What is the story of Grandma Wang Ju, who supports her family by gathering bamboo shoots?
At 1 a.m., what are you doing?
At 1 a.m., I am sound asleep in a pleasant dream. And the nightlife in the East District is in full swing!!
In the countryside of Bali, at 1 a.m., it is time for Grandma Wang Ju to head out and hunt for treasure. Wearing a headlamp, she gropes through the bamboo grove in the dark, searching for small mounds of earth with faint cracks. Using her hands and a small trowel, she digs slowly downward, then with one deft cut slices free a plump, full bamboo shoot and drops it into her bag. The heavier the bag gets, the happier Grandma becomes.
Every day she spends three or four hours harvesting, then rushes to the farmers' association morning market at 5:30 (because the price is better there). When she makes money she is as delighted as a little girl. This is Grandma Wang Ju's main source of income for the whole year. The bamboo shoot season lasts 4 or 5 months, and before deducting labor and fertilizer costs, she earns about 180,000 yuan a year. Is that a lot? Not much, but Grandma Wang Ju is content. This is the fruit of keeping her feet on the ground and sweating from honest hard work.
Because Bali is near the sea, its residents mainly make their living from farming and fishing. The farmland is sandy and well aerated, so its green bamboo shoots are famous far and wide. Green bamboo shoots begin to be produced at the Dragon Boat Festival and continue until around the Mid-Autumn Festival, and right after that comes the pomelo harvest season. So every year the Bali Farmers' Association holds a bamboo shoot festival and a pomelo festival, using creative dishes to promote the products and also to strengthen the bonds among neighbors.
Once Grandma Wang Ju finishes the bamboo shoot season, she moves on to harvesting pomelos. The pomelo yield is small, so she also grows other seasonal vegetables and fruits, and keeps chickens. Besides being self-sufficient, she goes to the market every day to hawk her goods and supplement the household income, living a quiet, contented life. Although she does not make much money, she never goes hungry.
Grandma Wang Ju, fighting to defend her home, bravely steps forward to speak out to the state machine
Grandma Wang Ju's adoptive mother, who would have turned 101 this year as a centenarian, could not bear the constant worry day after day and passed away on February 11 this year, fulfilling her wish to die on her own land. The dead are gone, but the living must keep struggling to survive. Grandma Wang Ju, 71 years old, took to the streets. Her youngest son, uneasy about letting her go alone, also gave up the chance to work and stayed by her side. All this just to survive and fight for a mouthful of rice, and even that mouthful of rice is being taken away by the government we elected. Where is the justice in that! No wonder that whenever anyone who cares asks, Grandma Wang Ju bursts into tears. After a lifetime of hardship, she had finally managed to enjoy a peaceful old age, only to have the government drive her to a dead end.