Englishman fashions new ideas in Beijing street arts

BEIJING, Dec. 27 (Xinhua) -- Printing an old two yuan metro ticket, as well as ancient items such as an iconic iron vacuum flask or a taxi receipt, on T-shirts may seem strange to local people, but for a young Englishman living in Beijing, he has become fairly popular doing just that.

At his store selling original T-shirts called Plastered Eight among some non-descript, low-rise dwellings in South Luogu Lane, Dominic Johnson-Hill, whose Chinese name is Jiang Senhai, is self-proclaimed "creative dictator". In his view, the unique point of his T-shirts are that the images printed on them depict "Beijing from a foreigner's eyes".

Johnson-Hill is not serious about formal design theories. Neither is he restricted by traditional thoughts. He liked to catch those images that locals took for granted, relying on inspiration that flashes across his mind.

Living in Beijing for 14 years, the London native can speak fluent Chinese, although he knew little about the written characters. "I left Britain when I was 17. It is almost as long as the time I stayed in Beijing by now."

"When I got here in 1993, I couldn't speak any Chinese and had no time to look around the hutongs (alleys). All I could see was the Soviet-style buildings in the suburbs, so I did not feel much beauty in this city."

Then, through contacts with locals, he gradually fell in love with this "energetic" city. "The roads are wide and straight, and people are candid and easygoing. I love to chat with them. In my mind, Beijing is just like a big art museum, and there are creative ideas everywhere."

He started to design his own T-shirts two years ago with an idea of capturing something familiar.

"I was afraid of selling them then, because I put my heart on the T-shirts and worried that no one would accept them," he said. "But now, most of the customers are local young people. Although 80 yuan (10.89 U.S. dollars) for a T-shirt is still a little bit high for them, as long as they think the idea is good they will take it without caring about whether is an unknown brand.

"My T-shirts are Beijing-born street culture, and people here give me confidence and a self-identify," he said

Johnson-Hill thought that hutongs were the soul of old Beijing, and creative ideas were the characteristics of the developing modern city. Combining the two has been the cultural symbol of South Luogu Lane.

Acting on his proposal, the antique alley held its first Creative Market this past August. At the market, people could find things that they thought were interesting, such as traditional handicrafts, original cartoons, personal-style clothing and pop music. Many people also used the street as a stage.