An old saying in rural areas: "The three professions of survival in the world are hard work, punting, blacksmithing, and grinding tofu." The three occupations of punting, blacksmithing, and grinding tofu have existed for at least thousands of years, and they are particularly hard. These three occupations are still considered hard work for rural people.
Let’s talk about punting first. Many people think that punting is very easy. Why don’t they just use a paddle or a bamboo pole to paddle? It’s such an easy thing, I can do it. In fact, this idea is very wrong. Many rivers do not have bridges, and they rely on boat people to cross the rivers. They work hard all year round, getting up early and working hard at night, rain or shine. Folks from nearby villages need boatmen to cross the river. If there is an emergency in the middle of the night, such as sending a doctor, they have to get up from their sleep and work overtime. Moreover, the labor fee is very low. If they encounter wind, waves and whirlpools, they will die.
Let’s talk about blacksmithing. Blacksmithing is a hard work that everyone can appreciate. In the era before mechanical processing, blacksmithing or making weapons and agricultural tools required manual work. The blacksmith endures the high temperature, pulls the bellows, sweats profusely, and hammers hard at extremely high temperatures. It also requires certain skills to create different shapes. This is not only in casting iron; Casting people, most people simply can't stand such harsh working conditions and hard physical work. Today's young people probably stay for a few seconds and then run away.
Finally, grinding tofu. Although the tofu is very soft, making tofu is extremely hard. Simply put, it is as tiring as a donkey. After sleeping in the middle of the night and waking up in the fifth, I started pushing the stone mill to grind the soybeans into a fine pulp, then brine them, and then press them. The work process was very complicated, and the profit was still low, and the status was not high.
If with the development of science and technology, machinery gradually replaces manual work, we will continue to make progress, but we cannot forget the suffering before.