Chinese pear seller
by Alfred Ng
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Dimensions
16.000 x 20.000 inches
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Title
Chinese pear seller
Artist
Alfred Ng
Medium
Painting - Watercolor On Paper
Description
One night my friend Michael suggested I might like to check out the open market in the Hutong. He walks by every morning on his way to work and thought I would enjoy going there and take some photos.
The open market starts from early in the morning till 11am. It was just a few minutes walk from where Michael lives. His neighborhood is the modern Beijing which full of all the fancy stores and restaurants. Not to mention all the American brands like Starbucks, McDonald and Pizza hut. However the Hutong neighborhood with the gray color houses looks like walking into the past centuries.
At 9am the market already in full swing when I arrived. The sound and the color was unlike anything I seen before. Some sellers would call out what they had to offer and how fresh or tasty they were. The market was packed with sellers and shoppers. The sellers had their goods spread out right on the ground. They were the freshest produces I seen and were plentiful. There was live fishes, freshly butchered meat, fruits, vegetable and dry sea food. The sellers look like peasants from the countryside, they all had darker skins the result of working long day under the sun. Most dressed in padded jackets for the morning chill. Some brought their goods by bicycle carts; some came in small motorized open trucks. The shoppers are equally interesting. Most of the shoppers were seniors from the neighborhood. Most came by foot but some came in bicycles. Many brought along their home made bamboo shopping carts. I was surprised some brought their little dogs along. The pampered pets would ride in the basket instead of walking. I even seen one rides on owner�s walker!
Everyone took the shopping rather seriously, moving slowly from seller to seller to look for the best produce with the best prices. Some would just leave their shopping carts or bicycles at the middle of the road while they carefully examine the goods. An old lady was carefully balance her newly purchased watermelons on her bicycle. She has four of them tied with red string two on each side of the back and two hanging on each side of the handle bar. Among this frenzy, I was able to move around freely and take photos without attracting any attentions.
Then I spotted the man with the pears He and his pears stood out among the other sellers: he has set up a red tent for his pears and displays them on a wooden cart. He even has a home made sign for them while the other sellers don�t even bother have them. They are the classic Chinese pears which is larger than the North American ones. They are light yellow in color and size of a grape fruit they glow beautifully under the soft morning sun.
I approach him and he proudly told me the pears are the West Mountain Province. I smile and picked up three. When I hand it to him, he took one of them away, smile warmly and said this one is not a good one and right way pick up another one and said �this is a good one�. I thanked him and handed over the money to him. He asked where I was from which was surprised me he knew I was not one of the locals. I told him I am from Canada and nodded and smile, �Oh Canada, very good country�. As started to walk away and think about this honest seller. He seems different than the other seller. He was the only one wears glasses and seem to be educated even his hand written sign was nicely written.
After I went home, right way I try one of the pears. It was very juicy, crunchy and sweet.
After my first trip to the open market, I made a point to go at least every second day to shop and take photos. The next time when I went, I saw him again When he saw me he seems recognized me and smile and greet me �Ni Hao�. I brought more pears from him probably more than I should have. However that was the last time I seen him. I guess the pear season was over he must went to do something else.
Later on my other visits at market, my only interaction with the other sellers were restricted to the prices. No one ever have much a conversation with me again.
Uploaded
April 12th, 2012
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