"Tingzhou/Changting - Hakk ..." a Tingzhou Travel Page by claude-andre

Changting is a small town located in the remote West Fujian. It was difficult to reach in the past, now buses or trains from Xiamen or Ganzhou connect it to "modern" China.
Narrow streets, wooden houses, little shops, craftworkers. It's more or less "Tintin et le Lotus Bleu".
Along the streets you see dentists playing cards when waiting for clients, craftmen sculpting buddhas, painters drawing your portrait from a identity card, and so on.
People are very happy to meet foreigners who are quasi absent. Teenagers interview you in the street to practise their English.
At night everybody are in the streets - loudspeakers are very loud - to meet friend, eat snacks and play with children.
You are very far from the buildings of Shanghai or Beijing.

Many craftsmen sculpts wood to make statues or furnitures. They work in tiny shops along the old streets and seem to have lots of clients.

Washing the clothes into the river is also a man's job. The region is poor and not so many people have tap water at home.