Re-creating a Bygone China重现昔日中国

Not long after Shen Peng’s grand- father died， his grandmother visited the site of the house where she and her husband once lived. The site still hadn’t been developed， and she could barely walk around it because the grass was so overgrown. Shen wondered： Could he help her relive her memories another way？

申鹏的爷爷去世后不久，他奶奶回到过去跟他爷爷一起生活的老宅旧址看了看。那块土地尚未开发，地里杂草丛生，老人家几乎寸步难行。申鹏琢磨：能不能用另外一种方式帮奶奶重现回忆呢？

For more than six months， he labored in secret after his day job as a hairdresser. Finally， Shen presented his grandmother with a surprise： a handcrafted 1：20-scale replica of her old home.

后来半年多的时间里，申鹏做完理发师的工作后，一直悄悄地做着某件事。最终，他为奶奶送上了一份惊喜——一个手工制作的模型，按照1比20的比例还原了奶奶的老房子。

There was the wire clothesline in the courtyard， draped with a blue blanket cut into the size of a postage stamp. There was the rickety bicycle， outside a shed constructed with foam boards and plaster. Shen had even traveled to the site of the old house to better re-create the fragment of brick wall that still remained.

院子里的铁丝晾衣绳上挂着一张剪成邮票大小的蓝色毯子。用泡沫板和灰泥搭的棚子外，停了一辆破破烂烂的自行车。为了更好地还原保留下来的砖墙残迹，申鹏甚至又回老宅旧址看了看。

The project led him into a small but growing community of artists in China filling an increasingly urgent demand： miniature replicas of homes that have been demolished or remodeled by China’s modernization.

申鹏做的模型将他引入了一个规模尚小但又不断壮大的中国艺术家群体。这群艺术家正在满足人们日益热切的需求，即用微缩模型还原在中国现代化过程中拆除或改造的房子。

The miniatures “offer a kind of spiritual enjoyment，” Shen said， “when all your material needs are satisfied.”

申鹏说：“各种物质需求都得到满足后，微缩模型能给人带来一种精神上的愉悦。”

Their pieces vary by budget and geography. Homes in northern China were often one-story， built from stone or mud， while those in the south were taller and wooden. Some miniatures re-create only a home’s exterior， sparsely accented with details. Others have intricate interiors with working light bulbs and family portraits on the walls.

这群艺术家的微缩模型因预算和地域特征而各不相同。中国北方房屋的模型通常只有一层，用石头或泥土建造，而中国南方房屋的模型较高且为木制结构。有的微缩模型只还原房屋的外观，鲜少强调细节；其他的则有复杂的内部装饰，灯泡能亮，墙上还挂着全家福。

If the artists are lucky， their clients provide photographs. But often they must work from memories. That was the case for Shen as he crafted his grandparents’ house and then his own childhood home.

运气好的时候，客户会提供照片，但很多时候，这群艺术家必须根据各种回忆来创作。申鹏为爷爷奶奶的房子和自己儿时的房子制作模型时就是如此。

The idea for a miniature came from another artist he’d seen online， who had re-created his own grandmother’s home. Shen had little formal art training， but he bought acrylic sheets， spray paint， various tools for poking， etching and sculpting， and followed online tutorials.

当初，申鹏在网上看到一位艺术家还原了自己奶奶的家，于是萌生了制作微缩模型的想法。申鹏几乎没有受过正规的艺术培训，但他买来亚克力板、喷漆，以及各种捅戳、蚀刻和雕塑的工具，按照网上的教程来制作。

The bricks he ordered， from a vendor of children’s model-house kits， were too big， so he made his own plaster mold， scratching out individual blocks with a pen. To re-create shrubbery， he foraged the mountains nearby for dried flowers. He researched the average height of gates in countryside homes in the 1970s， then scaled down.

他从一家玩具屋套件供应商那里订购的砖块太大了，所以他自己做了一个石膏模具，用笔把一块块砖刨出来。为了再现灌木丛，他到附近的山上寻找干花。他还研究了20世纪70年代农村住宅大门的平均高度，然后按比例缩小。

His recollections determined the level of detail. He left his grandparents’ roof unadorned， having never paid attention to it as a child. But the inside of his childhood home is elaborate. He also took the artistic liberty of hanging up academic awards he hadn’t won.

申鹏的回忆决定了细节展现的程度。爷爷奶奶家的屋顶，他未加任何修饰，因为他小时候没有留意过。然而，他儿时的家内部却非常精致。他还展现了艺术自由的一面，将自己没有获得过的奖状挂在墙上。

Shen had spent virtually his entire life in his village， but he knew that eventually he would need to move to a city， to give his son better opportunities. “If we don’t leave a record， those born after the 2000s won’t have any impression of this，” he said.

申鹏几乎一辈子都生活在村子里，但他知道，为了给儿子提供更好的机会，最终还是要搬到城里。他说：“如果我们不记录的话，2000年以后出生的孩子就会对老房子一无所知。”

Shen has turned down commission requests， opting to work only on pieces with which he has a personal connection. But others have made this a full-time career.

申鹏拒绝了他人委托，只为与自己有关的房屋制作模型。然而，也有人把制作微缩模型当成全职工作。

Li Yizhong used to make large-scale sculptures for office buildings and museums. But after a friend requested a miniature of his childhood home as a favor， Li posted the finished product on social media and found himself flooded with inquiries.

李义中曾为办公楼和博物馆制作大型雕塑。一位朋友请他帮忙为自己儿时的家做一个微缩模型，他把成品发布到社交媒体上后，一大批人找他咨询。

“This is more meaningful” than his previous work， said Li. “There’s more feeling， more warmth.”

李义中说，和他之前的工作比，做微缩模型“更有意义”，“这份工作更富情感，更有温度”。

Each project is an exercise in intim-acy and collaboration. At the beginning of the roughly one-month process， Li sends the client digital renderings of the miniature. Throughout， he confirms details and sends photos of his progress.

每个项目都要密切合作。制作微缩模型大约需要一个月的时间，最开始的时候李义中会给客户发数字效果图。整个制作过程中，他还会跟客户确认细节，并向客户发送显示进度的照片。

Some clients adjust their instructions as faded memories come into focus. Li recalled one prospective client who spent most of an hourlong phone call crying as she reminisced about her old home. Projects for customers without photos are the most challenging， but those are the customers most desperate to regain a vision of their old home.