China on Video

The more I watch and work on Chinese online (and on mobile) videos, the more I see the limits of framing the “new” Internet trends of Chinese visual (and sound) culture in the context of new media.  This is not to say that there is nothing new on the horizon and everything has already happened (or already been said), but rather that if we fail to see the connections (both similarities and differences) with past cultural practices and larger cultural and philosophical issues, we are stuck with chasing after the latest development in the constantly evolving web of information exchange and creative practices.
And there is ALWAYS one latest development we have not quite caught up with. “Have you read the latest book by such and such” or “Have you seen the latest film by such and such?” were easy questions to answer. There was an assumed period of time that both the author and the reader/viewer gave to each other to plan, produce, distribute, access, read, view, use, reflect upon, and finally put aside the latest books and films.  The Internet has not simply increased exponentially the amount of words and images that are out there, but most crucially has shrunk that period of time so much that most people think that we really only have time to (quickly) produce, quickly (or in fact in some cases, like for blog posting, almost simultaneously) release, and (even more quickly) access/read/view.
But maybe we don’t need to race. There are many around the world who have re-discovered and actively promoted slow living.  They often meet and celebrate slow food gathering, where meals are both produced and consumed over a long period of time, enriched with social exchanges and appreciation for the food itself and the meal’s conviviality. Rather than a Amish-inspired rejection of technology and a desire to simply stop the clock of historical change, slow living is about reclaiming time back, as Momo does in Michael Ende’s allegory.  What I am trying to do these days as I work my way among the many smaller-screens of Chinese videos is exactly slow down my viewing and reclaiming my time for slow food…Food for thought.