【时代周刊 20130205】迁徙之国：刘杰记录中国的变化

满仓

【中文标题】迁徙之国：刘杰记录中国的变化
【原文标题】Migrant Nation: Liu Jie Documents China’s Ongoing Transformation
【登载媒体】时代周刊
【原文作者】Pete Pin
【原文链接】http://lightbox.time.com/2013/02/05/migrant-nation-liu-jie-documents-chinas-ongoing-transformation/#1


2011年，中国北京的摄影师刘杰造访了中国20多个乡村，用照片记录了伴随着中国经济奇迹的一个更加沉默，但同样悲苦外部效应：因城市化进程而不得团圆的农村家庭。

1949年，城市居民占中国人口总数的10.6％。到2012年，这个数字猛升到51.27％，中国在有史以来第一次成为一个城市化的国家。在一代人的时间里如此迅速的转型所造成的代价越来越显现出来。

摄影师说：“很多孩子每年，甚至每隔几年才能见到父母一次，因此他们或多或少都有身体和心理疾病。”

去年夏天，刘杰在纽约大学担任万能基金会人权研究员。他出生在山东省农村，多年前随家人移居到城市里，目前居住在北京。他的家离北京火车站很近，那里是成千上万流动人口进入首都的大门，这位摄影师可以用独特的视角来观察每天潮水般涌入这个城市的新面孔。

在刘的农村摄影作品中，每张空椅子都代表一个缺席的家庭成员——母亲、父亲、儿子或者女儿，他们都已经远离简陋的家庭。茫然的目光、空空的椅子，加上延伸到地平线的空旷景色，这些图片给人一种莫大的孤独感。

与那些展示中国大规模现代化进程、用色彩和实物打动观众的图片不同，刘的照片更加平静、卑微，其效果是微妙的、亲密的，具有难以置信的动人效果。

在拍摄完农村的留守成员之后，他回到北京，又拍摄了农民工在城市中工作的照片。从概念上说，刘让家人在照片里团聚了。在工地和车间里的父母，站在他们的孩子的肖像旁边，营造出一种农村与城市的视觉反差，也在一张照片里为分离的家庭成员架起一座桥梁。



2011年8月29日，陈蓉英坐在陕西安康市一个村庄的农田中。她的丈夫和三个孩子到大城市里去打工了。


2011年8月23日，67岁的薛皮中和她的妻子和孙子，坐在陕西省定边县一个村庄的院子中。他的孩子中有十多个都离开农村，到城市谋生。


2011年8月24日，67岁的田云秀和他的妻子刘德珍坐在陕西省靖边县的农田里。他们的6个家人到大城市里去做农民工。


2011年8月25日，68岁的贺艾良坐在陕西省靖边县农村的一座小山上。他的妻子已经去世，三个儿子在城市工作。


2011年8月26日，56岁的狄锦星和他的妻子坐在陕西省白水镇农村的院子里。他有6个女儿，全都离开了农村。


2011年8月27日，66岁的焦拴成坐在陕西省白水县的湖边。他的3个儿子都在城市里打工。


2011年12月2日，在成都打工，挣取微薄收入的农民工王振华。他身边的图片是留在四川农村的女儿和年老的母亲。


2011年12月4日，在成都打工的农民工李长安，坐在留守在四川农村的女儿的图片旁。


2011年12月6日，在成都做临时工的农民工彭晓容，坐在留守在四川农村的女儿的图片旁。


2011年12月7日，在成都工作的农民工杨，坐在留守在四川农村的儿子的图片旁。


2011年12月7日，农民工董（右）和他的妻子都在成都做临时工。旁边是留守在四川农村的儿子和祖母的图片。


2011年12月6日，农民工侯克明在成都做低收入的建筑工。他旁边是留守在四川农村的女儿的图片。



原文：

In 2011, Liu Jie, a Chinese photographer based in Beijing, visited and photographed more than 20 villages in the Chinese countryside, documenting one of the more silent but equally poignant externalities of the Chinese economic miracle: the separation of rural families due to urban migration.

In 1949, city dwellers represented 10.6% of China’s population. In 2012, that number swelled to 51.27%, making China, for the first time in its civilization, a predominantly urban country. The human costs of such a rapid transformation — within a single generation — are increasingly evident.

“Many children meet their parents once a year or even years, therefore some of them have both physical and psychological problems,” says the photographer.

Liu, who spent the summer at NYU as a 2012 Magnum Foundation Human Rights Fellow, was raised in a rural village in Shan Dong Province and is currently based in Beijing, having personally migrated to a city along with his family years prior. Beijing Railway Station, which serves as a gateway for millions of migrants to the capital, is in close proximity to his apartment, giving the photographer a unique view of the daily flood of fresh-faced migrants entering the city.

In Liu’s photographs of rural China, each empty chair signifies the absence of a family member — a mother, father, son or daughter — uprooted from their humble homes. There is an overwhelming sense of isolation in these images, of lonely gazes and empty chairs punctuated by the expanse of a rolling landscape that stretches off into the horizon.

In contrast to many images that seek to show the massive scale of China’s modernization — and in so doing seek to overwhelm the viewer — Liu’s images are quiet and humble. The effect is subtle, intimate, and incredibly heartfelt.

After photographing family members left behind in the countryside, the photographer returned to Beijing and photographed rural migrants in their workspace. In a conceptual twist, Liu reunites family members photographically. Parents, at a construction site or sausage factory, stand beside towering portraits of their children back home, creating a visual contrast—a collision of rural and urban—and a bridging of that chasm of familial separation within a single frame.

Chen Rongying sits in her farmland in a village of Ankang city, Shan’xi province, Aug. 29, 2011. Her husband and three children have gone to big cities working as peasant workers.

Xue Pizhong, 67 years old. His wife and grandson sit in the yard in a village of Dingbian town, Shan’xi province, Aug. 23, 2011. More than 10 of his children left the countryside to make a living in the city.

Tian Yunxiu, 67 years old, and his wife Liu Dezhen sit in the farmland in Jingbian town, Shan’xi province, Aug. 24, 2011. Six family members travel to big cities to work as peasant workers.

He Ailiang, 68 years old, sits on the top of a hill in a village of Jingbian town, Shan’xi province, Aug. 25, 2011. His wife has passed away, and three of his sons work in cities.

Di Jinxing, 56 years old, and his wife sit in their yard in a village of Baishui town, Shan’xi province, Aug. 26, 2011. He has six daughters and all of them have left the countryside.

Jiao Shuancheng, 66 years old, sits beside a lake in a village of Baishui town, Shan’xi province, Aug. 27, 2011. He has three sons who travel to cities to make living.

Peasant worker Wang Zhenhua, who serves as low-income labor in Chengdu City, sits beside an image of his daughter and elderly mother being left behind near the undeveloped rural area in Sichuan province in China, Dec. 2, 2011.

Peasant worker Li Changan, who works in Chengdu City, sits beside an image of his daughter being left behind at the undeveloped rural area in Sichuan province in China, Dec. 4, 2011.

Peasant worker Peng Xiaorong, a temporary worker in Chengdu City, sits beside an image of her daughter being left behind at the undeveloped rural area in Sichuan province in China, Dec. 6, 2011.

Peasant worker Yang, who works in Chengdu city, sits beside an image of his son being left behind at the rural area in Sichuan province in China, Dec. 7, 2011.

Peasant worker Dong (right) and his wife, both temporary workers in Chengdu city, sit beside an image of their son and grandmother being left behind near the rural area in Sichuan province in China, Dec. 7, 2011.

Peasant worker Hou Keming, who serves as low-income labor in Chengdu city, sits beside an image of his daughters being left behind at the undeveloped rural area in Sichuan province in China, Dec. 6, 2011.