文 / 莫万莉 Text: Mo Wanli

In a small town where dust seems to float in the air, a cargo train slowly passes along an elevated rail track above the city, gradually disappearing until it rolled into a dark tunnel ahead, and not far from there, halfway up the hill, a spire stands high. This is the opening scene of photographer Xia Zhi’s video work for architect Li Yiqian’s Liulin Catholic Church.

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Within approximately 30 seconds, from the slow-moving train to the tiny crowd standing still under the elevated rail track, and from townscape composed of brightly colored corrugated steel panels and gray concrete roofs to the brown mountains with sparse green trees, the Liulin Town, like many other small towns in Central China, looks like a seemingly noisy place in disorder, yet with a certain vigorous vitality. The church on the hill, although its sloping cylindrical outline and towering spire can only be glimpsed from a distance, it appears peaceful and silent, overlooking the whole town below, while the town looks up at the church from below.