TFF HumanJournal | Tale of Two Urban Villages

The Forbidden Flourish

August 9, 2024 09:00 USA

Shenzhen's high housing prices have long squeezed the living space of migrants, but the low cost of living in urban villages provides shelter for those drifting in Shenzhen. If Shenzhen is a city of dreams, then urban villages are incubators of grand dreams. Although the living environment is dirty and chaotic, with safety hazards, the inclusive image of the city provides living space for the grassroots...The policy originally planned to implement would be like a broom sweeping away the lower classes. But fortunately, it has now been suspended."

"There's no sunlight in the rented room, only dreams that have molded like the walls."

June 2023 was Xiao Le's last month at Guangdong Ocean University. She had just completed her four-year college education, and where to find employment was the first question that hit Xiao Le after graduation.

Part 1 Xiao Le

Her hometown is a small county in Heyuan, Guangdong, where Xiao Le grew up. "It's beautiful with mountains and rivers there, the houses are low, the streets are narrow, things move slowly, there's a lot of gossip, but the sky is very blue and life is peaceful." In Xiao Le's hometown, every evening you can see the sky dyed orange-red by the sunset glow, and passersby walking their dogs and singing folk songs. It's not like the evenings in the city, so bustling and busy. Xiao Le has mixed feelings about this place. Growing up in the county town, it holds precious and beautiful childhood memories for her, but also makes her keenly aware of its limitations. "This makes me eager to go to the city, to experience the comings and goings of urban life, to meet more wonderful people and things, to carve out a broader world for myself."

Xiao Le's parents also hoped she could return to work in the place where she grew up. But for Xiao Le, a life where you can see the end at a glance might be too boring. "If you don't consider dreams, a small county town is really suitable for living. But I just know I want to go to a big city and see." So she chose to ignore the advice of family and relatives, and resolutely came to Shenzhen alone with her bags.

Speaking of Shenzhen, young people who choose to strive after graduation immediately think of skyscrapers, technological innovation, and the slogan that has stood in Shekou Industrial Zone for over 40 years - "Time is money, efficiency is life."

Perhaps it's also oneself being able to wear a suit and shirt and work skillfully in one's field of study in a CBD office building. Shenzhen's "money-making culture" also attracts countless young people who set foot in this city. No matter where you come from, as long as you have dreams, this is the next place to realize them.

This was also Xiao Le's first impression of this city. "I imagined I could work in the skyscrapers I saw when I came here on vacation as a child, and becoming a financial worker was my childhood dream after watching TV dramas, even until now."

But reality was cruel. As soon as she got off the high-speed rail, sitting in the car passing by skyscrapers towering into the clouds, contrasting with the prosperous image of Shenzhen in her mind, Xiao Le followed her aunt who had lived in Shenzhen for many years to a single room in an urban village in Nanshan District that she had rented in advance. "As soon as I went in, my first impression was that it was dark. The whole room was very small, with poor lighting. Sunlight couldn't get in at all." The buildings here are very close to each other, and the already narrow streets are occupied by electric bikes parked outside, leaving little space. "When I followed my aunt walking through the streets, I was thinking how this could be even more crowded than the streets in my hometown."

Living in an urban village was a big challenge for Xiao Le. Compared to the spacious and bright house of over 100 square meters in her hometown, the single room here was only ten to twenty square meters, expensive and dark. Riding a bicycle through the narrow streets, it was always bumpy, jolting her body up and down. When it rained, it would splash water all over. The densely packed "handshake buildings" meant that when you opened a window, your neighbor's window seemed to be right in front of your nose. Only some secondhand sunlight would reflect in from nearby buildings. The diverse neighbors around also made Xiao Le uncomfortable. "Compared to familiar relatives and friends in my hometown, the neighbors here are all kinds." There were old men shouting and playing cards with bare chests all day, haggard women holding one child, pushing another, and pregnant with a third, frail elderly people crawling on the ground making a living by cleaning, everything you could imagine.

Sometimes when facing difficulties in living alone, Xiao Le would miss home very much. She would miss home when facing the gas tank in the rental room instead of an electric water heater, worrying about the danger and not knowing how to use it; when she sent out many resumes and had many interviews but got no response; when the light bulb broke, the faucet also broke, she didn't know how to fix them, and the landlord didn't reply to messages. It was also during festivals, when she saw pictures in the family group chat of dad, mom, uncles, aunts and grandpa, little brother happily cooking and eating together, while she was eating cheap boxed meals to save money. In these quiet moments late at night, looking at this tiny space that could only fit herself in a big supermarket, she always regretted or doubted whether her decision was correct.

Homesickness is not always quiet, sometimes it can be turbulent, with the noisy atmosphere of daily life. Seeing the once haggard woman playing with her children, seeing the old man who always played cards put down his cards and start eating with family and friends, Xiao Le knew "at this moment, my dad and mom are also preparing dinner waiting for us to eat."

"At that time, the cost of living in Shenzhen and the pressure of not finding a job made me almost unable to breathe. I originally thought coming to a big city might reduce the burden on my parents and carve out my own world, just like my uncle. But reality made me lie awake countless nights." Coming from a county town, Xiao Le's family background was ordinary, and the living expenses in Shenzhen, which couldn't be more frugal, were luxurious for her and her family.

Perhaps living in a "handshake building" means learning to shake hands with your dreams - and then compromise.

After two months without finding work, Xiao Le began to try other types of jobs, no longer obsessed with her childhood dream of becoming a financial worker. "Later, after I submitted resumes several more times, I was finally successfully hired by a medical beauty and plastic surgery institution to do operations." This job was neither related to Xiao Le's major nor her interest. But for Xiao Le, although the salary was not high, at least it gave her family and herself some explanation.

According to official data, the number of college graduates in China will reach 11.79 million in 2024, setting a new record high. According to the "2024 College Student Employability Survey Report" recently released by the Zhaopin recruitment platform, more than half of the 2024 college graduates have not found jobs. In July last year, a report by Peking University Professor Zhang Dandan estimated that the actual unemployment rate for Chinese youth was as high as 46.5%. Coming to Shenzhen was just when Xiao Le graduated from college, at least she had a job to accompany her in the urban village.

Xiao Le also gradually became familiar with living in this cramped urban village. "Once during a holiday, I went to IKEA to buy new bedding and stuffed animals. I started to treat this as my home too." During breaks, Xiao Le would also go for walks in Shenzhen Bay Park or Talent Park near her work, walking along the lake or seaside. Just a few hundred meters in a straight line from the handshake buildings is the eight-lane Shahe West Road, with the towering office buildings of Nanshan Science and Technology Park lined up next to it. "Perhaps that was once my dream workplace, but when I got there I found it was just a concrete jungle. But I still believe everything will get better, I will work more and more smoothly here, or change to a better job."

And the homesickness of "missing loved ones more during festivals" was also slowly digested by Xiao Le herself. "I am lucky, I have uncles and aunts in Shenzhen. They always invite me to join them for gatherings during festivals." When dining with them, Xiao Le might still think of her mom and dad, but no longer feels like she's alone like before. In this coastal big city of her childhood dreams, perhaps daily life and workplace struggles are up to Xiao Le alone. But the warmth given to Xiao Le by her family also gave her a harbor when she was tired.

Perhaps the road ahead is still uncertain for Xiao Le. But in the repeated breakdowns of living alone in the urban village, she has also gradually learned to get used to rushing about in this metropolis. Like playing a symphony full of passion and vitality. Everyone is a member of the symphony. Xiao Le joins them, becoming part of the rhythm and notes. Together they create the unique melody of Shenzhen.

Part 2 Ah Wen

"Living in the big city of Shenzhen, but I've been a left-behind child since I was little." This is the first thing Ah Wen said when recalling his childhood. Ah Wen and Xiao Le live in urban villages right next to each other, but they have never met. The unique economic system of Shenzhen as a special economic zone seems to put their lives on two parallel world lines that will never intersect. At least in a secular economic sense, for now.

Shenzhen is the city with the highest urbanization rate in China, where administratively defined "rural areas" have completely disappeared. Naturally, there are no "feudal remnants" like rural gentry in urban villages, replaced by joint-stock companies established in each village, with villagers owning assets in the village as shareholders. Ah Wen is one of them. He is a native resident of the urban village, born and raised in Shenzhen, and thus naturally has another identity that outsiders pay attention to: a resident facing demolition in this first-tier city, and of course also a landlord for countless young "drifters" in Shenzhen like Xiao Le.

Secular views always think people like Ah Wen are nouveau riche, billionaires. But only Ah Wen knows the story behind the "sudden wealth". He wears a simple Nike polo shirt that looks pilled from washing, and a pair of very dirty and old sneakers on his feet. He looks like nothing more than an ordinary middle-aged man.

Ah Wen was born in the 1970s. At that time, Shenzhen was still called Bao'an County, and was even less like the international metropolis with nearly 20 million people that Xiao Le lives in now. "The great tide rises in the Pearl River," someone drew a circle in the Pearl River Delta, bringing unprecedented development opportunities to Bao'an, and also stirring up an unprecedented "Hong Kong escape tide". They took advantage of the cover of night or the tides, either climbing over barbed wire or crossing Shenzhen Bay.

After the "Anti-Rightist Campaign" and the "Three Years of Natural Disasters", tens of thousands of mainland Chinese residents from various parts of Guangdong Province flooded into Hong Kong. This escape tide was led by young and middle-aged people, especially college students. In 1979, the Hong Kong British government began implementing a "catch and repatriate immediately" policy. During this period, the last large-scale cross-border escape attempt occurred, with about 100,000 people trying to escape to Hong Kong, of which about 40,000 successfully escaped.

"Landing" meant endless farmland in the New Territories, with the glittering Victoria Harbour not far away, and more importantly, the opportunities brought by "decadent capitalism". That pearl of the Orient that had not yet become a Special Administrative Region carried the dreams of countless Hong Kong escapees for a new life.

This included Ah Wen's father. Ah Wen thus became a left-behind child in the village.

"At that time, Shenzhen was just a small fishing village as everyone knows. The family's economy was very difficult, relying on farming vegetables and fishing as peasants, it was hard to live normally." So Ah Wen's father swam across the sea or took boats to smuggle into Hong Kong to work illegally, and later successfully stayed and became a concrete construction worker. "And my mom also followed my dad to Hong Kong when I was very young." There, Ah Wen's mother became the busiest person in Hong Kong-style restaurants and tea houses. Working from sunrise, not resting even after sunset. "I remember my mom telling me that during the day she worked as a waitress in the tea house, and at night after getting off work she would go to the restaurant next door to work as a dishwasher." Ah Wen was raised by his grandmother. Seeing his parents come home extremely rarely on weekends, sometimes bringing back some rare and novel toys at the time. As he spoke, Ah Wen led me into the old house in the urban village. He took out an old Casio watch from an already somewhat old cabinet. Even now with Ah Wen's assets, he could completely afford to buy many luxury watches. "But for me, this Casio watch is my most precious watch." The watch is the most ordinary basic model, and now it's very hard to see due to the long years. The strap has faded somewhat, and the hands also differ somewhat from the current standard time. "This is the only birthday gift my father ever gave me." In order to make the family's life better, the price was nonstop work. As a left-behind child, Ah Wen's childhood birthdays were definitely different from now when he carefully prepares restaurants and cakes in advance for his own children's birthdays. For him, birthdays only meant the two extra boiled eggs his grandmother cooked. Shenzhen and Hong Kong seemed very close, sometimes after school Ah Wen would run to the seaside with good friends to ride bikes, with Hong Kong just across the sea. Looking at the skyscrapers on the other side, Ah Wen would also guess at this time what his parents were doing while looking at the time. And the Casio watch Ah Wen took out was the expensive gift his father brought back from Hong Kong two weeks after his 17th birthday. "I was very happy when I saw it. After all, it was considered a very cool gift at the time." But after the excitement, he glimpsed his father's increasingly dark skin from long-term outdoor labor and a not-too-big, not-too-small scar on his arm from who knows where. "I felt a bit disappointed, I didn't want my parents to work so hard."

Seeing his parents' day and night toil, in 1995, Ah Wen, who had just graduated as the only son in the family, chose a vocational college that would allow him to graduate faster rather than going to a regular university when choosing a college. "I also had a cousin's sister who went to university, but seeing my parents work so hard, I just wanted to get out and make money quickly at the time."

After graduating with an accounting degree, Ah Wen's monthly salary was 4,000 yuan. At that time, the government introduced policies allowing local Shenzhen people to build houses for rent in urban villages. Ah Wen wanted to follow the trend of those around him and build houses too. He spent only about 1,000 yuan a month. He tried to save 3,000 yuan every month. But even so, it was still far from the funds needed to build a house. After saving for several years and having some capital, Ah Wen chose to take out a bank loan. "I remember it was quite difficult to get a bank loan approved at that time. My wife and I went to one bank after another asking, and finally there was one willing to approve a little money."

Finally getting the loan, Ah Wen took on the first heavy loan in his life, and could finally put the plan to build houses on the agenda. "We were really poor at that time. That year was also when my son was born. When we went for a check-up, there was a special imported vaccine needed, but we couldn't afford it. In the end it was my mom who paid for it. I also remember most clearly when my son was about to turn one year old during Chinese New Year, my wife and I went shopping in Dongmen and saw a very nice and suitable outfit for my son. When we saw the price it was very expensive, we hesitated for a long time, went back and forth to that store repeatedly, but in the end we really couldn't afford to buy it." Thinking back now, Ah Wen still clearly remembers what the outfit looked like. Perhaps what he remembers is not just the clothes, but also the bitterness and hardship of that time and the regret of feeling he let his son down.

Even with the loan, the funds for building the house were not sufficient. The process of building the urban village houses we see now is roughly designing them and then hiring migrant workers to build. But for Ah Wen with limited funds, carrying sand and stones himself was perhaps the most cost-effective way. "One more day, hiring one more person, would mean a lot more expenses. At that time we had no money, we could only do it ourselves." Ah Wen

Ending

A single grain of sand from the era falling on a person's shoulder may feel like a mountain. Different economic cycles and policies can also place individuals in varying situations. However, what's encouraging is that although Xiao Le and A Wen seem to have opposing roles, they both maintain the same positive and optimistic attitude towards the future.

This translation preserves the metaphorical language and the philosophical tone of the original, while accurately conveying the contrast between individual struggles and shared optimism.