Trying to get Yang Jie to Smile! it’s not easy to get Chinese people to smile in photos
Image by Tricia Wang 王圣捷
Yang Jie is from Guizhou – from a small ethnic minority group – she had to leave her home to make $ so she came to Beijing. I met Yang Jie while I was walking around in Wudaokou. We’ve been talking over the past few days and slowly we’ve become friends as I stop by each day to talk to her.
She sells textiles from her home village – where the women hand-weave beautiful cloth items. Here is a pic of some of the stuff that I have bought from Yang Jie.
Today I saw the local security guard trying to tell Yang Jie to leave the grounds – he said it was illegal for her to be selling in the parking lot. I watched him push one of the other girls down on the ground. As I watched this unfold, she said to the security guard
"you must have compassion for us migrants – for us ethnic minorities – we have no way to make money back home – just let us sell our stuff – we all have to eat – you have to eat – please just understand our plight."
When I bought my stuff from her I told her that she was brave – she said that she wasn’t doing anything wrong – that she is also trying to make a living like the rest of us. When we talked more she told me about all the changes that were happening in the rural areas – the positive changes – like health care and improved schooling. But not all of these changes had reached her village yet so she has come to Beijing to make money. When i asked her how she deals with these local cops that just harass people like her – she essentially was saying that they are not reflective of the central’s government’s policies.
I am amazed by people like Yang Jie – who are very aware of the government’s process of improving the countryside. She knows how to place these bottom-tired local cops, like the one she dealt with today – and she can articulate that these local cops do not reflect upon the policies of the central government.
With all the migrants that I have spoken to – none have complained about the government’s policies in rural areas. All of them have been very happy with the recent changes. They will quickly list all of the changes that still need to be made – but they always say – we need more time – China is BIG. In many ways – they are more understanding than urban people of how government policies are implemented.
Yang Jie also has a son who is 3 years old now. She already has 20 years old daugher, and at 40 years old she gave birth to her son. When I took the photo he was going poop on the sidewalk so I didn’t want to disturb his process. I was amazed that the 3 year old child could just squat in the middle of the busiest sidewalk in Wudaokou and just go poop without any problems! People were walking past him and some almost stepped on him! He did it right in the middle of the sidewalk – he didn’t even step-off ot the side! Kids in America take forever to learn how to poop on their own – we take care of their pooping process with books and special toilet seats and raised steppers.
Children of street working migrant families in China cannot afford diapers or any of those excrement aiding materials. They just use the streets.
After I took the photo, the father scooped up in poop and put it in the garbage can. No one stepped on it.
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