The Island, Lowercased: Time-Space Beyond the Map

"The beautiful island before you is the renowned 'Garden on the Sea,' Kulangsu Island... Kulangsu is noted for three distinct features and two symbols. First and foremost, it serves as a World Building Expo, and secondly, it's the one and only pedestrian-only island in the nation, free from the pollution of motor vehicles..."

 

In the humid sea breeze of Xiamen, in August, the ferry's loudspeaker with a quite high volume tirelessly relays the basic details of the island to its passengers. The announcer's voice is monotonous and mechanical, easily overshadowing the excited chirps of children, the clicking of camera shutters, and the ongoing chatter about travel itineraries and schedules among the passengers. Upon disembarking, I bought a map for five yuan from local vendors who were quick to caution about the island's somewhat confusing trails. Armed with my map, I joined the artists in exploring the charms of Kulangsu Island.

 

Pocono Zhao Yu believes that visitors from around the globe, like us, have over the centuries transformed Kulangsu into a "cultural melting pot" rich with layers of historical symbols. These include consulates of the colonizer, the ornate residences of affluent traders styled in Xiamen’s unique Amoy Deco, along with churches and hospitals—all serving as living monuments to the island’s tapestry of Creolization¹. Her artwork, titled Landing in the Endless Blue, creatively extends the initials of the French mantra "Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité" (Freedom, Equality, Fraternity) into an English poem. This poem is then translated into Chinese, transcribed into the Minnan dialect using a Romanized phonetic system and eventually imprinted on a sail. This Romanized system, initially created by Western missionaries for Bible readings, was later refined by Mr. Lu Zhuangzhang. He established a school near Sunlight Rock on Kulangsu, teaching locals this phonetic system along with English to simplified Chinese characters, aiming to alleviate illiteracy in telegraphic communication. The sail, with its layers of translated text, symbolizes the linguistic and cultural exchanges brought by visitors to Kulangsu across ages, weaving the island into the narrative of Enlightenment thought. On the other side of the exhibition hall, tiles crafted from yellow cavity stones showcase a series of Amoy Deco architectural images generated by artificial intelligence. Amoy Deco, an architectural genre birthed on Kulangsu, was a product of wealthy merchants, returning from Southeast Asia, who blended various global architectural styles to flaunt their wealth and aesthetic flair, creating a unique architectural blend. Within the AI-generated images curated by Pocono Zhao Yu, classical Roman columns, Spanish bas-reliefs, and traditional Minnan rooftops interlace. These architectural elements, hailing from diverse cultural and historical backdrops, are once again dismantled and reassembled, creating a twisted tableau of time and space.

Shu Chutian delved into a lesser-known chapter of the island's history. During the Republic of China era, a local from Kulangsu, Xu Chuncao, established a women's liberation group called the "Kulangsu Salve-girl Refuge." In 1930, under his stewardship, a haven for maids was set up on Kulangsu aiming to abolish the servitude system. Probing further into the past unveils a female-centric cultural pact known as the "Jinlan Pact"(Sworn Sisters), traversing Southern China, from Jiangyong in Hunan through Hui'an in Quanzhou to the Pearl River Delta in Guangdong. The "Jinlan Pact " signified a bond among women of different surnames, enabling them to remain unmarried or not return to their husbands' families after marriage. This pact flourished particularly in the south, during the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China era.² However, due to the era's official oppression and mainstream culture's ostracization, scant historical materials have survived. The nature of female relationships represented by the "Jinlan Pact" remains enigmatic. Inspired by this, Chutian embarked on a dual-part creative endeavor. First, she conceptualized land and vessels as metaphors for flesh and body, merging clay from Kulangsu, Hui'an, and other regions with pottery clay. She hand-molded a series of pottery jars, embedding clandestine hints towards the "Alliance of Jinlan" either within or on them. The second part involved a series of staged photographs, employing imagination and fiction to foster a dialogue with the elusive figures from history.

 

The map highlights the island's worldly architecture and natural heritage, yet it omits the real stories and figures from history: the ambitions of those who have arrived here, the longing for communication among people of different tongues, the struggle against patriarchal suppression, and the discreet yet steadfast Alliance of Jinlan. All of these stories lie beyond the neat lines and simple labels of the map. What the locals see are the attitudes and gestures of real people from history, and it's these human stories that infuse life into this island today.

 

 

[1] Creolization: Creolization is an anthropological term referring to the process where different cultural elements blend together to create a new culture.

[2] Excerpted from On Sworn Sisters, by Zhang Jie, National Library, 2005.