China, Province Guangdong

These photographs were taken shortly after dark in the streets of Chikan, a small city in the south of China. It is the moment of transition. Some salesmen are shortly before finishing their business, some shops are already closed. Salesmen wait for last customers, some sit in front of the TV, others tidy and clean the shop. Hardly no one is on the road. The darkness comes suddenly and quickly. A few rats scurry through the narrow streets, otherwise you can hardly hear anything else. It’s a little town, not as in the metropolises, there aren’t any street lights. It is a deep dark.

The darkness in the pictures takes up much space. Some windows, shops, garages or small street scenes are illuminated, but they look like a little bit lost. Chikan Old Town is located in the province of Guangdong and had an important role as trading center at the beginning of the 20th century. This moved 16 km the Tanjiang River downstream and is called Kaiping City nowadays. The commercial buildings of Chikan had been built by overseas Chinese and show some western elements of architecture. But former splendor days are gone, the growth of the province of Guangdong didn’t reach Chikan.