Title

Northern Peasant

北方老农

Date

1962

Medium

Sketches

Technique

Sketch

Accession

YJH-000025

Catalogue no.

YS-1962-002

Inscription

The market at Xuzhou’s South Gate is where country people bring goods for sale. Figures, dress, and types vary; dog-fur coats stand out most, bulky and swollen—these are people of northern Jiangsu, and also a general sign of how well the people have eaten and dressed since Liberation. I made a few quick notes, to serve later in conceiving northern figure types. Local custom is not to button the overlapping lapel, but to bind it with a waist sash. They carry little luggage, yet often a large sack. In winter, fearing the cold, they cover the ears with fur muffs, or tuck them into the brim of the cap; trousers are mostly bound at the cuff. Old men add extra trouser-legs. Shoes are fat and large, or made of reed flowers, and thus extremely warm. I wonder whether farmers in the southern countryside use these as well? My companion Du Chonghua often says northern dress is characterized by largeness: large coats, large robes, large bundles, large sacks, large hats, large shoes. Looking myself, I find also large faces, large bones, large hands and feet, large strides, and large voices—nothing that is not large. 8 January 1962. Noted by Jianhou.