After the spinning top training in the morning that put my head upside down (see the previous post), on the afternoon I decide to keep on tracking the Chinese spinning tops Collector, an old resident of Wuhan which I discovered the existence by reading an article (in Chinese) found on Baidu. The article, which has been published 3 years ago, says that this 70-year-old man has a collection of more than 200 spining tops and he dreams of opening a Museum of chinese spinning tops. As moreover the journalist indicates the address of this old men, I should be able to find it without too much difficulty, unless he is deceased or he has moved.
Before leaving, I go downstair to the hotel reception and ask where is located the address mentioned in the article; It is in the suburbs East of Wuhan, 20 km from here. As there’s not too much traffic at the beginning of the afternoon, I decide to take a taxi, a small luxury that will cost me 40 Yuan (€6) but that will allow me to save time by driving me directly to the right place.
A few minutes later, I hails a taxi in front of the hotel, shows the driver the printed address and we’re off. After a 20 minutes drive, the taxi stops at a crossroads on a large avenue and says « dao the» (we arrived). He shows me a group of buildings and tells me that it is here. I pay for the ride and find myself on the sidewalk. On the opposite side of this 6 lanes avenue in the suburb of Wuhan, stands a group of 20 storey towers. It is here that live my collector. Expecting to find a small 4 or 5 storey building as in the centre of the city, I understand that the task will be difficult. But as I’m on the spot, it would be shame not to try the kick. I crossed the avenue and join the group of buildings.
The first thing to do is to find a doorkeeper or a « supervisor ». But the booth installed in front of the main entrance is empty. Impossible to enter a building because the square that surrounds them is closed by a grid and needs a code or a key to enter. On the other side of these grids, I can see people chatting on benches, a few children playing but people don’t pay attention to me. I therefore expect that someone opens the grid to enter the square and I follow his step.
I took from my bag the chinese article about the Collector and I approach a small group of retirees installed on a bench. I show the photo of the man who appears at the beginning of the article and ask: «Do you know this person?». «Don’t know! ». I walk around the square repeating my question a dozen times, without success. Nobody knows this man who must still be a local figure, and apparently, everybody don’t care. I put my article back in my bag and get out of the square. It’s a total defeat. I even don’t know whether my collector lives here or not. A bit disappointed, I come back to the avenue where I stop a taxi back to the hotel.
A photographer
The next morning, I am back to Yanjiang Park for a new training session. Approaching the plaza where top players gather, I notice there are more people than usual, some flags and banners have been installed, and a few photographers stay on the stairs to shoot the playground. I immediately think about spinning top competition and I hurry. In fact, it is not a competition but two players that I well know fighting with a 15 kg top. They stand face to face on each side of the big spinning top and beat it alternately with their 2 meters long sticks (see video). The show is amazing and reminds me these circus employees that I met in France a few years ago while they rode their circus tent; they were three to hit a pile in cadence using masses of 10 kg, in a sort of perfectly synchronized ballet. Here, it is not colossi and the scene lasts barely a minute; time to left my bag, players have already stopped. I guess then that these photographers are not here for the tops players but for another event scheduled next to the playground and they spend their free time as they can.
And as I expected, I just unpacked my spinning top and started training that one of these photographers spotted my foreigner head, capped of a Great Wall CAP, and approaches. I let him take some pictures and then I approach and ask him to send the pictures on my QQ address. The man is surprised that I speak Chinese and we discuss a few minutes. He wants to make other pictures. No problem, I restart the spinning top using the rope, as showed me my coach and the photographer shoots.
Unlike the photographer I had met during my previous trip to Wuhan, he appears to be a professional one; He does not shoot 100 metres from his subject with a telephoto lens long as the arm but stands four or five metres, just far enough away to not be take a stick or whip. He thus follows me during a little quarter of an hour, comes with me to see a player who wants to sell me a 3 kg top, then gets away to join the event which seems about to begin.
Later, when I leave the playground, I meet him again next to a podium, he is accompanied by other photographers covering the event. I guess it’s a sporting event by discovering a few people wearing numbered bibs. They ask me to pose in front of the podium time to make a photo. No doubt, these are professional photographers. I will have the ultimate confirmation when I will receive the pictures a few days after my return to Zhanjiang.