Nov. 10, 2013               Sunday            Cloudy

This afternoon I went to my home village. When I passed my home town, I couldn’t help thinking about the happy days I had spent there.

I used to like going to town (Ganchang in local dialect, ganji in Putonghua). When I was a small boy, I often went to town with my parents. The town was about 2 kilometres from my home. We had to climb up and down a hill. On the day for going to town, usually more than one member of a family went to town.

Early in the morning I could see a line of people walking on the road behind my house or beyond the fields along the hillside. People usually carried a pannier on their back or a basket in their hand. The pannier was  usually full of fruits, vegetables or other farm produce. The basket was usually full of eggs. They sold them for money to buy clothes, shoes or candy for their children. Sometimes they bought meat.

Children liked to go to town because they parents usually bought them a little gift or treated them with steamed bread, meat bun or wonton. Sometimes they could watch some performances.

I think the function of going to town has undergone three phases. The first is before the reform and opening-up policy. In those days, people went to town every five days, they went to town to change their farm produce for what they needed. They exchanged information. Their experience to town was usually their talking topic.

The second phase is between 1980 and 2000. In those days, the town is not only an information center, but also an entertainment center. The market was more crowded with more people. From 1980, people went to towns and townships every three days and the going-to-town day was different from towns nearby. For example, one town is every 1, 4 and 7, another is every 2, 5 and 8, while another is every 3, 6 and 9. Pedlars could go selling goods from town to town. Going to town for young people usually meant seeking girls they liked.

The third phase is from 2000 on. With more and more young people going to work in factories in the coastal cities and towns, the town was less crowded with fewer pedlars and meeting lovers. People came by motorcycle, bought what they needed and left or stayed in some tea houses to play majong or Sichuan cards and left in the afternoon.