Monologue of a House

The last decade has seen a big boom of real estate industry in China. The residential property price, take Ningbo for example, has increased about five times in the last ten years. On the one hand, real estate industry plays an important role in China’s economic development and accounts for a large part of the government revenue. On the other hand, the private residence price is far beyond the economic capacity of ordinary people. It usually cost a people’s life savings to purchase a house of their own.

Despite how expensive it is, owning a house is still considered as a “must” in the concept of majority Chinese people. It is difficult for a man without a house to find a satisfying wife. House is considered as an essential element of marriage in nowadays China, thus the emergence of “Fang Nu” (slave of house), which means one bought a house with a mortgage for 20 to 30 years and almost the rest of his life are working for paying the debt. Furthermore, we are living in a world flooded with house advertising made by real estate developers, which created an illusion that you will live a happy and honourable life as long as you buy a house.

My video tells a story in the eye of a “house” with an ironic tone. Most of the pictures were taken at the 7th China International Housing & Furnishing Exposition (CHFE), and others are from the billboards, buildings and construction sites in Ningbo.

Recycling Documentary

Summary:

The Housun Renewable Resources Recycling Market which is located in Haishu District is a large junk distributing center in Ningbo. It is reported that the Housun Renewable Resources Recycling Market is the major junk distributing center for Haishu, Jiangdong, Jiangbei and Yinzhou Districts. It occupies nearly 30,000 square meters.

Waste irons and steels are flowing to large scale iron and steel enterprises such as Baoshan Iron and Steel Factory, Hangzhou Iron and Steel Plant, etc. Nonferrous metals are mainly treated in Ningbo such as Baoxing Stainless Steel Factory, Jintian Copper Group and some electrical appliances manufacturers in Cixi. Waste papers are flowing to paper manufacturers in Zhenhai. Waste plastics are received and processed by plastic production base in Yuyao and Cixi.

There are about 30 recycling companies in the Housun Renewable Resources Recycling Market. The volumes of waste trades are 3,000-4,000 tons and the amount of businesses are more than 100 million Yuan per year. However, the businesses dropped off sharply since August, last year. Currently, we can see that there are seldom delivery vans. The wastes are piled in the yard.

Because of the global financial crisis, a lot of businesses have depressed. At the same time, the requirements of coppers, irons and plastics which are raw materials of the manufacturers become decreasing. During the global financial crisis, the prices of the wastes in the recycling market are reducing continuously in Ningbo. Because it is difficult to earn money through waste recycling, some junkmen have to change jobs and try to find another job for surviving. Some recycling companies went bankrupt; survivors are still bitterly waiting for better prices.

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