rePLACE BEIJING > 芳香与矛盾 aroma and contradiction

It's a nice house, a little dark so we keep the door open. Our neighbor hates it when we have the door open, I hear him hiss "shabi" as he stumbles past in his long johns.
It's also a favorite meeting place of the tricyclists, who play games with shreds of cardboard and old radishes right outside out door.

这是一个很好的屋子，有点黑所以我们把门开着，邻居讨厌我们开着门，当他穿着秋裤走过去的时候我听见他嘀咕着说"傻逼"。
这里也是三轮车最喜欢的集聚地，他们在我们门口下棋，用小萝卜和长条卡纸做棋子。

A neighbor is expanding her house into the parking lot next door without regard (or with quite impressive disregard) for what the authorities will think. She is doing it by hand, with what seem like found materials, and has written a statement in chalk on her house's exterior. She had reported to us that she was tired of the smell of piss of the miscreants whose taste is to avoid the adjacent public toilets, wafting through the cracks in her house. Usually when I stop by to chat there is a young security guard standing nearby.

一个邻居正在扩建她的家，占据隔壁的停车场而完全不顾官方怎么想。她用各种找来的材料自己动手建造，并在她的房子外墙上用粉笔写了说明。她已经跟我们说过，她极其厌恶为了避过公厕而在她家外尿尿的混混儿，那些气味通过墙上的裂缝飘进了她的家。很多时候当我停下来跟她聊天时，都有一个年轻的保安站在附近。

The only thing uglier than garbage is an authoritarian sign. The courtyard house across the street was under renovation for a long time. Then finally a hive of government officials with audis moved in. It's like living just outside the gates to a medieval fortress, with the door man opening when the hot and humming black sedans honk their returns.
They recently took the liberty of installing a sign to urge the proper etiquette with regard to trash.

唯一比垃圾更恶心的就是官方的标语。路边的四合院已经装修了很长时间。最后一群官员开着奥迪搬了进去。这就好像他们住在中世纪城堡之外，当守门人打开大门之时，黑色轿车们急切地按着喇叭冲了进去。

最近他们树起了一块关于敦促适当处理垃圾的标语牌。

Dreams Travel Youth Hostel: Already last year they treated their rustic-looking decking with something extremely toxic-smelling. It still stinks and I hold my breath every time I pass.

梦之旅青年旅舍：早在去年年初，他们土气的门面装饰上散发着带有剧毒的气味。现在这个气味依然存在，每次我路过的时候都得屏住呼吸。

pressing engagement: I don't know if I exactly love these shandong pancakes, but as a familiar particularity in this area, I go out of the way just to break large bills here.

摊煎饼之约：我不知道我到底喜不喜欢这些山东煎饼，但是因着对这个地方特点的熟悉，我去买煎饼只是为了换零钱。

crumbs: I bring the pancake to the park and sit down. This type of park design is not extremely common in Beijing, kind of like a greenbelt. I notice the simulation tactics of the sweeper in front of me; stopping and staring into the mid-distance, leaning on his broom, then shuffling over a few meters and stopping and staring again.

碎屑：我带着煎饼来到这个公园并坐下来。这个公园的设计在北京不是很普通，有点像绿化带。我注意到我面前的清洁工有类似的策略；停下来，倚着扫帚，盯着中途的路，然后洒水洒了几米，接着又停下来盯着看。

Our life and death with my shop together: A shopfront that was allowed for a surprisingly and suspiciously long duration to publicize their dissatisfaction with the forced demolition brought about by the subway expansion. In the end, it was all knocked down.

我们与店共存亡：一个店面公开宣传他们对地铁扩张所带来的拆迁的不满，更人惊奇和怀疑的是，它的反抗被允许持续了很长时间。最终，它还是被拆了。

sweet smell of this tree

这棵树的清香

the writer

作家

low wall: perhaps my favorite view from a public urinal.

矮墙：这恐怕是我从公共男厕向外看到的最喜欢的景色。

北头 & 北二 beitou & bei 2: between both of these alleys, there are perhaps a dozen roast mutton restaurant. by the time I arrive to HomeShop I smell like barbecue sauce.

北头条&北二条：在这两个小巷之间，可能有一间烤羊腿餐厅，我到达家作坊时，闻到了烤肉酱的味道。

the artist

艺术家

the blind man who lives in the alley

住在这条巷子的盲人

the man who sits on the corner

坐在角落的人

as the pedal so the ankle

跟着踏板脚踝动