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Not long ago; or, Little by little (2): Li Kunwa on indoor plumbing in 80s China

[Not long ago, or Little by little (1)]

Not long ago, in a place not far away and directly connected to you, something like this was happening, little by little:

It’s the Chinese city of Kunming in 1980:

A Chinese Life - education and plumbing (1)
A Chinese Life - education and plumbing (2)

Li Kunwa and Phillipe Ôtié’s A Chinese Life is an amazing memoir – a lens into sixty years of struggle and upheaval and the making of modern China.

It’s funny, tragic, horrifying, inspiring – and feels real. As with yesterday’s post, I share it here as an example of how development happens, and how easy it is to forget the material progress we’ve made. In 1980, a man in an evening class asks his teacher, “What’s a bathroom?” Little by little, they built a life.

Highly recommended.

I'd love to hear your thoughts and recommended resources...

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