.Mythmaker

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Same street, you can see this same bike parked here in the previous shot but from the left of this shot. I didn't see it in the rain but quite often walking thru these older streets I would see women preparing food at those basins, I presume they needed running water and there was none inside. Of course, the outdoors choice may have been entirely cultural, nothing to do with plumbing, as Chinese society is collectivist rather than autonomous - identity comes from your web of relationships, not from your willed differentiation from that web. You have seen many western tv portrayals of the young asian student struggling to overcome the way her family defines her but that's a western reaction to the collectivist dynamic, it's not a general Asian reflection on their culture. I've had a large number of Asian people tell me about the sense of support, community, absolute certainty of place they get from their extended and inter-penetrating family ties. So, perhaps the kitchen and food preparation happens on the edge of the street because all the people who sustain your identity are right there, sharing your street. Ideas of privacy, in a collectivist culture, are also quite different from Western ideas, so things like kissing or holding hands are quite rare in public but food preparation can be a public process. Enough rambling.

Please Enjoy.

Mikel.