China in my hometown

Grandma's hometown was finally demolished.

Say "finally" because the news of demolition has been circulating for many years and finally landed last year. Grandma's hometown has been designated as the reservoir area of Tangjiadu Hydropower Navigation and Electricity Project in Suining, Sichuan, and the village is about to sink to the bottom. Thousands of local farmers became rich overnight and moved easily.

Grandma's house is not included in this relocation. As early as the 1990s, grandparents were taken into the city by their children, and the old house was in disrepair. After the Wenchuan earthquake in 2008, the old houses collapsed completely, and even fewer people went back.

On the day the demolition started, my grandmother was in a mixed mood. On the one hand, my grandmother, who has been a full-time housewife all her life, has a disposable fund that really belongs to her; On the other hand, it also means that her native land, where she has lived for 60 years, will completely disappear under the water. Grandma is a little disappointed. "Our generation, oh, no roots."

During the Spring Festival holiday this year, I went back to my grandmother's hometown, photographed the land leveled by bulldozers and the last images of dangerous houses with the word "demolition", and also visited the villagers who rented houses in the city. They ushered in a new life in the rented resettlement house. Some people are reluctant to give up an acre of land and still have to go back to the village to grow vegetables and raise chickens during the day. Some people no longer go out to work, but stay nearby to do some small business; Some people squander the demolition money on the gambling table, and 20 yuan's bet can win or lose hundreds of thousands a day.

_ _ _ _ An old woman in Shunhe Village, whose family has moved away, will come back to farm during the day. Beijing News reporter Li

Life in resettlement houses

65438+ 10/8, met Liao Lin, 56, in Hongqiao community. This is a resettlement housing community. It is said that many villagers in grandma's hometown rent houses here, because it is not far from their hometown and the city, and the price is cheap. Their own demolition and resettlement houses have not yet officially started. In recent years, they have to rely on renting houses to make the transition.

Liao Lin worked as a brigade secretary a few years ago and was also a neighbor and relative of grandma. Now he lives with his 80-year-old mother, a pair of sons have been married in Chengdu, and his wife has recently helped take care of her grandchildren in Chengdu.

Liao Lin rented a new home in 3 1 building. Maybe he is used to dealing with the land all the year round. In order to "stand high and see far", he deliberately chose a high floor.

This is a three-bedroom clean room, 100 square meters. Liao Lin is interested in the cheap price of clean room. The rent for a year is only 6000 yuan. "Some houses with better decoration are still 1000 yuan a year." Liao Lin said.

The appearance of Hongqiao community, which is a resettlement housing community, most of the houses are used for rent. Beijing News reporter Li

Everything at home was moved from my hometown in the countryside. Television, sofa, wardrobe and even bed are out of place in a simple white painted house. Liao Lin's idea is simple. Renting a house is just a transition, and the old furniture can still be used. When the new house is available, decorate it and buy brand-new furniture.

The villagers who moved to Hongqiao community have a WeChat group. "People rush in every day." Liao Lin didn't like the noise in the group and retired from the group. However, the close interpersonal relationship in the countryside still wrapped him up. Before the epidemic control was "released", Liao Lin was isolated at home twice. It was the former villagers who cooked at his door, and he was grateful.

Liao Lin feels that life now is not much different from before. His daily life is very simple. Besides taking care of the elderly, he just watches TV, plays cards and goes fishing. There are many mahjong parlors on the first floor of these resettlement houses, and some of them are "business" opened by old people. From morning till night, there is always a shortage of "slots", and rich villagers are also rich in playing cards. Some 20 yuan started, winning hundreds of thousands and losing hundreds of thousands a day.

Compared with before, Liao Lin feels that the biggest change is a kind of spiritual relaxation. After the demolition, in addition to receiving more than 200,000 demolition funds, he will also be assigned to five sets of demolition houses. Some people plan to sell their surplus houses for money, but Liao Lin has his own ideas. He was worried that the money would be squandered after giving it to his son and decided to leave him a tangible house. In addition, his 80-year-old mother enjoys more than 2,000 yuan of old-age insurance for landless peasants every month. Liao Lin, who has worked hard for most of her life, feels that she can rest for a while now.

From the age of 16, Liao Lin went to work in a brick factory in Xi 'an and returned to Suining to do various jobs a few years later. Later, Liao Lin has been pouring concrete on the construction site, both inside and outside the province, mostly in Chengdu. "If there is a site open, just call me in the past. Even if I pay every day from the day I go, a construction period is about one month or 15 days. Sometimes I have to work day and night. It is still very hard to transfer to the next construction site after the end of one construction site. " Liao Lin said. "Without this demolition, I will continue to do it when I am old."

"It is difficult to feed a family by farming. Aside from the money of seed fertilizer, if the market is not good, there will be nothing left, "Liao Lin stressed." "In the past, men in our dam head had to go out to work regardless of their age."

One afternoon in June 65438+1October 65438+August, 2023, Liao Lin and his 80-year-old mother were watching TV at home. The sofa he sat on and the wardrobe behind him were all pulled from his hometown. Beijing News reporter Li

Flood "dam head"

"Bart" mentioned by Liao Lin is my grandmother's hometown-Shunhe Village, xinqiao town, Suining City, Sichuan Province, only ten kilometers away from the urban area. There is also a village nearby called Shunjiang Village, "Shunjiang Shunhe". From the name, we can see that this place is closely related to water, and it also places people's desire for good weather.

Shunhe Village is close to Fujiang River, with low terrain. Almost every summer when the water rises, it will become an island, ranging from a few days to more than ten days. The village should send fishermen with good water skills to sail to the other side to bring back supplies. In 1970s, in order to resist the flood, the local people built the dam by shoulder, but it still failed to resist the catastrophic flood of 198 1.

198 1 From July 9, 2008 to June 4, 2008, a large-scale six-day rainstorm occurred in the Sichuan Basin in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. Rain areas are mainly concentrated in the middle reaches of Jialing River, Fujiang River, Tuojiang River and Minjiang River and Qujiang River. The water level elevation of Fujiang River reaches 282.5 meters, and the flow rate is 27,800 cubic meters per second. There is a Wang Yang in the urban and rural areas along the Yangtze River.

Only Shunhe Primary School in Shunhe Village has a slightly higher terrain, and almost all the villagers have crowded into the school to take refuge. That year, my mother and her menstrual period were studying in the city and didn't go home. According to my grandmother, the water flooded the whole house, so she and her grandfather had to sit on the roof to avoid danger. My uncle is good at water. He rescued a wooden box full of books from home and pushed the box to swim to school, leaving the books intact.

Apart from the flood, it is not barren here. The sandy soil and oily sandy soil weathered by grayish brown alluvium in Fujiang River and the local subtropical humid monsoon climate zone form the natural fertile soil of angelica dahurica, a valuable Chinese medicine.

Angelica dahurica, an umbrella plant. As a valuable Chinese medicine, Suining is known as "the hometown of Angelica dahurica in China", the most authentic place of origin is osmanthus fragrans to Longfeng, and Shunhe Village is the main place of origin.

Every household grows angelica dahurica. Liao Lin told me that an acre of land can produce more than 1 kg of angelica dahurica 1000 at most a year, and a well-planted family can earn up to 20,000 to 30,000 yuan a year. Nature has brought disasters as well as gifts.

The argument about demolition has been circulating in the village for many years. They have many reasons. The local area is close to the city, and urban expansion will inevitably radiate along the river. In addition, the flood every summer also makes people believe that the government will solve this problem sooner or later.

Water control has always been an important task in this small town in eastern Sichuan, where rivers and canals are densely covered and the water system is complex. The total investment of Tangjiadu Hydropower Project is about 4.042 billion yuan, which is divided into resettlement, dike construction and hub project. The hub project mainly includes water retaining project, power station project, fishway project and ship lock project, which is a 4 1 hydropower station in the cascade development planning of Fujiang main stream.

Liao Lin remembers that the demolition work started around 20 16. At the beginning of 20021,it was finally the turn of Shunhe, and the staff of Suining Economic Development Zone went to the village to publicize the policy, review the housing area and sign the demolition and resettlement agreement.

On the land that has not been run over by bulldozers, crops are still growing tenaciously, which is in sharp contrast with the ruins on one side. Beijing News reporter Li

Lost rural jobs

During my visit, most villagers have a positive attitude towards demolition. Many people's initial goal is to buy a house in the city, and the demolition has realized this demand and provided additional economic compensation. In contrast, the homesickness of leaving home is a little far away for pragmatic farmers, and the real improvement of material life is their most intuitive feeling.

For some people living in the countryside, they are a little confused. I met Chen Minghua in Hongqiao Community. He is a country cook in Shunhe Village.

In rural Sichuan, during the Spring Festival or weddings, funerals and so on. The host family will invite the country chef to hold a "dam banquet" and set the table for relatives and friends outdoors. A steamer is stacked on the earthen stove, dishes are piled on the chopping board, and the township chef wearing an apron uses heaven and earth as the kitchen to show his talents.

Chen Minghua has been a country cook for nearly 20 years. A senior country cook is like a team. Customers only need to finalize the menu, and Chen Minghua is responsible for other chores, from buying food and cooking to providing dishes and chopsticks, which is no different from restaurants in the city.

In the past three years, the epidemic has dealt a great blow to Chen Minghua. What impressed him most was the New Year's Day in 2020. He is cooking for a family in the village. Halfway through the meal, the village speakers began to broadcast the Wuhan epidemic, and eating was forbidden. All the guests who ate were scattered. "The meal is not finished, it is wasted!" Chen Minghua patted him on the thigh.

Due to the epidemic caused by demolition, Chen Minghua's business went from bad to worse, and he had to find another way out. He rented a facade to open a restaurant near the hospital in the city, but unfortunately the small restaurant only opened for 10 months, which was a big loss.

"It's better to be a country cook." This Spring Festival, Chen Minghua returned to his original job. He extended his tentacles to other rural areas and took on all the work far away. Chen Minghua enjoys the freedom of being a country cook, and there is no pressure of urban rent. He thinks he can work for a few more years at 65.

June 5438+1October 65438+August, 2023, Chen Minghua, who lives in Hongqiao Community, is preparing the ingredients for the next day's "Dam Banquet" at home. Beijing News reporter Li

Moving into the city, or living in the countryside, and ferrying between the city and the countryside have become the choices of many rural professionals.

Liao Lin's good friend is a village doctor in a nearby village. His village has not been demolished, but the village doctor bought a house in the city early and lived a life of reverse commuting-seeing a doctor in the village during the day and going home to rest in the city at night. His role in the countryside is extremely difficult to be replaced. In June 5438+last February, when he was released, the epidemic hit the fragile countryside, and the villagers used to see him. The village doctor experienced the busiest and most embarrassing situation for the first time.

Half country, half city.

To some extent, the demolition along the Yangtze River is like a negligible sum in the tide of urbanization in China. I also see people's longing, loss and confusion in the process of transformation in this small wave.

On the day of 65438+ 10/7, I went to Shunhe Village, which was almost a wasteland. The bulldozer stood at my grandmother's house. I stepped on the delicate river sand under my feet, trying to recall the appearance of all the empty old houses in front of me.

As long as I can remember, when I was only a few years old, I felt that the light in that shabby old house was dim, and I reached for something like a light rope. As a result, I pulled down a huge spider and scared me to scream. My mother's memory of the old house is much warmer. Gardenia and Chinese rose are planted outside the old house. At that time, it was a kind of romance beyond the pressure of survival. Grandma has a longer memory. She was born and raised here, met her grandfather who came from other places to be a teacher, got married and had children, and built this old house, where she spent more than 60 years.

Grandma has never come back since she heard that her hometown was going to be demolished. It seems that you can pretend that the old house is still there without facing it. Just like her most painful sister died in Jiangyou a few years ago, and she didn't go to see the last trip. "If I don't go to see her, I will pretend that she still lives in Jiangyou."

There is a bulldozer parked on the site of grandma's old house. Beijing News reporter Li

Recently, my grandmother sprained her waist and stayed in bed all day, talking to me about her childhood, her marriage and her hometown. She squinted at the ceiling, said whatever she wanted, and sometimes whined. I took out my mobile phone and said, "Grandma, let me show you what your home looks like now." She waved her hand.

Fortunately for grandma who moved, she can see her sister more conveniently after living in the city. When the old people in the village get together, the most commonly discussed topic is when they can pick up the new house. At present, what they are most eager for is to live in a new house as soon as possible. This desire is more urgent than any young person-renting a house can only be regarded as "writing a piece of farmland" and you must finish the last journey in your own house.

There are still some houses in the village that have not been demolished, and the word "demolition" is written on the wall. It's hard to believe that it's only been a few months since I moved. "As long as there is no popularity, the house will easily collapse." Dad said.

_ _ _ _ The words "demolition" are written on the walls of houses that have not been demolished in Shunhe Village. Beijing News reporter Li

Only the land is stubborn. On the land that has not been run over by bulldozers, you can also see a vibrant crop, which is in sharp contrast with the rubble next to it. Finally met a villager in the village. She told me that her family had already rented a house in the city, but she still wanted to come back and plant some land. "Otherwise, the food will rot in the ground."

Beijing News reporter Li Zhao Editor Chen Xiaoshu proofreads Liu Jun