Photos

Pingyao, Shanxi Province, Northern China

He would not tell his name. One of 1,600,000.
A peasant, belonging to the crowd of the poor.

Now, he is the candy man, standing all day long at the corner of the two main streets of the 2,700 years old town of Pingayo, a recently booming must-see tourist destination in China.

Paper-money was invented here in Pingyao. The rich mansions of the first bankers ever, still stand-up there, untouched, in full grandeur.

From morning to late evening, the candy-man stands in the street, leaning against the wall. By the side of the pink-eyed poster-lady. Calling the crowds of strolling Chinese and foreign tourists, with the brain-smashing metallic sound of a self-made noisy artifact.

He makes too little money -less than a USDollar a day- for a living.

I saw him at the end of the day, cycling back home through an ink-dark alley.

Away from his day-companion, the Pink-Eyed poster-lady.
With no hope. And same no-smile.

In the Workshop, I posted the candies as well, to sweeten the story a little bit...