It’s true, there’s a category of cultural relic known as “old tree (古树)”. These old trees root the community in histories that stretch back to the late Ming Dynasty (early 1600s). Moreover, their beautiful limbs create poetic interludes throughout the remnants of Shenzhen’s old village homesteads. Buildings may decay through lack of care, but the trees grow despite threat of urban renewal.
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
Like this:
Like Loading...
About Mary Ann O'Donnell
I have conducted ethnographic research in Shenzhen since 1995, aiming to make legible the shifting cultural landscapes of China’s oldest and fastest growing “Special Economic Zone.” My interests and interventions include theorizing the cultural logics of postsocialist urbanization, photography and creative documentation of the changing cityscape, and ongoing collaboration with Fat Bird Theatre, Shenzhen. More generally, I attempt to document, understand, and critically participate in the post Cold War production of industrial cosmographies, with an eye to imagining cross-culturally resonant forms of sustainable globalization.
How wonderful! We have just cut down a 120-year-old ginko tree in downtown DC–by mistake! So sad for a city that prides itself on its tree cover.
Yes, the old trees are wonderful and it is sad when they go. Unfortunately, in Shenzhen, unless an old tree is near a temple or ancestral hall, it rarely survives urban renewal.
I love how the trees there are ‘functional’ in more than one way, lol.
I know. And the imports? Well they also create job opportunities in that they need so much care~