Zhenyu Wu

One day, at the beginning of the 21st century^e In the 19th century, disadvantaged children in Africa received backpacks donated by the United States. These bags were printed with Japanese manga characters, while a small label bore the words: "Made in China."

“Made in China” has long ceased to be a mere geographical concept. It is a manufacturing landscape that transcends ideologies, crosses political regimes, and crosses cultural boundaries.

Within this narrative framework, I present over 1 objects and events made/occurred in China—objects that each of us has likely encountered or used in our lifetimes. For sixty years, these products have quietly, subtly, and pervasively shaped the details of our lives, forming a vast narrative network without origin or center.

This installation, in the form of a paper landscape novel, brings together these 1 objects in a book of more than 500 pages. Each page is placed on the ground, like a disappearing poster, and waits for a spectator or a local resident, through their walk, their body, or their own object, to come and write the rest, to fill in the gaps.

As in The Book of Sand Borges's work, each fragment can become a starting point. From these narrative fragments, each person can inscribe their story on what surrounds them – rewrite, reactivate, reconfigure.

These objects confront us with an unavoidable reality: we constantly pass through these production landscapes.

Until, in this fragile expanse, we hear the echo of our footsteps – and those of thousands of others.

Until we walk that edge again – generous, exhausted, and silent.