It’s curious how amateur enthusiasts obtain obsessions for collectables.

Seeing a row of old but working radio sets for sale in an old junk shop more than 40 years ago triggered an all-consuming interest in antique wirelesses in Wang Lianxi, a retired factory worker .

“I was amazed to see all these old radio and TV sets still on sale and being used during the 1960s and 1970s, and I became hooked,” Wang, 57, says.

Drawn by the romance and nostalgia of those old radios that still cackled and hissed when they were turned on and tuned in, he started collecting other household and family memorabilia, buying pieces at recycling stores and antique market like Panjiayuan, and swapping pieces with other enthusiasts.

Battered, dusty and discolored by the years, such old-style household appliances are far from junk in the eyes of Wang. To him and other collectors, they are objects of art.

A secondhand shop located at Beixinqiao, near Yonghegong Lama Temple, is his most frequent port of call. The shop has at any one time over 1,000 items, including postcards, photos and old TV sets, Walkmans, clocks, watches – even clothes’ buttons and a bric-a-brac kaleidoscope.


(Global Times Photo)

Zhang Lujia, the manager of the store, was pleasantly surprised to find that his customers were not just made up of those from Wang’s generation, but also consisted of young enthusiasts.

“I was surprised by these younger customers and their same taste in old stuff as Wang’s generation,” he says.

Liu Shichuan, 25, an independent filmmaker based in Beijing, started collecting old items like tables and landline telephones five years ago.

“I like the classic design and look of old telephones, and I’m fascinated by how they have developed and evolved through the years,” he says.

“I love the texture of those old items which is much better than today’s models. Though the technology improved and more shopping choices provided, I still love the designs which reflect the era and which were once owned by countless Chinese families,” he adds.

Inspired to probe libraries for old photos and documents, Liu says he was amazed to learn that such everyday items told of the constant social changes, from the first imported Japanese camera to the first made-in-China automatic watch.

Despite their obsession with yesteryear, antique collectors are very much in tune with the Internet age with online stores like Time Store at Taobao. com listing more than 200 antique items such as telescopes, cameras and watches.

A junk shop owner from Chongqing, surnamed Zhang, says his customers buy his goods for three main reasons, preservation, as ornaments for interior decorations or as presents to give to friends and loved ones.

“Mobile phone technology is fast-paced and people change phones like clothes,” he said.

The urgent, continuous consumption of the new is stirring a yearning in many for the old – and that can mean items from the 1960s and 1970s.

“When you put your hands on the old telephone set, you can still feel the history and the culture that lived out by many generations before,” explains Zhang.

Enthusiasts also find old items offer an inimitable way to experience the city’s development, he says.

An antique collector surnamed Peng believes old items allow people to observe life from different perspectives and different eras.

“Items from the Ming and Qing dynasties or even earlier are far away from people’s lives. But items from the 1960s, 1970s or 1980s bring more recent history closer. They are items from living memory and connect people by association. Many conversations are struck up, like ‘I once had clock like that when I was in the primary school’ or ‘My mother gave me a watch like this as a birthday gift,’” he says.

There are a few secondhand or recycling stores in Beijing, and many enthusiasts walk around the city and meet online, where they trade stories and collection sources – and part of the appeal is the social communities.

Peng, for instance, acquired an alarm clock made in 1969 through a chance meeting of a friend at Panjiayuan.

The collectors can pay anything from 10 yuan to 1,000 yuan ($146.38) for an item.
“The items we are after are not antique vases from Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) which can cost 50,000 yuan. These small items are affordable but memorable. Plus, you don’t have to worry about their authenticity,” Peng says.

Consignment stores, which offered used goods at a lower cost than new, are also popular places for buffs to dig out their treasure.

“Though the life is improving and modern technology brings cars, computers and various other gadgets, we still want something which can satisfy our yearning for the old days,” Peng says.

Source: Global Times