Time was slower in the past / Carriage, horse, mail, needs time a little bit / loving a person will cost your whole life ─ Slow Days in the Past by Mu Xin

I went to Wuzhen in Southeast China not for the drama festival but for the famous Chinese artist Mu Xin who once lived there. From my perspective, the drama festival is only an annual event that makes Wuzhen a hyped visit destination for only a few days. Mu Xin, however, single-handedly made Wuzhen the Holy City of Mecca using his literature influence among Chinese young hipsters, leaving a long-lasting impact on the city.

Born in Wuzhen, Mu Xin was a knowledgeable and eloquent artist that had gone through a hard life. He was imprisoned during the Cultural Revolution in China and was sentenced to a labour camp for reeducation. In 1982, he moved to the United States and started writing books and teaching the history of world literature to the young artists staying abroad in New York (his lessons were documented by his student Chen Danqing in his famous book Literature Memoirs). In 2005, Mu Xin was invited to return to his hometown Wuzhen to enjoy his twilight years. After he passed away, the elegant Mu Xin Art Museum was built in Wuzhen West Scenic Zone to commemorate Mu Xin. The former residence of Mu Xin in the East Scenic Zone has also been reinvented into a small memorial hall, which attracts thousands of fans just like me who would come all the way just to have a glimpse of the famous artist’s past life.

Mu Xin caught the attention of Chinese societies again because of the slow life culture that is becoming increasingly popular in recent years. Mu Xin’s poem Slow Days in the Past is now read and appreciated by a grand audience, making Mu Xin a spokesperson of slow life culture. There are a lot of riverine towns in Southeast China. What sets Wuzhen apart from the crowd is its cultural advantages in slow life culture and its positioning as the holy city of young hipsters. Wuzhen offers local hostels with unique riverine town features under standardised and central management to visitors and is also home to many cultural and creative boutiques as well as revitalised old shops. Wuzhen is now a must-go destination for young hipsters in China.

Even visitors with no prior knowledge of Mu Xin would be intrigued by the funny quotes from Mu Xin displayed in the Mu Xin Art Museum. “You are not an oil-saving lamp, and I am not lamp-saving oil either,” some of the funny quotes read. “If you don’t show up soon, I am going to snow.” Mu Xin’s famous quotes have been printed on white T-shirts, umbrellas, pencils, postcards, etc. They are the bestselling cultural and creative products in Wuzhen. If we were to say literature can change one’s destiny, then it is fair to say Mu Xin had changed Wuzhen’s fate.

Wuzhen is one of the very few riverine towns in Southeast China that are good at striking a balance when commercialising their literature value and cultural festivals while staying true to their slow culture. Zhouzhuang Town, an extremely popular riverine town in China that made use of famous writer Sanmao’s literature for glamorisation, is now a tourist trap that many people are reluctant to visit.

Macao used to be famous for being slow in the last century. Macao was slow when compared with the neighbouring city Hong Kong’s busy city life and highly-efficient public services. Since the industrial revolution, being slow has been perceived as being inefficient, backwards and incompetent. But an interesting turn had taken place as we entered the 21st century which has been characterised by the rapid development of the Internet, the generation of the mass volume of information, faster transportations, urbanisation and globalisation. Now living a slow lifestyle is actually seen as living a luxurious and tasteful life.

It only took Wuzhen a few years to channel its cultural and creative resources into an actual industry. In comparison, Macao, which positions itself as an international city, has been going against the global trend of slowing down and abandoning its potential in slow-life culture after the government ended the monopoly in the gambling industry. Macao has since been investing a large amount of money in building skyrises and infrastructure, finally becoming the crowded and busy city today. Many would say that Macao has natural disadvantages in the cultural and creative sector and that there is a lack of big brands in Macao. That’s why more thoughts should be given into the directions that the once “slow” Macao is taking in urban development and tourism policies. Literature can make a city more charming and poetic. But it cannot be achieved when you only claim to be something that you are actually not.

The difficulty in using slow culture to drive the development of cultural and creative sector lies in reaching a balance between giving more freedom to the market and having more control over it. Living a slow and laidback lifestyle is a life philosophy of having less is more. Prosperity can be built with the joint efforts of government policies and the business world. But a slow culture is not something you can easily replicate. Look at the case of Wuzhen. Its slow culture is the unique charm of the ancient town (similar to Italians’ coffee culture and British people’s tea culture). It can be understood as an intangible cultural heritage that cannot be replicated. In this sense, Macao’s own slow culture will become worth appreciating, preserving and revitalising.