Chinese dancer

This is one of my favorite treasures....

Cycling one day through the old streets of Tianjin, I passed by a house and noticed this lady lying on top of some cardboard boxes. I stopped to look at her and the old man came out of the house and offered her to me for the equivalent of about £3 . I agreed and he wrapped her in a piece of old news paper and dropped her into my bike basket !

I cycled home and expected her to fall to pieces but she survived. I hung her on a nail on the wall and there she stayed. Made from metal and painted with enamel, very old and a little damaged. A friend later told me she would have been adorning the walls of an old theater hall in the city.

She has travelled wrapped in bubble wrap, cardboard and paper from Tianjin to the UK and then to Jordan . Once again she sits on a single nail, elegantly dancing on my wall :)