Posted on by africanroutes

Countryside – Fuzhou, Jiangxi Province

IMG_1061

Some of the children who came out to see the Black stranger in their village.

These children are called the “left-behind children” because their parents have left the village to hopefully find work in the cities. Their parents go to Beijing, Shanghai, Guanzhou, etc. hoping to find jobs to give their families a better life. They are called migrant workers. These children are left in the villages in the care of grand-parents or other relatives. These children, as they get older will go to a school in the nearest town, in a boarding situation, and possibly come home to their village on weekends. They cannot attend schools in the cities. They will see their parents during the major holiday, Spring Festival.  This is occurring throughout China.

Explore the Spirit

JLM

Posted on by africanroutes

Countryside in Fuzhou, Jiangxi Province

IMG_1079

So, as the economic prosperity begins to trickle down to the farmers, the first thing they may do is to build a better house in the village. However, they do not live in the houses because they have gone to the cities to find work that will pay better than framing. They are called migrant workers. So…unless they have grandparents or other family members to live in the homes they remain vacant all year, until the great migration of people occur during the annual Spring Festival (Chinese New Year). That’s when virtually everyone in China returns to their village to celebrate the new year (see my earlier posts).

Explore the Spirit

JLM

Posted on by africanroutes

The Countryside in Fuzhou, Jiangxi Province

I’ve been away from blogging for a few weeks now, traveling when I can, and keeping very busy with mid-terms and other University activities. Now we’re coming up on the end of the school year, and it has been a very rewarding experience.

I was invited to the hometown of one of my friends recently and got a chance to go to the countryside. While the West likes to extol the fact that China has achieved such rapid economic growth over the past 30 years, most of the 1.3 billion people still reside in the countryside. While the national GDP may reach extraordinary numbers, the INDIVIDUAL GDP is extremely low for most of the population. So I was grateful that I had the opportunity to go to where you might say the real Chinese population live.

China is still a developing country, and everyone do not live in Beijing, Shanghai or Hong Kong.

My friend’s family has a rice company in the city of Fuzhou. I got to see how rice is harvested, bagged and shipped to buyers, and how it is planted and grown. The days I was in Fuzhou it was overcast and lightly raining but it was great being out in the fresh air and walking through the mist.

Explore the Spirit

JLM

Posted on by africanroutes

Terra Cotta Warriors – Last, Last Time

DSC_2143Each figure is full size with a different facial expression, indicating that they were modeled after actual soldiers of that time. While 3 pits are currently being unearthed and documented, there are at least six other pits that have yet to be touched. The Chinese Government is waiting for technology to catch-up before disturbing these pits so as to preserve their original integrity. It has been documented that there were six thousand soldiers recovered from pit number one to date.

Explore the Spirit

JLM