Canton la Chinoise · Excerpt · 1′04″
Five people in Guangzhou watch their city disappear and rebuild itself, always through a pane of glass.
Transcript
▶ Canton la Chinoise · Excerpt · 1′04″
我想象的广东,如果说有一个画面的话,可能是街边摆着杨桃、芒果、香蕉,杨桃可能特征一点。然后巷子里面有粤剧,年轻的妇女穿睡裤上街,穿拖鞋。
The Guangdong I imagine, if there is one image, would perhaps be star fruit, mangoes and bananas laid out by the street; star fruit is perhaps a bit more characteristic. Then in the alleys there is Cantonese opera, and young women go out in the street in pyjama trousers, in slippers.
你会看到头比较大的女人,她们的身子很小,这是另外一种性感。就是说屁股也很小,整个肩膀也很小,整个面黄肌瘦的这种。那么她们回到家里以后,她们会喝糖水,她们想跟北方的那种肤色去相比,但是几十年努力终于发现这样做是没有什么。
You see women with rather big heads; their bodies are very small, and this is another kind of sexiness. That is, their bottoms are small too, their shoulders are small too, that whole thin and sallow look. Then, when they get home, they drink sweet soup; they want to measure up to the complexion of the North, but after decades of effort they finally found that doing this is nothing [probably: 'is no use'].
Transcribed from the sound of the excerpt and edited; English translations are ours.