Zhang Hai-er, Maioqian Street, Guangzhou, 1987

Behind the painted doors and embroidered curtains There used to be music and dancing. Hunting or fishing parties were held In the emerald forests or beside the marble pools. The melodies from various states And works of art and rare fish and horses Are all now dead and buried. The young girls from east and south Smooth as silk, fragrant as orchids White as jade with their lips red, Now lie beneath the dreary stones and barren earth. The greatest displeasure of the largest number Is the law of nature. For this ruined city, I play the lute and sing: "As the north wind hurries on, the battlements freeze. They tower over the plain where there are neither roads nor field-paths. For a thousand years and a myriad generations, I shall watch you to the end in silence." -- Bao Zhao (A.D. 414-466), from "Tedious Ways" ZHANG HAI-ER was born in Guangzhou, China in 1957. First trained as a stage designer at the Shanghai Drama Institute, Zhang worked as an art director and set designer for the Guangdong Television Network before continuing his education in photography at the Guangzhou College of Fine Arts. He has had numerous one-person exhibitions, both in China and in Europe and is represented by Agence Vu, Paris.