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On hauling pig swill and China's drive to improve public welfare
By Miao Xiaojuan and Wang Cong |
March 10, 2010, Wednesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
IT was 11:30pm Sunday as 23-year-old Wang Shun hauled a barrel of restaurant leftovers onto his oil-stained three-wheel motor tricycle that gave off an unpleasant odor.
A native of Baoding in northern China's Hebei Province, Wang's job is to drive his motor tricycle to downtown Beijing every night and bring home leftovers collected from the city's restaurants to feed the pigs his family raises in the suburbs.
As tiring and smelly as the job might be, Wang said he was rather content with his life. Wang took up his father's driving and delivering "career" about seven years ago when he graduated from middle school.
"Back then, tricycles like mine were not allowed to enter Beijing. I would either face a large fine or have my tricycle towed away immediately whenever busted by the police," he said. "But now the regulations are more relaxed. I can drive to the city any night I want. And now when I run into the police, they sometimes chat with me, ask if I am tired or how many pigs my family raises - which is really heart-warming."
Wang is no fan of newspapers and seldom watches TV news broadcasts, but his feeling of dignity coincides with a government work report submitted to China's top legislature, which opened its annual session last Friday.
"Everything we do we do to ensure that people live a happier life with more dignity and make our society fairer and more harmonious," Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said when delivering the report to the National People's Congress.
"China used to put its focus on economic development in its reform plans in the past," said professor Chang Xiuze of the macroeconomics institute of the National Development and Reform Commission.
"The promise of greater dignity shows the government is paying more attention to the happiness of citizens themselves."
In fact, it was the third time in a month that the Premier promised greater dignity for the Chinese people on public occasions. Addressing more than 4,000 people from various sectors of society on February 12, Wen said, "All that we do is aimed at letting people live more happily and with more dignity."
On February 27, the Premier again vowed to promote "greater dignity" of the people during an online dialogue with the Chinese public.
A Netizen, who identified himself only as "freespace," said maintaining dignity for the Chinese meant to provide adequate medical service for the sick, education for the young, and shelter for the needy. "Dignity is to ensure that the rural population live a well-off life, and to let the public know the names of coal mine workers who died at work, like those of police officers who died in peacekeeping operations in Haiti," he said.
For Hu Xiaoyan, China's first lawmaker elected from the country's 150-million migrant worker population, dignity means to bridge the gap between the urban and rural areas.
Bagatur (one name), chairman of the government of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, told Xinhua in an exclusive interview Sunday that employment should be of top priority when maintaining dignity for the people.
"Inner Mongolia promised the people a well-off life when the autonomous region was founded. But despite the region's fast GDP growth, many e people are still living under thatched roofs. They shouldn't," he said.
Before rushing to the next restaurant at midnight on Sunday, Wang Shun told Xinhua of his understanding of a "dignified life."
"I guess it would be nice to have more money and buy a new vehicle so that I could drive during daytime as well, not just at night," Wang said as he scratched his head through his unwashed hair.
(The authors are writers at Xinhua news agency.)
A native of Baoding in northern China's Hebei Province, Wang's job is to drive his motor tricycle to downtown Beijing every night and bring home leftovers collected from the city's restaurants to feed the pigs his family raises in the suburbs.
As tiring and smelly as the job might be, Wang said he was rather content with his life. Wang took up his father's driving and delivering "career" about seven years ago when he graduated from middle school.
"Back then, tricycles like mine were not allowed to enter Beijing. I would either face a large fine or have my tricycle towed away immediately whenever busted by the police," he said. "But now the regulations are more relaxed. I can drive to the city any night I want. And now when I run into the police, they sometimes chat with me, ask if I am tired or how many pigs my family raises - which is really heart-warming."
Wang is no fan of newspapers and seldom watches TV news broadcasts, but his feeling of dignity coincides with a government work report submitted to China's top legislature, which opened its annual session last Friday.
"Everything we do we do to ensure that people live a happier life with more dignity and make our society fairer and more harmonious," Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said when delivering the report to the National People's Congress.
"China used to put its focus on economic development in its reform plans in the past," said professor Chang Xiuze of the macroeconomics institute of the National Development and Reform Commission.
"The promise of greater dignity shows the government is paying more attention to the happiness of citizens themselves."
In fact, it was the third time in a month that the Premier promised greater dignity for the Chinese people on public occasions. Addressing more than 4,000 people from various sectors of society on February 12, Wen said, "All that we do is aimed at letting people live more happily and with more dignity."
On February 27, the Premier again vowed to promote "greater dignity" of the people during an online dialogue with the Chinese public.
A Netizen, who identified himself only as "freespace," said maintaining dignity for the Chinese meant to provide adequate medical service for the sick, education for the young, and shelter for the needy. "Dignity is to ensure that the rural population live a well-off life, and to let the public know the names of coal mine workers who died at work, like those of police officers who died in peacekeeping operations in Haiti," he said.
For Hu Xiaoyan, China's first lawmaker elected from the country's 150-million migrant worker population, dignity means to bridge the gap between the urban and rural areas.
Bagatur (one name), chairman of the government of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, told Xinhua in an exclusive interview Sunday that employment should be of top priority when maintaining dignity for the people.
"Inner Mongolia promised the people a well-off life when the autonomous region was founded. But despite the region's fast GDP growth, many e people are still living under thatched roofs. They shouldn't," he said.
Before rushing to the next restaurant at midnight on Sunday, Wang Shun told Xinhua of his understanding of a "dignified life."
"I guess it would be nice to have more money and buy a new vehicle so that I could drive during daytime as well, not just at night," Wang said as he scratched his head through his unwashed hair.
(The authors are writers at Xinhua news agency.)
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