former residence
故居

2022.12.9-2023.3.8

ARTIST 艺术家
He Chi 何迟

He Chi's project Former Residence will be open to foreign nationals from 09-12-2022 onwards. Visits are by invitation only.

I had a former residence
in a two-bedroom flat
of sixty or seventy square meters
on the first floor.
The Gucheng underground station
was three turns
and four blocks away.
I and my girlfriend used to live there
for six months when I first came to Beijing.

I had a former residence
amidst one of the buildings in Huajiadi Xili
in either room 106 or 107
on either the sixth floor
or the seventh.
If I were to pay a visit now
I can surely find the door.
I had a tough three months there
before I moved to a different place.

Among the buses from Beijing to Shunyi
a few were routed along the Jingshun Road.
They would stop by a village called Tiejiangying
where I had my former residence.
A modest tiled house it was, a bungalow
of less than ten square meters.
I paid 300 yuan to live
from late August
until the end of November.

The distillery by the North Lake Canal
had stopped production. In its corner
was a low room tiled in white on all four walls.
Of the forty square meters of floor space,
thirty-three could be used, occupied
by a sofa bed with a base cabinet,
a tea table where glasses were placed,
and a small red fish left to me
by a friend who left Beijing.

I had a former residence
to the west of West Wet Nursing House
right next to Laiguangying North Road.
A few hundred meters further west
would be the Leijiaqiao Village
where Wu Hai used to live
inside some empty warehouses.
He kindly spared a room for me
when I moved out of the distillery.

The map would reveal
a circular shape
in the northeast of Beijing,
denoting the circular railway
enclosing a village called Black Bridge
that encompassed many courtyards
that enveloped many houses
that once sheltered many artists
where I had my former residence.

For more than five months, I lived in
Huarda of the Yongqing Village
in Liqiao Township of Shunyi District.
For more than four years I lived
in Yida in the Xiaopu Village
in Songzhuang of Tongzhou District.
These two former residences of mine
were both in small companies’ big factories,
both topped with blue sheet iron.

These years in Beijing had seen me moving about.
I had so many former residences
but haven't moved out of Beijing.
Slowly, I have—
to escape from poverty
and the bulldozers that follow me around—
decided to hide these residences beneath my skin.

There I used to live,
where swallows flutter in a sparse drizzle.

He Chi
09-09-2022

Translated by Xu Xiaofan

何迟《故居》将于2022年12月9日开始邀约参观，仅接待外籍人士。

那里有我的故居
小区一楼的两居室
六七十平米
距离古城地铁站
有四个路口
三个拐弯
刚来北京时
我和我的女朋友
在那里住了半年

那里有我的故居
花家地西里的一栋楼
不是106就是107
不是在六层
就是在七层
倘若我现在去访问
肯定敲不错那扇门
我艰难地住了三个月
就搬到别处去了

北京到顺义的公交车
好几趟都走京顺路
有一站村子叫铁匠营
那里有我的故居
是一间瓦房，平房
不到十平方米
我花了三百块钱
从八月下旬
住到了十一月底

北湖渠停产的酒厂
边角的一间矮房
白色的瓷砖贴满四壁
四十平的建筑面积
能使用三十三平米
一张带底柜的沙发床
一个放水杯的茶几
一条离开北京的朋友
送我的红色小鱼

那里有我的故居
奶子房西的西边
紧挨来广营北路
再往西走几百米
就进了雷家桥村
有一院空的仓库
吴海在那里居住
我从酒厂搬过去
他腾出一间小屋

打开地图
北京的东北有个圆圈
那就是环形铁道
环形铁道里面
有个村子叫黑桥
黑桥有很多院子
院子里有很多房子
房子里住过很多艺术家
那里有我的故居

有五个多月，我住在
顺义区李桥镇
永青村的华尔达
有四年多，我住在
通州区宋庄镇
小堡村的怡达
我的那两个故居
都是小公司的大厂房
顶着蓝色的薄铁皮

在北京的这些年
我不断奔波迁徙
遗留下不少故居
但迄今没有搬离
为了躲避贫穷
和如影随形的推土机
渐渐地，我把故居藏进身体
稀疏的小雨，翻飞的燕子
那里有我的故居