If he arrives in his “native village” XiaShaCun after about an hour drive – he does that about once a month – he is then happy just to be Xiao Song again. His father is proud of him， his mother even more (and after the visit there is even more gossip to tell to her friends). Surely they are exploiting him， too， “but only very rarely， only very occasionally， actually almost never，” for her son is after all such a respected physician and may advance matters faster than if they went just so to the nearby polyclinical centre. He likes to meet old friends from school， plays mah-jong (in Chinese： 麻将， májiàng) for hours， it relaxes him and he is good at it.
Several times the amount that his father might occasionally lose at cards the son is earning within a single weekend at home. First tea is drunk， later in the evening they switch to beer and finally to MaoTai that is easily affordable in XiaShaCun. Xiao Song does not ignore any of his old friends， whenever he feels that he could help， he does it. His friends do not exploit him， they know he will support them if they need him.
But they help him as well： One of them in purchasing a car at lower rates， the other in the supply of furniture (which he makes himself in his workshop for a good price)， the third sometimes with very fresh food from his shop， the fourth of them in commissioning a place in kindergarten for his daughter， later in finding a good site where to study. It’s a give and take， none among the friends would like to take advantage of the other， it’s embarrassing for everyone to discover they have taken more than they had given.
The external observer will never find out what is sold here. The picture reflects the development of China – a combination of modern audio products and symbols of recent history.
Engineer Su (苏工)
Engineer Su is now a meditative old man. 30 years ago， he came to ShenZhen as an untrained construction worker， determined to make his fortune. His wife he had left in his village in SiChuan (四川) for she did not want to join him， they had no children. Now he is 72 years of age and a vigorous， agile pensioner.
After having worked a few years on many of the countless construction sites in the emerging modern ShenZhen， he felt it was too much for him. He wants to proceed， to learn， and he is retrained in evening classes to become an engineer. First， he works at a cheap producer of shoes， but he does not enjoy the pressure of work and the remuneration.
He winds up in a company that builds waste-water treatment facilities， where he gains know-how， develops solutions， discovers that he is creative and rises in the hierarchy. His salary increases year by year， his new lifemate who has worked in a restaurant finally leaves her work， for they do not need two incomes any more.
Now he’s been retired for almost ten years and enjoys his life in ShenZhen. He is a member of an urban bird photography association that some pensioners have founded， his lifemate is member of a private orchestra. Both of them are out every day of the week， unless it’s raining terribly which， I must confess， occurs often in summer. No wonder that ShenZhen records an annual rainfall of nearly 2，000 mm， while Hamburg with no more than 750 mm of rain per year might just appear as rather arid.
Photographing birds is a passion that Engineer Su has grown late into， just before he retired. He started to take pictures with analogue reflex cameras， but when a few years later digital reflex cameras were introduced to the market he always bought the currently best and newest types. In his closet he keeps seven cameras and at least a dozen lenses. “What should I spend my money for， if not for such an interesting hobby？” Engineer Su asks. “There are no children and no grandchildren， my lifemate does not need any money for her hobby， as she has an instrument that she will never replace with a new one.”
If he does not photograph， he edits the digital images gained during past excursions and publishes them in the forum of the association where they are discussed.
Both of them meet every day with like-minded people. They have much to tell in the evening when they go to dinner together and find some friends from the neighbourhood there. Once and again， former colleagues from waste-water treatment
Many music lovers have joined small or large orchestras and choirs which often perform in various parks， including engineer Su’s lifemate who plays in such an orchestra.
Anyone who finds the time will play cards； that can happen everywhere， in parks， on the street， in shops.
ask engineer Su for advice， sometimes he can help， if only by a simple obvious question that did not come into his ex-colleagues’ mind， but often he must decline： “Very often I’m outside， my thoughts do no longer revolve around the precipitation and filtration of waste-water， but the shade and luminance of my images. And whether I will succeed in capturing that bird that I missed yesterday on an image tomorrow.”
Sometimes he accompanies his lifemate into one of the parks where she performs on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon. The orchestra just arrives there， chairs and speakers are brought along， they start to play， and the park visitors gather by and by， listen， applaud， go away， come again， just as they please. Engineer Su knows neither how to sing nor how to play an instrument， but he likes to attend at times. His lifemate cannot photograph， and many thousands of photos of all the time the same one bird make her feel tired， but sometimes she even considers one or another of his photos quite nice.