Join Beijing Lights This Weekend for a Peek Into Chinese Lives Not Often Seen

Dedicated to bringing contemporary Chinese writing to an English-language audience, Spittoon Collective has gone on to become one of the key players in Beijing’s flourishing literary scene. It serves as a platform for both fiction and non-fiction from a range of emerging writers; a prime example is their Beijing Lights column, which has also been published on the Beijinger website. 

Created by former the Beijinger editor Huang Chenkuang (who goes by Kuang), Beijing Lights is a series of narratives told in the first-person by people that Kuang has encountered in her daily life, which so far include an old barber in the park, a blind massage therapist, and a fortune-teller. Thanks to Kuang's non-judgemental interview style and a keen ear, the voices of these subjects come alive in writing, and she conveys their stories succinctly, poetically, and with dignity.

This Saturday, as a part of Spittoon’s Megacity project of themed multi-city events around China to share and promote literature, art, and music, Beijing Lights will have its first dedicated event. Kuang, joined by David Huntington, the co-curator of Beijing Lights, will be presenting a selection of works from the series and sharing interesting behind-the-scenes stories to help us learn more about the many faces that pass us by every day in the city.

In anticipation of the Beijing Lights event, the two editors sat down together to discuss what initially drew Kuang to this subject matter, what she has learned whilst exploring the real and compelling stories of Beijing residents, and how she got the idea to give a voice to regular people that may otherwise go unnoticed.

You really do manage to find remarkable people who slip past our daily attention. I’d say you have a knack for it. How do you choose your subjects and how do you find them?
I don’t really have a profile for the person I want to interview. I will just put aside an afternoon and kind of wander around, find random people to talk to. I find that I'm usually more likely to bump into interesting people and to have authentic conversations in the hutongs and old compounds.

Do you have some interesting stories about meeting with these strangers?
Each of them has an interesting story behind our meeting. For example, I bought a 7 kuai haircut from the barber in order to be able to talk to him more naturally. And of course, you can't ask too much when you're only paying 7 kuai for a haircut, so I just chose to trust his over 50 years of experience. But don’t ask me how the haircut turned out!

A big part of this project is translation, and your background is in translation. What do you think is lost and gained in these translations?
For translation, it is next to impossible to maintain the same charm in the original language. I tried to stay as loyal as possible to the speaker’s tone and language style, but on occasion, I translated their words more loosely, lest I confused the English readers.

Some of these people tell you very intimate details about their lives; it always amazes me. Why do you think they tell you these things?
I’m always surprised when people go deep like this and share their private feelings. I think the main reason they do, which is also quite saddening, is that they rarely get the chance to talk about those feelings in their normal lives, not even with the people closest to them. I don’t think this is only true here in Beijing, it’s true everywhere. Sometimes, it's easier to be honest and share your true feelings with a stranger.

What do you hope your readers will take away from Beijing Lights?
I want to answer this question by starting with what I’ve gained most from the interview series. Talking to a stranger is probably outside most of our comfort zones, but I’m so amazed and humbled by these ordinary people’s stories. The project really makes me feel more love toward other people generally, and that’s what my readers may also take away from it. You never know what battles others are fighting in their lives. So try not to just love your family and your friends, but to love these strangers too.

Join Beijing Lights this Saturday, 2-4pm at Aotu Space. Tickets are RMB 50 advance (available here) or RMB 60 on the door.

READ: "My Life Story Could Fill a Whole Book, but Who Would Read It?"

Photo: Hu Lumin, Muto