New Year sees business as usual for Three Gorges migrants

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, January 22, 2004

New Year sees business as usual for Three Gorges migrants

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With Spring Festival, China's lunar new year holiday, just one day away, business couldn't be busier in the small beauty parlor run by Three Gorges migrant Zhou Lianping at the seat of Chongming County.

With pop music blaring away in the background, the five chairs at Zhou's tiny parlor are always occupied. Her five helpers are adroitly styling hair.

"My parlor will be open from the first day of Spring Festival through to the fourth day," said Zhou, who could not resist the temptation of good business on those days.

Spring Festival, which falls on Jan, 22 this year, is the most important holiday for people of Chinese origin. It is an occasion for gatherings of family and friends.

Zhou, a native of Yunyang County of southwest China's ChongqingMunicipality, migrated to Yong'an Village in Chongming County on Chongming Island off the Yangtze estuary with her husband, Peng Jinghu, and son in August 2000.

The family lives in a rented apartment in the county seat of Chongming. Peng has his own transport business while operating a food shop with a friend in the county seat. Their nine-year-old son is a second grader with a primary school in the county seat.

"The festive atmosphere in Chongming is not strong as in my hometown," said Zhou. She recalled how her hometown neighbors would make great preparations for the Spring Festival, slaughtering pigs, and when Spring Festival began, constantly visiting relatives and friends.

Zhou said she had made few preparations for this year's Spring Festival, but her family would eat with the parlor helpers who hadnot returned home.

In contrast to Zhou, Sun Jiabing, who migrated to Yinhe Villageof Chongming County from Yunyang County of Chongqing Municipality three years ago, has prepared carefully for the holiday.

Sun stocked his kitchen with fresh pork from the local market. The meat will be used to make seasonal delicacies. Three buckets of glutinous rice are soaked with water.

Fan Mingcui, Sun's wife, said they would grind the glutinous rice for dumplings, the staple festive food -- symbolizing reunionand prosperity -- for central and southwestern Chinese during the Spring Festival.

Sun has been running a transport service since November last year when he lavished 3,100 yuan (374 US dollars) on a new wagon. "I will go out like the locals and hope to start business earlier after the Spring Festival season," said Sun.

Zheng Youyi, a native of Yinhe Village, said: "In the past, youcould easily tell Sun was a migrant just by passing his kitchen, but now we mingle easily so we seldom feel Sun and his like are migrants except for their accent."

The merging of migrants into the life of locals is echoed by complaints vented by Sun Jiabing's father. "Nowadays, the local government doesn't send any representatives to visit us Three Gorges migrants as they did when we first arrived," said the senior Sun, "Maybe the local government thinks we are no longer migrants."

Nostalgia has appeared as a new problem for the Three Gorges migrants from the upper reaches of the Yangtze River.

"There is always a longing between us here and our relatives who have remained at the hometown," said Zhou Lianping, the parlorowner, who visited the home of her own parents in Yunyang of Chongqing last summer together with her son.

Though the journey of 20 hours or so upstream was a torture forZhou and her son, still she hated to leave her parents after a two-week stay. "My mom sent by mail spicy sausages a few days ago. They are my favorite food," said Zhou.

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