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Time: 5:54PM, September 2nd, 2012

Place: East Garden Alley

Character: Uncle Wang, 56, salvage station

Each day passing by Grandfather Yang’s mahogany bench we’ve met an array of individuals, none of whom know anything of the bench’s origins. Then we met Uncle Wang.

The fifty-six-year old Uncle Wang left Zhengzhou, Henan three months ago to help his
daughter with a waste salvaging  station she had opened. He had salvaged the bench a week earlier and had planed to sell it, “Whoever wants it can have it for a few bucks.”  But nobody has come for it so he’s left it out for people to sit on. In the hot weather, the  bench offers a nice place for the areas residents to cool off.

Each day, Uncle Wang spends at “7 or 8 hours” sitting on the bench. He usually doesn’t chat with others, “Let people sit where they want.” Yesterday afternoon Uncle Wang put some foam cushions against the bench’s backing, “It’s more comfortable to lean back on this.”

A few days ago, the mahogany bench was gone. Uncle Wang said, he had put it somewhere  else.

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时间:2012年9月2日17:54

地点:花园东巷

人物:王叔叔,56岁,帮女儿打理废品收购站

我们每天经过的花园东巷的红木沙发,在一天当中的不同时刻总变幻着坐客,谁也不知道这沙发从哪里来,直到有一天我们遇到了王叔叔。

王叔叔今年56岁,来自河南郑州,来北京三个多月,在女儿开的废品收购站帮忙。这个沙发被收回来一星期,本来打算卖, “谁要就给谁,几十块钱就可以卖”。但一直没人要,就一直搁在这里。天气热,这里有树荫,沙发就变成了附近居民休息纳凉的地方。

王叔叔自己每天也会在这个沙发上坐上个”7,8小时”,一般都不会主动与人聊天,“各坐各的”。昨天下午王叔叔往沙发上放了一排海绵垫子,“这样靠着舒服些”。

几天后,这个红木沙发不见了。王叔叔说,拿去别的地方放了。

 

Sofa Ethnography

The stories sitting on Beijing's sofas