Watching a news, many people may not know that there is such a large group of locals in Shanghai, living in such an environment, for example, 5 square meters of room to live in, but also add a toilet into it.
Most of us foreigners in Shanghai generally think that Shanghai locals families are particularly rich, even if some earning power is not strong, at least there are houses, at least a few million assets ah!
Until once in KFC bored and a local Shanghai uncle chat, he said his own name is no room, living in his mother-in-law’s house, even the shower room is not, so I feel quite surprised.
Then I want to ask, Shanghai local families, the poorest in the end how poor?
They have seen how rich Life is
The reality of how they feel about their poverty
This is a burning, resentful but can not escape the dilemma
One
Indigenous people who missed a ride
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My aunt’s Family has roughly a little competition.
A family of six people living in South Shaanxi Road, after the youth returned to the city to take care of the public housing, using an area of 32.27 square meters, the overall pentagonal shape, the middle of the partition into two areas, the son of a family of three live half, the old two with their old mother live half. This suite corresponds to the school district is particularly bullish, the market price of six figures per square meter, but the egg, this is public property, but also to pay rent to the Housing Authority.
His family returned to Shanghai in the early eighties, after which they all worked in a piece of South Shaanxi Road, Changle Road. My aunt’s father was in the grain station, and my aunt moved around a few places as a salesman, which were good jobs back then. In the early nineties, another elder member of the family returned to Shanghai in the early eighties.
In the early 1990s, another elder in the family retired to Shanghai and bought a house in Pudong, so my aunt started to feel excited again. At that Time, Shanghai had a preferential relocation policy, so if you moved to Zhoujiadu, where your relatives lived, you could buy a two-bedroom house of 60 square meters for 20,000 yuan. At that time, it was easy to apply for a housing loan, but my aunt was afraid to deal with the bank, so she just wrote to her relatives in her mother’s family to inform them, and they were all very supportive. My mother, who was earning $38 a month at the time, also sent $150 as a token of appreciation after learning that she wanted to change her house.
The actual fact is that you will be able to get a lot more than just a few of these. The aunt’s character is weak, think of her son just started elementary school, the school is one of the best in Shanghai – gritted her teeth and gave up the plan, intend to put up with in the pavilion again, put up with until her son graduated from junior high school. After all, the new house you’re looking at is in Pudong, and decent people who would buy a house in Pudong!
However, did not wait until his son went to junior high school, Pudong was built into the new Century Avenue, the iron rice bowl of the Food system is shaken, and eventually tragically abolished. The original thought of relying on the son to turn over the plate, but the son “not unexpectedly” inherited my family’s general male trait of incompetence, Parents smashed into the old capital to barely send a nondescript high school, three years later is to continue to the west, the examination to a college in Qingpu, escaped the pavilion.
After the new century, old salesmen like them were no longer in demand in the department store industry and were immediately sent Home by the retirement policy once they reached the age. Auntie and her husband were following the call when they were young, never got any diploma, after middle age have been worried about the house worried about the day, re-employment is very difficult, even so auntie does not want to be at home to aunt dad, rather to go to work as a waiter, only to come back at night to wash and sleep. Aunt father every day at home to guard the old mother, they are impatient, but the son wife are not in, can only be hard to serve tea and water.
The son returned home after graduation and barely managed to get a small ant job in a marginal agency through connections. The aunt still works outside and only comes back at night. At that time, smart phones had not yet developed, and the three of them often glared at each other at home, killing the boredom of life by picking fights. (I have been to his house once in the booth, the computer placed in a small space played by the wood under the stairs. At that time, the popular webcam online dating, grandson a webcam, grandmother or father will certainly come to the back to show her loose white/floral undershirt) After two or three years of such a life son finally could not stand it, ran to the unit next to their own rented a room, also began to talk about girlfriend.
But the salary is meager, less than six months later, he was forced to ask his mother for help. The aunt ran to see her son, the son began to talk about friends this thing showed great relief, and promised to pay his rent, but the aunt father did not agree, the aunt father insisted that the family should be neat and tidy, not to mention the grandmother still needs to be taken care of …… but no one cared about him, the aunt also moved into the store’s group quarters, simply only on weekends to go home.
After the separation of this family rare peace of mind for two or three years, but the good times do not last long, aunt in the workplace coincidentally meet relatives, relatives to her working in the hot pot store to the mother’s family, the mother’s family collective anger, door to door to question the aunt father; on the other hand pavilion between the Nth possible demolition, the son took advantage of this wave of rumors and girlfriend received a license. Because of the happy event, relatives did not question the aunt father and son too much, but only warned, in addition to painstakingly persuade the aunt not to work hard anymore, the mother’s family will guarantee her living expenses, leaving money and left.
Probably because he was nearing 30, the son was quite overzealous in lassoing his girlfriend, and the two were actually married in Marriage. The child was soon born, but the demolition was lost. Not only was there no shadow, but they were finally hit with the stamp of a protected area. By the time the young couple plus the newborn were also forced to squeeze into this cramped pavilion room, the aunt and grandmother chose to wind down for the sake of their grandson, but the young couple both began to complain incessantly, the new daughter-in-law complaining about her son’s fraudulent marriage, and the son insulting his parents for their incompetence, asking them to pay for their family of three to go out and rent a room again.
But this is already 2014, to the aunt and uncle’s retired salary, how can not have spare money to support the young couple with children to go out to rent a room. The family was suffocated in the booth, living every day like 44 years of IJN. after a period of time the aunt could not stand it and slipped out of the house again to work in a hot pot restaurant, but by this time she was almost seventy years old, the boss did not dare to use her as a waitress, and only after a good deal of persuasion let her do a side dish in the back kitchen. After she found a job, she didn’t care much about her family. Her daughter-in-law had never seen this situation before and didn’t know about it, but her son was immediately moved to ask her again to pay for them to rent a room. The aunt considered the elderly people’s health has begun to be bad, the original unit is also gone (this situation employee health insurance cycle is long, really something can not be relied on), they refused the son’s request, said straight to save money for old age ……
The son was furious, missed work and ran to his sister-in-law, whom he had never met, to complain about his mother, with a snotty nose and a tear, asking for money ……
His sister-in-law is also my grandmother heard the whole person is not good, with sisters, daughters and granddaughters kill to Shanghai. The relative who went to his aunt’s house to question him before was quite old and probably had a high tolerance, but once we arrived at his house the whole thing was shocking, we already knew it was a small “united household” pavilion room, but did not know it could live like this. All the appearance of the house is almost no different from when we first moved in in the 1980s, cooking and going out to the toilet by spittoon, no air conditioning, only folding fans and small window units.
My son, who was not a success, soon divorced his wife and decided to give the child to the man after shifting responsibilities between them. Before I went to Shanghai when I reluctantly walked a relative, see others asked the child: “last week your mother took you out with who, is the second father or third father”.
…… on, well.
Indigenous poor 95% because of hitchhiking mistakes, in their family is particularly evident.
This is also the time to say the importance of face value: the
Aunt grew up although has been constantly responding to the call, but never suffered as much as her older siblings, why, because the growth is particularly lovely. Not a big beauty, is particularly endearing cute, using the star example is probably Anda Yusumi kind of look ……
Her several sisters are first to Xinjiang or Heilongjiang to repair the earth, a hundred fights to barely part-time to do a child king to teach; and aunt insertion never planted a day, directly into the supply agency to do sales clerk; back to the city did not run a few trips did not beg people, in order to house to find someone to marry, immediately a large number of single dogs came up to her to pick (at that time has been 30 +). When she was in her fifties, she was still beautiful, and if her son hadn’t repeatedly made it later, she might still be as cute as she is in the photos.
The old couple eventually chose to divorce a few years after their mother’s family killed them in Shanghai, and the aunt politely declined her siblings’ invitation to live together and lived alone in a suburban retirement home, where the days suddenly became sunny and cheerful.
Here’s the pre-history.
Aunt Dad’s mother and grandmother were “Yangzhou Mum” in the twenties and thirties, my grandmother told me the gossip, why they opposed the aunt married over, one of the reasons is that they simply do not recognize Aunt Dad the “Shanghai youth”, it is said that before the liberation of his family did not have their own place to live, are living in the master’s house, after the liberation of the use of nannies became “Shandong cadres”, the family lived in a small dormitory provided by the unit, school to live in the school dormitory, has been living in the dormitory without a home, not considered a serious rules of Shanghai people.
This narrative should have water, but the water is estimated not much …… so in a sense I think this is also the deep reason why the aunt’s family died to return to Shanghai completely in the eighties, and definitely not to Pudong in the nineties, after the son got married, also bite the bullet that no one can leave Shanghai.
II
Anxious, resentful but inescapable dilemma
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It should be like me. My father is a local and my mother is a migrant worker, both of them are semi-literate.
I grew up living with my parents in a 40 sq. ft. house, and still don’t have my own room at the age of 26. I want to move out, but can’t afford the rent.
The family has no savings, all taken by the sick and weak father to medical care.
I went to kindergarten, the poorest time in the family, could not afford to pay tuition, was asked by the teacher to debt to the family. Because never seen an orange, in kindergarten, all the children will peel the orange, only I, directly chew.
When I got dirty while wearing new clothes, my first reaction was to cry out of heartache.
From elementary school to high school, I applied for grants every year, and I didn’t want my classmates to know, so I had to quietly go to the teacher’s office to fill out the information.
Every year, the spring and autumn trips, all find excuses not to go, just to save that little activity fee and buy snacks money. To parents are claiming that they do not like to go out to play. I have never been to an amusement park with my parents, because I don’t want to see my parents hurt about the tickets and the money for eating out.
I’ve never been embarrassed to ask for what I want, and I’ve never celebrated my birthday because buying a cake and preparing a table of good food would add pressure to my parents. Also embarrassed to say that they want to take interest classes, although love the violin, but not once revealed.
I finally couldn’t resist opening up to my parents, but as I expected, I didn’t get to go. The place was given to another student, and I never said hello to her again because I felt I had lost to him.
After working, in each month’s salary, 80% are saved, friends ask me why I am so frugal, because I want to save myself a dowry. There is no way to rely on the family. Like things, usually put in the shopping cart, a long time, can not reach the psychological price, and finally deleted.
At my age, 26, 27 years old, friends around me are married and have children. I’ve been on a blind date, and I’m very self-conscious when it comes to picking a blind date, so I won’t pick one that crosses the class, I’m moderately good in appearance, so I’m usually not rejected, but after I understand my family’s conditions, few are enthusiastic about me.
When I was young, I didn’t know what the gap was, but now when my friends around me chat, they are changing houses, buying cars, and Shanghai license plates, I finally understand my own nothing. Sometimes really envious, they can rely on their parents behind, but I have to rely on their own. And, over time, friends will find you out of place, and gradually, less and less to see each other.
Recently, my parents are getting a divorce, and the little house I’ve owned for 26 years is finally going to stop belonging to me. The only thing I’m thankful for is that I’ve saved some money over the years I’ve been working, so maybe I can buy it down.
To be honest, my current salary, if I don’t consider my family, is enough to allow the frugal me to live a relatively easy life. But my poverty is not only material monetary, my spirit, my self-esteem, my passion for life, are extremely poor.
It’s impossible to say that I don’t have any grievances against my parents, and I hope that people who don’t have enough financial means don’t raise a child. But I should not complain about my parents either. They have given me the best they could, left me the good food first, and insisted on buying me new clothes every New Year’s Eve for me to finish college.
It is impossible for one person to be 100% understanding of another person’s feelings. So the subject, I hope my answer can help you understand some of the poor Shanghai natives, which is a burning, resentful but can not escape the dilemma. You do not have a rich life, nor a rich spiritual world, no extensive interpersonal contacts, nor the courage to go out and fight.
This is what I, a 26-year-old Shanghai native girl, grew up with a deep-rooted understanding of poverty.
Three
The heartache of the old alleyways
Our family was so poor that I had to go to Zhihu to answer questions about inheritance. Lawyers consult for 200 an hour, and only read the legal terms with you.
When I was a child, our family lived in Huaihai Road here, 20 square meters of the house lived five people, I was sleeping on the sofa, there is no bathroom, in the sunbed, yes, not the balcony, is the sunbed, is a building of people common, built a bath, and then our family built, the whole building together, calculate ah, a building four floors, each floor a family, each household an average of three people, a building minimum number of 12 people. More than 10 people to line up, the summer bath next to each other, the children are naked buttocks on the sunbed open-air washing. I bathed in the open air until I was 10 years old, privacy or something, no, survival is the most important. Summer is actually okay, winter is poor, can not be washed, leaking on all sides, no water heater, all by boiling water to add a bucket, winter in the room to get a plastic bag like a cover, water boiled and poured into a large wooden pot, gas stove in a pot of water, used to add in the cold.
Once a month in winter, the conditions are too poor, the bath is too tired. My family will also buy new clothes for me to wear during the Spring Festival, I remember when I was studying to buy a down jacket from Bausch + Lomb, big red. Now this brand is still there? Anyway, the previous buy felt very hi-way, the brand name. Several hundred dollars, I a refugee in Rwanda to buy the l size, why? Because then I can wear it year after year, the first year of wear when the hand is shrunken in the sleeve tube. The clothes wobbled on the body, as with the Taoist robe, once, the teacher said my collar has been oily, I did not wash a winter, because we do not have a washing machine, winter washing is too tired, and say down jacket washed is not warm, I also do not want to wash.
What is the happiest time on Huaihai Road? It’s the National Day, with all the lights and decorations, all the kids come out, everyone buys an inflatable hammer and plays on the street, the inflatable hammer pinches up and makes the sound of drums and drums, it’s a lot of fun. Then see a person knocking a person, knocking people’s heads, a hammer down, people are knocked seven, but happy, ah, we are the hammer gang. I do not have, buy buy I do not want to, I asked other children to borrow, then people also want to play ah, I have been looking for excuses to cheat her hand hammer, a hammer seems to leak, I help you see, a hammer is too heavy you hold it, can not hold I come to help you take, hold in the hands of touching I am also happy.
There is no air conditioning at home in the summer, this time, the 90s? Rich already have air conditioning, air conditioning 8000 a, Nissan, our family can not afford to buy, buy can not afford to use, hot how to do, take a recliner at night in the alcove to blow the wind to sleep.
The old house especially in the summer are not closed, one night I was watching TV, and then someone sneaked into the room, I do not know, took a bag, there is no cell phone ah Alipay ah credit card ah bank card ah, wages are cash on the body, a month of wages were stolen, anxious our family sat on the floor crying. Later a month every day white water white buns, by the way, our family was poor, my parents were laid off, a month of layoff wages together 500, would have eaten is fried cabbage every day, or winter melon tomato Soup, rarely eat meat, so as a child I thin ah, just like Rwanda refugees, no oil and water, crayfish eat the most, that time cheap ah, which is like the rich people now eat, no one wants to eat before The poor are the special food, counting seafood it, our family has been buying, when the meat dishes to eat.
When I was a child, I did not participate in the spring and autumn trips, although the money paid is not much, but to buy things, I can not just bring a steamed bun without snacks ah, when the students gave you to eat you do not have snacks to eat for the students, people want to open bad behind you, so do not go to the best. We wore school uniforms every day when we were studying, this is quite good, their own clothes do not have to buy, save money very, and then grew up, my school uniform is my mother in wear.
The old New Year’s Eve, needless to say, the old Shanghai also know, thick very, year thirty-six points to start the firecrackers, 12 o’clock the sound of firecrackers can scare the children bawling, talk about the present it. Now the New Year, for many rich Shanghainese speaking, is when the holiday, used to sleep, used to travel abroad, in fact, for us poor people, even if the 2020 year, still have the taste of New Year. Why? Because we poor people still look forward to the New Year, if you want, on New Year’s Eve, you can go to Shanghai’s Shikumen ah, shantytowns ah walk to see those communal kitchens are crowded with people, burning the evening dishes, this day, we are not in the chirping dog, talking about the length of the family, your food to me, my food to you, we taste together. We still prepare dishes for New Year’s Eve.
Buy a section of eel incense, hanging in the window, sometimes up in the morning to find a piece of the cat chewed off, angry, no way, to ventilate and blow ah, blowing dry, although the meat is expensive, New Year’s Eve will still buy, do soy sauce meat to eat, the window hung several pieces of meat, our family also do egg dumplings, rich people are now not happy to get, either the restaurant to order a table. Either semi-finished products sent to a burn, we poor people actually still take the New Year quite seriously, many dishes usually do not eat much, our family usually eat the most is the chowder, is the vermicelli ah, yellow sprouts ah, chicken leg mushrooms ah fish ball ah, tribute balls ah and so on, put together, a pot of soup, a dish is a meal, so cheaper, there are meat and vegetables and soup it. The Chinese New Year also wrapped spring rolls, there are fish and meat and jellyfish, but also buy some shrimp to eat, you have eaten tired of the taste of things I still rare to eat to eat, eat with pleasure.
I sometimes have a craving for food, and I bring my own food to work. Mouth greedy I will exhaust the red envelope, calculate a calculation, hungry on the call a spicy hot, the final check 5 yuan, feel earned a billion.
Shanghai’s first KFC opened on the Bund, I went to eat, my mom and dad took me, a round table top, sitting eight children, are children eating, mom and dad looking at the side. I didn’t want to eat, I later bit the bones and ate them, I didn’t want to spit them out, it’s really expensive. Once, the fourth floor of the collar residence bought McDonald’s fries, gave me to eat a few, a few I contained in my mouth not to swallow, this is the best fries I have ever eaten, no one.
Later there moved, the family took 140,000, the year of 140,000 can actually buy a house, buy a good it, a one-room household can buy two sets, two rooms can be fully paid for a set of high-end commercial housing can be 0 down payment n sets, but our family did not buy, because poor ah, poor people do not have vision, poor people get 140,000 want to double the day better ah, is doubled, buy stocks, but unfortunately, the house has doubled ten times. So 140,000 doubled down into a house can not afford to buy. Our family is also poor, the house also did not, when the equivalent of 1.4 million now 140,000, in the present is also a grocery car value.
Later on, we can only rent a house, rent the right to use the broken house, are doing cleaning foreigners rented, 400 yuan a month, pouring the toilet. Later, the family’s relatives look at us poorly, gave a set of house to us not to wait for the demolition of the house to live, but also do not charge rent, because the house is too broken, rent out a thousand dollars, rich people do not see a thousand dollars, in Linyi Road there, the kitchen and bathroom is common, the room is only 30 square meters, at least I counted a bed to sleep, sleep on the balcony.
Every day cooking, to be crowded together, and hot and stuffy are fumes, we are poor, inevitably to chirp dog, what you use my home soy sauce la, what my oil how less la. The bathroom? Only people with cleaning will not feel the common who did who suffered, the poor are very low points of concern.
Anyway, it is the house can not afford to buy a lifetime, applied for affordable housing, but our family is too poor, the monthly income of three people only 10,000, in fact, three people can apply for two rooms and a hall, because no money, even if the affordable housing two rooms and a hall can not afford to buy, so I will use my name to apply for a room and a hall, can be cheaper, repayment pressure can be lighter, I am now waiting for notice to pick a house to go!
You know what, there are many poor people in Shanghai, I just don’t have a house, in fact, it’s not that bitter. Shanghai’s low-income insurance seems to be 1000 yuan, a lot of old broken small district to eat low-income families is really bitter ah, is the parents 70/80, 50/60 children either seriously ill, or disabled, or low energy, or mental illness, a family living on low-income insurance 3000 yuan a month to live. I used to intern in the neighborhood committee for six months, the bitter family is really bitter, rich is also really rich. It’s all about life!
Home this year has not opened the air conditioning it, air conditioning this thing either do not open, an open to get used to, cool more comfortable, when the time to come home to open, an open to open a night, the weekend to open a day, a month down the electricity bill came out directly after the fright into mental illness.
I saw today a also full of bitter Shanghai family, a one-room household, a person to work, a month to hand 8256 yuan, a family of four food, drink and food are dependent on a person, I silently calculate, my days are quite good, their own wages on their own food and drink, parents’ retirement wages in raising me, in addition to no house, ha ha!
If you want to sympathize with me, there are inheritance advice. Remember to come to me, 20 yuan you can not buy a loss, 20 yuan you can not buy fooled.
As for why I do not do the lawyer, we are such a bottom itself is not good to read books to get into college. Then again, because of the vision problem, before the examination of lawyers can be a dog and a cat, but now must be related to the professional graduation to be eligible to test, so even if I have the law related backwards and forwards, I am not qualified to test, and never as a lawyer.
Four
After growing up, I realized how poor life is
Elementary school in the small, classmates parents are similar to the bottom of the working class, there are many migrant children, the bottom of the poor indigenous is not too prominent. Then because the elementary school often test first, the teacher asked my parents to never let me continue in the vegetable farm next door to the junior high school, transferred to a relatively distant good public junior high school, I suddenly became aware of the matter of poverty.
When I went out with my classmates, I was pulled by a roadside aunt to fill out a questionnaire. The monthly family income column, that is, how much mom and dad’s monthly salary, the classmates casually filled in 1w+, I forget whether I was truthfully filling in 3-4k, or casually lying to save face.
The first time you go out with your parents is when you are young, even if the Oriental Pearl, parks, museums, any recreational activities that belong exclusively to the city, are non-existent. The first time I went out with my classmates in junior high school, I couldn’t even insert my metro card. And almost all of my classmates traveled as a family every holiday. Those places I have never fantasized about, Xi’an Terracotta Warriors, Hainan’s Tianya Cape, Hong Kong disney, Yunnan Erhai, Guilin mountains, Sichuan Jiuzhaigou, they have been there since childhood. (Japan and Korea basically to high school to start going, I do not know why)
After growing up, my mother often talked about when I took me to Nanjing Road in kindergarten, because the savings only let me ride the train, I did not expect the train is a one-way trip, almost lost me. Luckily I followed the return train and walked back to the starting point and found my mom, a false alarm.
After growing up, I realized that there are so many free and high quality museums and galleries in Shanghai, and so many activities that match the style of this first-tier city, and they are really not very expensive.
After growing up, I realized that going to college is just the beginning, and I don’t have to feel ashamed because my mom asked around for poverty assistance on the first day of school and found out that I didn’t meet the requirements either. As the only person in the entire family of 20 or so people in the same generation who went to college, you don’t have to tangle for your own bottom family, and you have to leave behind the insight that their pattern is too small and listen carefully to the larger world.
After growing up, the most unfortunate thing is to know that there are many things that could have been, there is absolutely no need to worry about money, and excessive fear to fight, they really are not expensive at all, and money is not the only solution.
For example, further study. The biggest conflict ever erupted with the family because of the exam, and looking back at the time, I wouldn’t blame myself too much for not continuing to persevere, because my heart may not be so strong now. I’m not sure if I’m going to be able to get the best out of you. After staying at home for a day, I was so scolded that I couldn’t stand it and went back to school to find an internship for a few days and started working.
In that coldest freezing off school pipes can not take a shower in the winter, foreign students have gone home for the New Year, on my a Shanghai people still living in the dormitory, in order to internship.
I was afraid of being poor during the graduation season, so I didn’t want to ask my family for money, and I was facing the pressure of moving out of school to rent an apartment. The work started very hastily, which is an afterthought.
But the current state of life is quite satisfactory, I started working is quite serious in increasing their own importance, and now the salary is considered to reach the level of the family has a mine of students were placed in a bank to hang an idle job. Can be relatively easy to catch up with the trend, can see on like clothes bags cosmetics on the buy, can also calmly say because do not like so do not need.
I want to hug myself when I was in the zara fitting room to see a set of 500 yuan clothes, because the thought of even this 500 can not pay out and cry. Why go to zara? Because I was told that I always wear the clothes my cousin gave me, and my classmates said zara is cheap and good looking. But why wear my cousin’s clothes, because I don’t have money to buy clothes, because my parents don’t want to spend money and ignore my needs, because I think my cousin’s clothes are better than the ones my mom took me to buy a few years ago.
Well, not anymore, I am more free to do what I like. I’m still a bottom of the barrel native who can’t afford a house and doesn’t have one, but I’m at least a person with preferences, independent and ready to settle down.
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