preface
Last winter, when I was looking through the local Chronicles of Shaanxi, I found that in the 1990s, baoji had a vigorous “movement” of forest farm logging. At that time, large and small forest farms spread all over the mountainous areas in suburban counties, so that the lumberjack became the first choice of career for aspiring young people at that time. However, after entering the new millennium, forest farms and lumberjack disappeared from the county records in large areas.
1
On January 25, 2017, the city on the border of Shaanxi and Gansu province was hit by heavy smog on the 28th day of the 12th month in the lunar calendar, as a new round of cold air from Siberia withdrew. Before 8 o ‘clock in the morning, a large number of residents from the countryside began to pour into the lively annual gathering. The noisy voice gradually sounded in the haze. Almost without exception, people bravely exposed their nostrils and mouths, gulped their breath and bartered loudly for prices.
At 9:30 a.m., Liu gang, with a mop of hair, peeks out at the hazy frame building in the distance and shakes his head. “Last year it wasn’t so bad,” he says. Then he walked quickly to the parking space, pulled open the car door, took out a mask and handed me one.
“Connaught, buy on the net, a 200 many, cheap of do not use, this good.” It’s a folding, valved-particle respirator, a rarity in Mr. Liu’s small town.
As if to avoid the plague, Mr. Liu nimbly closes the car window, takes a bottle of brewed strong tea from his leather bag, takes a few swipes, starts the car, clenches the steering wheel, and carefully avoids the randomly parked cars. “Nowadays, young people are becoming more and more indecent and only want to do things for their convenience,” he says. He left and right to try a few times before successfully drove out of the parking space, some angry, “today is the last chance, miss today, this year even if completely lost.”
Liu Gang locks his brows and presses his foot on the gas. The car bursts through thick, smoggy layers and hurls out the front door of the compound. The doorman stands at the door and screams, but he ignores it.
2
At the turn of the century in 1999, Liu Gang was 27 when he first left his hometown to work in Xi ‘an. Before that, the farthest place he had ever been to was baoji, a city 70 kilometers from his hometown. Liu gang didn’t leave his hometown by choice. Rather, it was a forced escape.
Like most young people in the countryside, Liu just married a wife at the age of 23 with the intervention of his parents. After marriage, he took out a loan to buy three cows and began a repetitive life of feeding, milking and handing over milk.
“Back then, everyone was doing this. There was no choice,” Liu recalls. Cows are worth a lot of money. At four o ‘clock in the morning they have to mix their feed, feed their grass and milk their cows. In the morning they cycle to the village milk station to get their milk. All the year round, I make up my mind to serve the cows more carefully than my own son. When the cows have problems, I carry the needle and bottle out in a sack. I work too hard to earn much money.”
At that time, every family depended on milk to make money, milk station requirement is high, the overnight milk does not want, someone add sugar dilute to the overnight milk, pass the test. Eventually, everyone would add it to their fresh milk. “In this world, smart people have all the time, but smart doesn’t use the right place, add more sugar or around the cow around.”
Around 1997, liu gang’s second son was born, and two cows were fed to him in succession during those years. As the days grew more and more difficult, he went with the men in the conveyance, pulling timber from the forest farm.
“After less than half a year as a few of us drivers, we decided to start our own logging business in the forest farm. Although the slogan of returning farmland to forests is shouted loudly, the wind is not so tight. “One of us has a relationship with the Forest Service, so it’s relatively easy to apply for quotas, and it’s ok to exceed them.”
According to theory, every year a forest farm cut how many trees is quantitative, index also has fixed number, but in fact, at that time the size of the forest farm will basically exceed. Exceed bid also not much big matter, afterwards make up go. In the first two years, Liu gang and his gang did make a bit of money, but by the second half of 1998, the wind had cooled down.
By chance, Liu Gang was taken to the construction site. By chance, Liu Gang was taken to the construction site.
“The ’98 quota was applied at the beginning of the year, but before October, the quota was used up and I didn’t pay much attention to it. At the beginning of November, above suddenly come person to say that want to check forest farm logging index, we a few thought, also go through the formalities, before not all so, unexpectedly that is really check, a check is bad, our side exceeds bid seriously. First, the forest farm was sealed and manacled to tens of thousands of dollars, and our manacled Mr. Chen was seized on the spot in the cuffs that belonged to the Forestry Bureau. Not knowing what was going on for a while, I went home.”
In fact, there were four people arrested for overcutting the forest, and Liu gang was lucky to “escape from the disaster” because, in his opinion, he got lucky by burning incense.
“It was the forest police station that was responsible for the arrest. Plainclothes officers were all out. The five of us are not in the same town and our homes are quite far apart. A few days before the accident, my two boy’s hernia suddenly serious, at that time this kind of disease is very common, do not want to go to the hospital, my daughter-in-law from relatives to inquire about a folk prescription, but have to go to the door to get, want to walk fully 20 miles. My wife was very weak and asked someone to send me a message for me to come home at my leisure. At that time, the forest farm was also busy and I felt that it was not a serious illness, so I put it off all the time. Just, the forest farm accident was closed that day, I think, anyway, the forest farm can not cut, then go home to see a doctor for two boys. Four of them were caught in the night, and by the time, I was at home. I was going to arrest me overnight, but the police car’s wheels punctured three nails in the barn, and the car broke down in the middle of the road, and I had a chance to escape.”
“Well, thank the old cow. It was the old cow on the farm who tipped me off. Old cow this person courage is big, had entered a branch before, with the ans also calculate be close to the family history. That night he saw a police car at midnight into the forest to arrest people, feel something is wrong, immediately ride a motorcycle to the ans drive. Things to meet things, sometimes it is so coincidental, if the police car on the road no accident, even if the old cow run again fast, also catch up with the police car in front. Therefore, my wife always said that it was all the virtues she had accumulated by burning incense and giving alms to me.
Old ox takes the door to say to forest farm circumstance, Liu Gang is fled from home immediately overnight, on the body contained 200 yuan money.
3
Narrowly escaped the arrest of the county forest police station, Liu Gang alone took the train to flee to the provincial capital Xi ‘an. “Well, that man’s a thief. He looks like a policeman. When he sees a beggar looking at me, nine times out of ten he thinks he’s in plain clothes.”.
The county station, the bus station certainly can’t go, he took the path to walk 40 li through the night, arrived at niangmiao station. The station was small and empty. He got on a green train and drove to Xi ‘an like a bullock cart.
Liu Gang was probably the first of his generation to come to Xi ‘an. In the 1990s, information was closed and transportation was not convenient, so people in the mountains had little communication with the outside world. When he first went to Xi ‘an, he was somewhat afraid. “After all this, It has dawned on me that in moments of great urgency and uncertainty, a little simplicity is the best remedy.”
Liu chuai wear a suit of bravery and few money left in the provincial capital, money, a town like snow flower, he inquired about the labor market, went to the provincial stadium that piece, just someone called handlers, but find more people, but few get in the car, two eyes a stare, liu gang immediately pushed past pulled on the car, the in the mind is also very beautiful, he felt stupid is as stupid does, to xi ‘an first day looking for work.
“Know what the worst job is?” As the car passed the toll booth, Liu Gang took out a cigarette and asked me earnestly.
“If you’ve ever carried a refrigerator or a TV in the summer, that’s not a human job. Big summer, high temperature, TV refrigerator from the car off, boiling hot, more than 30 buildings, can not use the elevator, take the stairs, one layer up to carry. The iron pimple of those porcelain solid gold is very expensive, be afraid to give a person to fall knock out, can bite tight tooth to die to go up top only, perspire on the body, more not carry. I writhe up and down the stairs like an acrobat, tearing a lot of skin from the sun on a hot day…”
4
Two months later, by chance, Liu gang was taken to a construction site. Looking back more than two decades later, he freely admits that small but significant changes began to take place in the fate of the rest of his life.
“After I escaped, My biggest worry was that the whole house was full of children and I didn’t dare to call home. I didn’t know how the hernia was treated. In the 1990s, except for the village committee, only the shop had a telephone. The telephone had to be called to the shop, and the shop owner had to tell the man in the house to answer it. I am sure I have no courage to do such a thing, let alone write letters. I have few acquaintances in Xi ‘an, and all communication with my family has been cut short. Over the years, When I’ve been alone, I’ve often thought, I don’t know what good I’ve done in my last life, but when the chips are down I can always meet somebody important. I have to mention the old cow when I go from stevedores to rebar workers.”
That day at xi ‘an railway station, Liu Gang met the old cow, and a little unsure of his own eyes. He wanted to ask the old cow to eat in the restaurant, the old cow how call also don’t go, finally they bought four bottles of ice peak in the railway station, carry to the provincial stadium. The old cow came to Xi ‘an before seared a few pot helmet, he took out the pot helmet, two people sat on the teeth to eat and drink, like fleeing famine.
According to the old cow said, the night of the accident forest farm was completely sealed off, seized 4 people, Lao Chen is the legal representative of the forest farm, fined 40,000, detained reform study for 4 months; The other three were each fined 5,000 and detained for seven days. They are not the only ones to suffer. Many small forest farms throughout the county have been shut down.
Everyone felt that Chen had carried the pot, after discussion, he decided to use the remaining 60,000 yuan in the forest farm account to pay a fine, and the remaining 5,000 yuan was also given to Chen’s wife. In this way, when the forest farm logging income, basically with interest on all handed over to the state. Draw water with a sieve.
“When I just ran away for a few days, the police stopped at our house for 24 hours. My wife was called to the village committee every day for questioning. At that time listen to old cow so say, feel oneself not calculate a man!” Liu gang recalled here, the speed of speech gradually slowed down, straight through the window of the eyes suddenly cast off a layer of interest.
“Didn’t the police station try to catch you again?” ‘I continued.
“Well, looking back on it, the whole thing was a breeze. The policy came down suddenly, without any warning, and many small forest farms were caught off guard. So many people were caught that there was no room in the county detention center. According to the policy provisions, excessive logging is classified as theft of state property, put in the past is to smash the socialist cauldron, is a typical public enemy of the people, to be sentenced to jail to wear. But at that time the county leadership a look, a county out so many ‘enemies of the people’, their serious dereliction of duty ah. So the county had to turn detention into a fine, and jail into a fine and three months. In the end, only a few of the forest farm owners who exceeded the limit were taken as a negative teaching tool.”
The policy was loosened up a bit on the top and loosened up a bit on the bottom, and within a month, the wind had blown over. When the police car drove away from Liu Gang’s house, the village committee didn’t make much of a fuss. Liu Gang was a complete fish out of the net.
“Ha ha, I will say old cow again.” Liu Gang threw the cigarette out of the window and held the steering wheel with both hands, straighting his upper body. “After the forest farm closed, the old cow had no place to go and no skills, so he followed his brother-in-law to dig treasures (robbing tombs) and almost entered the palace twice. Lao Niu had a former inmate who was from Sichuan, who was responsible for engineering. When he was released from prison, he left an address for Lao Niu, telling him that he could go to Xi ‘an to find him. As soon as the forest farm closed down, he was cornered, and reminded of this stubble, a find, the address is still in, holding the address decisively came to Xi ‘an. It’s a good thing I ran into him. But for him I’d have thought I was some important wanted man.”
5
On the first day, the old cow took Liu to the construction site and saw a picture of his fellow inmates on a bulletin board at the gate. The man had become the owner of a labor service company, and his name had been changed to Zhang Xiong.
“Tiger bear waist, fat very much, calculate half frank person, take me two to eat a meal of mutton bread in the soup, immediately arrange an two in the construction site when the small work.”
For this arrangement, old cow is grumbling. There was something in the old cow’s body that made him feel that if zhang Xiong could sit in an office, he would have to be given a job to direct people. He would be forced to work as a coolie, but he would not be regarded as a brother.
“This man, no matter how hard the friendship is, it is only friendship. Once it is related to interests, it is nothing. On the other hand, if you don’t have a diamond, you won’t be able to make porcelain for you. In the end, you will destroy others’ wares.” “Liu gang sighed.
An “enemy of the people” on the run
At that time, the construction site to pull the steel bar all by hand straightening, tower crane is not how to use, all by people lift. At first, rely on the past that layer of relations, the old cow all day on the construction site scold, steal crafty play slippery, then Zhang Xiong obviously alienated him, the old cow can not stand two months back home.
When the old cow left, Liu Gang continued to work as a laborer for more than two months. It was the twelfth lunar month, and people in a shed were waiting for their wages at the construction site. Zhang Xiong at that time did not flash face, the telephone did not open, dozens of people just do so waiting. In the early morning of the 23rd lunar month, when everyone was still sleeping, a few social gangsters broke into the shed with a man in tow.
The light in the room is dark, that person a long a short pain moan, a few bullies what also didn’t say, abandon a person to go out, everyone hurriedly surround past a look, unexpectedly is Zhang Qiang. He was covered with dirt, and his face was almost covered with blood, as if someone had just dug it out of a grave. Zhang Qiang is the Ben family of Zhang Xiong. It is said that he has not yet worn wufu. Usually on the construction site, some of these things, he said.
Liu was surprised by Zhang’s beating, but when he learned why zhang was beaten, he was scared into a cold sweat. “Can you imagine? It was Zhang Xiong who ordered zhang Qiang to be beaten, and it was at their door.”
Originally, Zhang Qiang has followed Zhang Xiong for several years, the two years from the hands of Zhang Xiong contracted over a number of small jobs, when their own recruiters when the small boss. Zhang Xiong was not the only one in charge of the project. In this way, Zhang Xiong became the boss of the labor service company instead of the former contractor.
When a project was finished, the developer gave the money to Zhang Xiong, who then gave it to the small bosses, who then gave it to the workers. A lot of intermediate links, wrangling things more. Developers put all the project money into the account of Zhang Xiong, Zhang Xiong this black heart, to the bottom of the small boss sent on the account of manipulation, Zhang Qiang that part also deducted a lot.
Zhang Qiang came to work are some of the relatives, the money is not enough to pay wages, can only dig out from their own pockets, but the gap is still very large, relatives every day blocked in zhang Qiang parents home noisy, Zhang Qiang cornered, got a gang of workers to Zhang Xiong home for help.
Only Zhang Qiang knew where Zhang Xiong lived. When he went there, Zhang Xiong was completely exposed. Angry, Zhang Xiong hired someone to drag Zhang Qiang to the Qinling Mountains, dug a pit, and buried half of his body in the earth for the whole night.
Perhaps there was too much noise. In the end, Zhang made up the money he owed to other small bosses in time, and the workers all got 70% of their wages. We have been very satisfied with getting the money to celebrate the Spring Festival. “I left on the 27th of December, that day Zhang Qiang was still lying in a shed. Before the workers left, someone bought Zhang Qiang steamed buns, some instant noodles, and some cigarettes. Before I left, I put 30 yuan in his hand. Zhang Qiang held the 30 yuan tightly and cried with his quilt over his head. I comforted him a few words, do not know what to say. Why, after all, we are not so good as an ant in a big city.”
6
After five months on the road, Liu gang is finally returning to the county town he first fled in a hurry. Less than half a year later, the flourishing deforestation scene of the county has become a memory of the past. The heavy trucks that used to shuttle through the mountains laden with wood have disappeared, leaving only dark ruts deep in the ground.
“I went back by bus on the way past the Badu Forest Farm. The farm was a state-owned enterprise, still in operation at the time, and I was saddened to see the thick piles of timber. I thought of my former partners. I ran away and left them with a mess. I could face them at home, especially Lao Chen.”
On the 27th of December, he wandered into his house at midnight. At 11 o ‘clock in the morning, someone knocked at the door, frightening Liu Gang. He thought the police station had come, but when he opened the door, he found it was Lao Chen.
Lao Chen lost a lot of weight and his eye socket collapsed into two holes. He said he just came out of the detention house half a month ago, after coming out xiao Jiang, Lao Xu are not with him, looking for a few times, see people do not like, did not go to look for. He knew that people complained that he had not cleared the relationship ahead of time, we worked hard for a year, the result of the last money did not get.
“This is not to blame Lao Chen, at that time the forest farm, the resources are many, we burn firewood all pick straight, but the resources are always exhausted one day. Even if the state did not punish us, the industry would not be able to survive for long. Making a living ahead of time is the right way.”
After Lao Chen was detained, the daughter-in-law took her son back to her mother’s house, and the father-in-law no longer kept company with him. The whole family treated him as a criminal. Mr. Chen used to ride a motorcycle, but when he came out, he used to ride a bicycle like that. Every day home cold pot cold stove, are going to the New Year, the house is still one of him.
“Mr. Chen left that night and I gave him 500 yuan, but he didn’t want it. I forced it on him. It’s not easy. When we are in trouble, we can help a little. Mr. Chen is a good man.” Before we knew it, we had been running for more than an hour on the path he had used to pull wood. I sat in the back seat and couldn’t see the expression on his face.
“After spring, my father wants me to stay home and feed the cows quietly and without any more trouble. But here’s a man, once it breaks out of the way, it’s hard to take it back, and I don’t want to go back.”
On the 16th day of the first lunar month, Liu Gang returned to the original construction site with Lao Chen and Lao Niu. It was from that year that the young men and women of the village went abroad one after another, to Xi ‘an, Yinchuan, Xining, and some to Beijing.
In 2001, Liu gang went out with five people, and in 2004 with 11. In 2008, he went back to Baoji to work on his own, following zhang Qiang’s old way.
In those years, the mood in the construction industry as a whole turned around and made a lot of money. In 2011, the industry went bad again. Labor companies withheld money from small bosses, and every year some small bosses committed suicide.
“With my savings from the past, I could almost pay the wages to the workers every year, but I could never get my share. At the end of every year, All I bought were old accounts from the previous year, and I became a cashier for the workers. The whole society cares about the wages of migrant workers. In fact, it is us small bosses who are the most difficult to live.
Finally, after more than two hours of turbulence, the car drove into a busy street. After passing a traffic light, Liu turned his car into a downtown street. He looked out the window and pointed to an office building in front of him. “Look, here we are,” he said to me deadpan. The labor service company is on the 21st floor. Today is my last chance. I won’t get any more money. This year I’ve wasted all my time.”
He pulls the car into the dingy garage, pulls out two soft hairs from the trunk, straightened his unruly hair against the window, and, after carefully checking out a white hair that flutters across his forehead, he drops a piece of gum into his mouth and beckons me to join him into the building that seems to be coming down.
Afterword.
That afternoon, Liu Gang and I went to the labor service company. At the time, the office building was almost empty, with only 21 floors of unusual noise going on.
Heavy smoke from cigarettes filled the floors with “No smoking” signs, and some even slept with their backs to the floor. Everyone’s face was worn out, with eyedroppings and yawns becoming common symbols.
After six hours of dispute, last year 200,000 arrears, Liu Gang finally tao back 190,000, the remaining 10,000 by the labor company in the name of “interest” to withhold away.
“Owe interest?” “I asked Liu Gang.
“It happens every year, and I have to pay him interest on my money. I have no place to reason. I have to take a job next year. I don’t want to be Wang Qiang.” Liu Gang sneers a few times, turns on the car radio, and his languid face flashes an occasional flash of relief.
Car lights ripped through the front layer of darkness, the occasional distant fireworks flashing in the haze. The latest local weather news came over the radio: “Due to the steady weather, the smog in the city and the counties will continue. Please get ready.”
(Note: The names of the characters in this article are pseudonyms.)
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