Got the Root of the Matter

Ganquan Village was bought by a real estate developer for an upcoming tourism development, so all the villagers had to be migrated. A contradiction arose: the developer bought the ownership of the villagers' land, but the ownership of the paulownia trees in the public space was ambiguous. So the villagers cut down the paulownia trees to sell them for money before they left. Many trees were cut down by the villagers, leaving only the roots.

I excavated the roots, which people could not see, like an archaeological excavation, and carved the outline of the tree rings along the cross-section of the trunk, implying the topography of Ganquan Village. Both the development of Ganquan Village and the growth of the trees started are from this "root", from the bottom up and from the inside out. Each tree has been rooted for decades or centuries. These trees have witnessed the rise and fall of Ganquan Village. This root also hints at my thoughts on the issue of China's land ownership system behind the Ganquan Village's interest dispute.