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Thom shows his enthusiasm at the temple fair. Photo: Andrew Tait |
Red lanterns, performances and a variety of snack foods are some of the usual attractions visitors expect to see at a Beijing Temple Fair. But this year, the fair at Ditan Park had a new "attraction" to lure in spectators.
"At first, I didn't want to come, because most of my staff are on holiday, and I knew nothing about temple fairs," Lars Ulrik Thom, founder of the Beijing Postcards store, told the Global Times. "But now I'm glad I came. I enjoy the opportunity to share this history, these old stories, with ordinary people."
Thom's store, in Beijing's Nanluoguxiang, opened 15 months ago and sells calendars and postcards produced from old photos of Beijing, taken by foreigners between 50 and 100 years ago. The images document a century of change, and preserve a history almost totally forgotten in the Chinese capital.
Visitors packed every corner of Ditan Park during the eight day fair, but many made a special effort to stop at the Beijing Postcards booth, highlighted by a large banner declaring the "foreign street hawker," both to look at the unique products on offer, as well as to take a quick snap of the man selling them.
"What this guy is doing is so curious. I didn't know foreigners had such interest in China's history," Li Wei, a student at the Beijing Communication University, told the Global Times. "I'm amazed by how much he knows. I've lived in Beijing all my life, but I'm still learning about my city's history from an outsider!"
But not all attendees were impressed by the "outsiders" efforts. Thom said that while the majority of visitors to the store and booth were genuinely excited to learn something new about Beijing's history, a small number doubted the authenticity of some of the photos, such as ones showing the Forbidden City without Chairman Mao's portrait, or family photos with little boys dressed as girls.
"It's been a 99 percent good experience, and I think we are vastly different from most of the crap that's available here," Thom said. "But next time, I'll do things differently. I don't want to be the monkey of the show again." |
