THE ARTISANS: A VANISHING CHINESE VILLAGE

Now living in Paris, writer Shen Fuyu has a complicated relationship with his home village in Jiangsu province, which he left aged 18. It was for him both a place of backwardness and nostalgia. He has witnessed its decay over the years with every return visit on the Lunar New Year—the advancing urban sprawl, the families moving away, the homes being demolished. Now considering himself “rootless,” Shen digs through the memories of his father and grandfather to record the history of a village that once held tens of thousands of people, but now nearly ceases to exist.