Foo-chow, China

Bustling, fluttering and swaying – wonderful visual details of daily life in a street in Fuzhou (then Foo-chow), Fujian Province in South East China.

Shot from a single vantage point, this film of everyday life in metropolitan Fuzhou (formerly known as Foo-chow), a coastal city in South East China, is crammed with fascinating details. We see horse and carts, litter chairs and pedestrians hurry by (including a man with an impossible cargo of precariously balanced chairs), while others stop still, captivated by the presence of the camera.

The characters above the main archway translate as “Wholesale traders of high quality five-spice powder”, while other signs advertise financial aid.