This Old Factory

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Limited chinese leads to great speculation. Since my extent of conversation with someone who speaks only chinese can go no further than "hello....how much does that cost?" I have learned very little, besides the price of a popsicle, of my surrounding areas. I live in the city of Shenzhen which is just utop of Hong Kong on a world map. However the city of Shenzhen is massive (on the books its 5million, but I have heard reports it is more like 10 million) and the city is comprised of 5 districts. I living on the Long Gang district, the largest and one of the furthest from the city center. The district is relatively newer, about 10 years or so. (The city of Shenzhen is only 28 years old) Within my district, i guess is the same with most cities or towns, there is a triving capitalist section, and a working class section. I live in the working class section, which in china translates into a working factory section. I'm not sure what the deal is entirely. But just down the street, literally 100meters, is the Hansen Metal Factory, which I believe most of my surrounding neighbors work within. It is a interesting community dynamic. On many evenings, just outside my school, about 100 people gather to stand and watch a movie on a large outdoor screen. The rest of the community ventures out to the median grass on the boulevard that lies in front of the factory and collect in small groups either laughing, gossiping or just taking in the somewhat cooler weather. It's quite amazing to take in the evening sights, its as if this small desolute streets come alive so much more than the opposing capitalistic part of town, which is full or bright lights and fancy resturants. Where my neck of the woods (as Al Roker would say) is much more drab and simple, but as I want to find out, must contain layers upon layers of complex dimension.


I hope to take more pictures to as better describe what I see.

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Photos

laundry at night
This is the apartment building across from my school. No dryers, means laundry is hung out on balconys 24 hours a day

Hansen Metal Factory
Shift change equals a street full of workers either coming from or going to work, the street, comes alive at this hour.

Biker Boys
Not only are bicycles a commonplace, but even more than that are bikes with not one, but two riders. At the end of this street is one end of my school

Factory apartments
This apartments own an unobstructed view of the Hansen factory which is next door. I wonder how many of the tenants are also workers of the factory