I made this special issue for my family, bringing together our accounts of my paternal grandfather, Wang Xiuping. His life runs through a difficult childhood, electrical work, painting, and the things he made and repaired at home. It begins with the circuit diagram he helped me understand: “Pull the bends straight.”
I loved seeing relatives’ different memories restore the same place. A visit to the old Hongyibian courtyard became photographs, a pencil plan, my aunt’s painting, and then scenes we could revisit together. The handmade sofa, the grape arbor and the little acts of care gave me more to work with than a list of milestones ever could.