|
|
|
Beijing, People's Republic of China, November 10-14,
2000
By Mike McCaw. Melbourne. Australia (email Mike at: mccaw@cbl.com.au)
Back in June this year I had an Email from my contact in Beijing advising
that the Camera Collectors Association in China was going to
hold a camera flea market and auction sometime in October or November.
Being an avid collector of Chinese cameras, it did not take me
long to make the decision to make the journey northward. Douglas St.
Denny, that other collector of Chinese cameras, and I had talked
of a trip into China looking for cameras, and this seemed the ideal
opportunity.
Douglas was in France at this time doing the European shows so I sent
off a note, and yes he was interested. As it turned out Douglas
could not make it this time as he was unfortunately moving apartments
in Hong Kong on the same weekend.
Having made the decision to go, the rest was a waiting game. Holger
Schult was thinking about coming along but because of his
wedding photography business, needed to know dates fairly early on.
It ended up that when I finally did get notification of the actual
dates, Holger had a wedding booked so he also missed out!
I had about 4 weeks notice that the fair and auction were going to be
held on the weekend of the 11 and 12 of November, so I booked
the flights and sent off for the visa. At the same time my contact
in the collectors association asked me whether I would give a talk on
my cameras and camera collecting in Australia. Not knowing what I had
let myself in for I agreed.
A couple of hectic weeks organizing the talk and the overhead projection
transparencies and I had a reasonable presentation of about
half an hour on how we do it. Then it was off to China!
The trip from Australia was uneventful, about 9 hours to Singapore,
then a 3 hour layover. I eventually arrived in Beijing about 3.30 PM
on the Friday afternoon. It can be pretty scary arriving in a strange
country, knowing that the general population do not speak English,
and not even having a rudimentary knowledge of Mandarin. I was hoping
that the organization was good and my ride was waiting.
No need to worry, as I walked out of the immigration area, there right
in the middle of the walkway was a sign with my name on it, and a
couple of smiling faces peering around it. Introductions over we headed
into Beijing and to my hotel.
Beijing is very grey at this time of the year, and very polluted. The Temperature ranges from about minus 5 to plus 8 degrees Celsius.
It had been arranged that the executive of the camera collectors association
would take me out for a feed of Beijing Duck on the night of
my arrival. I had also arranged to meet up with another friend of Douglas's,
Allan Ho, who has a factory in Tianjin and lives in Hong
Kong.
Allan arrived at 6.30 and we instantly became friends, then the camera club arrived to take us to dinner.
We headed off to the Beijing Duck restaurant in the middle of town.
This restaurant has been in continuous operation since the 1850's
and is the place the locals go for their famous Beijing Duck. My hosts
asked whether I liked to have a little wine with my meal, like a
fool I said yes. As the food started to arrive Mr. Liu opened up a
bottle of what I thought was wine and poured a round of good sized
tumblers full. What I did not know at this time was that the firewater
he had just poured into the glass was 67% proof, and that I was
expected to drink it! There is a tradition in China that you must toast
each other frequently. There is also a tradition in China that the
guest must drink his "wine" first, in one gulp, then the rest of the
party has theirs.
Myself, Mr. Liu and Allan Ho enjoying the toast
I sure did hold my breath as that drink went down, my eyes watered,
and my stomach burned. My hosts thought this a huge joke, and
suggested another toast! I survived, was complimented on my ability
to partake of their firewater, and use chopsticks. I also had one of
the best meals that I had ever tasted. The duck was delicious and the
restaurant quite deserves it's reputation as being the finest duck
restaurant in all China.
There was to be a photographic auction in Beijing on the Sunday evening,
but my hosts, knowing how eager I was to see cameras, had
arranged for the auction house to stay open for us to have a viewing
after our dinner. Beijing at night is a beautiful city without the
smog of the day spoiling the night skyline.
The auction was being organized by China Guardian Auctions and included
Chinese Paintings, Calligraphy, China, watches and
cameras. The auction was a treasure trove for a collector of Chinese
cameras. Generally the non Chinese cameras were not in very good
condition, but these formed the majority of the auction. There were
however some really rare Chinese cameras on offer, and that is what
I had come for. Of particular note was a YC 75 x 100. This camera was
a Polaroid type made in China, and there were only a couple of
hundred made. It was not successful, as it was too heavy and the film
quality was poor. There was no negative. The camera here was
camera number 61, had its carry case, and original certificate of production.
YC 75 x 100 : Camera number 61
Also for auction was a Zi Jin Shan camera, being a copy of the Russian
Zenit, and a Blue Sword or Lanjian 360 degree panoramic
camera
It was then back to my hotel for a much needed sleep, I had been on the go for the past two days flying overnight.
Next morning Alan Ho arrived at my hotel bright and early to accompany
me to the camera flea market and to where I was to give my
presentation. We arrived at Mr. Liuís office just after 9.00 in the
morning and he took us on a tour if inspection. Mr. Liu is the General
Manager of the Beijing Photographic Center. This center has about 25
photographic dealers on the ground floor and a photographic
school, make up school, hairdressing school, clothing hire shops and
portrait studios all collected into the one building. I was going to
have a lot of fun looking through the camera stores here. But first
we had to go to the flea market. I a building at the back of the center,
the flea market was being set up. There was not much to indicate what
was behind the door here other than the few security guards who
saluted as we passed.
Once inside I was allocated a security guard who looked after my bag
with the presentation in it, and a few cameras I had bought with
me. Mr. Liu made the announcement that a guest from Australia was at
the flea market, that I was a collector of Chinese cameras, and
that I had bought with me some Australian cameras that I would swap
for Chinese cameras. The market was pretty much the same as
any other camera market that I had been to. There were fewer stall
holders than I am used to , perhaps 25 in the room, but the
enthusiasm of the crowd for a bargain was just the same.
This security guard looked after me and my goodies
The stalls were set up on small stands that were later assembled to
make the stage. There were the same sorts of cameras that are found
in western markets, and there were a large number of Chinese cameras
for sale.
As the club members from all over China had been informed that a Collector
of Chinese Cameras would be at the market there were a
number of choice items offered to me. Here a club member is offering
me a Chang Hong I and a Tian Tan camera. I am please to report
that we negotiated a satisfactory price and the cameras are now in
my collection.
Apart from the Chang Hong I and the Tian Tan I also picked up a Chang
Jiang, which is a copy of the Smena 2 from Russia and a very
interesting modified camera. This camera utilizes the taking lens and
shutter from a TLR and the body sans lens of a 35 mm camera.
The camera can be used to take passport photos or stereo photos. The
camera body with film is moved into the image plane in one of 9
different positions, enabling 6 images on one 35 mm negative for passport
photos or 2 images for stereo or just the one image in the
center of the 35 mm neg.
There was also a Changle, itself a copy of the Russian Lubitel for sale,
but at about 4 times it's value did not sell. I saw another later in
the photographic shops at one fifth the price.
All in all the market seems to have been a big success for the collectors society in Beijing and they are talking of another next year.
After a few hours negotiating for cameras at the market it was now time
to have lunch, and the collectors society had organized a group
lunch where we could all get to meet each other, and to toast each
other with firewater. I don't think I will ever get used to that strong
alcohol.
I met up with two other collectors who only collected Chinese cameras,
one from Shanghai, and the other from Beijing. I also met up
with Mr. Gang who is the most famous camera collector in China. He
has over 2000 cameras in his collection, mainly European. Mr.
Gang donated a sum of money to the Collectors Society so that the club
could purchase the Photographic Center, and run it as a
business for the members of the club.
After lunch it was time for the camera club meeting. All the visitors
from around China were introduced to the assembly and made little
speeches including Mr. Gang who announced his donation.
Then it was time to talk some more about cameras and camera collecting
in Australia. I was very fortunate in having Mr. Li, who is a
collector of Russian cameras and a Director in the Ministry of Science
to translate for me. Giving a talk with a translator is not the
easiest thing to do, but Mr. Li made it very simple.
All to soon we were finished and made our way back into the Photographic
Center where we had some tea, collected up my cameras,
and headed off back to the hotel. I had a great day, coming away with
an additional 14 cameras for my collection. I arranged with Allan
Ho to meet up the next morning, as he was going to take me to a large
Chinese flea market to see what else we could find.
Bright and early again next morning we headed off to the south to a
flea market called Pan Jai Yuan. This is the largest flea market in
China and people come from all over China and Tibet to sell their wares.
About half the market is under cover and the stalls are jam packed with
all sorts of second hand goods. We managed to find a number
of very early kerosene lamps, which Allan collects, as well as a very
old mahjong set that I have been looking for, some Cultural
Revolution posters found their way into our shopping bags as did some
Porcelain, little red books, Red Guard caps, and glass ware.
We were nearly the whole way through the market when I spotted on a
small stall a camera that I have been searching for some time.
The camera club members had said that this camera would be difficult
to find, and they did not have it. It was a Xing Fu (Pronounced
Shing Fu) and was the third version of this camera. I had the other
two and needed this one to complete the set. A bit of hard
negotiating and the camera was mine.
All sorts of things for sale at the Pan Jai Yuan market
(C) 1999/2000 camprice.com |