The small city longzhou (formerly known as Longxian) is located in the border of Shaanxi and Gansu. Historically, it was the place of Longxing of the Daqin Empire and the frontline of the Western Han Empire’s attack on Xiongnu. Zhaojun married xiongnu from here, and Zhang Qian visited the Western regions from here. Thousands of years later, this once known as the “Qin Capital Han Pass” has long faded from the horizon of historians. In February 2015, a CCTV news investigation program named “Longdong Marriage” brought Longzhou (near Longdong) back into the public eye. But this time, here is because of high bride price, marriage for sale, the plight of the survival of young people by the outside world…
1
The biggest temple fair in northwest China is held in Longzhou every Year on The second day of the second lunar month.
Zhao Yang, 25, took the earliest bus from Xi ‘an to Longzhou early in the morning on February 7. The purpose of his visit has nothing to do with the holiday. On the contrary, the festive atmosphere only makes him sentimental. About this time a year ago, Zhao Yang accomplished the first big thing in his life — he finally got married through blind dating. A year later, he decided to end the marriage before its first anniversary.
The bus from Xi ‘an to Longzhou runs six times a day, taking nearly four hours, and there are two trains, which take the same four hours, but 40 yuan less than the bus.
Most young workers in Xi ‘an would take the afternoon train home, but Zhao Yang chose the earliest and most expensive bus this time. He left at six o ‘clock in the morning with only his wallet containing his ID card. His hair was a mess, and in order to make time, he called for two motorbikes.
“Master, listen to me. Take the path. We need to catch the first train.” Zhao Yang sat on the back of his motorcycle and pointed to the streets he knew well.
“In the last 12 months of the year before last, these little streets were full of traffic.” The “year before last” in Zhao Yang’s mouth was the first year he returned to Longzhou from Suzhou.
2
For the young people of Longzhou, Suzhou is probably the most familiar southern city.
Every spring, led by the government, many electronics factories in Suzhou will rush to Longzhou to recruit workers. Through a simple visit and publicity, almost all of them can “get a full return”. In this way, many young people in Longzhou take their first steps from the countryside to the city, and so does Zhao Yang.
“If I can’t get into high school, I will go to Suzhou to work.
The reason why Longzhou is able to send a stable number of young labor force to factories in Suzhou every year is largely related to the educational status of longzhou in that year.
Before 2007, there was only one high school in Longzhou, but there were as many as seven middle schools in the whole county. In 2008, for example, there were more than 6,000 junior high school graduates in the county, but the number of high school students admitted was less than 800, which meant that only one of the six senior high school graduates could enter the gate of the high school. So for a long time, longzhou area spread such a saying: “the examination of high school is more difficult than the examination of university.”
The turning point occurred in 2007, this year began to recruit students in longzhou No.2 Senior high school, look up the longzhou year examination admission score line, you can clearly find that the high school examination score line appeared a precipitous drop — actually decreased by a full 90 points than the previous year.
Zhao Yang took the high school entrance exam in 2006, and he still vividly remembers the 480 marks he scored that year. In his mind, that year, suzhou electronics factory recruitment information almost with the summer came to the mountain town of Longzhou.
“The high school entrance examination ended at the end of June, and on the second day after the examination, someone came to the village to hand out leaflets. These people set up stalls in the village with loudspeakers, and people came to the village to mobilize, just like the household registration, the door is clear.
“The university must have a connection with these recruiters, and there may be some cooperation between them.” This is Zhao Yang’s guess. According to his memory, there were four people in the village who left Longzhou for Suzhou with him that summer, and there were seven people in the village who took the high school entrance examination that year, two of whom were on the list.
“The life is not good, early reincarnated a year, to wait for a year more is a high school student, and you may still be a college student.” Zhao Yang jumped from the motorcycle taxi, carelessly finished the sentence, and began to haggle with the two motorcycle taxi drivers, after a war of words, and eventually cut from 20 yuan to 15 yuan. “Money isn’t worth anything these days.”
3
The earliest bus from Xi ‘an to Longzhou was at seven in the morning, and on weekends there were more passengers than usual in the waiting room. Longzhou accent accounted for more than half of the hustle and bustle, while the square of Xi ‘an Railway station, a block away, saw migrant workers scattered at the foot of the city wall.
The day of the old city had just begun when pigeons flew over the square, the morning light slanted from the east and lounged against the battlements. Zhao Yang shuttled through the crowd, greeting some familiar faces from time to time.
In the summer of 2007, he also bought a ticket from this window to take a bus to Suzhou, “the conductor did not change people, or she! Zhao said. It was the first time in his life that he had taken a coach from Xi ‘an directly to the Suzhou bus station, where a bus sent by the factory would transfer them to their place of work.
As long as 40 hours of turbulence, when Zhao Yang stepped firmly on the foreign land, in front of him were pieces of factories. “There are too many. It’s like a big shack, one house after another.”
Such a scene did not appear in Zhao Yang’s 18 years of life before, “When I saw so many factories, I forgot all about the high school entrance examination and thought about what else to study. I am sure there will be a lot of work here. After working in the camp for a few years, I will completely peel off the farmers’ skin and become a city dweller!
Most of the people who arrived in Suzhou with Zhao Yang were junior high school graduates from the surrounding counties of Fengxiang, Qianyang and Weinan. We were divided into different factories, began to produce electronic watches in the majority, and later to produce machine parts, mobile phone protection film mainly.
“You wear the same clothes, you wear gloves, and you sit for eight hours. For the first few months it was fresh. I didn’t feel tired. It was easier than farming at least. Zhao Yang pointed to his head with his finger and described the feeling at that time. The mouth of Nuu said that his brain was like a basin of water shaking.
This is all arranged by my mother, whether it works or not, 20 yuan a visit. This is all arranged by my mother, whether it works or not, 20 yuan a visit.
“Every month to go to work the most agitated time, should pay the salary, the salary once, and not bored, and so on again vexed time, the salary came again. Money is such a powerful thing that it can bind people in one place.”
Since then, Zhao Yang’s youth has been completely tied to the factory and workshop together, he spent most of the year in Suzhou, only every two years to find time to return to his hometown. “No. Save a little money love to fantasize, then think can not buy a house in Suzhou to stay. As soon as people have their own small goals, they see less. I just keep my eyes on the money and hurry to work to save for a down payment.”
It took Zhao Yang only four years to move from an operator on the initial assembly line to a production monitor, and from a production monitor to a workshop supervisor. During this period, his salary more than doubled from the initial base salary. But after the 2008 Olympics, the growth of Suzhou’s housing prices began to outperform Zhao’s promotion.
‘More and more desperate! Zhao Yang used the phrase to describe the years he spent in Suzhou saving money for a down payment. “I can’t help it. It’s skyrocketing. I can’t afford not to eat or drink for a month.”
In 2009, he also had a girlfriend, a southerner, who asked for only a marriage flat instead of a bride price, but later split the money. “You can’t even give me a roof over your head, and you have no face to continue talking to people, but you have no confidence. Say not to love, how possibility? But love cannot be said by mouth alone. To be honest, if you don’t have a large purse, you can’t even make up your mind about who you want to marry.”
With no hope of buying a house and his love ruined, Zhao Yang ended his first-payment plan in 2012. He sent all his savings to his hometown and decided to send back half of his monthly salary on time. “I send it back to my parents to save for their retirement and then renovate the old house. TV always calls youth, who has not a little youth? The dogs have eaten all my youth.”
4
The whole journey from Xi ‘an to Longzhou is 250 kilometers. After leaving the city, the bus will first take lianhuo Expressway and then turn into Baohan Expressway. It takes only three and a half hours at the earliest.
Zhao Yang insists that the reason why he had to “accomplish” his marriage tragedy today is, in the final analysis, related to his return to his hometown two years ago because of “coercion and inducement”.
“Did not plan to come back at all, in Suzhou a person very good, but the don with death force, do not come back?” Zhao Yang’s tone was accusatory.
Two brothers in Zhao Yang’s home, the younger brother is two years younger than him, such family structure, according to the traditional concept of longzhou region measurement, is undoubtedly perfect. But after 2010, the “perfect family structure” was a common headache.
Longzhou, a mountainous county with a population of no more than 238,000, has been on the national poverty list for years. But make longzhou people did not think of is, eventually let most of their families completely into economic despair, actually is the offspring of the marriage, to be exact, is a year of crazy gift money.
In 2008, the average price of dowry in Longzhou rose to 50,000 yuan, in 2009 to 60,000 yuan, in 2011 to 75,000 yuan, and from 2012, the annual increase has been fixed at 20,000 yuan. This is only in the sichuan region around the county, and the figure in remote mountainous areas is even more striking. “This does not include the expenses of catering and buying three gold pieces, plus the renovation of the house. Without more than 200,000 yuan, a wife cannot get in the house at all.”
Zhao Yang was 22 years old in 2014 when, according to his account, he had not even considered buying a razor when the life-changing event of getting married fell on his head.
“I remember at the end of the year dad called me and asked if he could come home and show me his wife, and he was shocked and didn’t think it had anything to do with him and didn’t care. In the spring of the second year, I went back home and stayed there for half a month. Basically, every day there was a matchmaker going home and taking an inch of photos of all kinds of girls for me to see. Afterwards just know, this is my mother spends money to arrange, no matter be not successful, see 20 dollars a time. Only then did I realize that marriage really had something to do with me, a great deal! ‘
However, the family plan did not allow Zhao Yang to marry at the age of 21, he immediately returned to Suzhou, thinking that he had escaped from the battlefield, in fact, the reality of this war has only just begun.
In the winter of 2014, the bride price in Longzhou reached a record high. Even in the plain and Sichuan areas, the number soared to 140,000. In the same year, under the encouragement of the policy led by the Government of Longzhou, a large number of farmers in mountainous areas flooded into the county with new household registration cards and government subsidies for house purchases. Since then, in addition to the bride price, the building (bridal chamber) has become another chip. Relying on wages zhao Yang kept sending back, the family had spent a year renovating their three-room brick house, hoping to gain an advantage over their son on blind dates. But by the winter of 2014, zhao’s brick house was as light as a feather on the scale of matchmaking, which meant that zhao would have to build a new house or buy one in the county town if he wanted to continue the matchmaking.
“In the last month of that month, my dad called every three or four days. At first he asked about me, but at last he asked me when I would be back. I could hear his impatience. How much can a person earn a year? The bride price goes up is 20 thousand, put who who is not urgent? And the point is my brother. What did the girl say? He who marries into the family of his two sons will not be able to divide his fortune. You see, there’s nothing to it. It’s all about his family’s money. I can’t help it. Who makes girls scarce? You don’t have to always have someone. What did the matchmaker say? Blind date is to give the girl once weighed, one catty ten thousand!”
In Zhao Yang’s opinion, “all this is caused by family planning”.
“Our generation was born just at the time when the family planning policy was most tight. Many people were fined and had their babies sterilized. Many people gave them away as soon as they saw they were girls, or had them put into a cesspar. When this group of people grow up, it is time to marry a daughter-in-law, less female dolls, not high bride price strange? Don’t look at marriage, and the market is the same!”
“The betrothal gift is high, the girl is few, 19 years old marriage marries the person’s numerous in, does not get the marriage certificate, after a few years and so on had the child, the marriage certificate and the birth permit a piece of get. All are forced, the girl’s family also do not want to sell their daughter, but the family has a daughter will generally have a young son, married a daughter, to use the bride price to marry his son daughter-in-law, no one can keep the money. Back and forth from house to house, back and forth, money is busier than men!”
5
At 11:30 at noon, zhao Yang and I finally arrived in longzhou county by bus. On the Loess Plateau in the second month of the lunar calendar, the air is fresh and the sun is bright. The sea blue sky looks somewhat distorted. In the distance, the rolling peaks of Guanshan mountain are covered with a faint layer of snow. Out of the bus station, Zhao Yang did not go home, but along the North pass road toward the hinterland of the county.
“Make an appointment to meet at the door of the civil affairs bureau, there is still more than an hour, please eat a bowl of mutton bread in the soup, time is about the same. Zhao Yang took me into the mutton restaurant opposite the hospital, and took advantage of the opportunity to look around, then lowered his voice, “See? Most of the boys and girls who came to the mutton restaurant for dinner were on blind dates, and the one sitting next to them was the matchmaker.”
According to the old marriage custom in Longzhou area, the man and the woman have a series of complicated ritual procedures before getting married, quite a legacy of the ancient “six rites”. However, since 2008, with the increase of the bride price, the marriage custom in Longzhou, like a tractor suddenly on the high-speed, blind date also entered the “speed match” mode.
In the winter of 2015, Zhao Yang officially left Suzhou and returned to his hometown.
“I will be back before December. Twelfth Lunar month is the peak season for blind date, out of the girls have been back, plus has been in the local. Every November, the matchmaker sets the date schedule for the twelfth lunar month. If you wait until the twelfth lunar month to come back, you’ll have leftovers to eat.”
Zhao Yang called the matchmaker in charge of matchmaking “earth intermediary”. “A matchmaker is actually an intermediary. In the past, when the bride was said to be a bride, the host family would give thanks to the matchmaker, usually a pig’s head, a bottle of wine, a quilt cover and a pair of shoes. Not now. I have to pay. The matchmaker introduces a girl to the matchmaker, and the husband’s family gives the matchmaker 200 yuan. If the marriage is agreed, not only should the matchmaker be paid the same amount as before, but also another 3,000 yuan. In our village, a man used to be a cattle dealer, but now he no longer sells cattle. He is a matchmaker and earns at least 20,000 yuan a winter.” Zhao Yang stretched out two fingers and dotted them on the table.
I could not see her expression, only the girl’s eyes were hiding in the daylight. I could not see her expression, only the girl’s eyes were hiding in the daylight.
In the first 12 months after Zhao Yang returned to his hometown, he met 13 girls under the guidance of a matchmaker, all of whom failed. “No education, no formal job, two sons, but only one apartment, that’s the key. Listen to me this condition, are not willing to. The offer was humiliating, and I didn’t want it. I was furious. As soon as the third day of the first lunar month passed, I went to Xi ‘an to work.”
When he arrived in Xi ‘an, Zhao Yang successfully entered a factory, and with his past experience, he got a supervisor’s job. Even so, he could only get two-thirds of the salary he got in Suzhou. This is the first time That Zhao Yang had doubts about his decision to return home, but he soon found that he could not go back to Suzhou. After Zhao Yang blind date fails two months, in order to let the son get married as soon as possible, Zhao jia borrowed money in the name of the son in longzhou county to buy a private building, there is no real estate certificate, the price is cheaper than commercial housing nearly half. This year’s National Day, Zhao home official new house, In November, Zhao Yang blind date success.
“She and I met at this mutton restaurant. The matchmaker brought us here, a bread in the soup, it was decided, and still is. She is not tall and used to work in Suzhou just like me. Her eyes and eyebrows are a little like her ex-girlfriend. Perhaps because of similar experiences, I accepted her in my heart, and the sight of her reminded me of my old days in Suzhou.” Zhao Yang still remembers the scene two years ago.
From that bread in the soup, zhao’s family devoted themselves to the preparation of their son’s marriage. Zhao Yang was almost bound into the marriage hall. In his opinion, everything was like an arrow drawn from the bow, and there was no chance to stop.
On the 23rd day of the 11th lunar month, the wedding took place as scheduled, which lasted 49 days from the date to the wedding. On that day, zhao’s family held four weddings in the village. Zhao Yang kept quiet about the wedding, saying only, “With the house, the total cost is 300,000 yuan less. The wife married in the door, the bottom of the house was emptied.”
6
Longzhou lamb bread in the soup is famous, but zhao Yang seems to have no appetite, just smoking. He took a piece of paper out of his jacket pocket, unfolded it, and handed it to me. “Look, Divorce Settlement,” he said. “I wrote it exactly as the family wanted me to write it.
Zhao Yang’s wife, surnamed Wang, 21, went to Xi ‘an to work with him a month after they got married. In fact, in Longzhou, all the young people like Zhao Yang start another way to pay off their debts after the wedding. The young couple can earn as much as 7,000 yuan a month in Xi ‘an and have accumulated debts totaling 190,000 yuan. The passion of newlyweds faded, and only endless whining and complaining came to the tide.
Finally, the conflict broke out 11 months after the wedding.
“She had kidney stones and never told me about them. That time suddenly say stomach ache, arrive a hospital check, have kidney stone not only, still have urine stone, still have all sorts of other small trouble. At that time I was a little unhappy, why did you hide it from me at first? Hospitalization cost in Xi ‘an is not a little, I want to transfer back to the county, at least there are more medical insurance reimbursement, she also agreed. But her father said no, must be in Xi ‘an to rule, that rule, I went to find my father-in-law to borrow money, the result was directly scolded back.
Half a month later, Zhao Yang’s wife recovered and was about to leave the hospital. Before leaving the hospital, they did a general physical examination. “My mother suggested it. She was in such a hurry to have a grandchild that we kept quiet. Actually just be in hospital she checked, I did not check, I asked the doctor to be pregnant of matter, who knows the doctor saw physical examination sheet, suspect her to have no fertility however. I was so confused that To be safe, I arranged for her to have another gynecological examination. The doctor told me that her chances of conceiving were very low. I feel like the sky is falling. Well, she knows all about it, and her family knows about it…”
It was on the fifteenth day of the twelfth month that the news reached the Zhao family that their daughter-in-law was incapable of pregnancy. The next day, the two families sat together, during which the woman’s father’s outrageous remarks made a direct opening in the marriage.
“My mother asked him to marry a daughter before dawn dont know the daughter of these circumstances, he said to know, blame the ans had not asked, my mother on the spot gas faint. She’s tired and I’m tired. It’s all drained.”
On the twenty-eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, Zhao Yang cried bitterly all the way back to his mother’s home.
According to the “rules” developed in Longzhou in recent years, in The case of Zhao Yang, after a divorce, the woman should return part of the bride price to the man, with an unspecified amount. Through matchmaker mediation, the wife’s parents only promised to return to zhao ten thousand yuan. “The mute must feed himself. In the end, the man is gone and the money is gone. If I take another wife, I’ll be married for the second time, but I’m only 25.”
Afterword.
Zhao Yang didn’t finish his bread in the soup at noon that day.
Approaching a little, we came to the door of Longzhou Civil Affairs Bureau, at that time there were many people waiting in line, some divorced, some to register marriage. The girl and the matchmaker arrived on time. She was wearing an overcoat, a one-shouldered bag and a mask. I could not see her expression clearly, but saw the girl’s eyes evasive in the daylight.
The girl, the matchmaker and Zhao Yang all walked into the door of the civil Affairs Bureau. The matchmaker stood among them. After less than an hour, Zhao Yang came out alone and showed me the divorce certificate in his hand.
“And she?” I asked.
“Gone.” Zhao Yang took out a cigarette to light up, squatted on the side of the road, finished a cigarette, continue to ask me: “know what she did?” I crouched down beside him in silence. After more than ten seconds, he spit out a new smoke, put the lighter thrown on the ground, “probably again blind date.”
(All names in the article are pseudonyms)
Recent Comments