In China, there is an endless debate between “fleeing back to BSG” and “escaping from BSG” (short for three China’s super big cities—Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou). Technically, the two points respectively stand for two totally different lifestyles among the youth, especially those who are local to small cities and rural areas—which future do you want to choose, a boring but peaceful one or a bustling but promising one?
I am one of these youth—I was born and was bred in Nanjing, an economically-developed city smaller than Shanghai. It is the capital city of my province, like Brisbane in some ways. Undoubtedly, Shanghai has more opportunities than does Nanjing, leading to a talent outflow from Nanjing since 1990s. My father, as a typical outflowing talent, has been working in Shanghai for over ten years, and I always go there because of him. Shanghai is like my second hometown.
And what about Beijing? I did a three-year diploma program there and just finished on this May. Actually, I never thought I would live in China’s capital city because I was intensely afraid of smog and totally hate the terrible traffic. But I amazingly survived and stay there for three years. Isn’t it a miracle?
The last city I have to mention is Tianjin. I have to say Tianjin is why I can survive from the high pressure in Beijing. It is a holiday destination for me to relax. And it always brings me back to Shanghai when I saw it because like Shanghai it has many western architectures, totally looking like another Shanghai in Northern China.
So the entire photo blog shows my hometown, second hometown, the city where I struggled and the city where I vacationed. Coincidentally, all of the four cities are connected via a high-speed railway line, by which I frequently travel between the four cities.
I left China and study in Australia now. This photo blog is a tiny place where I store my nostalgia, share my trivial experience and story my memory of these three years, though I am not a professional photographer.
It is quite meaningful to complete the website, which is beyond a blog to be an album of a stunning journey.
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