春天近了，沙尘暴也随之而来。正值“尘土飞扬”的好时机，DUSTbar开始了它的新计划：Letters漫游。

“Letter”在英文中既有字母的意思，也指代信件。在DUSTbar的“字母表”中，每个字母代表一个人，他们曾经与DUSTbar相遇，并建立了友谊。比如，A代表“阿布”，B代表“本杰明”。在Google Maps的帮助下，上面的图片展示了DUSTbar的“关系地图”。更多细节：字母表。

同时，信件往往蕴藏着寄信人与收信人之间的亲密关系。借着狂风，DUSTbar给“字母表”中的每个“字母”寄出了一封信。打开它，看看记忆和情绪在胶片与文字中留下了怎样的印迹。

“尘土”何时飞扬到你家？

Spring is approaching along with the sand storms. Now it’s exact the right time for flying dust, and DUSTbar starts its new plan: letters wandering.

“Letter” means either an alphabetic character or a mail. Here in the DUSTbar’s “Alphabet”, each letter stands for one person who has ever encountered DUSTbar and built up friendship with it. For example, A stands for “A Bu”, B stands for “Benjamin”. With the help of Google maps, the picture above shows the relation-map of DUSTbar. More details: Alphabet

Meanwhile, letters (mails) also hide the intimate relationship between two. As the sand storm blows, DUSTbar sends the letters to each letter on the “Alphabet”. Open it to see how the memories/emotions are left in photos/words.

When will the dust fly to your home? 

失物 017：索尼α200数码相机，充电器，相机包和很多照片
发现时间：不太清楚，好几个星期之前
地点：交道口北二条8号，家作坊“万物库”地上

Lost & Found Object No. 017: Sony α200 digital camera with case and charger and photos
Last seen: exact time unknown, several weeks ago
Location: Jiaodaokou Beiertiao 8, on the floor of the HomeShop “10,000 Item Treasury”

—–

如果您要收回家作坊失物招领处的任何物品，或者有关于相机所有者的信息，请跟我们联系。Please contact HomeShop if you would like to reclaim any lost & found item or have information regarding the owner of this camera.

高灵制作/by Gao Ling

《正月初五迎财神》

在中国，农历正月初五“接财神”的习俗，盛行于明清民国，迄今犹流传民间。传说中有六位财神掌管人间财物。
1.正财神：赵公明，掌管招宝、纳珍、招财、利市。
2.文财神：范蠡，掌管人间财帛、人世爵位。
3.武财神：关羽，忠诚信义，保护财产。
4.偏财神：刘海蟾，撒钱济贫。
5.南海财神：龙五爷，降瘟除魔。
6.晋商：白圭，治生之祖。
按抽签的方式，初五这天高灵请到了“正财神赵公明”到家作坊, 尘尘请到了“晋商白圭”到家作坊，WB请到了“文财神”到家作坊，CYK请到了“武财神”到家作坊。各路财神各显神通，大家祝福家作坊在新的一年里财源广进！

“Welcoming the Gods of Wealth on the Fifth Day”
In China there is a custom of welcoming the God of Wealth on the fifth day of the first Month on the lunar calendar. It was popular in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, as well as in the Republic of China, and it is still widely practiced in folk traditions. Legend has it, there are six gods in charge of earthly prosperity.
1. Central God of Wealth: Zhao Gongming, in charge of  attracting abundance of treasures, riches, valuables and money.
2. Civil God of Wealth: Fan Li, in charge of luxuries and positions of nobility.
3. Military God of Wealth: Guan Yu, loyal and faithful, protecting people’s prosperity.
4. Off-Center God of Wealth: Liu Haichan, spreading money to the poor.
5. South Sea God of Wealth: Long Wuye, casting out diseases and ghosts.
6. Shanxi Merchant: Bai Gui, governing the laws of commerce.
Drawing lots, in the 5th day of the first month, Gao Ling invited the Central God of Wealth to HomeShop, CC invited the Shanxi Merchant to HomeShop. WB ushered in the Civil God of Wealth, and CYK summoned the Military God of Wealth. Everyone supplicated to the gods to work effectively to attract a bounty of financial resources in the new year!
 

失物人 015：聋哑爷爷
发生失踪时间：2012年02月22日, 下午2点12分
地点：摄于箭厂胡同，北新桥／交道口附近有大量相同告示

Lost & Found No. 015:  deaf grandpa
Last seen: 22 February 2012, 14.12
Location:  Above pictured sign seen at Jianchang Hutong, many others seen all around the Jiaodaokou/Beixinqiao area

失物品 016：3个用铁丝连起来的花盆（死花）
发生失踪时间：2012年02月27日, 下午2点14分
地点：交道口北二条8号，家作坊台阶，黑板旁边

Lost & Found Object No. 016: 3 ceramic flower pots (dead flowers), bound together by iron wire
Last seen: 27 February 2012, 14.14
Location: HomeShop front steps, next to the blackboard

—–

如果您要收回家作坊失物招领处的任何物品，或者有关于爷爷或花盆的信息，请跟我们联系。Please contact HomeShop if you would like to reclaim any lost & found item or have information regarding grandpa or the flower pots.

by Orianna Cacchione

制作已花费了很长时间，我们一直在努力将已有的资源整合并分享，现在是收获的季节 啦：
www.homeshop.org.cn 或者 www.homeshopbeijing.org 。
由于网站包含众多内容，访问时请耐心等待…

点击链接访问家作坊的新网站之后，您可在四周活动一圈，做下伸展运动或者泡杯茶，网站正在加载中——慢工出细活——需要时间…

最后，站在兔年的尾巴上，家作坊祝大家龙年“张牙舞爪”！

It’s been a long time in the making, but here we are, an attempt to gather together and share some of what we do:
www.homeshop.org.cn or www.homeshopbeijing.org.
There’s a lot of space in-between; please visit and stick around…

Go ahead and click on the link to visit HomeShop’s brand new website, then take a small walk around the room, do some stretching exercises or make tea; this website is a work-in-progress, and—like all good things—takes time…

But don’t let that stop us from multi-tasking——Michael, 何颖雅 Elaine, Fotini, 欧阳潇 Xiao, 曲一箴 Twist, 植村 絵美 Emi and 王尘尘 Cici at HomeShop wish you all fierce flights and a happy Dragon year.

(非常感谢高源翻译的英文原版 Chinese translation of the original post in English thanks to 高源鸿!!! 谢谢!!!

几个月之前，有位在2011光州设计双年展（主题为图可图非常图）非定名设计单元工作的朋友介绍了几位她的同事给我认识。他们在对祭奠用品进行研究， 大概这些用品是他们非定名设计的研究对象。我的朋友知道，我在和附近寿衣店的邻居有交流，制作了一些纸质物件，所以她研究祭奠用品的这几个同事想知道，这些店在哪儿。我给他们发了几张我制作的纸件和研究的照片，但其实我都没有给寿衣店内部拍过照。不过，我确实故意没告诉他们这些店的具体位置（其实就在我们工作室的正对面）。

这听着有点傻，但是我想声明一下，我这么做并不是因为想独占我周边的文化资源。我只是想研究这些小店同时不影响它们的真实性。这些小店从一开始，就笼罩在一片神秘之中。一年之前，我们在准备北二条小报第一期的时候，老萧和我特地去和问过开寿衣店的山东母子，要不要在我们的报纸上打个免费广告。两人拒绝了我们的提议，理由是做这种“迷信”的广告是不吉利的。政府对这种迷信产业进行着严格的监管，而同时又垄断着殡葬业。比如， 从我们对门邻居店里购买的骨灰盒，是不能进入公墓的，因为我们的邻居没有官方的批准。我想，这可能和他们本身不稳定的处境有关。他们在回答问题时，彬彬有礼而小心谨慎。所以，我们写了一篇短文，发在北二条小报上，仅向英语读者介绍这一现象。

不过，这篇短文的标题上用中文写了“寿衣”二字。所以在我们这份杂七杂八的报纸创刊号发行的第二天，就遭到了一些邻居的责怪，认为我们不应该提及这方面的内容。从他们的反应当中我感受到的是，不仅对门寿衣店与政府的关系难以说清，连关于人们离世后的仪式也是不可轻启的话题。

11月的时候，我们看了Brendan McGetrick的演讲，他本人是“未定名设计”的馆长之一。他以让人耳目一新的方式，向我们呈现出了各种创意与作品。他运用简单质朴的日常物件，科技产品，甚至社会现象来扩展设计的定义。比如：“政治抗议手册，DNA条码，死刑执行程序，跨洲货币体系”等等。那么这些如何成为设计的范例呢？McGetrick写到：“本次展会的目的，就是对“设计”进行重新的定义。设计是满足人类需求的各种战略解决方案，不是艺术家为了标榜自我而造出的主观产物”。

祭奠用品的设计可谓是McGetrick理念的反义词。这些用品悉数列举了日常生活的所有物件，通常涵盖我们文化当中的奢侈商品，比如：钱、汽车、高档衣服、手机和大楼。这些用品并非照搬物品原来的样子 ，也不是按照“山寨”的理念进行的。在某种程度上说，山寨好于原装产品，有的时候山寨机还会微妙而幽默地改变原机的功能。决定祭奠用品的外形的还有另外一个实际原因：为了便于焚烧，它们是用纸做的。因为这样的最终目的，设计当中的其他元素往往不被考虑在内。制造材料一定要能够充分燃烧，这样才能尽快进入地府——虽然几乎任何材料都是可燃的。曾几何时，人们在提供祭品的时候更加慷慨。但现在人们有着当代的理解，往往选择更普通的方式祭奠过世的爱人或祖先。 现在人人都可进行祭奠活动，所以祭奠也变得不在神圣，趋于理性。但是毕竟，相比于Georges Bataille提出的，用文字寄托哀思，或Jacques Attali倡导的，寄悲情于当代音乐，烧纸钱、烧祭物，显然还是更加直接的祭奠方式。然而这些用品必须做到能物尽其用同时价格低廉。所以，与现代社会的其他产品一样，祭奠用品也是大规模的现成制品。一套九件的祭奠品仅售15元。如果钱不是问题的话，还可以定做娃娃屋大小的别墅，或者等离子电视。在北京的小店里你可以在列着上百条物件的清单上订货，然后河北的制造者就会发货过来。不过，一般来说，卖的最好的还是成捆的通胀率极高的冥币，价格十分公道。

但是让我不解的是，如果祭奠用品的意义在于让死者在地府活得体面，那为什么还用最便宜的材料给他们做各种物件的复制品呢？是因为在这“纯粹的交换”中，最普通的商品，也是最合适的替代品吗？如果可以用仿冒品的话（比如，生前死后都可使用的双SIM卡手机；印着玉皇大帝的冥币），那么为什么还要买那些卖家的赝品，而不去自己制作一些适合自己情况和价值观的用品呢？这样不是能更好的阐释我们去已故亲人的关系吗？

带着这些想法，我自己制作了一些纸件并拿到对门的寿衣店，想知道能不能卖出去。我们的邻居并不吝惜对设计本身的评价，却坦承觉得这卖不出去。我向他们说明，他们可以自己定价，卖出去的钱完全归他们所有，他们也不断地问是否真的不需要给我任何钱。我唯一的要求就是请他们告诉我人们的反应。在我们的坚持下，他们同意拿几个看看。我本以为，手工制作可能对人们更有吸引力。然而店主却说，有人倒是买了一件，不管是以什么价格出售的，此人却打算留着我做的纸件而不是用于焚烧。这对我来说有些有趣，也有些让人失望。这并不是我的预期目标，也不是我最初保密的目的。不管怎么说，我还是觉得有机会的：接下来的几周，我路过对门，发现我的彩色小车摆在他们的玻璃柜台里。过了一段时间小车不见了，我却知道原因不是卖出去了。他们就是无法再忍受我的掺合，不想摆在柜台里了。而我们也觉得很尴尬，不敢旧事重提。

对亡者的纪念全世界都有，而我所知的祭奠方式相较这种简单很多。对很多人来说，谈到死亡，往往会谈宗教；而不信教的人，在说到死亡的时候，也会谈谈宗教，因为，没人谁真的知道死亡是怎样的一种体验，只能通过宗教来解释。我还记得参加过的几次亲戚的葬礼，感觉与其他重要场合没有什么特别大的区别，只是气氛凝重些。有的人相信天堂，我并不相信。在这点上，我与很多人包括亲属朋友是不同的。（我母亲是犹太人，她的文化身份可能更明显，而我其他亲戚的观点更集中于现世，引用我一个叔叔Alex在邮件中的原话，他说“等到陨石撞了地球，一切灰飞烟灭，一切都是浮云”）。如果说我们这个例子里，还依稀可见传统的影子的话，那么最多也只是说，这些传统时不时的扰乱了迥然不同的生活。

从某种程度上说，对死者的纪念，是人们用一种宗教，或者文化的方式，对抗着对于当代社会（流于物质）的失望，这种设计，可以说是存在于我们的内心深处根深蒂固的本能，或至少是，一种行之有效的对抗方式。牧师的动作，犹太拉比的语言或者在街边烧纸钱妇女的做法在一定意义上都是他们所在的环境的设计。而对于烧纸钱的妇女来说，这种设计其实是以象征的方式，重新构建了中国传统家庭相互依靠的体系，而让这些理念不因生命的终止而结束。但其实，即使焚烧的物件可能会变，这种习俗仍是在试图同精神世界建立一种连接，虽然表现形式是物质的，但实质并不全是。

我是站在一个不了解内情的人的角度上发表的观点，很难深入从人类学、社会学或宗教理论上进行分析。也就是在此，理论和信仰似乎分裂成了自相矛盾的境地。如果我们对待鬼魂的方式如此功利，我们如何能够真正进入灵魂的世界呢？带着这样的问题，我不禁自忖，是否现在已为时太晚？围绕真正的信仰问题，各种阐释与误解将我们对待灵魂的方式定调为艺术，但何为真相，何为误解，我们的路程在发现与怀疑的相反方向上，渐行渐远。毕竟，扪心自问，我们能说，扫墓者在祭奠先人时，所希望获得的，也是我们所期待的这种近距离的心灵体验吗？这些纪念本身是否已经稀释成了一种约定俗成的仪式？那么，个人与习俗的真正关系又是什么呢，我作为外来者是否就本不应该介入呢？

我们周边其实有很多家寿衣店。我决定去接触临近医院的一家更为“正规”的寿衣店。和我家附近的几家寿衣店差不多，这家店也是24小时开放的。毕竟，当生命走到尽头的时候，说不好什么时候，寿衣就派上用场了。一个晚上，我和陈陈一起去了这家寿衣店，他们比我想象的更愿意谈这个话题，我本以为他们会对此缄默无言。与我交谈的女士不认为寿衣店有任何不同，她也不认为所谓的私人处购买骨灰盒不可进入公墓的说法是真的。她给出的理由是，我邻居不像他们是本地人，入行时间短，所以在与当地顾客交谈时更为敏感。这位女士还对我拿去的纸件做出了批评意见。一个星期后我拿着改进过的纸件又去找她，这次纸件上有了手绘的细节。她问我，其他的像冰箱、洗衣机、衣柜床的物件在什么地方。正是她的态度导致了我的变节，让我觉得，之前的谨慎低调都是不必要的。祭奠，本是很个人的行为；但若仅仅因为质疑这一活动的纯粹性，便以此为题，公开讨论，是会让人感觉，多少有些尴尬。（你真相信灵魂吗？）说实话，对于这一精神世界的论断，我们无可稽考；而未来人们将以何种方式祭奠先人，我们也不得而知。我们把一种行为冠以“设计”之名的那一刻，其实就已经表明，这已不再是种信仰。因为，我们看到的，不再是真相，而是某个具体的物件，被赋予了具体的用途，被视作为满足人类需求而设计的一整套战略解决方案。这不禁让我想起了Vilem Flusser的名言：“设计者都是攻于心计，巧设陷阱的算计者。但如果通过讨论，我们可以获得另外一个视角，学会在思考的时候，不只局限于融合、利用、或强行引入某种文化元素，那么，也许在这时，我们可以说，自己真正实现了外国习俗与自身艺术的水乳交融。艺术作品不是人类征服精神世界的工具；不是对逝者简单粗暴的讽刺；相反，艺术作品可以是纯粹的；但真正的艺术来不得半点匆忙。

Photographer 王久良 WANG Jiuliang’s mapping of landfills that encircle Beijing.

location: “中国箱包之都 China Luggage & Bag Capital”
河北省保定市白沟工业城
Baigou Industrial City, Baoding, Hebei Province
date: 5-6 January 2012

It is said that Beijingers’ vicinity to the imperial seat (both past and, ahem…present) means that they don’t know much about how to really do anything, as serving the government—or at least falling heavily shadowed in its midst—means that you do not really have to make your own living, nor can you cheat too far astray from the one that’s been allotted to you (think, in contrast, of those wild rebel producers in Guangdong [2]). The Beijinger’s belly is big, it’s got swagger like that and stands for a certain slow pace of life unlike the typical notion of an urban persona. So where we had previously held some romantic vision of an action-packed urban exploration, venturing out again this winter we realise that such adventure has less to do with sleek and agile black-clad intrigue than a questioning of what the making of urbanity really means here in Beijing, the capital city of not-knowing-how-to-do-much.

The second floor workspace of 红海棠皮具有限公司 Honghaitang Leather Goods Company, Ltd.

A visit to a friend of QU’s luggage and bag factory was compelled by curiosity and surprise, for such industrial production in Beijing is rare, but what we thought would be the outskirts of Beijing turned out to be Hebei province, surrounding Beijing on all sides like a seventh or eighth ring, traceable by desolate farmlands, landfills and, yes… production. 白沟镇 Baigou village, approximately three and a half hours from HomeShop by bus or subway and long-distance coach, once fell under the jurisdiction of 高碑店市 Gaobeidian city (not to be confused with the 高碑店 Gaobeidian of fake antique furniture fame in eastern Beijing), but for some unknown reason has in latter years been re-territorialised as part of the 保定市 Baoding municipality, a city historically well-known for being a site of minor victory over the Japanese during the occupation in the 30s. Baigou was in fact once called 白狗, but this unflattering name (meaning “white dog”) was later changed to 白沟, and from the trenches of this small village farmers were engaged as early as the 70s in 副业 sideline work in bag manufacturing as part of the communists’ organising of 生产队 production units across the country.

LIU Lei’s mother can still remember the time when her family grew vegetables on their land, but she says that by the time of the reform and opening up at the end of the decade many farms already sat fallow as the shift from farmer to manufacturer grew, like the design of fashionable bags, more and more intense. There is perhaps a mutual feeling of 没办法 for those farmers who leave their land to make better fortunes as businessmen and migrant workers (“如果没土地了，怎么办？开三轮，开小商店，你什么能力都没有只能打工咯，没办法 Without land, what are you supposed to do? Drive a motor-taxi, open a small shop, or if you don’t have any skills whatsoever you can only be a laborer, what other way is there?”), and those who are forcibly evicted by developers with petty compensation (“一千一亩就等于抢走的 1,000 yuan per mu is basically like being robbed”), but at the end of a long description of a violent protest incident in Baoding last summer, where around 1,000 farmers occupied a highway in protest of unfair compensation for their land (“你能怎么地？上访？你走不出保定，走不出河北，更到不了北京。 What are you gonna do? Make appeals to authorities? You won’t be able to get past Baoding [municipality], you won’t get to Hebei [provincial authoritiy], and don’t even think about Beijing.”), LIU Lei’s father cannot help but smile embarrassedly that their family’s luggage and bag factory has benefited from the state-directed urbanisation of Baigou. Family-run production units-cum-full-fledged businesses grew steadily in the 80s, and LIU Lei’s family joined mid-decade with her mother and father making bags themselves and other relatives in the family traveling as far as Sichuan to sell their ready-made stock. The conglomerated efforts of the families of Baigou (majority Han Chinese with a large population of 回族 Hui minority peoples) began to attract tradesmen to the village itself, and the LIU family no longer had to travel; their bags sold quickly from the aluminum rack stands they set up in the village market.

With support from continued urban development initiatives like the 白沟新城经济社会发展居 Baigou New City Socio-Economic Development Bureau and the 保定白沟箱包产业生产力促进中心 Baoding Baigou Luggage and Bag Industry Productive Force Promotion Center, Baigou has risen to become Hebei province’s only nationally supported and monitored economic zone, with factories like that of the LIU’s producing around 1,000+ bags daily. Supported by the labour of between 70 and 100 employees from neighboring provinces like Henan and Gansu, the 2-story factory the LIU family built on land they purchased from a developer for approximately 100,000 yuan/mu (1/6 of an acre) has now been renovated with an additional floor of worker dormitories, and the price of the land has jumped to 4 or 500,000 yuan/mu. Whilst the real estate bubble is finally finding its friction in the mega-cities of Beijing or Shanghai, it is clear to LIU Lei’s family that there is still a lot more room to grow in Baigou. Keen city-developer relationships keep the dust flying under the many cranes that hang over the landscape, and the influx of new residents and labourers from other areas pumps the village population from 100,000 to 4 or 500,000. 22 year-old LIU Lei’s web savvy and English abilities give the Honghaitang company a whole new sphere of possibility, and supported by the government’s sponsorship of half of their Alibaba membership fees, a single family in Baigou is able to place itself on an international map of production and consumption.

Honghaitang‘s showroom is located on the third floor of the second phase building of 白沟箱包交易城 Baigou Bags and Cases Trading Market

 Where geographers define urban construction as “the key mechanism of local state building” [3], LIU Lei’s father says simply, “发展的意思就是盖一个楼 Development here just means building a building“, and their factory is the most concrete evidence of it. But what we must consider here are the complex forces that push a “state-led urbanisation” into a very real dynamic with the local level, whether that be through the fist of 城管 chéngguăn bullying farmers from their land or local families joining together to purchase land instead of buying from 外地 wàidì developers. As such, territorial strategies occur both top-down and from the ground-up, “as much a tool of resistance as of dominance.” [4]

No conclusions yet… to be continued.

城市探索与发现（第三期），是一通过短途漂移和旅行摸索城市化进程的持续性项目。有意参与未来小旅行者（提供路线或参与旅行均可），请联系lianxi[at]homeshop[dot]org[dot]cn.
This is urban exploration number three, part of what will be a continuing series of minor drifts and journeys into the making of the city. If you are interested to join future outings or have suggestions for one, please send a note of interest to lianxi[at]homeshop[dot]org[dot]cn.

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［1］The retroactive numbering instated here places the previous activities of a visit to Jackson Hole, Beijing and the rePLACE Beijing project respectively as the first two urban explorations.
［2］As considered based upon north-south cultural differences, Cantonese identity and 公民意识 civil consciousness discussed during a dialogue on Cantonese culture and media, October 2011.


［3］Hsing, You-tien. “Territoriality and Space Production in China“. Cross-Currents, No. 1. December, 2011.
［4］ibid.
NOTE: All facts reported in this text are not verified and come strictly from narratives told by the LIU family during the Baigou urban exploration. For more academically reliable information regarding the transformation of the urban environment in China, we can recommend the first issue of Cross-Currents e-journal, or please explore on your own.