This article is from WeChat official account:Guyu Image-Tencent News (ID: ihuozhe), caption & photography: Qingshan, text: Shuifan, editor: Mili, Zhou An
Except for the few days when you go home for the New Year every year, parents seem to never stop
I didn’t expect that an accidental fracture of my own in Xi’an would allow me to deeply enter the world of my parents for the first time. My father and uncle had just returned to their hometown in Henan from Shantou at that time, preparing for the Chinese New Year, but they had to take me home without stopping. Subsequently, my mother took care of me until summer. This is the longest period of time I have spent with her as an adult.
This is also the longest time they have stayed in their hometown in the past 20 years.
In the 1990s, they and their hometown people went south from Zhumadian. They only needed a tricycle to take root in Shantou. The men pull and deliver vegetables at the market, and their families work in garment factories and fast-food restaurants. At night, everyone returns to the market and sleeps on tricycles. This situation of collective sleeping on the streets lasted for several years, in their words “like a beggar.” In this way, a market feeds the livelihoods of dozens of households and hundreds of people in our village.
After more than 20 years of accumulation, some well-mixed people bought two or three hundred thousand old second-hand houses in Shantou.
The folks who sell and pull vegetables in the market. When they were away from home, I played with their children in the village and grew up together
The uncle in the neighboring village, the three wheels he pedaled were once the most important livelihood tool for their group of people
At 5 o’clock in the morning, Uncle Wangyuan was loading vegetables on the tricycle and then transporting them to the next level of vegetable market
My mom pastes paper boxes in the paper box factory. She has been doing this work for the past ten years
Uncle Yongjun is a playful person. He has parrots in his small house. After breaking his tongue many times, he still can’t learn to speak. He hangs a pile of flower T-shirts on the wall, and each one is no less than One hundred yuan. He said: I don’t wear those cheap clothes, it’s nasty and uncomfortable
Above: The fellow villagers sometimes gather together after their work. They each bring fruits and peanuts to chat about the current life and news of their hometown.
The picture below: my cousin participated in weekend study. She was born in Shantou and has been studying in Shantou.
When they came out in their twenties, they worked hard. In addition to improving family conditions, they also hope that their children can receive a better education and not be as affected as they are.
Except for a few days when they go home for the New Year every year, parents seem to never stop. “My generation is the last generation of people who have suffered. They all worked hard when they came out. They are more tired than the previous generation and the big group. At that time, you can rejoice. Remarks”>(dialect, meaning to be lazy), now it’s my own. If you have time to make money, make money.”
They have been working in Shantou since they were in their 20s. They have worked in construction, three-wheeled riding, dishwashing in restaurants, workers in carton factories, and other incredible odd jobs. I rarely spend a long time with my parents