重溯珠江水道

 

水道，曾是嶺南大地的命脈。十九世紀前，廣州是中國唯一的對外通商口岸，而澳門則是唯一允許外國人居住之地。在陸路交通不便的年代，這兩座城市由珠江河網的內外兩條主要水道相連道。  

 

內河航道蜿蜒約160公里，穿越香山與順德。十九世紀時，這條水道是少數能讓外國商人窺見中國南方風土人情的路徑之一。他們乘船而來，記錄沿途所見，將嶺南的水鄉景致帶入全球的想象。

 

外河航道全長約130公里，是當年繁忙的貿易通道，也是鴉片戰爭前夕的衝突前線。廣州與澳門的海域曾見證走私、戰火，最終催生了海禁的瓦解，也改變了南中國的商業版圖。

 

這些曾經連接中國與外部世界的重要貿易路線，在後殖民時代經歷了深刻的轉型。隨著珠江三角洲經歷急速的城市化轉型，沿岸景觀正劇烈改變。持續的填海造地與城市擴張，塑造了這片區域的新地貌，見證了中國加速發展的歷程。曾經作為中國與世界之間的門戶的歷史，如今也隱沒在高速公路、高鐵與都市擴張的洪流之中。  

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曾經年幼的我對這些家鄉的過去一無所知，又或是不甚關心。在大敘事的歷史背景下，南方這些偏遠地方的故事或許不值一提。但遊歷過世界的風景之後，反而產生了探索故鄉地理的好奇。在接觸到這些十九世紀外商們留下關於我家鄉的文字與畫作之後，我決定以攝影的方式重新遊歷這段珠江水路。

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通過無人機攝影，我試圖以一種超越日常視角的方式，重新審視這些水道的地景。沒有人物的干擾，作品通過冷靜、抽離的視角呈現出自然景觀的存在，去探索它們在現代化進程中的轉變。希望觀者能探討這些富含歷史的風景如何成為後殖民轉型下新身份認同的象徵，以及這個重新定義的“大灣區”，在全球化日益受到審視的當下，如何重新定位自身於世界格局之中。

 

 

Retracing the Waterways: A Journey Through the Pearl River Delta

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Once, waterways were the veins of Lingnan. Before the 19th century, Guangzhou was China’s only open trading port, and Macau was the only place where foreigners were allowed to reside. In an era when land routes were inconvenient, the two cities were connected by two primary waterways—the West Passage and the East Passage.

 

The West Passage, stretching approximately 160 km, wound through Xiangshan and Shunde. In the 19th century, this was one of the few routes through which foreign merchants could glimpse the landscapes and daily life of southern China. Traveling by boat, they documented what they saw, leaving behind rare visual and written records of a world largely unknown to the West.

 

The East Passage, about 130 km long, was the artery of trade and transport. It also became a battlefield for opium smuggling conflicts, culminating in the First Opium War. After the war, the lifting of trade restrictions and the rise of Hong Kong shifted the economic centre away from the Guangzhou-Macau axis.

 

These once-crucial trade routes that connected China with the outside world have undergone profound transformations in the postcolonial era. As the Pearl River Delta rapidly urbanises, the landscapes along its waterways are changing dramatically. Continuous land reclamation and urban expansion have reshaped the region’s topography, bearing witness to China’s accelerated development. Once a gateway between China and the world, this historical legacy has now been submerged beneath highways, high-speed railways, and the relentless tide of urban sprawl.

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In my youth, I knew little of my homeland’s past, nor did I care much. These remote southern stories seemed insignificant within the grand historical narrative. Yet, after travelling across the world and encountering foreign landscapes, I was more curious about the geography of my hometown. Discovering the 19th-century texts and illustrations left by foreign traders sparked my desire to retrace the Pearl River waterways through photography.

 

Through drone photography, I aim to re-examine these waterways from a perspective that transcends everyday viewpoints. Free from human presence, the images present natural landscapes through a detached, contemplative lens, exploring their transformation amid the forces of modernisation. I hope to prompt viewers to reflect on how these historically rich landscapes have become symbols of new identity within the postcolonial transformation and how this redefined “Greater Bay Area” is repositioning itself within an increasingly scrutinised global order.

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