Sascha Matuszak

Sascha Matuszak is a freelance writer based in Chengdu. Follow him on Twitter here

Posts by Sascha Matuszak

Post
Flower Town

The rise and fall of a Sichuan village – by Sascha Matuszak

 

I remember when I learned my house was getting torn down. It was June 11, 2008, an exceptionally hot summer day. Flies were buzzing lazily around my head, and the shadows were as sharp as knives. The women of the village, normally a chattering bunch, were conspicuously silent around the corner from my country home, hidden from view by the plum trees. I shuffled over to see what was going on, when a flimsy blue Chery QQ flew around the corner and forced me back.

The Chery jerked to a stop an inch from my bamboo clothesline. A man stepped out and looked around.

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Flower Town (part two)

All good things must come to an end – by Sascha Matuszak

 

Zhou Sushen’s head must be spinning. When she was little, all the pretty girls bound their feet. While she bent over day after day and pulled weeds and food from the soil, China went through the convulsions of a lunatic. Every so often she would stand up and steady her back with one hand, ankles deep in mud, and listen as the local Party Secretary rolled through Unit 4 and blared details of the most recent political campaign through a bullhorn. As the years went by, the messages of the cadres became increasingly arcane and indecipherable. Confused and trusting, she learned to just nod her head approvingly.

“Our Secretary Luo would never lie to us,” she declared to the group of worried younger women that gathered in the wake of the announcement. “The government will take care of us.”

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Flower Town (part one)

One year in a Sichuan village – by Sascha Matuszak

 

I remember when I learned my house was getting torn down. It was June 11, 2008, an exceptionally hot summer day.

READ ON...