Uncle Xiao, who is over 60 years old, has lived in a simple tent made of plastic sheets deep in the mountains for many years. He has no TV, no companions, far away from the village, and plenty of endless loneliness and endless rocks. When he is lonely, he listens to the radio, and sometimes he meets villagers who are farming in the mountains, feeling that there are endless words. "Providing for the aged" is a traditional thought of the Chinese nation for thousands of years. With the continuous advancement of rural reform and urbanization in China, young and middle-aged people who work in cities are constantly coming, and the phenomenon of "left-behind elderly people" in rural areas has become an indelible trace and brand of the times in China.
He Lao, who has suffered from a stroke for two years and is nearly 70 years old, works outside the home all the year round to earn money because his two sons feel that farming in the countryside is low and getting rich slowly. However, the spring ploughing and autumn harvest of more than ten acres of cultivated land at home and the task of taking care of themselves all fall on his skinny wife's shoulders. Although the children sometimes send him and his wife some living expenses, he always feels sad when he sees his wife dragging her back from the muddy field. Agricultural "producer", grandchildren "nanny" and family "guardian" are the three roles that most rural left-behind elderly people play.
On this day, the old man He Lin Xiu fell asleep while sitting in the sun in his chair. On his weather-beaten face, he looked haggard and could not see the joy of his children and grandchildren. This is due to the pressure of life, weak ability to resist risks, mental loneliness, longing for family and other reasons. According to my visit to more than a dozen natural villages, this phenomenon is widespread and has become one of the facial expressions of left-behind elderly people in rural areas.
On this day, He's old lady, after serving He as usual, immediately went to the chicken pit to plow the fields. As there were no cows, He Lin Xiu's wife had to rent cows from cattle farmers in the village. The daily rent is 200 yuan. If cows are injured or sick, they must go to the vet. A little carelessness will lead to the loss of income and the wife will be defeated.
Because the children have not been at home for many years, the task of planting more than a dozen pigs, more than a dozen ducks and more than 3 acres of farmland at home has fallen on the shoulders of my wife. Because of years of fatigue, she also suffers from severe lumbar disc herniation. Although the postoperative symptoms have eased, it is often unbearable in heavy physical labor! He said, "Now that we are old, my old woman's health is getting worse every day. Compared with last year, this year, I obviously feel that my blood is not smooth and my legs are numb. " . However, the heavy family business is in front of her, and she still has to bite her teeth to continue, persist and persist until the end. ...
In Shitouwan Village near me, Lai Yulan, a frail old man left behind, with a six-year-old granddaughter, clung to an orchard and four acres of grain fields from morning till night. Every year in the spring ploughing season, she will take her granddaughter and the ox to the back hill to plow and scrape the land. Even this six-year-old granddaughter seems to be unable to stand her grandmother's hard work. She has learned to help her pull weeds and fertilize like an adult, and has been farming since she was a child. The old lady told me that his son and daughter had gone to the provincial capital to do business. After he left home on 20 12, he only went home for the Spring Festival once in six years, and he and his wife never came back in these years.
Last week, my hometown held the Spring Festival to worship my ancestors, and a pair of left-behind old people came riding an electric car with their little grandchildren. Is the old Wang Man Siqing in Shangwangwu Village a retired cadre? He told me, "My son left home with his wife five years ago. I said Guangzhou or Dongguan-I didn't ask where. I only came back twice in five years, and I was in a hurry every time I came back. For five years, I didn't get a penny back, and my grandson went to a large kindergarten class. He and his wife never ask, let alone care about their parents' health. " . When the old man speaks, he is helpless, but more performance is still depressed. I asked him, do you have to fly to this ancestor worship activity? The old man said: "Where there is a temple fair, where there is a market, and where there is a tradition of worshipping ancestors, welcoming gods and sending them away, I will go there. It doesn't matter that farming is postponed for a day or two. What our generation wants is a bustle, so that we can not think about the troubles at home.
Since the reform and opening up, a considerable number of rural youth yearn for cities and pursue a better life. Originally, the pursuit of happiness in life is beyond reproach. However, because modern young people do not distinguish between specific situations, regardless of the weight of family burden, blindly follow the trend and become a mental health disease. Many old people have a common wish, that is, while the country's poverty alleviation efforts are increasing and the policy of benefiting farmers is deepening, young people should work hard to come back and build their hometown, take good care of their parents and make their hometown no longer poor and lonely.
In the past few decades, because there are no entertainment facilities in the village, there are no literary and art groups at the county and township levels in the village market all year round. Even if there is, it is also a rural folk performance team, and its literacy is often difficult to satisfy the appetite of old comrades. As a result, the spiritual and cultural life of the left-behind elderly people is not only watching TV, but also gathering in groups of three or five after meals, and even a considerable number of elderly people simply gather together. Their purpose is not to make a profit, but to seek comfort and happiness.
The old village head of Jinxing Village told me: "Because our generation is born after 50 s and 60 s, it is the restricted object of national family planning. Most people have only one child, at most two children. Once the girl gets married, the boy runs away from home after getting married, and this pair of parents, or one parent, becomes a "lonely" old man. Disease and death threaten this generation from time to time, and quite a few of them fall into helpless despair. " Yes, as the saying goes, borrow food to prevent hunger and have children to prevent old age. Today, this ancient motto, which has been circulating for thousands of years, has long since disappeared. Young friends yearn for the glitz and noise of big cities, despise their simple homeland and give up the old people who should have grown up with them.
No, the left-behind old people heard that there was a performance by a literary troupe at the ancestor worship rally held in the village today, and they came to the performance site with men and women early. The old people said that besides watching the performance, they also wanted to have fun, because the home was too deserted. They walk in the fields all the year round, worrying about their children crying sooner or later, taking care of pots and pans for three meals, and sleeping at night only by listening to the shrill cries of night owls.
On the way back to the village, I passed by Xiacun, baimashan. An old left-behind couple were killing chickens. The old man told me that tomorrow was his wife's birthday, and there was nothing else to say, so he killed a chicken for her to celebrate. I am really touched by his reverence for the mutual affection between husband and wife! Both husband and wife are "seven-year-olds", but a pair of children have never been around. When my grandson didn't go to college, his family was still very busy. However, when my two grandchildren went to college, the family became deserted. Also, if his husband and wife are sick at the same time, even a hot soup is hard to drink. In his emotional story, my eyes filled with tears. ...
Sun, a 56-year-old left-behind man, dragged his 5-year-old granddaughter on the ridge of the field with his shoulders after finishing his work in the field. The old man said that all the troubles were gone when he saw his little granddaughter's clever appearance. My little granddaughter is the spiritual sustenance of the old couple and the only hope for our life.
In Guowukeng Village, which is adjacent to my hometown, two left-behind elderly people are about to ferry across the river. When they saw me coming, they immediately stopped to say hello to me: "Old Ye Biao is so early! Where are you going? " I said I was passing by and planned to go to Jiaotou Village for a walk. "Then hurry up on my boat. It will be much closer to cross the river from here. " The old man smiled and said to me. I said, where are you two going? "I'm going to work in the farmland on the other side. I haven't had time to come since last autumn harvest. Look, the stalks are alive! " . "This kind of manual labor seems too heavy for you old people?" I said. "Yes. Both sons went to Shantou and didn't come back for many years. What if you don't do it? There are no crops on the barren land. What can I eat? " The old man replied. From his words, I once again heard the helplessness of the old man.
When we approached Jiaotou Village, there was a temple in Qingxi at the entrance of the village. Guanyin statue in the South China Sea is the most popular temple. Every year, cigarettes keep coming, and there are always people coming to worship, bringing the most fragrant rice fruit and the sweetest fruit to worship. I approached two old people who were helping people draw lots, and smiled and explained the signing of books for those who came to make a wish. I am serious and pious in explaining my doubts and doubts to the believers. I asked them why they always come to this smoky place. He (she) said: the home is too deserted, and idleness is also idle. I'm here to help, just to be lively and comfortable.
Two left-behind elderly people sat next to idols to help those who came to make a wish "solve doubts". They said: the home is too deserted and idle, so I came here to help, just to be lively and comfortable.
In fact, I know in my heart that the elderly, especially those left behind, know how to adjust themselves. Self-decompression itself is commendable, even commendable! People are always old, as long as they are interested, they are full of energy; Elderly people with healthy body and mind. If the local party and government can spend more time on the elderly in this social class represented by the "left-behind elderly" and build more welfare apartments for the elderly like some towns and villages, it may be possible to make most of the elderly, especially the left-behind elderly, no longer feel lonely and helpless in a very short time.
-written in my hometown in the spring of 1898.