編譯︱ 中文二 廖純慧
校稿︱ 化學四 洪崇銘
The Lunar New Year is the only time of year
China's army of migrant workers gets to go home.
每年中國移動勞工僅能在春節期間返鄉。
Known as "chunyun," the annual
travel crush is the world's largest migration of humans.
春運以其一年一度的交通大壅塞聞名,可說是世上最具規模的「人類遷徙行動」。
The lengths workers go to to see their
families during the country's biggest holiday, which this year began February
19, is one facet of migrant worker life captured by factory hand turned
photographer, Zhan Youbing.
春節從二月十九日開始。在這段返鄉探親期間,從工廠工人轉行攝影師的占有兵從中捕捉了些畫面,揭開移工生活的其中一面。
For more than a decade, Zhan was himself
one of China's 250-million strong "floating population" of migrant
workers.
十餘年來,占也曾是中國二十五億移工流動人口中的一員。
Originally from the rural, inland province
of Hubei, he worked as a security guard in the factories that surround the
southern boom town of Guangzhou, over a thousand kilometers away.
當時他離開原鄉湖北,在廣州發展繁榮的南方城鎮 其方圓一公里以外的工廠擔任保全人員。
Familiar ground
彷彿舊地重遊
Now a professional photographer, he trains
his camera lens on those he left behind.
如今成為專業攝影師,他決定將鏡頭對焦於他昔日的生活樣貌。
"I have lived this life," he
says. "So I know exactly what their situatio
ns are."
「我也這樣生活過。」他說。「所以很明白他們的處境。」
For the past 10 years, he has photographed
workers in eight factories in Dongguan, a factory town near Guangzhou,
documenting their life on and off the assembly lines.
過去十年來,他在東莞——一個鄰近廣州的工廠重鎮——的八間工廠內拍攝,紀錄勞工生產線旁的生活。
The scenes Zhan has captured range from the
bizarre to the intimate.
張所拍攝的影像包羅萬象,各自傳達著不同的情感訊息。
Workers take a nap on the assembly line. (勞工在生產線旁休息)
In one electronics factory, workers
resembling astronauts -- their protective clothing only reveals their eyes --
take a quick nap. But he also shows a life where strong friendships are forged
-- at a dormitory dinner party for example.
一間電子工廠內,穿著防護衣只露出一對眼睛的「太空人」正稍歇片刻。但他也呈現了另一種生活樣貌:以宿舍裡一場晚餐聚會為例,訴說室友間堅固的友誼。
Dorm dinner party.(舍友晚餐大會)
He's taken more than 400,000 photos and
they've been exhibited across the country. But he didn't go to any of the
exhibitions.
他拍攝超過四十萬張照片,那些照片雖已在全國各地展示,但他自己並未親臨展覽。
"I didn't have the travel
expenses," he says.
「我當時沒有足夠的盤纏。」他解釋道。
In November, he published a book called
"I'm a Migrant Worker," a compilation of writing and more than 150
photos.
去年十一月,他出版了《身為一名移工》,內文包含他的個人書寫及超過一百五十張攝影作
品。
Insecure life 如履薄冰的生活
Zhan started taking photos for an internal
factory publication in 2002. He then took vocational classes.
2002年占有兵為一本以工廠內部寫照為旨的刊物攝像,並參加職業課程進修。
When he returned to his hometown for the
Lunar New Year celebrations, he found photos a better way than words to
describe life in the factory to his mother and mother-in-law.
春節返鄉時,他發現,對他母親和岳母而言,影像比文字更能如實描繪工廠生活。
Yet it was a deeper feeling of insecurity
that drove him to keep documenting the life of migrant workers - a turbulent
life over which they have little control.
而有感於移工難以主宰自己亂糟糟的生活,他持續紀錄他們的境遇。
"Sometimes, you want to jump ship for
better pay at another factory shortly after starting your current job,"
Zhan says.
「剛開始工作時,有時候巴不得為了更好的待遇而馬上跳槽。」占有兵說。
"Yet at other times when you want to
stay on and settle down, you get fired or the factory gets taken over."
「但往往等到你想待下來時,反而被炒魷魚,或者工廠已被另行接管。」
A sad cycle 悲歌循環播放
If photography meant self-fulfillment for
Zhan in the early days, it is now more of a mission. He says the more photos he
takes, the more deeply he understands the issues migrants face.
對占而言,如果說早些年攝影代表個人成就感,那麼現在則多了份使命感。他說隨著他拍攝
越多張照片,他益發明白移工所面臨的社會議題。
Zhan says he is particularly concerned
about the plight of children left behind by parents.
占有兵說他特別擔心那些被移工家長拋在生計後頭的孩子。
Restrictions on housing, education and
healthcare, make it hard for migrant workers to bring along their kids and they
are often raised by grandparents, relatives or neighbors.
由於住宅、教育及健保資源上的受限,移工父母在撫育子女這件事上備顯艱辛,於是孩子常常交由祖父母、親戚或鄰居帶大。
"The parents have devoted their lives
to the manufacturing industry, but they barely get anything. Now their kids
start entering the sad cycle."
「這些父母為製造業賣命,但他們幾乎一無所獲。現在他們的下一代又要重蹈覆轍了。」
Despite his success, Zhan thinks himself no
different to a migrant worker and says the feeling of uneasiness from that time
will never fade.
儘管占有兵已有所成就,但他認為自己和移工其實並沒什麼不同。他說,他心底的流離感從那刻起便根深柢固:
"I feel like rootless duckweed on a
strange land."
「我覺得自己就像失根的浮萍,在異鄉輾轉漂泊。」
補充資訊:
What does ‘Migrant worker’ means ?
1. The workers who migrate in order to
search for and/or participate in paid work.
(透過遷移以找尋或從事有薪勞動的工作者。)
2. The term migrant worker has different
official meanings and connotations in different parts of the world. The United
Nations' definition is very broad, essentially including anyone working outside
of their home country. The term can also be used to describe someone who
migrates within a country, possibly their own, in order to pursue work such as
seasonal work.
~ Encyclopedia Americana Online
(「移工」在世界各地有不同的定義。以聯合國來說定義十分廣泛,但基本上包含那些跨國的外籍勞工,以及離鄉背井以求一份季節性工作的本國人。)
3. 參考/補充資料 政大圖書館-
英文小辭典
1. turbulent (adj.)混亂的、騷亂的
2. forge (v.)鍛造、打製;偽造
3. compilation (n.)編輯(物)