Current location:style >>
In China, a factory is turning old wedding photographs into fuel
style831People have gathered around
IntroductionBy Matthew WalshAt a dusty warehouse in northern China, Liu Wei feeds photos of beaming bridal coupl ...
By Matthew Walsh
At a dusty warehouse in northern China, Liu Wei feeds photos of beaming bridal couples into an industrial shredder — turning stories of heartbreak into a source of electricity.
Wedding photos are big business in China, where parks, temples and historic sites often teem with newlyweds posing for elaborate shots capturing their supposedly unbreakable bond.
They include large wall photos and smaller decorative shots and albums, mostly cast from plastic, acrylic and glass.
Subscribe to HKFP's twice-weekly newsletter for a concise round-up of local news and our best coverage. Unsubscribe at any time - we will not pass on your data to third parties.
Processing… Success! You're on the list. Whoops! There was an error and we couldn't process your subscription. Please reload the page and try again.Workers heave the images onto a forklift truck and scatter them onto the warehouse floor for sorting.
They then obscure every face with dark spray paint to protect client privacy and smash unshreddable glasswork with a sledgehammer.
“These people are all trying to find closure,” said Liu. “They mainly want to unpick the knots in their hearts.”
Complex motivations
Sullied and broken, the pictures give glimpses of broken families in happier times.
In one, a woman in a white bridal dress reclines on a bed of flowers, while another shows a lovestruck couple gazing into each other’s eyes.
A sporty pair in matching kits pose with a football, while nearby, a smitten man presses his face tenderly to his pregnant wife’s belly.
Brandishing his phone, Liu films the defaced photos and sends clips to customers for final confirmation.
He estimates he has served about 1,100 clients — mostly under the age of 45, and around two-thirds women — since launching the service a year ago.
They typically speak little about their separations, and several declined interview requests from AFP.
Liu says the motivations for destroying wedding photos are often complex.
“Few of them do this out of malice,” he told AFP.
“It might be that this item brings on certain thoughts or feelings… or be a hurdle hard to overcome.”
Some clients attend the destructions in person to give a sense of ceremony to a closing chapter in their lives, said Liu.
Others keep their photos for years and only dispose of them when they remarry or finally come to terms with a former spouse’s death.
Given the irreversible nature of the process, Liu says he gives clients a final chance to salvage their items in case they live to regret their decision.
After getting the green light, he films his staff gently pushing the photos into the shredder’s gnashing teeth.
The debris is taken to a nearby biofuel plant where it is processed with other household waste to generate electricity.
‘Respect others’ choices’
Divorce rates soared in socially conservative China after marriage laws were relaxed in 2003.
They have fallen dramatically since the government enacted a law in 2021 mandating a month-long “cooling-off” period before couples untie the knot.
China registered 2.9 million divorces in 2022, down from over 4.3 million two years earlier.
The number of marriages rose last year for the first time in nearly a decade, giving Beijing some relief as it seeks to reverse a steep fall in births.
After annihilating the visual evidence of hundreds of unions, Liu says he has become numb to the emotions they stir up.
“The deepest feeling I have in my heart towards my clients… is that you must respect others’ choices,” he said.
“You must never persuade people one way or another,” he added. “It does no good.”
Tags:
Reprint:Friends are welcome to share on the Internet, but please indicate the source of the article when reprinting it.“Culture Circuit news portal”。http://malawi.claboston.org/content-92b199820.html
Previous:Fresh heartache for cancer
Next:Here comes the char
Related articles
French sports minister calls for sanctions after Monaco player tapes over anti
stylePARIS (AP) — France’s sports minister has called for soccer club Monaco to be sanctioned after one o ...
【style】
Read moreSjoukje Dijkstra, the first Dutch athlete to win a gold medal at Winter Olympics, dies at 82
styleTHE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Sjoukje Dijkstra, the figure skater who in 1964 became the first Dutch ...
【style】
Read moreRita Ora shows off her glamorous sense of style in a black cape as she steps out in New York
styleRita Ora showed off her glamorous sense of style in a black cape as she stepped out in New York on T ...
【style】
Read more
Popular articles
- Inquiry slams UK authorities for failures that killed thousands in infected blood scandal
- Matt Wallace takes 1
- AP Week in Pictures: Europe and Africa
- Demi Moore, 61, proves she's still got it as she displays her stunning figure in leopard
- Revealed: Brit tourist, 19, subjected to sex attack in Majorca 'was gang
- From a chance meeting in a cafe to a devastating six
Latest articles
Election 2024: Biden and Trump bypassed the Commission on Presidential Debates
Francisco Lindor shakes off illness, comes off bench to rally Mets past Cubs 7
A North Dakota man is sentenced to 15 years in connection with shooting at officers
US college protests: Over 2,000 arrested during pro
Mohammad Mokhber: Who is Iran’s acting president?
Judge grants autopsy rules requested by widow of Mississippi man found dead after vanishing
LINKS
- Newgarden focused only on defending Indy 500 win. Has moved past Penske cheating scandal
- Gonzalez's RBI single in 12th lifts Red Sox past Rays 5
- Giancarlo Stanton's HR, Carlos Rodón's 6
- Chinese sci
- My neighbour's garden lights keep me awake
- Piers Morgan slams Netflix for 'failing in their duty of care' to Baby Reindeer's 'real
- Boeing violated deal that avoided prosecution after 737 Max crashes, DOJ says
- UC regents committee orders UCLA to pay Cal Berkeley $10 million per year for 3 years
- Agreement boosts joint work on parks
- My neighbour's garden lights keep me awake