February 09, 2006
Rice Cycle(稻子的周期)
I came upon this Rice Cycle photo essay made by an American (?) traveller.
My first reaction? I am ashamed. I am deeply ashamed of never knowing, until today, how rice, the staple food for all Chinese, is grown in our motherland. I wish this photo essay were a part of my primary school textbook.
To be fair, I've seen pictures similar to some in there, but to see the whole process from start to finish, it's just unbelievable. The power just cannot be matched by any subset of the whole thing.
My second thought after seeing this laborious process is probably in line with what most Chinese my age who grew up in the city--that it took so long and so much work to grow this thing. And I began to recall how my parents (and all parents) used to tell me we should not waste a single piece of rice if only to respect the work that goes into growing rice and putting it in the bowl on the dinner table.
I'm sure I'll see more of such shocking pictures. Hopefully not from a foreigner's travelog.
On a second thought, maybe it doesn't matter where I see them. Or maybe it's even more meaningful if they are found through foreigners' eyes.
今天看了一组让我震撼的图片.一组住在中国的"老外"拍的关于稻子的照片.虽然这是中国的农村再平常不过的百年不变的日常生活,对于我却是第一次这么清晰.
忽然有些感动,对于这稻子的生命力,这稻田中耕耘的水牛的生命力,在收割完稻田中觅食的鸭子的生命力,以及终日在曝日酷暑下耕耘的人的生命力.
也许有人又要跳出来,说我只喜欢看老外暴露中国阴暗面的东西.如果你真这么想,我也没什么可说的了.
Posted by Shamu at February 9, 2006 04:55 PM很欣赏这段文字和图片，提醒我们大家别忘了小学里读的“...谁知盘中餐，粒粒皆辛苦”的诗句，我看完后油然而生的是对中国农民的同情.
如今40岁上下的人，即使长在城里，儿时都或多或少有机会去农村看过农民的辛勤劳作，家里也总有乡下的亲戚，只要看到他们黝黑的脸、粗大的手和木讷的表情就知道他们的劳动量之大和生活之艰辛。
如今的农民生活是大有改善了，但是他们的生存压力可能比70年代的农民重得多，他们更了解外面的世界和现代化的魅力，可是现代化的生活却始终没有进入到寻常农家。虽然城里人始终在抱怨农产品涨价，米贵、菜贵、等等，可是在越来越大的城乡差距，和勉强达到的农村人均2000余元的收入下，光靠种地可能永远无法活的像城里人那样丰富多彩，他们的孩子也无法像城里同龄孩子那样见多识广。这也就解释了大量农民工进城打工的原因了。
我去过美国的农场见过新一代的美国农民，以及他们种地所用的机械化工具，大多数农民家里电脑、卫星定位系统应有尽有。我还见过代表农民协会的农民领袖，在社交场合下，无论如何也看不出他们和职业外交家之间的区别。这当然归功于良好的教育。不知美国农民的今天会不会成为中国农民的未来，我企盼会...
呵呵,撞上专家了.
前天学校有个活动,认识了几个大的农业机械公司的上层,都对中国这个市场非常关注--实际上已经在中国开了很多的合资工厂.我想他们看了这个系列会非常兴奋的.这就是市场啊!