User:)biyibiyibiyi(/grad project

Repeater | fù dú jī | 复读机 | Archive

The archive surrounds the narrative of the repeater, a device used in China since the 90s, predominantly for learning English. It was invented by a telecommunications engineer in his forties to learn English, since folks at his age learned Russian in school. The device quickly became phenomenal, and radically changed how language learning is perceived and conducted.

This device commenced and accompanied the my English learning career. It is a tool of disembodiment. Students were tortured and frustrated from repeating from tape recordings out of everyday context; at the same time the device was a tool for advancement and mobility during the country's then radically transformative years.

Several methods and schools of thought inform my project - the method of the anarchive, the field of media archaeology, and the study of sound. Today, the repeater, along with the pedagogy the device proposed, has gradually exited from the landscape of language learning. It is an object of media archaeological value. Talking to my friends from childhood, I collected interviews that will work as contextual narratives, on how the device took place in everyday living.

Collection of spoken interviews

w Childhood friend Wang Zhen

Intentionally, I want to approach the archive from a departure of intimacy. Wang Zhen was a figure that orients this departure: she was the daughter of my parents' colleague, we are the same age and the same school year. The narrative/retrospection is situated in the compound we lived in for two years, from 8 to 10 years old. At age 9, English courses become mandatory in school. I bought Wang Zhen's first repeater with her, in the local shopping mall.

The conversation revealed how Wang Zhen's forgetful nature. She did not remember what the repeater was, mistaking it as a radio device. As the memories become more familiar to her, they became more vivid. We talked about the circulation of New Concept English, a English as second language text book widely popular in China since its publication in the 60s.

The conversation also revealed the correlation between foreign language learning and class. Because our parents were teachers, we were instructed to learn during our spare time, while many other households did not emphasize foreign language as a way of advancement, academically and socially and culturally.

I want to use Wang Zhen's as an orienting figure for the archive. The repeater was a collective experience of a generation, and I want to depart from a shared experience that's intimate to me, and unravel the rich contexts that illustrate the repeater's context. From the compound we lived in, the schools we went to, how we were told to buy the device per teacher's instruction... These details weave together a narrative that probe to the common experiences the repeater triggered in people's daily lives.

w encountered high school seller Xuan Xuan

It's much worthwhile to look for repeaters on sale on Xianyu, a Chinese second hand exchange app, than to buy them new. The repeaters are phasing out but have not yet become precious collectibles.

On Xianyu, I become intrigued by how people are personifying their own repeaters with stickers. I looked for keywords "repeater" + "stickers", and one particular repeater stood out. It was decorated with playful stickers in the most extravagant way. I immediately put an order on it.

The repeater came with English tapes from Grade 9. I asked the seller if they are free. The seller said yes, and, out of expectation, encouraged me for me studies (by assuring me of the high school entrance exam). I've been mistaken as a final year middle school student.

The package was sent to my parents' house in China first, and they found a letter for me, written by the seller herself. It is a she, now a high school student living in Chongqing (SW city in China), whom the repeater held tremendous significance for. She wrote about her coming to age experience in the letter:

"Ever since growing up, I have been labelled as one of those “terrible” children. I was the ones who never finish their home work, never recited the texts, whenever my primary school pushed me, I procrastinate. I never committed disastrous mistakes, but full of small mis-behaviors. I was very naughty by nature. During class, my good friend is my badly damaged eraser; after class, I chat and gossiped with my good friends."

Her life changed when she discovered her motivation for learning English:

"I came to enjoy the feeling of speaking English. I started to catch up with my English fervently, as much as reciting word lists during break times and meals. I have to admit that the effort was partly driven by my wish to make it up for myself, but it was nonetheless effective."

Subculture Archive: Stickers Library

During the conversation I had with