I took this photo more than ten years ago while staying at a small guesthouse in Yichang, Hubei.
At the time, I only thought it was interesting.
An old, yellowed air conditioner had a red permit sticker attached to it. The words on the sticker read:
“Yichang Municipal Government — Air Conditioner Use Permit.”
The date was June 1996.
Today, that feels almost unreal.
We turn on an air conditioner with the press of a button and rarely think about where the electricity comes from. But for people from my generation in Hubei, reliable electricity is not such an old memory.
Before the Three Gorges Dam was completed, electricity shortages were part of everyday life in many places here. Power cuts were common. Some areas took turns receiving electricity.
I still remember times when the power went out in our village and people would walk to another village just to watch television.
It wasn't because we didn't own a TV.
We simply didn't have electricity.
That is why this little red sticker means more to me now than it did when I photographed it.
In the 1990s, an air conditioner was not simply another household appliance. Electricity was limited enough that using one could require approval from the local government.
Think about that for a moment.
Today, on a hot summer day in Hubei, turning on the air conditioner feels completely ordinary. Back then, even cooling a room could be something that had to be managed.
Sometimes history isn't found in museums.
Sometimes it is stuck to the side of an old air conditioner in a small guesthouse.
I almost forgot about this photograph.
Years later, I found it again, and this time I stopped and looked at it for a long time.
It reminded me how quickly ordinary life can change.
What feels unlimited today was once scarce.
And what feels completely normal today was once something people had to apply for permission to use.