don't like speaking their mind in public."
"The Dazhalan-Project" is part of an extensive project. In China's three largest cities - Shanghai, Peking and Guangzhou - Cao Fei and Ou Ning investigate and document the situation of historic quarters which were integrated into these cities without sacrificing their traditional architectural style and way of life. In their home city of Guangzhou, they developed the "San Yi Yuan Project" which culminated in a documentary film, a book of photos and a web page. They have the same goals for "The Dazhalan Project". The artists will present a documentary film about Dazhalan at the exhibitions in Peking and Karlsruhe.
In addition to the richly diverse, traditional architecture of the city quarter, the filmmakers will also show the life of Dazhalan's residents and their fight to secure their basic needs in a city structure which has only recognized the "optical" value of its last historic city quarter following an intensely rapid process of urbanisation.