Zhuo Yuxiang, the 11-year-old son of a fisherman, wants to open a bakery; his father catches fish and his mother sells fish
Dali Elementary School in Yilan is a rural school at the northernmost tip of Yilan, its school district stretches across several fishing villages, running from north to south, with three fishing harbors in total: Shicheng, Dali and Daxi. Most parents make their living by fishing, often heading out to sea in the middle of the night to work and only coming home in the evening, so it is very hard to match up with their children's school schedule. To find out how children see life in a fishing village, let Zhuang Yuxiang, currently a fifth grader at Dali Elementary School, tell us. The following is dictated by Zhuang Yuxiang and compiled by Newmarket from an interview.
[Zhuang Yuxiang, currently 11 years old, son of a fisherman]
Every day I get home from school at five or six, and I barely get to see my dad for a few hours before, around 9 or 10 at night, he has to head out to go fishing. Mom's work is busy too. In the morning she sells breakfast, and after the breakfast shop work is done she runs off to Daxi Fishing Harbor to sell fish, often picking fish until 9 at night before coming home.
I have two older brothers and one younger sister. When we get home, Grandma cooks for us, and then we do our homework on our own. Dad used to nag me: "Why don't you hurry up and do your homework?" Now he does that less.
Sometimes on holidays I go with Mom to the fish market to sell fish, or just to hang out. There are so many snacks at the fish market that I really like, but the fishy smell at the fish market is very strong, the air is stuffy and damp, and clothes get wet very easily.
When Mom is working at the fish market, I always ask her for her phone to play with, because there are so many games on it, like Pokemon. Sometimes Mom ignores me, and then I just keep pestering her, keep saying: "Mom, lend me your phone to play!"
When I get up in the morning, Dad and Mom are both not at home, so I get ready for school by myself, and now I am used to it. Recently I often message Dad on line. Even though we are on the same bed, I will still tap him and talk to him. Usually, because of Dad's work, we chat relatively little, but after having line to send messages, I think it is a lot of fun.
At school, my sports are the best. This year I even went with my teacher to Xiamen to perform stilt walking. On holidays I also really like playing ball with my brothers. Dad and Mom rarely take us out to play, partly because work is busy and partly because there is no money. Sometimes just wandering around the Luodong Night Market in Yilan makes Mom very happy.
Living here is pretty happy. In the future I don't want to be a fisherman, but I like eating sweet things, so I hope I can be a baker in the future and open a bakery in Yilan.