Image 4
This image shows seven rural schoolchildren on their way to class. As with the farmers of the second day’s image, the clothing, health, and hygiene of these children attest to their relative financial security. However, the demographics of the mountainous areas immediately to the north and west of Beijing and Shanghai mean that villages are small and great distances lie between them. Globalization in China means that an education is necessary for success, whether children have access to one near their home or not.
Representative of the youngest of the rural population, these children stand as a contrast to the educated, wealthy elite of Shanghai. Only a few hundred miles from the skyscrapers of Shanghai, these children walk to school along a precarious route through the mountains—one perilous misstep and they could slip off the edge of the road and fall over a thousand feet to their death.[1] Yet they make the three-hour journey five days per week to their school in hopes of one day achieving financial success for themselves and their families. This image will be projected on the fourth day as a representation of the conditions that rural children must overcome in order to receive an education. This stands in contrast to the relative ease with which urban children are educated.
[1] Flying Bird and Fish Blog, http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4b1384050100c511.html?tj=1 (accessed April 2, 2011).
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