Planet China Vol. 01

planet ChinaPlanet China is a collection of
interviews and insights with
directors, designers,
photographers, experts,
journalists, critics, and artists
01
1

This free ebook includes interviews by Dominique Musorrafiti and
Matteo Damiani with some of the most prominent experts of China
A Conversation with Jia Zhangke
Jia Zhangke is regarded as a leading figure of the “Sixth
Generation” movement of Chinese cinema
China-underground.
com and CinaOggi.it
are two web magazines
curated by Matteo Da-
miani and Dominique
Musorrafiti (DMSL.co)
dedicated to Chinese
culture and represent a
virtual bridge between
Asia and Western coun-
tries. Since 2002, Chi-
na-underground has or-
ganized cultural events
and festivals and creat-
ed documentaries, pho-
to reports, and maga-
zines (Cina Magazine,
Chine Magazine).
5
© 2018 dmsl.co

Index
Wild, Wild East
Interview with Daniel Lee
Postaer, American artist/
photographer
The curious case of mr
Alfred Raquez
Interview with William L.
Gibson and Paul Bruthiaux
Chinese Science Fiction
Interview with Robert G.
Price, author of Space to
create in Chinese Science
Fiction
Being an independent
creative director in
China
Interview with Shadow
Chen
Twenty-Two
Interview with Guoke,
director of the
documentary Twenty-Two
Captain China: The
World’s Greatest
Communist Super Hero!
Interview with Chi Wang
Sisters for Sale
Interview with Ben Randall
Interview with Kevin
Tallon, Consulting
Director at BACA
Kevin Tallon is a
fashion-designer
based in Beijing
China and Hong Kong
Street Photography
Interview with Duran
Levinson, cinematographer
and film photographer
8
14
22
28
34
38
44
48
52

In 2001 in Beijing we in-
terviewed a young Jia
Zhangke. In the late 90s
and early 00s, most of
the sixth generation of
Chinese directors mov-
ies were forbidden in
China. He is generally
regarded as a leading
figure of the “Sixth Gen-
eration” movement of
Chinese cinema.
“In 1995 when I was attend-
ing the second year of the
Cinema Academy, I and oth-
er ten schoolmates already
wanted to shoot a movie,
but funds and opportunity
failed. So we did found the
Youth Experimental Film
Group and self-produced 3
shorts. We did start to work
together to practice, to
think about movies and dis-
cuss it. In this group, there
was the script-writer, the
producer, the cameraman,
the sound-track technician,
thedirector:wedidorganize
to form a complete band.
The goal was to archive one
way, an opportunity to pro-
duce the film and to try to fill
the gap in the documentary
and experimental genre. We
did shoot a first documen-
tary called “One day in Pe-
king“, then “Xiao Shuai hui
jia” and as for last “Dudu“;
after that, “Xiao Wu“ [Pick-
pocket]. The main members
of this group keep working
with me nowadays and are
my most important collabo-
A Conversation with Jia Zhangke
Jia Zhangke is generally regarded as a leading figure of the “Sixth
Generation” movement of Chinese cinema.
Interview by Matteo Damiani, Dominique Musorrafiti, 2001

always free to shoot a film,
but certainly they are to the
Chinese culture; in fact, Chi-
nese public can’t see real life
in the movie. There’s a huge
depression in the cinema
field and all this due bureau-
cratic control system which
prevents creation and in-
vestments. Censorship can
change to its own pleasure a
work and to forbid the pub-
lic projection, therefore
rators, like for example the
assistant director.
Independent cinema has
lived until now two very
important moments. The
first at the beginning of the
90’s. In that time many new
young directors appeared,
who sought to express with
new and freer forms, suffo-
cated and frustrated as they
were by a too binding sys-
tem. The second is the one
born two years ago. Its im-
portance is due to the fact
of having contributed to the
development of the docu-
mentary genre and digital
films. In any case, I speak of
my own experience which
is not representative of the
scene, since I’ve been lucky
having not found economi-
cal difficulties. Xiao Wu has
been completed in 1998
and the following year it has
been screened at the Cine-
ma Festival of Berlin.
In January 1999 the Chinese
government forbade me to
shoot at another film. To me,
it represented a huge obsta-
cle, since it meant an illegal
act if I was going to screen
my movie. I felt deeply an-
guished because Xiao Wu is
a Chinese story and I would
have enjoyed my public to
be Chinese. This prohibition
made lose my public. plat-
form while preparing Zhan-
tai [Platform], we searched
for a dialogue with the gov-
ernment, hoping to find a
solution. Unfortunately,
neither this film was appre-
ciated by the government
and I found myself in a bad
mood while producing the
movie. Anyway, I’d under-
line something: this kind of
prohibition was not so hard
since they didn’t forbid me
to shoot the movie, but only
to project it in China. So I
consider these obstacles
less harmful for me since I’m
5

we have no guarantee both
artistically and financially.
The present-day condition
of Chinese movies industry
is embarrassing.
My activity cannot be guar-
anteed inside of China. I
need an open space and in-
ternational one because I’ve
got to find some investors.
I’ve chosen Hong Kong since
it still keeps free spaces and
plus it’s a Chinese place and
this help my communica-
tion. So we have come to
decision: to establish our
seat in Hong Kong. This to
me sounds like an optimum
compromise, since it’s diffi-
cult to count on internation-
al collaborations in Peking.
Every year there are at least
10 directors who undertake
a career in the independent
and digital cinema. And this
new flow turned out to be
a particular influence: it has
interrupted that traditional
control on the production,
since these films are very
cheap, and it has also suc-
ceeded with the problem of
censorship.
There are always more art-
ists who choose such a way.
The new directors are like
me, they self-finance and
generally, they don’t find
real investment. For exam-
ple, as far as my experience
is concerned, I use my own
money to shoot a film. This
doesn’t represent a nor-
mal investment, it’s only a
self-satisfaction of my own
creativity. As an example,
if you feel like wanting a
film to be produced, but
you don’t have the funds
to accomplish this dream of
yours. This is not a business,
it’s not considered a normal
investment. In China, you
can find directors, but not
“west-producers”, accord-
ing to the western mean-
ing, since Chinese govern-
ment doesn’t allow it in that
sense.
Both in “Zhantai” and “Xiao
Wu” there are many songs.
All of the “Zhantai” songs
own to 80’s and they de-
scribe us the change from
this point of view. At the be-
ginning, there’s a passage
called “The train leaves to-
ward Shao Shan”, the bird
place of Mao Ze Dong. It
was written to praise and
extol Mao.
It was in ‘79, right after the
end of the Cultural Revolu-
tion, when China was closed
and still followed Mao’s indi-
cations. In that time every-
body knew this song. To me,
this is the start point of the
movie. As long as the film
goes on, the protagonist
listens to Teng Li Jun mu-
sic, and this was a reality of
these years since it was not
yet permitted a private life
in China.
With the coming of the
Teng’s songs, as last a true
and genuine mass-culture
came into China, and this
was a signal for the govern-
ment, indicating the need of
a own-popular-culture for
China.
Another song comes next,
titled “Meeting of the
young friends”. In the 80’s
after people lost hope in the
future and in government
due to the Cultural Revolu-
tion, the Party let an adver-
tising song be composed,
to tell the people that, in a
20 years, approximately in
2000, China would have ac-
complished its 4 “Modern-
izations”: in the industrial
and in agricultural field, na-
tional defense, and in sci-
ence and technology field,
to become at last a modern
country. Every song in the
film shows and voices a so-
cial class and contains the
cultural meanings of that
period.
“Zhantai,” tells the story of
a whole decade, precisely
the 80’s, from 1979 to 1992,
starting with the Cultural
Revolution and ending with
Tiananmen slaughter, both
representing 2 dramatic
changes. China has just be-
gun its first contacts with
the West. There came to be
rather vivid cultural chang-
es, for example, the year
before you could talk about
television as an abstract
image and the following

year everybody owned it;
the people who previously
worked in a state company
in a 5 year period started to
undertake their own busi-
ness. In the course of the 10
years, ideology underwent
a clear change. Prior to ‘79
people couldn’t watch a
western movie; 5 years later
you could find in a lost Chi-
nese village’s stall, books on
European philosophy such
as Nietzsche. You could eas-
ily find Pasolini’s tapes and
VCD, and this period which
corresponds to my adoles-
cence was a moment of
strong growth and maturity
to me. The Chinese state has
undertaken a considerable
change; I had a strong wish
then to show this age in a
film.
I believe Chinese cinema
will have a total change.
This day is closer, and not
because I ‘m deceiving my-
self about this system, but
because I think it’s a peri-
od of big transformations,
communications, we have
internet, and you can’t con-
trol anymore systematically
the thoughts and people’s
ideas, therefore I’m opti-
mist and think Chinese cin-
ema will certainly have its
creative freedom. Guys have
more courage, strong cre-
ativity and can change this
country.”
Wang Xiaoshuai
and Jia Zhangke at
BigScreen Italia,
Kunming, 2006,
organized By
China-underground/
CinaOggi.

Wild, Wild East
Interview with Daniel Lee Postaer, American artist/photographer
Interview by Dominique Musorrafiti, 2017
Photos courtesy of Daniel Postaer
Daniel Lee Postaer is an
American artist/photog-
rapher.
Born in Chicago and
raised in Southern Cal-
ifornia by a Chinese
mother and American
father, Daniel recently
graduated an MFA from
the San Francisco Art In-
stitute in 2015 where he
received the Fellowship
in Photography. Pos-
taer left an internation-
al marketing and enter-
tainment career for the
life-changingpursuitand
craft of picture-making.
His work explores the
ways in which humani-
ty reconciles and resists
modernity – across glob-
al booms, busts and the
transitional spaces in be-
tween – as he address-
es questions of capital,
race/ethnicity, and his-
torical belonging.
Postaer’s prints are
wide-scale and of the
hyper-moment; surreal
scenes of the everyday
urban theatre. These
scenes, he describes,
are roughly “eighty-per-
cent non-fiction / twen-
ty-percent fiction,” with
as much interest in what
a picture may never re-
veal.

What is the main reason
that motivated you to
become a photographer?
Having lived a previous ca-
reer in international mar-
keting, entertainment, and
deal-making — the work
I did, though at times ful-
filling, felt largely fleeting.
I’d always been passionate
about picture-making. Ex-
periencing the world with
a camera is pure peace of
mind and space for me.
There’s an element of con-
trol I feel within our chaot-
ic world with a click of the
shutter. That feeling keeps
driving me to do the work.
Photography, like no oth-
er medium, has the innate
power to pause time. Pic-
tures have a chance to live
on far beyond our own life-
times. I take great comfort
in that.
When did you start? In
the film or in the digital
era?
I started making pictures
in digital’s relative infancy.
And have always both ac-
cepted and embraced digi-
tal’s potential.
I’ve great respect for but
have no personal nostal-
gia around film. One core
philosophy that guides me
through the digital age is
that a photograph is not a
photograph until it lives in
print.
I’ve little interest on how
the print is made – wheth-
er by originating through
film exposure or processed
through digital means. I re-
main concerned about what
the photograph print actual-
ly does.
What is your favorite
subject when shooting?
Everyday urban life. The
quotidian. The urban mo-
ment is fiercely short-lived. I
feel a duty to make sense of
the now.
What about your first
time in China?
I had freshly graduated from
high school and my mom
sent me on a trip with other

students throughout China
for five weeks.
As impactful an introducto-
ry experience as that was,
I couldn’t have predicted I
would later move to China
for the beginning of my first
career, let alone later creat-
ing an all-consuming body-
of-work around Urban China
as a picture-maker.
What do you find in Chi-
na that you can’t find in
America?
China is the Wild, Wild East.
The Mainland’s growth is
rapid beyond any country
that I’ve lived in. The feeling
once you step off the plane
in the major China cities is
both intoxicating, exhilarat-
ing, and utterly exhausting.
Every year in Urban China
feels like five years. That en-
ergy can’t be found, on as
massive a scale, anywhere
else on the globe.
Did you find any cultural
differences between Chi-
nese American and Chi-
nese from the mainland?
Of course. There are too
many differences to speak
of. The gap between the
American experience and
the Chinese experience is
wide.
However, the relative open-
ing of the China market, driv-
en by the technology and
the web, is narrowing that
gap. We are becoming more
interconnected in our every
day – particularly within the
shared urban experience.
How would you describe
your photography proj-
ect Motherland?
Motherland is on on-going,
long-form picture story still
unfolding. I’ve set out to
Postaer recently completed two solo exhibitions with Longmen Art
Projects. The first was a 33-piece, two-story experiential exhibition
at the Longmen’s gallery of Motherland. The second was a solo show
of his San Francisco, body-of-work titled Boomtown at Photofairs
Shanghai.
11

record an era of time in Ur-
ban China. The pursuit be-
gan with a fascination, and
a heavy longing, to under-
stand where half my blood
came from. My Mother, Lil-
lian Lee, was born in Shang-
hai in 1948, but my grandpar-
ents fled the Mainland when
she a toddler. I’ve always
wondered how her life, my
life would have been if she
had stayed. Perhaps these
pictures bring me closer to
some kind of peace around
my own existence. Or an ex-
istence that never was.
Do you face some unex-
pected moment during
your photography shoot-
ing that makes the differ-
ence for you?

Every day in the field is a new
adventure. The photograph-
ic moment remains entirely
unexpected and that’s one
of the intrinsic values of
straight photography that I
revere.
What do you think will
be the evolution of pho-
tography in the era of so-
cial media?
Many colleagues and friends
have clamored for me to
start an Instagram page.
Yet I’ve resisted. I have no
desire for my pictures to be
viewed in the format of a
vertical smartphone screen.
Most photographs are now
viewed and consumed in
that confining mobile rect-
angle.
Details get lost and entirely
missed in that format. Pho-
tography is in the details. I
believe a well-crafted pho-
tographic print still delivers
an experience like no oth-
er medium. However I do
believe that social media is
a tool to get the work out
there, so I’m still putting my
head around its necessity.
I’ve begrudgingly put up a
website with only a handful
of pictures at 72dpi. I remain
primarily concerned with
making prints of the hy-
per-now and sharing those
in a compelling way.
“Motherland is on
on-going, long-form
picture story still
unfolding.”
Official site

The curious c
Raquez, a Pa
on the run

case of mr Alfred
arisian fugitive
in the Far East
Interview with William L. Gibson
and Paul Bruthiaux
about their new book:
“In the land of the pagodas”,
published by NIAS Press.
Interview by
Matteo Damiani, 2017
Photos courtesy of
William L. Gibson
and Paul Bruthiaux

’Alfred Raquez’ was the
pseudonym of Joseph
Gervais, a bankrupt
French lawyer who fled
to the Far East in the late
1890s and had access to
some of the powerful
players in French Indo-
china.
He wrote prolifically
about China and Indo-
china, took some of the
earliest photographs of
Laos and made the ear-
liest field sound record-
ings in that land. He died
under mysterious cir-
cumstances in Marseille
in 1907.
California- native Wil-
liam L. Gibson is a writ-
er, researcher and occa-
sional sound artist based
in Southeast Asia. A pro-
lific academic author
and editor, French-born
Paul Bruthiaux now lives
in Thailand.
How did you discover the
story of “Alfred Raquez”/
Joseph Gervais?
William first came across
Raquez’s work in a boxset
of CDs of Southeast Asian
78rpms records [read about
it here]. The set included a
lavish accompanying book
illustrated with period post-
cards. It was from research-
ing those postcards that
William began to uncover
this amazing story, and from
there, he began to read Ra-
quez’s books in French, all of
which, since they are public
domain, have been digitized
and are available online.
William’s skills in French
are not strong enough to
translate entire books, so
he approached his long-time
friend and former colleague
from Singapore, Paul Bruth-
iaux. After reading Raquez’s
work, Paul realized what a
treasure was sitting undis-
covered. They agreed to do
an annotated translation of
Raquez’s first book, In the
Land of Pagodas, and hap-
pily, that was picked up by
Group of Miao women
from sedan chair with
chair pole visible at left

NIAS Press!
Can you tell us something
about his fascinating and
incredible story?
If you were to invent this guy
for a novel, editors would
say he’s not believable.
From what we have learned
so far, Joseph Gervais was a
lawyer living in the French
city of Lille. He was married
and very active in lay Cath-
olic organizations. Gervais
got himself into debt, and
created an elaborate con
game to try and earn the
money back. He must have
spent a lot of time in Paris as
well because he knows an
incredible amount about the
swinging nightlife of the pe-
riod…those were the days
of Moulin Rouge! Eventual-
ly, his con game was discov-
ered, he was declared bank-
rupt, and a warrant was
issued for his arrest. But he
was gone!
He shows up a few months
later in the Mekong Delta us-
ing the name “Raquez,” and
over the coming decade, he
wrote three books and hun-
dreds of newspaper articles
and published hundreds of
photographs of Indochina
using that name. He moved
insomeofthehighestcircles
of the French Concession in
Shanghai as well as in Indo-
china, and in 1906, he was
awarded a medal of honor
by the French Ministry of
War…all the time using the
name “Alfred Raquez.” The
indications are that when he
died in early 1907, everyone
still knew him by that name.
This opens up all sorts of
intriguing questions about
who knew what and when
and whether he was helped
to maintain his secret identi-
tybytheFrenchcolonialpro-
paganda machine in return
for his contributions to its
efforts or whether he fooled
them all. His death is also
mysterious. Officially, he
died of smallpox, and there
was a smallpox epidemic in
Marseille, where he died, at
the time. But rumors of sui-
cide were also in the air. Did
his wife confront him? Or a
former creditor threaten to
expose him? We don’t know,
and we may never know. It’s
the dark intrigue of a film
noir, only in real life!
“If you were to invent this guy for a novel,
editors would say he’s not believable.”
17

What is the legacy of Al-
fred Raquez?
Not much of anything. His
travel book on Laos, Pag-
es Laotiennes, published in
1902 (we are currently work-
ing on a translation for NIAS
Press), is sometimes foot-
noted in studies of French
Indochina, but otherwise,
his writings are mostly for-
gotten.Thisisespeciallytrue
of his first book of his trav-
el through China. He is best
known today for the nearly
200 postcards of Laos he
produced for the 1906 Colo-
nial Exposition in Marseille.
These are still highly sought
after by collectors, and it is
due to postcard collectors
that he is remembered at all.
Can you tell us some de-
tails of his writing style?
Readers will find that Ra-
quez’s style is incredibly
modern. In advertisements
for subscriptions to the
book, he is described as
being both “erudite” and
“humorous,” and much of
that learning and humor still
shines in the book. His use
of irony is remarkable in a
travel book of the period.
He also is a great collector
of ephemera such as news-
paper clippings, menus and
seating arrangements at
banquets, as well as pho-
tographs and the stories
and anecdotes concerning
the people he encounters.
His writing is concise, often
with single-sentence para-
graphs that show him keep-
ing a sharp eye out for the
telling detail. There is also
an emphasis on the person-
al experience. He relates his
own sensations, including
Readers will find that Raquez’s style is incredibly modern

his bodily and emotive re-
actions to the environment,
which give a sense of imme-
diacy and dynamism to his
writing that is not found in
the works of his contempo-
raries. Raquez is masterful
at synthesizing all this ma-
terial into a narrative that
keeps a brisk pace while
still revealing telling details
about traveling.
Was his secret identity
on the verge of getting
discovered?
The evidence suggests that
it was only after his death
that his true identity became
known, though it seems col-
leagues in Southeast Asia
were aware that he had a
dubious past in France. This
information was quickly for-
gotten (or ignored), and he
came down through history
as Alfred Raquez.
There was only one refer-
ence to this being a pseud-
onym (in a book published
in the 1930s), so some peo-
ple were clearly aware of it,
but until William uncovered
his true identity a couple of
years ago, no one knew who
he really was. There was a
pretty crazy theory float-
ing around the rather small
world of collectors of French
colonial postcards of Asia
that he was a homosexual
pharmacist, but that wasn’t
even close to the mark.
What places did he visit
in China?
The book is divided into
thirds, with the first third be-
ing travels around the coast
from Canton to Hong Kong
and Macao. The middle third
is set in Shanghai, where
the lively descriptions of the
French Concession some-
times read like a novel, and
the final third finds him trav-
eling up the Yuan River as
far as Guiyang then deeper
into Miao country in mod-
ern Guizhou province. There
are not many descriptions of
this part of Southwest Chi-
na from this period, so that
section of the book is par-
tic-ularly valuable.
The original cover of “In the land of
the pagodas”
19

What evidence is left of
his travels in the country?
Not much. I spent a week
at the Zikawei library in
Shanghai recently go-
ing through old copies of
L’Écho de Chine, one of the
daily French newspapers in
Shanghai, to uncover the
paper trail—and there are
some intriguing clues in
there—but otherwise, as
with so many other foreign-
ers, his passage through
the region left no trace….
except in his writings, of
course!
Alfred Raquez lived
during tumultuous times
but crucial to the mod-
ern history of China. The
country was facing rebel-
lionsandexternalthreats
but also new ideas and
modernizing impulses.
Are these factors perceiv-
able in his writings?
Absolutely! In the Introduc-
tion, we say that his book
takes readers to the heart of
the French “soft” colonial-
ism of the time. Larger his-
torical events are comment-
ed upon as they unfold: at
Jules Richard Vérascope,
early 20th century model

one point, he says that the
residents of Shanghai didn’t
even know if the Chinese
Emperor was still alive! He
calls it “government by can-
dle-snuffer.” But readers
will also see the tensions
between traditional Chinese
culture and the impression
being made by Western
technology on those tradi-
tions.
Mostintriguingisthevoyage
he takes up the Yuan River
to inspect mercury mines.
It was natural resources the
Europeans were after in Chi-
na, and much of the tech-
nology they introduced was
meant to extract these re-
sources for their own bene-
fit, but of course, they were
helped by local elites and in-
termediaries who also stood
to profit. The implications of
these machinations are de-
picted in the book in gritty
detail that brings this tumul-
tuous period of Chinese his-
tory vividly to life.
What did audio/photo-
graphic equipment he
used?
Raquez tells us in this book
and in other sources that he
used a Vérascope Richard
camera with a Zeiss lens.
The Vérascope Richard as a
small, hand-held device that
shot stereoscopic images
both on glass plates and on
paper. The quality was rel-
atively grainy, and the ex-
posure control was limited
compared to other period
cameras, but the portability
of the device made up for
those deficiencies.
He did not make any audio
recordings in China that we
know of, but starting in 1904
he made, he claims, over
300 recordings in the field
in Laos using a Pathé No. 3,
or a “Le Français” phono-
graph, from 1902 or 1903.
Experts agree that these are
very likely the first ever field
recordings made in Laos.
Bothglassplateimagesfrom
Raquez’s Vérascope Richard
as well as the audio record-
ings were available for au-
diences to hear at the Laos
Pavilion at the 1906 Colonial
Exposition in Marseille, for
which Raquez organized the
Laotian materials and per-
sonnel.
Unfortunately, the record-
ings are now lost, though
some of the glass plate im-
ages may appear on the
postcards he produced that
are still sought after by col-
lectors.
The evidence suggests that
it was only after his death
that his true identity became
known
Official site
21

Chinese Science Fiction
Interview with Robert G. Price, author of
Space to create in Chinese Science Fiction
Interview by Matteo Damiani, 2017
Robert G. Price, born in
Grimsby, UK, has spent
many years traveling
and working with for-
eign languages. Fasci-
nated by hearing of his
Grandfather’s military
service in Hong Kong in
the 1940’s, he first start-
ed learning Cantonese
as a teenager. Teaching
in East Asia for nearly
five years gave him the
opportunity to learn
about the culture and
languages of South Ko-
rea, Taiwan, and China.
In 2015 he gained his
Masters (Magister) in
Chinese Studies at the
University of Cologne,
Germany.
Is sci-fi popular in China?
Well, this really depends
on whether we are talking
more about Western / Hol-
lywood SF or home-grown
ChineseSFandwhichformat
– movies vs. literature. Huge
Hollywood blockbusters are
as popular in China as any-
where despite governmen-
tal limits on how many and
which films are allowed in
Chinese cinemas. This quo-
ta was set to be relaxed at
the beginning of 2017 – but
in any case, as many people
who visit China experience,
most Hollywood films find
their way onto the illegal
DVD markets.
The number of Chinese films
based on SF is indeed quite
small but this is starting to
increase over time. Stephen

Chow’s ‘The Mermaid’ has
been described as a “sci-
ence fantasy romantic com-
edy” and was a hit in China
last year and this year saw
the release of ZHA Muchun’s
time-travel based ‘Reset’,
directed by Korean direc-
tor Chang and produced by
JackieChan.Butthefilmthat
a lot of people are awaiting
for is the film adaptation of
LIU Cixin’s ‘The Three Body
Problem’ which is due for re-
lease sometime in 2017.
SF literature has seen a rise
in popularity over the last
couple of decades and es-
pecially so since the release
in book form of LIU’s ‘The
Three Body Problem’ (it was
originally serialised in the
SF literature magazine Sci-
ence Fiction World) but it’s
still seen by many as some-
thing for children – at least
this is the impression I get
from Chinese friends. Until
recently, Chinese SF litera-
ture has been mainly used
as a background for teach-
ing science to children. This
goes back to one of the ma-
jor supporters of SF in the
very early days, a scholar,
and writer named LU Xun.
LU had studied at a Japa-
nese University in the 1880’s
and was one of the very first
to translate European SF
(Jules Verne) into Chinese
from Japanese translations
he’d read in Japan. At that
time, China was technologi-
cally lacking and LU saw SF
as a way of teaching modern
science. Of course, it was a
well-meaning intention but
SF became stuck in this role
formostofthefirst100years
of its existence in China. You
see, part of China’s problem
until the early 20th century
was that they used one style
of language for writing and
a different syntax for the
spoken language. It’s a com-
plicated thing to grasp, but
imagine using only Latin to
write but speaking modern
Italian. The time that was
necessary for learning to
read and write made it inac-
cessible to the masses.
In 1918, LU published a sto-
ry written in a more collo-
quial style of writing which
echoed the spoken lan-
guage more closely. There
had been other examples of
Until recently, Chinese
SF literature has been
mainly used as a back-
ground for teaching
science to children
23

‘Baihua’ style of writing in
the past, but LU’s ‘Diary of
a Madman’ was the first to
use it to tell a whole story.
LU later became revered as
the father of modern litera-
ture and this had the effect
in later generations that
certain ideas he had of edu-
cation for the masses were
adopted by the Communist
Party and consequently SF
in China became used only
for instructional purposes.
One scholar, WU Yan has
termed this the “shackles
of utilitarianism” and it’s
because of this view of SF
that has led to it actually
being banned in mainland
not just once, but twice. The
first time was in the late ‘60s
with the onset of the Cultur-
al Revolution when science
and arts were considered
bourgeois. This lasted until
after the death of MAO in
1976 when it was tentative-
ly reintroduced until it was
once again banned in 1983 in
a campaign of “anti-spiritu-
al corruption.” The second
ban was due to the usage
of ‘unscientific themes’ such
as sex with robots that had
started to make an appear-
ance. Over time, things be-
camerelaxedoncemoreand
thanks to the efforts of Mrs.
YANG Xiao, the then-editor
of the Chengdu-based mag-
azine Science Fiction World,
China hosted the 1991 World
Science Fiction Convention.
From then on, the popular-
ity has grown steadily but
one gets the impression
that it’s still a niche genre
in China and more popular
with young people or the so-
called ‘nerd’ culture. (Some
things do seem universal!)
It’s close cousin ‘wuxia’
or martial heroes/fantasy
seems to have a much larger
following having spawned a
multitude of books, fan-fic-
tion and even films and TV
programs.
What are the major influ-
ences of Western Scifi on
Chinese sci-fi?
That’s a difficult question
for me to answer as I’m also
an outsider looking in. I be-
lieve that Hollywood plays
no small part in introduc-
ing new SF to the masses
in China and abroad. There
are many people out there
who would never consid-
er buying an SF novel but
would not think twice about
watching a movie such as
those belonging to the Mar-
vel franchise which can also
be considered as SF. When
it comes to literature, the
aforementioned Science Fic-
tion World now produces
two SF literature magazines.
One that deals with SF by
Chinese authors and a maga-
zine for Chinese translations
of foreign SF. This alone
means that there must be
enough of a market in China
for SF written by foreign au-
thors.
As to what the influence of
Western SF on its Chinese
counterpart is hard to say.
What I have observed and
what forms part of the con-
clusion of my book is that
over a period of forty years,
the number of themes with-
in Chinese SF has broadened
and the number of themes
that scholars have observed
to be missing from Chinese
SF has actually started to
make an appearance. My
observations were based on
a random selection of shorts
stories written by three au-
thors over a time span be-
tween the early 1960s until
the short stories of LIU Cixin
who is currently the most fa-
mous SF author in China.
The results I’ve gained may
be due to an influence of
Western SF on Chinese SF,
or it could be due to relax-
ation of regulations on Chi-
nese SF publications, or it
could be down to the ne-
cessity of being so much
more creative when writing
SF than in the past. It’s be-
coming increasingly difficult
to come up with original SF
ideas that haven’t actually
already been written about
or even appeared some-
where in the real world. We
seem to be already so much
within the singularity, where
technology is doubling at
such a pace that could not
have been foretold only a
few years ago.

How does censorship af-
fect Chinese sci-fi books?
It does. However, it’s not so
clear how. There seem to
be certain ‘unwritten rules’
that are recognized by Chi-
nese authors and publish-
ers, although there are al-
ways individuals who will
try to push the envelope.
It has often been reported
that one author, in particu-
lar, HAN Song has written a
number of stories that have
not yet been published. He,
along with LIU Cixin and
WANG Jinkang are referred
to as the ‘Three Generals’ of
Chinese SF. His stories tend
towards the dystopian and
it is well known that many
have not made it past the
SF has seen a rise in popularity over the last
couple of decades and especially so since the
release of LIU’s ‘The Three Body Problem’ but
it’s still seen by many
as something for children
25

censors. One 2011 article by
journalist KUN Kun stated
that as little as only 20% of
his stories have made it to
publication.
Even LIU Cixin has related
that before he submitted
stories for publication he
took his time to consider
the themes and stories that
had already been published
and avoided SF themes and
genres which he had noticed
didn’t get published.
Of course, certain historical
events, especially over the
last nine decades have to be
carefully vetted. US-Chinese
author Ken Liu, who also
translated two of the ‘Three
Body’ books into English ex-
plained that certain lines of
his ‘The Paper Menagerie’
had to be changed when
translated into Chinese to
avoid certain references to
the Cultural Revolution. At
first, he was displeased by
this but then recognized
that the Chinese transla-
tors, editors, and publish-
ers would be subject to any
political repercussions that
such inclusions may cause.
Who are the most popu-
lar authors in the coun-
try?
As has already been men-
tioned, LIU, HAN Song, and
WANG Jinkang are firm fa-
vorites with Chinese readers
although there are always
new authors on the scene.
Two Years ago, LIU became
the first Chinese author to
win a coveted Hugo Award
for the English translation of
his ‘Three Body’ translation
and this year saw the first
female Chinese author, HAO
Jinfang, win a Hugo for the
English translation of ‘Fold-
ing Beijing.’
Incidentally, ‘Folding Beijing’
is one of the 13 stories that
appear in ‘Invisible Planets,
alongside other short sto-
ries by HAO, LIU Cixin, CHEN
Quifan (aka Stanley Chan),
XIA Jia, MA Boyong, and
CHENG Jingbo and translat-
ed and edited by no other
than Ken Liu. So there’s a
good starting point for peo-
ple to find out more about
contemporary Chinese SF.
How is Chinese sci-fi per-
ceived abroad?
When I was writing my MA
in Chinese studies I would
tell my friends that my thesis
subject was Chinese science
fiction and people would
look at strangely and ask “Is
that a thing? Does that even
exist?” However in the last
few years and mainly thanks
to the international recog-
nition of LIU’s ‘Three Body’
Chinese SF has become
more well-known. Even
Barack Obama included ‘The
Three Body Problem’ on
his book list in a New York
There seem to be
certain ‘unwritten
rules’ that are
recognized by Chinese
authors and
publishers, although
there are always
individuals who will
try to push the
envelope

Times interview.
Certain aspects come across
as ‘strange’ for readers who
have little experience with
reading Chinese transla-
tions. A German friend of
mine who has read ‘Three
Body’ found it strange that
the characters in the Three
Body online game had all
taken on the personae of
historical figures such as Qin
Shi Huan, Copernicus etc…
This is something I’ve no-
ticed in other examples not
only SF (e.g. The Poetry
Cloud by LIU Cixin) but also
of Chinese literature such as
in Guo Moruo’s tale of Karl
Marx meeting Confucius.
Other elements that can be
described as a certain ‘Chi-
nese-ness’ also make an im-
pression on readers who are
not really familiar with the
literature. Added to this, the
idea that the purpose of SF
is to teach can lead to some
pretty bizarre combinations.
Does sci-fi have any influ-
ence on Chinese society?
That’s another difficult
question to answer. I would
say – yes – but indirectly. Al-
though a lot of SF is actually
impossible to make reality
given the current level of
technology, there is plenty
of documented evidence
that indicates how SF can
and has influenced inven-
tors, engineers, designers
etc… in the past. Firstly, I
have to make it clear that I’m
talking about SF in the west
and how that has influenced
the world we live in today.
Of course, certain aspects
such as the internet were
not really predicted, unless
you count the Murray Lein-
ster story ‘A Logic Named
Joe’ or the 1934 musings of
Belgian scientist Paul Otlet.
Other ideas such as rock-
etry and space flight were
most definitely influenced
by early SF as can be seen
from the memoirs of the
father of modern Rocketry
Robert Hutchings Goddard
who took his inspiration
for manned-rocket flight
from the writings of H.G.
Wells. The mobile phone is
another prime example of
SF-made-reality. SF can also
make people think about
alternative futures such as
in the story of population
growthoutofcontrol,‘Make
Rooom! Make Rooom!’
by Harry Harrison which is
more popularly known by
the feature film adaptation
‘Soylent Green’.
From these and numerous
other examples we can see
howthemodernworldinthe
West has been influenced by
SF, which conversely affects
other countries including, of
course, China. Now, if the
question refers to whether
Chinese SF has had any in-
fluence on Chinese society,
I would tentatively say that
it’s probably too early to say
so. But we should keep our
eyes on the future.
Official site
27

Being an independent
creative director in China
Interview with Shadow Chen
Photos courtesy of Shadow Chen
Shadow Chen (Leiying
Chen), based in Shang-
hai, is originally from
Ningbo. She is good at
making colorful illus-
trations and digital art,
graphic design. Her art-
work style often rich in
liquid forms and imag-
inations. She has been
working with clients
including many trendy
brands, and also partic-
ipate in cross-over col-
laborations. She used
to work as a creative
director at a Shanghai
creative agency Neocha,
now she’s busy in creat-
ing personal artworks,
her own creative proj-
ects, freelancing and
working as an indepen-
dent creative director.
Volvo, Häagen-Dazs,
Pepsico, Adobe,
Adidas, Gap,
Converse, Nike,
Starbucks … are
some of the many
clients of Shadow
Chen

What motivated you to
become an artist and il-
lustrator?
I’ve always loved to draw
and been fascinated by the
colors of nature, it’s more
like a pleasure of mine than
a career.
Your style is unique and
full of colors, does it re-
flect the way you see the
world?
Thanks! Definitely it does,
sometimes I love to stare
at an abstract form things
like stains of water, or tex-
tures of a concrete wall, and
thinking about what kind of
figure they would bear or
maybe inside there are se-
cret codes, and colors. I’m
overly confident that I’m
among those who could see
the world with much bright-
er and vibrant colors. But
more like, I have remained
my child heart inside.
What keep you inspired
to make the difference
compare to other?
I never think that I’ve made
enough to be different to ac-
tually make a difference, but
I will always try to be better,
right now I’m very aware of
taking the chances to help
me to actually make one. So
far I just hope my interesting
shapes and bright colors could
make some of who are view-
ing my works a little bit happy.
Eros – “Nothing is better than swimming with all the colors of rainbow in a big white piece
of paper, sometimes inside of a computer screen, and of course another thing lifting the
mood is dancing with lines and the shapes, both things always bring back a smile on my
face, and eliminate the fears, because that art is therapeutic, and I want to make art that
has the ability to cure others too.” Shadow Chen

Are there any of your
work related to a mo-
ment that marked a sig-
nificant change in your
life?
Many of my personal art-
works do, some of the
works have fairly brighter
or more colors they repre-
sent my voice that eager to
be heard, and those seem
quite emotional are definite-
ly portraits of my heart that
grown with changes, right
now I’m trying to redeem
a lot of my old works, I be-
lieve that there is brilliance
in every artists’ early works,
sometimes more than later,
I try to update them with my
grown skill and a new per-
spective.
As a digital artist and il-
lustrator do you prefer
to work by yourself or do
you enjoy working with a
team? What are the dif-
ferent benefits?
I definitely love and enjoy
working with a team, al-
though as an artist there’s
naturally more chance to
be alone than to work as a
team, but I have it in mind of
how amazing it feels when
working with other brilliant
collaborators as a team, and
actually create way better
result, less personal, but
more together.
What about your work
experience as Creative
Director at NeochaEDGE?
I loved my working expe-
rience in Neocha, it’s very
important for the growth of
myself in all kinds of aspects,
I learned a lot of different
designing and creating pro-
cess and a lot of organizing
and managing other artists
to create good results for
some of the most innovative
brands and agencies today,
plus I made bunch of best
friends to help me with my
“Art is for the love and understanding of this world, and
nature. For me the creating process often has something
to do with discovering the primary forms and colors of the
universe, the evolution of life, colors sometimes tones, and
textures might reveal the existence of the energy of the five
elements, shapes and the communication with the other
creating factors are the stories when those elements meet
time. So as the story goes…” Shadow Chen
31

Shanghai lifestyles haha, to
make me feel like home ac-
tually.
What was the best goal
do you achieved during
this period?
The best goal was gaining
confidence of me directing
the creating process for ma-
jor brands, and have found
some of my best friends.
Has the Shanghai life-
style changed, compared
to when you moved? If
yes does this affect your
way of creating?
Yes significantly, the focus
“The best goal was
gaining confidence of
me directing the
creating process for
major brands, and
have found some of my
best friends”

has been shifted from the
western value to Chinese
value, before we would love
to be hired by the western
companies and make it as a
privilege of our experiences,
right now we need to think
harder and work harder to
compete with the western
artists and designers who
would love to work for Chi-
nese companies and brands,
my way of creating definite-
ly need to measure up to
the international standard,
and at the same time, focus
on our unique roots and our
own culture.
Official site
“I’m overly
confident that I’m
among those who
could see the world
with much brighter
and vibrant colors”

Twenty-Two is a Chinese
documentary about 22
Chinese ‘comfort wom-
en’, victims of sexual
enslavement by Japa-
nese soldiers during the
WWII. The documenta-
ry was made with over
32,000 contributions
from crowdfunding.
At the time of filming,
only 22 of these wom-
en were still alive to
tell their story; through
their own personal his-
tories, they tell a tale
that should never be for-
gotten to generations
unaware of the brutal-
ization that occurred.
The movie was original-
ly shot in 2015. When
the movie finally was
re-edited and received
mainland China release
in 2017, only 8 of those
22 still remain. The first
edition was shown at
several film festival.
The new version is a
99-minute cut and it was
edited by famous editor
Ching-Song Liao.
Twenty-Two
Interview with Guoke, director of the documentary Twenty-Two. The
title “Twenty Two” means only 22 Chinese comfort women still living
back in 2015.
Interview by Matteo Damiani, 2017

Why did you decide to
make this documentary?
As a director, I wanted to fo-
cus on the survivor’s every-
day life. Because this group
will die quickly, as an image
worker, I wanted to bring
the strength of these imag-
es into full play.
How did you find the re-
maining “comfort wom-
en”? How long this took?
Professor Su Zhiliang of
Shanghai Normal University,
a historical researcher, gave
me the addresses of these
elderly people. I took less
than two weeks to find the
grandmothers in the 5 prov-
inces.
Doyouthinkthisviolence
have left permanent
damage to the survivors?
Today, when the grand-
mothers recall the events of
that period, they choose to
avoid many details.
They can’t recall these mem-
ories in their hearts without
opening up old wounds.
What was your approach
to shooting the movie?
Watch life, capture details,
and face it calmly.
Did you find any difficulties
in screening the movie in
China?
I didn’t find any difficulties in
screening it in China and the
audience is of high quality.
What was the reaction of
the domestic public? And
abroad?
In South Korea, Russia, the
United States, and France,
some of the viewers have
been moved by the lives of
the elderly.
What was the role of Mr.
Feng Xiaogang in the
promotion of the movie?
Xinyi Zhang wrote a letter to
the director Feng Xiaogang,
hoping to use his influence
and let more people know
35

about this documentary.
The day before the release
(August 13th), director Feng
Xiaogang in his micro-blog
mentioned Twenty Two in
his recommendations, and
this had strong repercus-
sions on the social network.
How do you think social
media can help the suc-
cess of a movie?
The power of social media
is very strong, and “Twen-
ty-two” was made with the
help of the people media.
TWENTY TWO follows the
lives of the elderly survivors
who were forced into sex
slavery as “Comfort Women”
by the Japanese during World
War II. At the time of filming,
only 22 of these women were
still alive to tell their story;
through their own personal
histories and perspectives,
they tell a tale that should
never be forgotten to
generations unaware of the
brutalization that occurred.

Chi Wang is a freelance
graphic artist with over
25 years of experience
in the comic book in-
dustry. He started out
in 1993 as an intern at
Marvel Comic’s Editori-
al Department and have
worked professionally
since for all of the major
American comic compa-
nies such as Marvel, DC,
and Archie Comics.
How and when did you
get into comics?
I was exposed to the Jap-
anese manga Doraemon
Captain China: The World’s
Greatest Communist Super Hero!
Interview with Chi Wang, comic author
Photos courtesy of Chi Wang

when I was very young and
started reading them by first
grade. When my family im-
migrated to America in 1984
I was hooked on the Trans-
formers cartoon and began
to buy the Marvel Comics se-
ries. But it was in high school
that I really got into reading
books from Marvel and DC
and purchased many titles
on a regular basis.
During my senior year, I was
able to get an internship
with Marvel Comics and af-
ter I graduated high school
in 1993, I started to freelance
for Marvel, DC, and various
other comic companies in
the industry.
Whatwasthecomicsthat
influenced you most?
I decided to work for Marvel
Comics because I wanted
to be on the Transformers
comic, so that would prob-
ably be my biggest inspira-
tion to get into the Ameri-
can comic industry. But the
comic series that influenced
my understanding the most
on American comics (serial
writing, story-telling, mar-
keting and so on) would be
Larry Hama’s work on GIJOE
& Wolverine, Mark Waid &
Ron Garney’s run on Captain
America, The Death and Re-
turn of Superman saga, and
Don Rosa’s Uncle Scrooge
stories.
With Japanese manga, it
would definitely be, Dorae-
mon, Ranma1/2, Maison Ik-
koku, Kyūkyoku Chōjin R,
and Patlabor.
When and how did the
idea behind of Captain
China come about?

Theinitialideacameaboutat
one point when I was doing
a random search on the in-
ternet for “Captain China”. I
was really surprised that the
result came up empty for a
character or a comic book.
I then looked through US
copyright records and also
found nothing of it existing
before, so after some con-
sideration, I decided I was
going to make it happen.
EarlyonIhadsomethoughts
on the comic being a come-
dic parody of American su-
perheroes and using it as

a way to satire the phrase
“Truth, Justice, and the
American way!” But after a
trip to China in 2008 and I
saw how China is growing
in its economy and becom-
ing a strange hybrid of com-
munism and capitalism, I
decided to take a more seri-
ous approach and use it as a
medium to tell a meaningful
story about modern day Chi-
na in a fun and entertaining
fashion.
What is your target audi-
ence?
When I first began planning
out the series, I considered
writing the stories in a way
so themes and ideas can be
easily understood by both
eastern and western audi-
ences. The scenarios and
dialogue are designed to be
simple and straightforward
so to not have meanings
lost in the translation be-
tween English and Chinese
languages. I would say the
stories are easy enough to
read even for a 10-year-old
child, but there are also mul-
tiple themes layered into it
that a more mature reader
can enjoy too.
How do you synchronize
the script and the draw-
ing?
Because I am also an artist, I
tend to write my scripts with
visual elements in mind. I
always think about how to
make each scene more vi-
sually interesting as I write
them. Even though comic
books are a visual story-tell-
ing medium, it still has the
disadvantage of no move-
ment or sound when com-
pared to a movie. So the
“The initial idea came
about at one point
when I was doing a
random search on the
internet for “Captain
China”. I was really
surprised that the
result came up empty
for a character or a
comic book”
“Captain China is ultimately conceived as pure
superhero adventure, and superheroes are
about good vs evil, overcoming obstacles and
to triumph over adversity”
41

trick to writing comic books
is to exaggerate everything
and push the visual as far as
you can.
A good example is how the
assassination scene is han-
dled in the first volume. I
initially thought about just
having the assassin aim at
the target and show things
through the view of a scope.
This kind of scene in a mov-
ie with camera movements,
dialogue, music, and sound
can easily create powerful
action and tension. But for
a comic panel, the visual is
just going to be a circle with
a guy in it, and it would be
absolutely boring.
So instead, I decided to have
the villain fly in on a jetpack
and blowing things up. The
completed script is then
passed onto the artist Jim
Lai and he is usually allowed
a great deal of freedom to
interpret it with his own art
and style.
If anything he sends back

has problems, I usually work
with him to make correc-
tions in art or changes in a
story in order to reach a sat-
isfying result.
What were the greatest
difficulties you had to
face in the narrative de-
velopment?
The greatest difficulties
were to come up with a
new angle in the superhero
genre, and to get around
the audiences’ prejudice of
a comic titled “Captain Chi-
na”. I think when anyone
first hears the name it just
comes across as laughable
or a rip-off of Captain Amer-
ica.
Sothenarrativeineachbook
was designed to exceed
that kind of expectation and
continues to so with each
following issue.
WhichiswhyCaptainChinais
not written as an old fashion
martial arts story, the main
hero does not know kung
fu, he uses a gun instead of
a sword and is dressed in
western influenced attire.
What is the main and fi-
nal message of Captain
China’s adventures?
Captain China is ultimately
conceived as pure superhe-
ro adventure, and superhe-
roes are about good vs evil,
overcoming obstacles and
to triumph over adversity.
But because the characters
and the story are set in Chi-
na and in a communist back-
drop, it is not going to walk
down the same path as a
typical hero’s journey. But in
the end, I do want readers
to receive the same inspira-
tional messages and to feel
a sense of hope for the fu-
ture.
When you started Cap-
tain China’s adventures,
international politics
were very different, how
do you imagine Captain
China’s future?
International politics are al-
ways changing, so I never
used that as a main point of
consideration when I write
comic books. But since su-
perhero stories tend to re-
flect a certain degree of the
real world, a bit of political
intrigue is incorporated into
Captain China to help estab-
lish a sense of believability
for its audience.
But in the end, I simply stick
to the belief that a story
has to be true to itself, and
as long as that is achieved,
it will find its own audience
and become successful.
What do you think of
nowadays China?
I think China, like any coun-
try, can always progress,
move forward, and do even
better. Especially with the
kind of wealth and econom-
ic status the nation have
achieved. Now is the time
to truly make improvements
and implement changes for
its people and become an
integralpart of the interna-
tional community. Captain
China is in a small way my
hope for the direction that
China will take for its future.
Official site
43

Ben Randall, an Austra-
lian filmmaker uncovers
a local human trafficking
crisis: Vietnamese wom-
en are kidnapped and
sold across the border
and taken as brides and
prostitutes for Chinese
men.
What is ‘The Human,
Earth Project’? What in-
spired you?
When some of my friends
were kidnapped from Viet-
nam and were believed traf-
ficked into China for sale as
brides or prostitutes, I gave
up everything to try to find
them and to raise awareness
of the global human traffick-
ing crisis. ‘The Human, Earth
Project‘ is the name I’ve giv-
en this work, which has now
kept me busy for almost
four years.
How did you meet your
Hmong friends?
In 2010, I was teaching En-
glish in Sapa, a small town
in the mountains of north-
ern Vietnam. Many girls of
the local Hmong minority
Sisters for Sale
Interview with Ben Randall, author of Sisters for sale, a documentary
about human trafficking
Interview by Matteo Damiani, 2016. Photos courtesy of Ben Randall

would come to Sapa to sell
treks and handicrafts to
tourists. A group of 9 or 10
girls would sit on the corner
of my street – I’d see them
every day, and we soon be-
came friends. Within the
next two years, no less than
5 of those girls were kid-
napped and trafficked to
China.
How do these Vietnam-
ese girls get kidnapped?
The girls are often kid-
napped by young men from
other towns and villages. A
man will pretend to be ro-
mantically interested in the
girl. With the Chinese bor-
der just a short ride away, he
needs only enough trust for
the girl to get on the back
of his motorbike, and he
can easily kidnap her. Other
girls say they were drugged
while sharing a drink or meal
and woke up in China.
Where did you start to
look for them?
With so many teenaged girls
being kidnapped, other girls
are suspicious of strange
young men. To bridge this
gap, the kidnappers will
often use contacts within
the local communities to
build trust with potential
victims. These contacts are
essentially selling their own
friends and family members
to trafficking networks. I be-
gan my investigations by try-
ing to identify the traffickers
and their local contacts.
Did you face any threat
while investigating to
find your friends?
Human trafficking is a highly
profitable industry, which is
carried out by people with
little or no regard for hu-
man life. It’s often operat-
ed by multinational criminal
organizations who will not
hesitate to protect their
business. There are very real
dangers involved in working
against human trafficking at
the ground level, and I was
lucky not to have had any
major trouble.
How did you find your
friends in China? Were
they safe?
It took 5 months to find my
45

two friends in China. They
were safe but in difficult
situations. They were both
“lucky” – they were forced
into marriage rather than
prostitution, as countless
girls are. By the time I found
them, though, each of the
girls had given birth in China
and faced the heartbreaking
choice between her child
and her own freedom.
Did the kidnappers drug
your friends?
My two friends, I found in
China both say they were
drugged by their kidnap-
pers. This may be the truth,
or it may be their way of
avoiding blame for going
willingly with their kidnap-
pers, in a highly traditional
society that often blames
the victims rather than fo-
cusing on the real culprits.
Why wouldn’t the girl’s
family want her home?
These girls are from very
poor, and poorly educated,
villages. Once they have lost
their virginity – by choice or
otherwise – they have lost
much of their value in the
eyes of their communities.
China is also seen as a
wealthier country with a
higher standard of living,
and some believe the girls
will have better lives there,
even if they have been tak-
en and held by force there.
What are the Vietnamese
authorities doing to stop
this practice?
Human trafficking is a very
difficult issue for the local
authorities.
The border between Viet-
nam and China runs through
remote mountain regions
that are very difficult to po-
lice effectively, and the scale
of the human trafficking cri-
sis between Vietnam and
China is enormous.
While the authorities are
working to stop girls being
taken illegally across the
border and to arrest and im-
prison traffickers, more re-
sources are needed.

Did you have any help
from the Chinese author-
ities?
My friends were involved in
very complicated situations
in China, as the men who
bought them were also the
fathersoftheirbabies.While
I would have liked to have
seen these men punished,
the girls were worried about
what would happen to their
babies, so we didn’t involve
the Chinese authorities.
What was your role
in bringing them back
home?
I was working in close con-
sultation with Blue Dragon
Children’s Foundation, an
excellent NGO involved in
rescuing and rehabilitating
trafficking victims, and we
planned rescues for both
girls. However, one girl es-
caped before she could
be rescued, and returned
home alone. The other girl
changed her mind and de-
cided to remain in China for
the sake of her child.
How are the girls doing
now?
The girls are doing as well
as could be hoped for. Af-
ter the girls are trafficked,
their lives will never be the
same. Whatever we do, we
can’t take away the trauma
they’ve been through, and
they will rarely have the
same opportunities. This is
why it’s so important to fo-
cus on human trafficking ed-
ucation and prevention, as
I’m doing now, to make sure
these girls are not taken in
the first place.
Are you concerned about
retaliation from the kid-
nappers?
Many of the people involved
in trafficking these girls – in
Vietnam and China – have
now been imprisoned, and
that particular trafficking
ring now seems to have
been broken. While there
are other trafficking net-
works active in the area,
I’m not worried about retal-
iation from those particular
people.
Official site
47

Kevin Tallon is a Brit-
ish and Swiss designer,
who published books
on fashion and trends.
He works in Beijing and
he is regularly invited
to seminars, workshops
and fashion weeks. Kev-
in is a Consulting Direc-
tor at BACA (Beijing
Academy of Creative
Arts). Since 2011 BACA
provide courses for stu-
dents, professional in-
structors, and interna-
tional certificates.
When and why did you
get in the design world?
Very young age, at 15, I was
into surfing and skateboard-
ing and just wanted to make
my own shorts inspired by
American surf brands. So I
just took my mother’s old
sewing machine and start-
ed to try to make some surf
shorts. The result was pretty
sketchy but I kept learning
and technical by myself how
to make them better.
What are for you the
main points for a design-
er? What makes a cre-
ation, something really
good?
I think it’s about making
something that you don’t
see out there and thinking:
hey how about making that,
I want it but I can’t find it.
Interview with Kevin Tallon,
Consulting Director at BACA
Kevin Tallon is a fashion-designer based in Beijing
Interview by Dominique Musorrafiti, 2017.
Photos courtesy of Kevin Tallon
49

And keep at it because only
by trying and experiment-
ing with many versions you
can learn from mistakes and
progress to come out with
a good design that matches
your original idea.
work experience?
My own company doing
skateboard wear. And actu-
ally working with Italian fac-
tories to make the produc-
tion was my first real work
experience with profession-
als.
Why did you decide to
move to China?
From London, I was consult-
ing many companies and
one of them happened to be
based in Beijing. What start-
ed as a one-off project be-
came a solid work relation
to end up in them hiring me
full time..
How Chinese design ap-
peared to you when you
first get in touch with it?
What cultural differenc-
es did you find when you
started to work in China?
At first ( 10 years ago) there
was not much happening, a
few local brands like Beijing
monkey where doing okay
stuff and then over the years
the confidence grew and de-
signers started to come out
with good stuff such as zuc
zuc and JNBY.
How is Chinese design
now? There are some de-
sign elements that still
marks a cultural differ-
ence?
It’s been formed as we
speak, it’s definitively look-
ing for an identity. Gaining
confidence and identity is
what it’s all about now.
What are the winning
points for a designer in
China?
Think fast and move fast,
the market is changing on a
daily basis!!
How is your experience
at Beijing Academy of
Creative Arts?
Really interesting to work
with young Chinese cre-
atives and over the years to

see each generation gaining
more self-confidence and
style
What do you think will
be the future of Chinese
design market? Do you
thinkChinese style can be
recognized worldwide?
What about quality and
reputation?
Yes, of course, I think Chi-
na in design terms needs to
leapfrog other nations it’s
no use to follow what say
the Japanese have done in
the 1980’s by coming to Par-
is on the catwalk. It has to
set a new paradigm based
on 21st values.
How had e-commerce
platform like Taobao in-
fluenced the evolution of
design in China?
It was a good first stepping
stone for young designers
to sell their wares online.
The market is maturing now
and online is becoming very
competitive. The focus is
now moving onto direct
self-promotion on other
platforms.
Think fast and move
fast, the market is
changing on a daily
basis!!
Official site
51

Having spent the last 4
years traveling between
Asia, Europe, and Afri-
ca, Duran has captured
many cultures and peo-
ple for his various photo
projects.
As a full-time freelancer,
Duran is constantly on
the move, creating con-
tent either for himself
or brands who are em-
bracing his visual style
and ideas.
China and Hong Kong
Street Photography
Interview with Duran Levinson, 29-year-old cinematographer
and film photographer from Cape Town, South-Africa.
Photos courtesy of Duran Levinson
53

When and why did you
get into photography?
I started taking my film pho-
tography seriously about
3 years ago. I went to film
school and consider myself
a cinematographer, as that
is where my passion lies.
When I picked up the photo
camera again I was inspired
as I was shooting on 35mm
and really enjoyed the whole
process.
I was originally able to vis-
it China for the first time in
2014 and this is when I was
inspired to start taking pho-
tos again. It’s been 3 and a
half years now that I have
focused most of my time on
photography and film and I
couldn’t be happier.
What are the main topic
and focus of your pho-
tos? What do you want
to tell with your shoots?
I try to keep my photos as
simple as possible. I like to
photograph people in their
natural environments and
spaces. I would say my pho-
tos are a mixture of street,
fashion, and portraiture.
In terms of the story I want
to tell with my photos, I
just like to create an image
that can invoke some sort
of emotional connection
from the viewer, with them
being able to create their
own story or narrative. At
the end of the day, I want
to just release pictures that
I think have these story-tell-
ing qualities.
time in Asia? What in-
spired you most?
The first time I was in Asia
I spent a month in China. I
was extremely inspired by
the cultures, the people,
and the settings. It felt like
a whole new world and it lit
a fire inside of me to try and
capture that.
Ever since then I have re-
turned to Asia every year to
focus on photography and
documentary projects.
What makes China a
unique place to take pho-
tos compare to others?
I feel like there is a huge
creative gap in China to pro-

duce content that is unique
and original. I enjoy the cra-
ziness and being able to get
myself lost in the clutter.
This year I spent 5 months
in Shanghai, doing an art-
ist-residency at ‘High Horse
Studios’ along with my free-
lance photo works I was able
to concentrate on shooting
some video work and as-
sisting on music videos and
commercials.
It was great to see how
these scenes operate in Chi-
na and are able to input my
work and style into some
of these projects. China has
this wild side that I haven’t
seen matched anywhere
else in Asia. As a photogra-
pher, this is super interest-
ing to see because it is truly
unique and there are many
opportunities to capture
that.
How would you describe
your photography proj-
ect in Hong Kong?
Hong Kong is a city I very
much love being in. I feel
the most inspired and pas-
sionate when I am in Hong
Kong. My work there con-
sisted of basically shooting
my friends, in their settings
and mixing it up with photos
I took in the streets.
Hong Kong has the most vi-
sual eye-candy I have ever
seen in one place and being
My photos are a mixture
of street, fashion, and portraiture
55

able to immerse myself into
that really helped with those
projects.
Do you prefer to work on
photos stage or sponta-
neous shoots?
Most of my work is some-
what spontaneous. I like to
try capture a moment more
than something planned.
There is always an element
of planning in my shoots,
whether it’s the clothes, the
location or the model, but at
the end of the day, at least
50% of what is captured is
unplanned and completely
spontaneous.
I feel like this is something
that has developed into my
work and I want to continue
to keep an element of that
to develop my visual style.
Canyousharewithusany
story behind your pho-
tos, taken in China and
Hong Kong, that makes
them special for you?
My Hong Kong photos are
probably the closest to me
because I made a deep con-
nection with a lot of the
people I photographed.
Through photography and
art, I have been able to make
amazing friends around the
world and connect with
people I would have never
I just like to create an
image that can invoke
some sort of
emotional connection
from the viewer, with
them being able to
create their own story
or narrative
Official site

met, so I am very grateful
for those opportunities and
chances.
Does your experience of
shooting in Asia influ-
enced and changed your
way to see the world and
people?
Yes. I love the cultures of
Asia and how every country
is so unique and interesting.
Traveling and spending time
in Asia influenced my life
and opened me up to a part
of the world I had no con-
nection with before.
I’ve taken peoples practices
and ideas, just small things
here and there and have
implemented them into my
daily life.
What is the main reason
for a photographer of
shooting films, during
digital era?
To me, film is just special and
has a unique quality that
cannot be replicated in dig-
ital. I have no problem with
shooting on digital but I can-
not emotionally connect to
my own photos that are on
digital.
That is why everything on
my website and Instagram
is completely analog as it’s a
feeling and style I have con-
tinued with and will keep
doing. I love the entire pro-
cess of shooting on film and
seeing those final results for
the first time. It’s a process
that can be expensive and
stressful but the final result
is often worth it for me.
What medium did you
use most for your project
in China and Hong Kong,
films or digital? Why?
Everything is on 35mm film.
I love the format and I have
a few film cameras I love to
use.
57

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