A few days ago, a reporter from China Daily went to Hezhou, Guangxi, the "World Longevity City" to visit eleven centenarians in the area. They were born between 1903 and 1917 and experienced several historical periods of the late Qing Dynasty, the Republic of China and the New China. They suffered from hunger, poverty, war and other times. They staggered into the peaceful and prosperous era of the new era with the threat of survival with the Chinese spirit of patriotism, love for the family, diligence and thrift, struggle, virtue and friendship.
reporters recorded their true memories with words and cameras.
Ten different life changes are also thought-provoking and touching.
Hu Yueying's century-old tea addiction:
Life is like drinking tea, first bitter and then sweet
116-year-old Hu Yueying is the longest-lived old man in Hezhou . However, she witnessed the death of all her brothers and sisters and husbands, and also experienced the heart-wrenching pain of unexpected loss of her son and her daughter's death.
The responsibility of raising grandchildren has rekindled her fighting spirit in life, went up the mountain to clear the land, managed the tea garden, and worked hard for more than a hundred years. Now she can drink tea leisurely but still insist on cooking and organizing her own internal affairs.
Life is like a tea she drank for hundreds of years, and it must be sweet if it is bitter.
Life's greatest lesson for Hu can be found in a cup of the green tea she has cultivated and brewed most of her life: The bitter comes before the sweet, and she has known both.
She was good at growing things from at least age 14. She loved the soil and worked in her gardens until she was 113.
"Grandma is quick-witted and has an extraordinarily agile mind. The grain she planted in the years when there were shortages of food helped the family survive," grandson Lu Congqiang, 34, said.
Hu is the oldest person in Hezhou, according to the local government, outliving her only son, who was the victim of a house collapse in 1991, and a 2-year-old daughter whose illness was beyond the skills of a "barefoot doctor". She witnessed the passing of all her siblings and her husband.
"I feel desperate when my son left me, but what else could I do but work harder? I didn’t even have time to take a deep breath, and the children needed me," she said, sipping a cup of green tea.
"I have lost my husband, my children and my brothers, it's true. But I can always find love in my family and that is how I was encouraged to carry on."
Yao mother Yang Sugui:
Mother's love is tough and soft
102-year-old Yang Sugui is the mother of 8 children. Although she has never entered the school, even if she didn't put rice in the most difficult period of life, she did not give her children like others, but went up the mountain to dig wild vegetables to satisfy her hunger.
Now Yang Sugui has eight children and is already a big family of five generations living together with more than 130 people.
Yang Sugui loves to sit under the big camphor tree in front of the door and listen to the Yao folk song "Butterfly Tune". The lyrics are to thank the heaven, thank the earth, and thank the parents for their kindness.
Yang married at age 15 and never attended school. She gave birth to eight children. "In the darkest days, we didn’t have enough rice to support the big family, so I went into the mountains to dig edible herbs to fill our bellies instead of giving my children away, as many people did," she said at her home in Fuchuan Yao autonomous county.
"No one in my family was allowed to shout or scream at each other. My children grew up in peace and harmony."
Dong Maorui who got rich first:
When you are poor, you will change, and when you change, you will pass
Before being forcibly taken away by the Kuomintang, Dong Maorui was no different from other farmers. Facing the loess and facing the sky was his fate. Later, Qiao Zhuang ran away because he couldn't eat in the army. This is the first time he understands the meaning of struggle.
After a difficult period in the 1960s, he abandoned farmers and started a business, and became the first "ten thousand yuan household" to become rich in the 1980s.
The watch he bought for him for 2,000 yuan at that time, and he has worn it to this day.
Poverty fosters a desire for change. That's the most important lesson that Dong Maorui, of Hezhou’s Zhongshan county, said he has learned in life.
Like most older people in Zhongshan county, Dong married at a young age and expected to spend his life farming.
In 1939, when his son was just 1 year old, he was forced to join the Kuomintang army.
"We were served gruel for every meal, and it didn’t fill our bellies, so I decided to run away," he said. Disguised as a porter, he managed to escape. Lacking money, he tried many odd jobs as he made his way home.
"I missed the war, but I have fought another battle against poverty all my life," he said.
Famine in the 1960s forced him to seek change again.
At the end of 1970’s, on the eve of reform and opening-up, he took a train to Yulin, 300 kilometers distant, to purchase clothes, which he then brought back to his hometown to sell at a small profit.
"Only a few people did business at that time. After many years and many changes, I finally made a comfortable living," Dong said. His wife bought him a gold watch costing 2,000 yuan in 1989, a memento he has kept for 30 years.
His advice to others: "Don’t be afraid of change."
Zhong Zhaobing: No matter how poor you are, you can’t be poor, and you can’t be poor.
His old man Zhong Zhaobing loves calligraphy, but when he was young, he dropped out of school because of his family's poverty. He always regrets that he attaches great importance to his children's education. In the 1970s, he created conditions for his children to study by selling cattle. Now his son is a village cadre, and there are people's teachers at home, which is his most proud thing.
He believes that education nourishes children's life and can change the fate of the family.
At a young age, Zhong showed extraordinary talent for reading and calling. But he was forced to drop out of middle school for lack of money. In the 1960s, he was determined to help his son and daughter get a better education and started a successful cattle business. Now Zhong practices calliography every day and reads as much as he can in Hezhou’s Changwan village.
"Education is the best soil to support children’s growth and will nurse their minds for a lifetime."
Lotte old man Mo Meixian:
Tolerance, benevolence, love, desire, and firm
Because of mild Alzheimer’s disease, Mo Meixian is no longer able to call her great-grandson’s name.
When the three naughty boys called her grandma a little shyly, she showed a kind smile, instantly bridging the gap between generations.
The old man's kindness and kindness are also her magic weapon for overcoming the wind and frost of time and longevity.
Gentleness and generosity towards others, along with a bright and cheerful disposition, are essential for long life, Mo said.
"The quickest route to happiness and long life is to do nothing negative. Have a merry heart and be tolerant of others."
Pan Huihua: The happiest
The thing is that it encounters rainy days
Hunger is Pan Huihua's most vivid memory of the past.
At that time, every day of labor was for the whole family's food, so the happiest thing was that it was raining and you didn't have to go out to work.
When getting married, there was nothing else to entertain guests, so I grabbed a pound of loach from the field and used it as a wedding banquet.
Not long ago, the old man fell accidentally and was in poor condition, but he could still write his name tremblingly.
He said that although life is difficult, there is always a solution.
Pan, of Zhongshan county, tells many stories about hunger. With diligent work he was able to survive many hardships in the 1950s, 60s and 70s.
"Although life is full of suffering, it is also full of overcoming it. That is the important thing."
年年年年年:
You are my ear, I cane for you
If marriage really has seven years of itch, what kind of experience should a marriage life last for eighty or ninety years be?
106-year-old Yang Caihua and his 105-year-old wife Lin Yuqiong gave an answer, you can’t hear the sound, I am your ear, I can’t walk, you can’t make me crutch.
They rarely express their love directly, and they are ashamed to pick up food from each other when they eat, but they support each other and bathe in the wind and rain together.
Grandma talks endlessly, and grandpa is silently in harmony. This may be the best way to get married.
According to a proverb, a good wife and health are a man’s best wealth. Yang Caihua has both. He and his wife, Lin Yuqiong, have been married 86 years. He doesn’t smoke or drink. Their recipe for happiness: no angry words.
Lin puts it this way: "Harmony keeps a family prosperous. The secret to avoiding quarrels is that one must learn to listen while the other is complaining."
A century-old "waiter" Pan Yuying, who has been diligent all his life,
, with towering ancient banyan and small bridges and flowing water, there is a local restaurant on , Huangyao Ancient Town, which has an unusual "waiter" inside, and many tourists come here. She is 105-year-old Pan Yuying.
Although the elderly are old, they can still pick vegetables and clean dishes and chopsticks neatly. Pan Yuying lived in the town since she was a child. When she was young, she was a famous local tailor. She weaved a good life with one stitch and thread
Pan Yuying's hometown Huangyao Ancient Town
Although the old man only had one daughter in his life, this was considered a childless person at that time, but she didn't care about it. She raised her grandson Lin Gongping to adulthood and taught him to be self-reliant and not to be bound by secular standards, and to define and measure happiness by himself.
Self-reliance, hard work and clear thinking are key to a good life and longevity, Pan Yuying of Huangyao said. As a young mother, she was shamed for having only a daughter. Pan is blunt: “I don’t really care about it, actually. I know people try to make themselves feel better by nagging about others’ pain.” She always walked her own path, including getting a job as a waitress in Huangyao at age 99.
Grandson Lin Gongping, 57, spoke of Pan’s influence in his life:
"We had better not be confused to secular ideas about happiness and shame. We should find out the truth by ourselves."
Huang Zhizhong's poetry and wine life:
Seeing through the ups and downs of fate, serving the countryside
104-year-old Huang Zhizhong has been in middle school and can still sing English alphabet songs. He is a "high knowledge" with a radius of hundreds of miles.
once taught in middle school. After the Cultural Revolution, he returned to his hometown to farm. He still couldn't put it down. He taught himself traditional Chinese medicine and geography knowledge. Later, he was a barefoot doctor to save the world. Because he understood the Zhouyi path, he also set up a stall to tell fortunes until he was ninety years old.
Although fate is ups and downs, poetry and wine are accompanying you and serving the countryside is also the value of life.
During the "Cultural Revolution" (1966-76), Huang was forced to leave his job and start farming. He found solace in books. He loved to read and learn, and continued to cultivate himself. As a "barefoot doctor" he won the respect of his neighbors. For him, a rich life is defined by service to others:
"There was a serious lack of medical care, so the knowledge I got from books could help people in need. Service to others matters most."
Maintenance expert Mo Tianlan:
A healthy body is the source of happiness
3 three bowls of oil tea a day, and manual scraping is the daily life of the old man Mo Tianlan.
The Yao people’s homemade oil tea can drive away cold and dampness, while scraping can relieve meridians and strengthen immunity. These are all Mo Tianlan’s health care methods. However, in her opinion, this is not as good as prescription for this medicine when she smiles.
"You can take care of your health well, whether you’re poor or rich."
From these centenarians who are enjoying their old age, we can see a lot of the unchanging Chinese spirit, supporting and creating the increasingly powerful new China. More Chinese people will experience and tell their life lessons.
[Source: China Daily Bilingual News (WeChat ID: Chinadaily_Mobile) Zhang Li]
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