Photo Journal Monday: Hannah Dunsmore
All text and images by Hannah Dunsmore
Hot Springs, a Harvest in Autumn
In 1998 I was adopted from China, at the Guangdong Victory Hotel located on Shamian Island in Guangzhou. The year prior, I had been taken in by the Yangchun Comprehensive Welfare Institute. Shamian Island is a sandbank in Guangzhou. It is a historical site with a mixed heritage: conceded to Britain and France in the mid-19th century but returned to China in 1946. The European colonial buildings, many with Lingnan architectural details, are a record of its past. In 2019 I returned to Shamian Island and stayed at the Guangdong Victory Hotel.
The evening of our arrival in Guangzhou, a friend of a friend from Hong Kong offered to take us for dinner. We graciously accepted. He worked for a watch manufacturer and commuted between Hong Kong, Guangzhou and Tokyo several times a month. After we had eaten, he asked us to let him know when we had returned to Hong Kong. His schedule would take him there after he met his girlfriend in Japan.
The train journey from Hong Kong Hung Hom Station to Guangzhou East Station takes just under 2 hours. On the high-speed rail, the 88-mile journey from Hong Kong West Kowloon Station to Guangzhou South Station (via Shenzhen) takes only 50 minutes.
Guangzhou’s location on the Pearl River has secured the city’s status as an invaluable gateway for foreigners into mainland China. Once a constitutive player in the ancient Maritime Silk Road, the port in Guangzhou is vital for many of China’s business exchanges with the outside world. The country’s largest trade fair, the China Import and Export Fair is held in Guangzhou every spring and autumn. In 2018, the investment firm Dezan Shira & Associates reported over 30,000 foreign-invested enterprises had settled in Guangzhou. Last year, the city’s total value of imports and exports was $62.4 billion dollars and $83.2 billion dollars respectively.
The living room in my family home has Edwardian bay windows. The length of the windows made buying curtains difficult as the drop was so long. We moved into the period house in 2000 when I was three years old. The house was christened with curtains made by my mother from green upholstery material. Four years later they were replaced by a set bought from Habitat, but my mother found them annoyingly short. When their white material became cream, my mother decided to give the room a makeover with new drapery and a TV unit. Neither sewing new curtains or getting curtains custom-made were an option; too time-consuming and too expensive. One day, she purchased patterned ones from Dunelm as they were very reasonable and well-made. “Your Dad also likes them” she said. The curtains were golden-yellow with a twisting vine embroidery that had bronze leaves. Fortunately, they were the right length and suited our oatmeal-coloured carpet.
Read in my mother’s diary:
Tuesday 26th May 1998
The day is here at last. David told us yesterday that our baby would arrive with the president of the orphanage, plus one helper, at around 11am. Having both slept quite well we were up around 8ish. The phone rung at 9 and David told us they would be arriving at 1pm. We were disappointed – a whole morning to kill. We decided to have breakfast and had the American breakfast – 2 fried eggs and bacon – it was sh- actually pretty awful. We then went for a stroll to Shamian Park on the river. We sat on a small bench as mentioned earlier and as I sat, I wrote and Robert read – a little.
Sunday 26th May 2019 (Hannah)
We sat down by the window. The burgundy chair covers reminded me of those at a wedding. The shiny material hugged the chair’s oval back and fell into a cube-shaped skirt around its legs. The tablecloth was a red and white check print. Underneath there was a golden speckled sheet. The decor in this restaurant was a fusion between an American diner and a Chinese wedding banquet. The morning light peaked shyly through the sheer cream curtains; I felt almost nostalgic. But, this failed to make the plate in front of me more enjoyable. The eggs were cold and took on that wet, slimy texture on the tongue. Sinking my teeth into the spam-like bacon was not pleasant. The sausages, beans and toast (with a thick layer of butter) were ok. The coffee was better than expected. The room was empty except from a family of four sitting a few tables away from us. We had arrived only 30 minutes before breakfast ended. Although the food wasn’t great, I was relaxed and in good company.
