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HALF THE SKY X X I st C E N T U R Y C H I N A G I R L S Photographs and text

Laura Mate

I dedicate this book to the women of Beijing, I feel truly honoured to have met and been welcomed into the lives of so many colorful characters.

Huge special thanks toâ€Ś For Support : Ahmed, Brigitte, Mum & Dad For Advice : Renaud, Tikka, Aurelie, Nick, Berry, The Travers For Help : Jean-Jacques, Anna-lisa, Kenwyn, Zhou Xingyue, Zhang Lin, Mei, Laurence, Qi Jing, Conor For Lodgings & Kindness : Rowan & Paul

Graphic Design and Types : Jean-Jacques Tachdjian

Half the sky

Mao Tse-Tung famously and frequently announced the words “ Ban Bian Tian ”, translated into English as “Women Hold up Half the Sky”, during his leadership of the People’s Republic of China (1943-1976). However, it wasn’t until the Communist Revolution of 1949 that this actually came into play. I learned that under 1,300 years of the Imperial system the role of women rarely extended beyond the satisfaction of men’s desires. Emancipation was a distant dream in most regions of the country. The new regime brought an abrupt end to traditional practices affecting women, such as foot-binding and the use of concubines. Finally, women had the right to formal education and were at liberty to seek work in the same way as men. Fast-forward some 60 years to my arrival in Beijing in 2005, where I discovered that one of China’s wealthiest entrepreneurs is now a female. Zhang Yin, who boasts a personal wealth measured in billions of US dollars, is not only her country’s richest woman but rumoured to be the richest self-made woman in the world, ahead of even Oprah Winfrey and JK Rowling. Shortly after my arrival I found myself sharing a cosy apartment with three charming Chinese girls. I was on a mission to learn Mandarin, hang out with their friends and experience the real Beijing. We would chat, cook for one another and laugh long into the night, often astonished by the cultural differences between our countries. I was intrigued and contented to hear that the girls were brought up on absolutely equal terms to boys and told they were equally important to society. Both parents and school pushed them hard, with a view to going on to higher education, establishing careers and working until late retirement. If babies arrived, they would be raised mainly by their grandparents while their parents would continue in full time employment to bring home a double salary. Another thing that intrigued me was the preference that young modern women still had for traditional Chinese medicine, over Western chemical cures. The chemical drugs were readily available but it seemed traditional methods were still favoured when it came to matters of health. It wasn’t unusual for me to come home and find a witch’s cauldron of foul-smelling herbs bubbling away on our stove. This strange alchemy could produce extremely effective cures.

Once, when suffering from severe tonsillitis, my flatmates insisted that I try to eat and drink a bizarre concoction of duck egg and boiled Chinese plums. Incredibly, the pain and swelling subsided and my faith in natural remedies was established and continues to this day. The girls were a constant source of joy and inspiration, coming from different provinces and social backgrounds. Beijing was their common ground for the dream of a modern and more sophisticated life. They revelled in freedom and the disposable incomes denied to their parents, but also shouldered the burden of their families’ expectations. They rejoiced in being single, had no plans to marry young but concentrated on building careers and finding love. I was born in 1979, the year that former Communist leader Deng Xiaoping introduced the compulsory one-child family planning policy. I found it fascinating to listen to the experiences of my peers, a generation of children raised without sibling rivalry. In fact, many benefited from the undivided attention of their mothers and fathers, plus two sets of doting grandparents. I was fortunate to land in the midst of an unprecedented explosion of creativity, as China threw off the chains of isolationism and opened its doors to Western influences. Working as a photographer, I gradually started to meet many Chinese women working in the creative fields: avant-garde photographers, radical clothes designers, artists, punk and rock’n’roll musicians, DJ’s, animators, illustrators, film directors… I could go on. Unheard of careers and new work opportunities were arising from this demand for modernity and higher living standards, churning China’s traditional ideas for industry and lifestyle up side down.

While the city of Beijing was having its own facelift, the arrival of Western chain stores, foreign businesses and glossy lifestyle magazines began reflecting the rise of a new, aspirational middle-class. Luxury brands showcased to a population of 1.3 billion, long starved of retail opportunities, who were last year estimated to have spent 6 billion US dollars on luxury goods. The new generation’s exposure to the internet, foreign media and international travel has created a hunger for the trappings and lifestyle of the West. China’s youth have had to deal with a surge of outside influences, this influx of Western modernity combined with displaced traditions has left its young struggling to forge a new identity. Older Chinese, raised on a save, save, save culture find the capitalist philosophy hard to fathom and the pace of change remarkably hard to keep up with. When I finally returned to Europe in early 2008 I had a period to reflect on what I had seen and learned in Asia. Through all the change I’d witnessed in Beijing, I realised it was the young women who had digested and most rapidly taken on appropriate roles of the new China. I was passionate, and felt it necessary to return to Beijing, to complete a photographic documentary project of what I’d seen, learned and loved about the modern Chinese Beijing woman. I interviewed the ambitious, the exotic and those with more simple dreams from both rural and urban backgrounds. I found their stories equally fascinating, whether they were planning business empires or waiting on tables. I wanted to honour this generation of women and tell the stories of young girls who had shown terrific courage in making truly epic journeys from rural provinces to seek their fortunes in one of the world’s most dynamic, pulsating capital cities.

china XINJIANG

SHAANXI

HEBEI

HEILONGJIANG

ANHUI

FUJIAN

SHANGHAI

TIBET

GANSU

SHANXI

HENAN

JILIN

JIANGSU

BEIJING

TIANJIN

QINGHAI

YUNNAN

GUIZHOU

HUBEI

LIAONING

ZHEJIANG

HUNAN

SICHUAN

NINGXIA

GUANGXI

GUANDONG

SHANDONG

JIANGXI

CHONGQIN

INNER MONGOLIA

Pg 6-7

Qi Jing - Home province : JIANGSU

Pg 70-71

Zhang Qiu Chan - Home province : SHANXI

Pg 8-9

Guo Xiaohan - Home province : HEBEI

Pg 72-73

Datou : CHONGQING MUNICIPALITY

Pg 10-11

Tang Na - Home province : LIAONING

Pg 74-75

Ning Jing : XINJIANG AUTONOMOUS REGION

Pg 12-13

Han Hongxia - Home region : INNER MONGOLIA

Pg 76-77

Guan Shengsheng : XINJIANG AUTONOMOUS REGION

Pg 14-15 €

Fang Fang - Hometown : BEIJING

Pg 78-79

Wang Qian - Home province : JIANGSU

Pg 16-17

You Ya - Hometown : BEIJING

Pg 80-81

Cui Zhongcheng : TIANJIN MUNICIPALITY

Pg 18-19

Zhu Xuan / Lucy - Home province : GANSU

Pg 82-83

Yang Qian - Home province : QINGHAI

Pg 20-21

Wu Lan Tuo Ya / Ulan - Home province : XINJIANG

Pg 84-85

Li Hua - Home province : JIANGXI

Pg 22-23

Zhang Hainan - Home province : HEILONGJIANG

Pg 86-87

A Fei - Home province : ANHUI

Pg 24-25

Zhang Yu - Home province : HUNAN

Pg 88-89

Jean Weng - Hometown : BEIJING

Pg 26-27

Lu Xuanlan - Home province : ANHUI

Pg 90-91

Xiong Hongju - Home province : HUBEI

Pg 28-29

Xu Pan - Home province : HENAN

Pg 92-93

Na Na - Hometown : BEIJING

Pg 30-31

Elysee Yang - Hometown : BEIJING

Pg 94-95

Ding Na - Home province : SHANXI

Pg 32-33

Feng Haining / Helen - Hometown : BEIJING

Pg 96-97

Liu Xin : TIANJIN MUNICIPALITY

Pg 34-35

Song Danxi - Hometown : BEIJING

Pg 98-99

Liu Ding - Hometown : BEIJING

Pg 36-37

Zhang Yueran - Home province : SHANDONG

Pg 100-101

Qian Fang – Hometown : BEIJING

Pg 38-39

Zhang Huan - Home province : HENAN

Pg 102-103

Zhang Kejun - Home province : ANHUI

Pg 40-41

Li Li - Home province : SHANDONG

Pg 104-105

Dina - Home province : FUJIAN

Pg 42-43

Zhu Lian - Home province : SICHUAN

Pg 106-107

Chen Jingwen - Home province : JILIN

Pg 44-45

Meng Shengnan - Home province : GANSU

Pg 108-109

Liu Junli - Home province : HEBEI

Pg 46-47

Li Mei - Home province : HEBEI

Pg 110-111

Zhou Yanxia - Home province : GANSU

Pg 48-49

Fang Fang - Home province : YUNNAN

Pg 112-113

Zhang Zhou - Home province : SHANXI

Pg 50-51

Duan Xuying - Home province : GUIZHOU

Pg 114-115

Ai Wan : SHANGHAI MUNICIPALITY

Pg 52-53

Linda - Hometown : BEIJING

Pg 116-117

Minghua - Home province : HUNAN

Pg 54-55

Annie Yu - Hometown : BEIJING

Pg 118-119

Zhang Lin - Home province : SHANXI

Pg 56-57

Shi Mingjie - Home province : LIAONING

Pg 120-121

Wu Qiong - Home province : GANSU

Pg 58-59

Wen Na - Home province : GUANGXI

Pg 122-123

Guan Nan Jiang / Stella - Home province : SHANDONG

Pg 60-61

Qin Linfang - Home province : SICHUAN

Pg 124-125

Chang Lixin - Home province : JILIN

Pg 62-63

Zhang Ting - Home province : SHANDONG

Pg 126-127

Han Jingjing - Hometown : BEIJING

Pg 64-65

Luo Yan - Home province : GUIZHOU

Pg 128-129

Fang Lei / Cici - Home province : ZHEJIANG

Pg 66-67

Dong Dong - Home province : HEBEI

Pg 130-131

Zhao Wei - Home province : LIAONING

Pg 68-69

Zhou Xingyue : CHONGQING MUNICIPALITY

Qi Jing Age : 27, in a relationship Home province : Jiangsu Animation student, Bar owner and TV production assistant

Qi Jing, an ambitious, business-minded artist, arrived in Beijing (BJ) two years ago and has already invested time and money in a successful Belgian bar in the city. Jing originally studied advertising at the Capital University of business and economics, and works part-time as a production assistant for a local television station. As well as keeping an eye on the bar, and her part-time TV job, Jing has recently gone back to school to study animation design. She has just been accepted into a top art school in San Francisco to complete her Masterâ€™s degree in the subject. She continues to keep an eye out for business opportunities and aspires to become a full time animator working within the creative film industry.

Guo Xiaohan Age: 26, married Home province: Hebei Journalist for youth magazine

Guo Xiaohan is a very active journalist and poet in Beijing youth culture scene. After her graduation from university in west China, she followed her rock and poem dreams, to come to Beijing. She now has a good job, a house, a husband and a rock band whom she plays bass for. (with three other media background girls). Xiaohan spends her days running round the city, to meet and interview the most interesting and talented Musicians, Writers, actors and Artists for Beijing Youth Weekly magazine. Xiaohan is a panda maniac, her collection of pandas is enormous, half presents from friends and half collected herself. She says in herself, she feels like a panda, Sad, quiet and not really interested in sexual activity.

Tang Na Age: 30, in a new relationship Home province: Liaoning Dance choreographer Determined Tang Na has had a passion for dance ever since she was a tot, and a dream to live and work as a dancer in the city of Beijing. Na studied dance in vocational school in Dalian her hometown and after working as a performer for two years she was able to save up enough of her own money to pay for a course in a renowned Beijing dance college. Penniless and ambitious Na moved to the city six years ago and after completion of her course, has been working her way up the ladder as a professional choreographer. She feels Beijing has many new openings, but is extremely competitive when looking for a decent job. She tells me that you have to be prepared to work all given hours to succeed in her profession. Na says itâ€™s a special feeling to have come so far, all on her own. Her biggest achievement has recently been to direct one of the dance scenes for the Beijing Olympic closing ceremony.

Han Hongxia Age: 22, single Home region: Inner Mongolia Proprietor of small general store Young but mature, Han Hongxia has been in Beijing for six years all on her own and working in retail. It was just one year ago she took on the challenge of opening her own small business, a rented shop in the Beijing hutong, an area with narrow alleys running between the typical old style courtyard homes. In her sliding glass fronted general store, Hongxia sells everything from slippers and padlocks to kitchen soap and fizzy drinks. She says she is always busy because hers is the only shop like it in this residential area. Hongxia is a charming girl with wit. She tells me she has the advantage of being born with a business brain and always has her eyes open for an opportunity in the market. She says there is no time for socialising, and that she is far too busy preparing her new stock and keeping a good rapport with her customers. Her mother and father live far away in her hometown and work with the familyâ€™s farming business. They encouraged her to go to Beijing to take advantage of the new times and knew her strong personality would keep her afloat.

Fang Fang

Age: 30, married Hometown : Beijing DJ Fang Fang, a fashion conscious and feisty young woman, studied sound engineering at Beijing University. After graduation she began working as a DJ in many of Beijingâ€™s bars and clubs. Fang Fang buys most of her music online from America and Europe. She says she feels responsible to introduce the best old and new foreign and Chinese music to Beijing youth. Streetwise Fang Fang says she doesnâ€™t just follow the commercial trend but tries to play an eclectic mix of what she considers quality and fun music. Her greatest achievement was being DJ at The Great Hall of the People, on Tiananmen Square, for an evening dedicated to the top five hundred Chinese companies. The event was organised and attended by many government officials,

You Ya Age: 24, single Hometown: Beijing Illustrator and graphic designer I met You Ya, a local Beijinger, at a creative day workshop for artistic women to meet. The theme was carpe fish, with the task to decorate any material of your choosing. Some painted carpe on shoes and bags and others sketched in notebooks. Chinese flower tea was on the menu and introductions were made. Yaâ€™s delicate pen drawing (depicted in the photo) of a little girl sharing a body with a fish is actually the kind of thing she does to make a living. She is a freelance illustrator and graphic designer. Ya says she feels contented and at peace to be working within the creative world and that she was lucky to have her parentsâ€™ support when it came to making her career decision. She believes that parents are becoming more and more open these days, allowing their children to make independent decisions regarding their futures. Ya says most parents have only had the opportunity to produce one offspring and the childâ€™s happiness should really be their first priority.

Zhu Xuan Age: 23, Single Home province: Gansu English language consultant Zhu Xuan arrived in Beijing three years ago, looking for work after graduating from a charity school in her home province. She was taught computer science and English by American volunteer teachers at the school in Gansu. Xuan found her first job as a receptionist in a language training company. She tells me there at the office she really had the chance to polish her English and save a little money to send on to her family. After a patient couple of years of hard work and practice, Xuan decided her English language was probably good enough to look for work at a renowned English learning centre. Nervously she took the interview, she got the job, a large increase in salary and she now has two of her own assistants.

Wu Lan Tuo Ya - Ulan Age: 30, Single Home province: Xinjiang Poet, painter, music composer and chief editor for online store Ulan, the name she has given herself (a mixture of her first two names), arrived in the city ten years ago to start her ethnic studies degree at Beijing Central University. At the same time she taught herself fluent English. A delicate wistful artistic being who spends her spare time writing poetry, painting, composing and going to see local folk musicians performing. To support her city living, she works as editor in chief for an online products company. She tells me she finds the work dull and unfulfilling and that she does not plan to spend her whole life working there. Ulanâ€™s dream is to go back to university to study Mongolian history and language, the roots of her family tree. She is looking for love, marriage and to have a child.

Zhang Hainan

Age: 19, single Home province: Heilongjiang Employee in hair salon Zhang Hainan left the sub arctic climate of her hometown in northeastern China to arrive in the capital two years ago on a mission to find work. Currently she has found employment at this hair salon as an apprentice, learning the art of perming and dying. Hainan tells me she loves the sounds and pace of city life and has met many other young people who have also left their families in far off provinces to try their luck here in Beijing.

Zhang Yu Age: 26, single Home province: Hunan Amateur photographer and boutique employee

Graceful Zhang Yu, a passionate

amateur

photographer,

photographs me as I photograph her at work. She works as an assistant to another busy woman, her boss, who runs a retro furniture shop and cafe in Beijing. Yu is learning the tricks of the photography trade from a professional photographer friend.

Lu Xuanlan Age: 35, married Home province: Anhui Proprietor of vegetable shop Lu Xuanlan has been in Beijing for six years, running her business and preparing a home for her family to join her. She opened her vegetable shop in a busy residential area of BJ and has now made enough money to support her 12 year old son. He has recently joined her from his grandmotherâ€™s house in Anhui province and has just started a good Beijing school.

Xu Pan Age: 19, single Home province: Henan Proprietor of market photo shop Petite businesswoman Xu Pan relocated to Beijing one year ago with her parents who came to find work. Since her mother and father both found full time employment they have recently invested in her idea to open a small photo shop in a popular BJ market. She owns a photo machine, which takes groups or single fun themed miniature portraits and develops them as stickers or prints. Pan says she occasionally has promotions and encourages friends to catch a moment on camera. She tells me she prefers life in the capital city and thinks her parents were wise to move here.

ElysĂŠe Yang Age: 34, married Hometown: Beijing Fashion designer for her own label Elysee studied costume design at university, but did not walk directly into the industry. A couple of years after graduation, and not yet working in the fashion world, she decided to leave for Paris, the capital of haute couture to further her studies in design. She completed her course and burst back onto the scene in Beijing, bringing her fresh design ideas and new materials. She loves to use Christian Dior and other exotic fabrics she imports from France. China is said to be the worldâ€™s factory, a land where everything and anything can be produced or bought. Today though, Elysee believes there is more and more demand for beautiful, expensive European imported goods.

Feng Haining/Helen Age 30, in a relationship Hometown: Beijing Radio show anchor and vocalist in two rock bands

Helen is one of the most loved female rock musicians in the city. Her band ZIYO and new band Pet Conspiracy both have cult following in the Beijing rock scene. People used to compare her live performances to Karen O from the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs. Helen left China for LA when she was just two, and didnâ€™t return until after she graduated from university in the States. She moved back to Beijing because of a job offer from MTV, which she quit not long after, hungry to pursue other projects. At this moment she has a rock show at HIT FM radio, two bands and a music TV show at CCTV. Helen tells me in the future, she would like to be a good label owner and a documentary director.

Song Danxi Age: 22, single Hometown: Beijing Pharmacy employee Local girl Danxi has worked in this pharmacy for three years (depicted in the photo). She saves half her salary each month in preparation for her trip around China. She tells me itâ€™s important to explore the rest of her country, to inspire herself and help her decide what she really wants to do with her life. As for love, Danxi says young Chinese women really donâ€™t need to rush these days and she has no intention to be in a marriage without the feeling of true love.

Zhang Yueran Age: 27, single Home province: Shandong Professional writer Confidently feminine, Zhang Yueran is the representative female writer of her generation. She has won many awards in the past few years. She moved to Beijing because of the literature scene and friends here. Her way of writing is very sensitive and thoughtful. Yueran has had her typical Chinese apartment decorated in a luminous French country style. She lives there alone with her three cats and works with a bunch of creative women (who are constantly calling round during our meeting). Yueran and her crew of creative friends periodically publish books concerning the psychological and social problems that their generation has in common.

Zhang Huan Age: 24, single Home province: Henan Employee in nail salon Shy, pretty Zhang Huan from Henen province works long and exhausting hours in this Beijing nail salon (depicted in the photo), from 11am to 12pm seven days a week. A normal dayâ€™s work for her consists of soaking up to thirty clientsâ€™ feet in warm rose petal water, giving them a pedicure and finally a manicure in the chosen colour of vanish. Huan says they take it in turns to leave the salon at lunchtime to pick up their noodles from the takeaway shop next door. She says the owner provides a dormitory where all the girls sleep together in bunks. Huan tells me they are like one big family and have lots of fun, but the down side is they have no free time to enjoy the city or do things in private.

Li Li Age: 19, single Home province: Shandong Employee at fruit stall Li Li sells these huge juicy watermelons like hot cakes in the summer months, she says, eating them on these humid days is an ideal way to keep cool. Li tells me she lost both her parents at a young age and had been living with her elderly grandparents in Shandong. A couple of years ago she felt it was the right time to leave and begin her own life, so she had headed by train to Beijing. Li tells me she has worked at this same fruit stall since her arrival and that she knows all the neighbors in this residential community. She says she is happiest when working and her only wish would be to bring her grandparents to BJ.

Zhu Lian Age: 19, single Home province: Sichuan Employee in cake shop Young, timid, Zhu Lian excitedly arrived in the city only a couple of months ago and tells me she is very happy to be in Beijing. She is in the middle of her training course in decorating birthday cakes, alongside her new comrade Wang Zhili, another young working girl from a far away province. Lian has an aunty here in the city that she is living with right now, but she says herself, Zhili and a friend of hers have plans to find a little apartment to rent together.

Meng Shengnan Age: 27, single Home province: Gansu TV Presenter Sophisticated Meng Shengnan fell for Beijing during her studies in broadcasting at the Communication University of China. After graduation she found work as a hostess on a CCTV (China Central TV) music channel. Shengnan loves the glamorous side of the business, she explains she gets to choose stylish clothes to wear and have her make-up done professionally. As for the future, she wants to continue working on air and hopes to rise to celebrity status.

Li Mei Age: 25, dating Home province: Hebei Model

Li Mei arrived in Beijing to seek her fortune as a model just one year before, in July 2007. She has an agent and already several catalogue contracts with big Chinese fashion brands. I photographed her outside of her favourite Mongolian hot pot restaurant down a street lined with red lanterns that never sleeps. This typically shared (â€œlow fatâ€?, she says) feast is cooked and eaten from a huge bubbling pot already on the table and heated by what looks like a Bunsen burner. Mei tells me the restaurants open 24 hours down this street, and are always brimming with customers. If ever she feels lonely she takes a walk down here.

Fang Fang Age: 24, single Home province: Yunnan Employee of art gallery Fang Fang is an employee at a gallery in the Beijing community art area known as Dashanzi Art District, originally 798 factory (an old industrial factory area, turned into galleries and studio spaces). She herself is an aspiring artist and so prefers to surround herself with this particular atmosphere. Fang tells me Chinese contemporary art is of great interest to her as it mirrors the conflicts between old and new, traditional and modern, East and West and the continuing search for identity.

Duan Xuying Age: 37, married Home province: Guizhou Proprietor of newspaper and magazine shop Bubbly, chatty Xuying has been in Beijing for ten years and has witnessed huge changes in the city and its inhabitants. She says the skyline has completely changed, with all the new skyscrapers erected and many old ones and local homes torn down. She also talks about the huge increase of foreigners like myself who have arrived in the city and says that before she came to BJ she had never set eyes on one. Xuying says the city seems to have taken on a new personality, people becoming more impatient and a generally faster pace of living. She tells me her business selling magazines and newspapers is interesting because it keeps her in touch with all the new trends and fads that her child goes crazy for. Xuying tells me each month there are so many new womenâ€™s Chinese and foreign fashion magazines appearing on the market. She says they all get bought up by the younger generation who seem to have plenty of money to spend. Her daughter joined her in Beijing five years ago from her grandparents in Guizhou. Xuying enjoys busy life in the capital and is happy her child has the chance to study here.

Linda Age: 20, single Hometown: Beijing Spanish student and part time employee in furniture shop Linda is a fanatic of everything Spanish, hence her study of the language at Beijing University and Flamenco Dance classes. She admits she is slightly obsessed with Latin culture and she dreams to some day move to Madrid. She works part-time at this traditional Ming and Ching style furniture shop to fund her life at university.

Annie Yu Age: 26, single Hometown: Beijing Music studio manager Annie is a well-traveled, fluent English speaker and a confident young woman who graduated in broadcasting from Beijing University. Her job requires great organisational skills and a cool and calm demeanor to meet with and plan many musiciansâ€™ recording sessions at this international Beijing studio. Annie expresses her feelings of how wonderful it is to be a young woman in Beijing right now. Originally planning to relocate to Europe before realising, Beijing, her birth city, was actually the place to be.

Shi Mingjie Age: 35 Home province: Liaoning Beijing Womenâ€™s College teacher Shi Mingjie completed her English language bachelor degree in Dalian Language University, before being hired as an English teacher in Jinzhou University, where she remained for nine years. Still hungry for education and also eager to arrive in the capital city, her next move was to Beijing Womenâ€™s College to take her Masterâ€™s. Mingjie tells me she fell in love with BJ and also working amongst so many interesting and well-educated women. She was offered a job as a teacher at the college, so she decided to stay. She became actively involved in researching the female education situation in China. She explained to me that female education chances are now pretty much equal to males, but when it comes to finding work there are still injustices and men typically dominate the higher salary positions. Alongside teaching, the ambitious Mingjie is currently studying for her doctorate degree.

Wen Na Age: 24, single Home province: Guangxi Employee at Xidan clothes shop Wen Na crossed China, from the far south to the top north, to arrive in the city she had been dreaming of since childhood. Na has been in Beijing for two years and works full time in a clothes shop in the busy bargain shopping area, Xidan. She tells me even though she left all her family in the south she is very happy to have found work and a little apartment for herself here in the capital. Na says she feels proud to be independent, but she also has one more dream; to fall in love with a local man and get married here in the city.

Qin Linfang Age: 29, married Home province: Sichuan Restaurant employee Qin Linfang has been in Beijing for three years with her husband. They both work extremely hard and long hours within the service industry. Their six year old son is living with his grandparents a long distance away in their home province of Sichuan and in the last three years they have only seen him once. Linfang explains to me that travel is so expensive and they came to Beijing for one reason only, to make and save money. They both miss their child desperately, but it is only a temporary situation and in the end it will benefit them all. She says they plan to work in Beijing for just one more year and then they will return to Sichuan and live as a family once again.

Zhang Ting Age: 24, dating Home province: Shandong Taekwondo teacher Beautiful, willowy Zhang Ting is a Taekwondo teacher recently graduated from Beijing Sports University, being one of only ten girls out of three-hundred Taekwondo students. She was so inspired by the female Olympic champion Chen Zhong in Athens 2002 that she decided to make it her own major. Ting now trains children in Taekwondo in Haidian, the University district of Beijing, at the same time she needs to fit in her own twenty hours of training each week. Ting says it is physically very demanding, but she feels itâ€™s important for women to continue to represent this ancient sport. She says work opportunities are still not equal between male and female Taekwondo teachers. Ting feels that the respect and status of Chinese women as sports coaches still has a long way to come.

Luo Yan

Age: 27, married Home province: Guizhou Telecommunications entrepreneur and mother

Luo Yan is originally from the Miao ethnic group. They have a population of around nine million and form one of the largest ethnic minorities in southwest China. Most of them live in tightly knit communities; they have more than five thousand years of history and their own language. Luo independently came to Beijing to study in the Central University of Nationalities and quickly became established in the city. She began working as a manager of a pornographic mobile text company. A couple of years later she was headhunted by the boss of a huge mobile service provider corporation. She took the move and a relationship started with her new boss. They are now happily married, with a newborn baby girl. Yan and her husband have a typically upper-middle class lifestyle, but still believe in very traditional family values. They invited both sets of parents to live with them in their modern townhouse in central Beijing and they employ a full time nanny and cleaner, so they can both continue building their business empire.

Dong Dong Age: 32, single Home province: Hebei Artist and proprietor of gallery A young bright-eyed Dong Dong first arrived in the city at the age of twenty to study design at Beijing University. After graduation and determined to make money, she began her own advertising agency. Her company thrived, but five successful years down the line she sold the business. Dong Dong felt unfulfilled and decided to return to her art and design roots, where she would specialise in photography and sculpture. From her latest works (depicted in the photo) Dong Dong demonstrates the modern Chinese womanâ€™s lifestyle. This is influenced by modern materialistic society, but also a desire for a quiet and peaceful life, shown by the frequent appearance of Buddha. She explains in detail, as China has developed and opened up to outside influences young people have lost their traditional connections, causing widespread loss of identity. The exhibition of these works has already travelled to Paris, Berlin and Milan. Dong Dong tells me she feels at peace with her work and life now.

Zhou Xingyue Age: 27, single Home region: Chongqing Municipality Music magazine editor The lively, bright spark, Xingyue, whose name literally translates to star and moon, studied journalism at the university of Chongching before going on to complete her Masterâ€™s degree in public communications in London. Xingyueâ€™s break was due to her self-confidence and absolute determination. Her desperation to work alongside her hero, Hao Fang (a highly respected and well-known music critic and editor in chief of Rolling Stone magazine China), drove her to move to Beijing, call him up and insist on an interview. She has now been working alongside him as an editor for two years, meeting and interviewing outstanding musicians and artists from around the globe. She is a warm, fun, witty and streetwise character, the kind of girl who would make a perfect best friend in the city. In 2007 Xingyue started the all girls band The Big Heads, or the JT4â€™s, and she is the lead singer. She says she feels most alive either when performing with her girls on stage or when interviewing one of her favourite rock stars.

Zhang Qiu Chan Age: 20, single Home province: Shanxi Employee in porridge restaurant

Baby faced Zhang Qiu Chan came to Beijing on her own six months ago, her mission purely to make money. Her salary is two thirds higher as a waitress in the capital then it is in her hometown. Qiu Chan says her plan is to return to Shanxi as soon as she has the knowledge and sum of money she expects to get from her city job. She says she is getting plenty of experience and ideas from working in this big chain. Qiu Chan works along side ten other girls more or less the same age and also from various regions of China. They have long work hours but the time passes fast as they find ways to amuse each other. At twenty years old, Qiu Chan seems to have such a mature attitude. She tells me secretly she is saving every spare penny so she can open a restaurant with a family member back in Shanxi. She says in China it is expected that the child will help support their retired parents, hence her business plan.

Datou Age : 24, single Home region : Chongqing Municipality Website editor and guitarist Datou arrived in the city of Beijing six years ago to study. She says the best part of being in the capital is to have found and be with her kind of people. Her closest friends are the three other girls that make up the all girl band, The Big Heads, whom she plays guitar for. Datou studied Italian and completed her degree at Beijing University before becoming an editor for a leading entertainment and commerce website. She says there are so many new opportunities in Beijing these days that you really have a chance of living your dream. Whether itâ€™s starting a business, finding work with a huge Chinese or foreign company, or working as a freelancer. Datou says she has become restless working with the same company and feels it would suit her best to explore more flexible freelance based work in the future.

Ning Jing Age: 27, single Home province : Xinjiang Radio station DJ and drummer Seven years ago, Ning Jing left her hometown in the far west corner of China. She travelled thousands of miles on coaches and trains before reaching her final destination, Beijing. Jing studied broadcasting at Beijing Communications University and after graduation found work at China Central radio station as a DJ. Jing has been working in radio for five years, playing a mix between Chinese and Western music. She says she feels excited for the future status of Chinese musicians, and that there is so much new talent in Beijing alone. Also a skilled drummer, she plays in the all girls band The Big Heads. Jing likes the relaxing life, she takes things in her stride, preferring to keep things light and not overly stressful.

Guan Shengsheng Age: 32, married Home region: Xinjiang autonomous region Freelancer TV producer and visual artist Guan Shengsheng has her own studio, a young child, a dog, and her French photographer husband who all live in there together. Shengsheng moved into her 7 metre high, 200 metre square studio last year after saving hard in her previous job at a film production studio. She says her vision is more vivid under tall ceilings, where she feels free. Shengsheng quit her job in the film industry so she could start working freelance with some local TV stations. She is now producing China’s only gay web show called “Queer as Folk Beijing”. She is also busy in her studio producing sculptures and visual art works on canvas and other materials. Shengsheng looks after her baby at home while she works. She says a mother should always try and combine the two.

Wang Qian Age: 24, single Home province: Jiangsu Novelist Shy and dreamy Wang Qian is a poetic kind of writer, she writes and sells her novels in Beijing. She tells me she is nearly always in the mood to write, but the location of where she writes changes frequently. She can be found working in the park, cafe, library and other times she will lock herself away in her apartment. Qian decided to move to the capital several years ago to be engaged with other young creative talent and find folk she had more in common with. Here in Beijing she has met many colourful characters who inspire her imagination. She tells me her mind now feels freer to create.

Cui Zhongcheng Age 25, single Home region: Tianjin Municipality Proprietor of a folk music, record label Cui Zhongcheng has her own record label, which she started just over a year ago. Her label represents talented, rising and established Chinese folk musicians; they also plan and organise live shows in Beijing. When Zhongcheng first arrived in the city to study seven years before, her big brother supported her. He had his own successful record label in Beijing, which Zhongcheng worked with on and off for six years. They both had different ideas about the business and so finally she decided to end their working relationship and create her own label with two friends. Zhongcheng became a Buddhist in early 2007 and she now feels her life and work run in a much more harmonious rhythm.

Yang Qian

Age: 29, married Home province: Qinghai Restaurant manager

Pretty and softly spoken Yang Qian has been in Beijing for eight years and worked as manager of the Red Restaurant for three of them (depicted in the photo). She is married to a local man and has a son of six years old.

Qian tells me she appreciates the life in the city because her familyâ€™s living standards are so much higher. Also she says life is more interesting and varied than her previous life in the Gansu countryside.

She says her goal is to save up enough money to open her own cake shop in BJ. She would make and sell six tier iced Western wedding cakes and fancy themed birthday cakes.

Li Hua Age: 27, single Home province: Jiangxi Consultant Li Hua, sitting pretty and pale with her large green umbrella in the scorching heat (Chinese women in general find the idea of bronzed skin quite horrific, associating it with the common outside worker), has already been in Beijing for six years on her own, working as a consultant for a local marketing company. Hua tells me a familiar story; she left her family and friends far away in her southern hometown to find new opportunities for work and her own independence in the capital. She says although she isnâ€™t in a relationship the buzz and vibrancy of the city keeps her company.

A Fei Age: 22 Home province: Anhui Market stall employee

A Fei has only been in Beijing for a couple of months. She works tedious hours at this market stall (depicted in the photo) selling glittered jewellery pieces for the hair. She shows me how she barters with her clients to obtain good sales. She is fast, furious and certainly has the knack. A Fei says she basically grew up in a market, clinging to her working mother; hence her acquired sales skills.

Jean Weng Age: 38 Hometown: Beijing Architect Jean Weng has sixteen years experience of architecture under her belt, including projects across China, as well as in Australia and New Zealand. Weng studied architecture at a Beijing University, before emigrating down under for fourteen years. She relocated to Beijing three years ago and began working with this international firm (depicted in the photo). This company is one of the firms responsible for Beijingâ€™s facelift, modernising the outlook of the city. Her key roles are master planning urban design and architectural concept design.

Xiong Hongju Age: 26, in a relationship Home province : Hubei Proprietor of flower and gift shop Gift shop proprietor Xiong Hongju has been in Beijing for eight years, she met her boyfriend three years ago and they opened their flower and gift shop two years ago. She tells me business is steady right now, but its ok because the feeling to own their own small company is so great. Hongju says they are desperate to get married, but that would bring too much financial pressure for them both, which they couldnâ€™t handle right now. Getting married for them means they would have to support two families, both sets of parents that are living in different hometowns.

Na Na Age: 26, dating Hometown: Beijing Interior designer Na Na, an interior design major, worked as chief designer for the international broadcast centre of the Beijing Olympics after graduation. Young and creative, Na decided she would be better suited working with a contemporary company and found a job at one of the cityâ€™s newly opened Western-fashion chains. She is in charge of the window design for all three of the Beijing shops. Na tells me that in recent years there has been a strong trend for Chinese university students to travel abroad to study, allowing for more crosscultural exchanges. She says she is already planning her next move, which is to go to Europe to study fashion.

Ding Na Age: 24, single Home province: Shanxi Mechanical engineer and model Ding Na was only eighteen when she apprehensively first arrived in Beijing to study mechanical engineering at Beijing University. After graduation and a little older and wiser, Naâ€™s new found love of city living meant she would stay on to a build a life for herself in the capital. On the one hand she is a party girl relishing the new energy of BJ, on the other she is a serious engineer currently working for a large automation company. Na tells me her love is not engineering but in fact modelling and acting, which she does part time. Her degree in engineering was only to guarantee herself a great salary. Although Na has the skills to design car gears, she admits she would much rather be walking down a catwalk. Her dream for the future is to complete her Masterâ€™s degree in Europe or the US, have her own entertainment company and be a successful actress in Hollywood.

Liu Xin Age: 33, married Home region: Tianjin Municipality Silver jewellery designer Liu Xin is a very warm and creative character, she came to Beijing ten years ago to study design at university. After graduation she began specialising in the design of silver jewellery and teaching herself the elements of the craft. This became Xinâ€™s love and she decided to make it a full time job. Half a year later she took a leap of faith, renting her own workshop and investing in all the necessary tools. Ten years on and she is the owner of three stores in Beijing, two in another province, and now has international clients through her website. Xin is extremely pleased that her husband is a modern thinking man, as he quit his job to help her expand the business. He is concentrating on the marketing of their brand.

Liu Ding Age: 31, single Hometown: Beijing Makeup artist Liu Ding was working as a marketing director in a foreign company for almost five years before deciding to take the plunge and change her career direction. Ding says she was fed up of working the 9-5 and felt driven to work within the world of creativity. She began her training course at a make-up college and has since been working freelance for four years. Contacts from her previous work helped her find clients in the beginning and now she’s working with many high profile media groups. Ding tells me that women’s roles have changed incredibly fast since her mother’s generation. She says the first most important thing for a woman to do is show her value in society, after this comes marriage and a family. Ding explains though that this is kind of contradictory, because the older you are in China the harder it is to find a husband. She says it’s a good thing that divorce has become easier to obtain, so if the woman is not happy in her married life she has the right to end it.

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Qian Fang Age: 21, single Hometown: Beijing Journalism student Young Qian Fang is a first-year student of journalism at the Communications University of China (CUC), a leading university in the mass media field. She tells me young women in Chinese cities are nowadays encouraged to become independent and to indulge their energy in a career of their choice. She feels blessed to be 21 years old in 2008. Fang an expressive, individual young woman is full of dreams and hopes for her future as a journalist in the new China. She is keen to develop Chinaâ€™s international role and wants to see her country have a greater presence on the world stage. Fang has already decided that after graduation she will remain in Beijing, to benefit her own country. She believes itâ€™s a very exciting time to work in Chinese journalism and perhaps in a big TV station.

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Zhang Kejun

Age: 29, engaged Home province: Anhui Hair stylist Zhang Kejun has been working as a creative hair stylist for 11 years. She has been fortunate to travel with her career, working in provinces all over China and a couple of large African cities. Aware Beijing was entering an exciting but also competitive period, Kejun wisely found work with a renowned French hair salon before making the move here, one year ago. Relaxed and seemingly stress free, Kejun says she feels at home in Beijing. She has a large community of Chinese and Western friends and recently got engaged to her French boyfriend. She says she loves what she does and is hungry to launch her own salon in this fast paced capital city.

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Dina Age: 30, married Home province: Fujian Runs a family tea business Dina has been in Beijing for five years with her husband and six year old son. She is charming, laid back and very optimistic of the future. Together with her family she runs two teahouses in Beijing. They grow the tea in the fields of their hometown in Fujian and sell their scented yields here in the capital. Dina tells me life is good, they all work hard, but also spend as much time as they can as a family.

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Chen Jingwen Age: 22, single Home province: Jilin Drama student

Chen Jingwen is a senior student in the Beijing Academy of theatre, her studies in drama and acting are what she lives for and her dream is to become a famous movie star in China. Jingwen says she visits this nail salon (depicted in the photo) opposite her university to have a foot massage and manicure after a long day at school.

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Liu Junli Age: 19, single Home province: Hebei Hotel gate guard Little Liu Junli arrived in Beijing just the day before I photographed her and this has been her first day at her big new job. She explains a friend from her hometown, who is also employed here, introduced her to the post at this hotel.

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Zhou Yanxia Age: 18, single Home province: Gansu Waitress A young, shy Zhou Yanxia arrived in the bustling Beijing metropolis for the first time two days ago, (June 20th 2008) after an exhausting 32 hour train journey. She came alone, leaving her family and familiarity in search of new chances and better-paid work. Lucky and courageous, Yanxia found this waiting on job (depicted in the photo) the day following her arrival, after asking around at local Beijing street restaurants. She explains her curiosity is keeping her homesickness at bay, and she is excited to explore her new surroundings on her day off. Yanxia says the owner of the restaurant has treated her very kindly, like her own daughter. She will not get a chance to visit her family until the next national holiday, which is spring festival, next year February. Her work provides her with a dormitory to sleep, food, and a salary that she can afford to send half home.

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Zhang Zhou Age: 24, single Home province: Shanxi Freelance illustrator Zhang Zhou has been in the city for five years. She studied art at Beijing University and now works freelance as an illustrator, her clients coming from different publishing companies. Zhang tells me she is a modern and cosmopolitan girl, enjoying many aspects of foreign cultures, Western and otherwise, but this does not in anyway lessen the pride in her own. She tells me she would always choose traditional Chinese medicine over others and is adept at calligraphy and ancient painting techniques.

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Ai Wan Age: secret Home region: Shanghai Municipality Actress and entrepreneur Ai Wan, who didn’t let me in on her age, is certainly a very attractive and groomed looking lady. She was born and raised by her grandparents in Shanghai until 1987, when she was sent to Los Angeles to study in a private middle school. After completion of her schooling in the States and with a passion for acting, she decided to enroll in a course at the California Movie Academy. She continued actor training (comedy and drama) for a further four years with Aaron Speiser in Hollywood’s UCLA film school. She played roles in a number of movies, including Rush Hour alongside Jackie Chan. In 2004, Wan made the decision to re-locate to the exciting, rapidly modernising Beijing, where she opened EPIC, an entertainment and design company. With her American vision and influence from the LA high life, Wan felt it was the right time to introduce something unique to the Beijing nightlife scene. In 2008 she opened the largest superclub in the city and christened it Chinadoll (depicted in the photo). It’s an all in one venue with eating, drinking and dancing, which can only be described as a kitsch fairyland.

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Minghua Age: 35, married Home province: Hunan Childcarer

Minghua moved to Beijing four years ago in search of childcare work, before this she had worked in a computer company in her hometown. She had felt unfulfilled and had decided it was time to invest in a career change. Minghua has been working as a nanny with this French family (depicted in photo) for two years. Her main job is taking care of two youngsters. Her love of children motivated her to go back to college and take a study course to work in professional childcare. She tells me she feels worthy and fulfilled, helping to bring up these kids and that she speaks to them only in Chinese, which they already understand. Minghua hopes her profession could someday take her to Europe or America to work.

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Zhang Lin Age: 24, in a relationship Home province: Shanxi Recruiting and headhunting for foreign professionals Zhang Lin was born in Yangquan, a very polluted city, rich in coal and thriving on its heavy industries. Lin dreamed of getting away from her hometown even when she was a kid, so she studied hard and got the chance to go on to higher education. After graduating in English in northeast China, Changchun city, she finally arrived in Beijing to seek work opportunities and a new and exciting life. Lin says she loves the diversity of the city, and how everyday brings unique chances and meetings. She works at a headhunting and recruitment company for foreign professionals, speaks great English and loves her work with foreigners, whom she feels are polite and respectful. Lin tells me her next plan is to take her Masterâ€™s degree at a university overseas. She would like to study luxury brand management.

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Wu Qiong Age: 24, single Home province: Gansu Proprietor of online vintage clothes store and e-business editor

Playful Wu Qiong is crazy about the vintage look and has introduced the style as a new trend in the city. Qiongâ€™s main job is editor for an online e-business service provider and itâ€™s after work hours that she concentrates on building her own business. Qiong opened her online vintage clothes store early in 2008, and already has a good following with regular growth in the number of her clients. She buys her second hand garments from different outlets in China, a lot of the clothes coming from Japan. Qiong usually uses herself as her own mannequin, using her tripod to take the photographs in her diverse colorful vintage styles. She is lively, innovative and has a great eye for design and colour, I guess these are the reasons she has already been interviewed by numerous BJ lifestyle magazines and her handpicked business has taken off.

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Guan Nan Jiang/Stella Age: 22, dating Home province: Shandong Sales and marketing manager Stella, as she likes to be known, moved from China to Sweden, with her family when she was just four, growing up and spending most of her childhood there. It wasnâ€™t until she turned fifteen that the family decided to move to Beijing for business opportunities. Back in China but with little memory of her mother tongue, she decided to study Mandarin at university. She is now fluent along with her Swedish and English languages. Stella works in the sales and marketing department in her fatherâ€™s renewable energy company. She regularly travels back to Europe with work and tells me she can only do this because of her language skills. Stella says her future plans are to start a business in the media sector, setting up her own magazine company. She would love to work with high profile photographers and journalists, where freedom of speech and real stories would be the order of the day.

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Chang Lixin Age: 29, in a relationship Home province: Jilin Proprietor of a rock venue and piano teacher Chang Lixin is a very small girl, but owns a very big metal music venue in Beijing. She came to Beijing because of its rock scene and fell in love with a rock musician. Lixin and her lover invested in the club three years ago and they run and manage it together. She goes to work at 8:30am to give children piano lessons and comes back to the club around 8:30pm to start preparing for the night shift, which ends about four or five in the morning. At the moment, Lixinâ€™s hectic life means that she sleeps in her club. Her work hours are extreme, and her sleeping arrangements not ideal. She tells me she will move into her apartment as soon as she has finished decorating it.

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Han Jingjing

Age: 27, in a relationship Hometown: Beijing Nail salon proprietor Han Jingjing had no interest in school; it was fashion and beauty that appealed to her from a young age. She is a quiet and beautiful young lady, she tells me she is in a serious relationship with her high school boyfriend and soon they will be married. Jingjing says she waits for her boyfriendâ€™s return from studying in Canada. However, she herself has no desire to travel abroad and feels best when she is in Beijing, near her family. Jingjing, with the help of her father, opened her first nail salon as soon as she finished high school and four more followed. Her salons offer manicure, pedicure, massage, facial and chocolate beauty treatments. She tells me that Chinese woman now have money to spend on beauty and looking after themselves, hence the reason her business and number of salons are growing so quickly.

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Fang Lei/Cici Age: 24, single Home province: Zhejiang PR manager for website and Beijing IT girl Fang Lei was born in Zhejiang province, but together with her family relocated to the States when she was just a young teen. Lei chatters away in English with her Americano accent. Lei completed her high school education and then graduated in journalism in America, before returning to China in 2005. She tells me she had heard Beijing was the new place to be in China with all its new openings and brand new cosmopolitan feel. So, “voila, here she is”. Lei works in one of the city’s new towering, glossy skyscrapers as a senior PR manager for a young online interactive web community site. Apart from working hard on weekdays, Lei also works hard partying on most evenings. Sporting her glamorous clothes and jewels, she has made it as a real Beijing IT girl and is always the photographers’ centre of attention at fashionable glitzy Beijing parties. Lei plans to start her own enterprise, combining business with glamour, in the not so distant future.

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Zhao Wei Age: 32, married Home province: Liaoning Homemaker Zhao Wei moved to the city of Beijing eight years ago to work as a planning researcher for a real estate development company. She met her American husband through her job and they have been married for two years. Wei tells me they often talk about setting up their own business together in China. Currently Wei concentrates on her English lessons, yoga classes and keeping a lovely home. She says there is a possibility that she may need to move to America with her husband in the future, but she would be happy to try living somewhere new again.

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Pancake Girl Anonymous

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British, London born photographer Laura Mate most recently lived and worked as a freelancer in Beijing. Among her clients were Rolling stone & Elle magazine China. She has a background in Art & Design and Photography both studied and practiced in the UK. Currently she is working and resides in Paris.

www.lauramate.com

Ă‰DITIONS / PUBLISHING

48, Rue LĂŠon Gambetta - 59000 - Lille - France laniche@lachienne.com / www.lachienne.com ISBN 978-2-9535052-4

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