The gradually disappearing inter-provincial fruit selling "shoulder army" on the green train

Yulin, June 6 -- Topic: The gradually disappearing cross-province fruit selling "shoulder army" on the green train

Reporter Jiang Xuelin

Two baskets of fruits, a flat stretcher, a hand push cart, a small folding bench, and a small hanging bag on his shoulder, this is Wu Jinlian, a fruit farmer in Hebian Town, Lianjiang City, Guangdong Province, who traveled for a day. She shuttled between the orchards of Guangdong and the streets of Yulin City, Guangxi, by the Green Train from Zhanjiang to Nanning.

Wu Jinlian moved the basket containing fruits to the flatbed. Photo by Jiang Xuelin

Wu Jinlian used a flatbed truck to transport the fruit outside Yulin Station. Photo by Jiang Xuelin

"I got up at 4 a.m. to pick the fruits, picked two baskets of fruits, and transported them to the station on an electric bicycle." Wu Jinlian, who weighs only more than 40 kilograms and is 70 years old this year, said in an interview with reporters on the 6th.

Wu Jinlian enjoyed a moment of leisure time in the car. Photo by Jiang Xuelin

"The lychee variety produced in the river lip, Concubine Xiao, is about 20 days earlier than that produced in Guangxi. The purchase price of Concubine Xiao in Helip is 3 yuan per catty (RMB, the same below), and when it is sold in Yulin City, Guangxi, it can be sold for 5 yuan to 6 yuan per catty, and the average can earn 2 yuan to 3 yuan per catty. Wu Jinlian said that at the end of the day, after deducting the round-trip fare, you can earn about 200 yuan.

Located at the junction of Guangdong and Guangzhou, the river lip is the "hometown of a hundred fruits" in western Guangdong, producing fruits such as guava, star fruit, lychee, and longan. The railway from Litang, Guangxi to Zhanjiang, Guangdong passes through Hebi, and local fruit farmers take advantage of the time difference between Guangdong and Guangxi to ripen the same variety of fruits, and take trains to Yulin City, Guangxi and other places to sell fruits across provinces, forming a "burden army" over time.

The "Dan Jun" picked up the fruit into the car. Photo by Jiang Xuelin

Wu Jinlian is one of the members of the "Shoulder Army." She was a substitute teacher until 1997, but for some reason left the teaching force to join the "Commander Army". Wu Jinlian, who often travels between Helip and Yulin, raised four children with hardworking hands.

Like Wu Jinlian, Xie Yulan, a 72-year-old fruit farmer from Hengwo Village in Hebian Town, is also a "soldier". She is the oldest member of the "Duty Force".

Xie Yulan is physically stronger than Wu Jinlian, and can also carry fruits in and out of the station, while Wu Jinlian can only be pushed by a flat car. Wu Jinlian struggled to carry two baskets of fruits onto the train, but her younger peers would help, and sometimes the conductor and police would help her carry the fruits off the train.

Li Xiaoju sat on the small bench she brought with herself, looking after the fruits in the train aisle. Photo by Jiang Xuelin

On June 6, the reporter followed the "Dan Dan Jun" from the river lip to the car and accompanied the car all the way to interview. At 4:9 a.m. that day, the train stopped at Hebian Station, and the stay time was only 8 minutes, Wu Jinlian carried the fruit on the train with difficulty, then found a vacant seat to sit, turned on Douyin, hummed a song quietly along with the video, and enjoyed the journey. Li Xiaoju, a member of the "Dan Dan Army" from Baihepo Village in Hebian Town, took out his own small bench and sat in the aisle of the carriage to watch over the fruit.

Not all of the "responsible army" teams went to Yulin City to sell, one got off the bus in Wendi Town, Bobai County, Guangxi, and the other got off in Luchuan County, Guangxi. By the time they arrived in Yulin, there were only six people left in the "Dan Dan Army".

The "Dan Dan Jun" took a motorcycle to a place farther away from Yulin Railway Station to sell. Photo by Jiang Xuelin

At 10:46, the train arrived at Yulin Station, and the "Dan Dan Jun" quickly got off the train and pulled the fruit out of the station, and Wu Jinlian, who was thin in body, chose to sell it at the T-junction not far in front of the train station. Others paid 10 yuan on motorcycles and sold them farther away.

Wu Jinlian carried the fruit off the train with the help of his young colleagues and the conductor. Photo by Jiang Xuelin

Because the fruits are of good quality and freshness, local people like to buy fruits from Wu Jinlian. She brought porridge from home, and after a busy while, she squatted by the stall for lunch. At 15 o'clock that day, Wu Jinlian had sold two baskets of fruit, and then he could take the car home.

Wu Jinlian told reporters that if the fruit is not good to sell, it will be late to go home, because the return train only stops at Lianjiang Station, after Wu Jinlian arrives in Lianjiang, he has to take a motorcycle home, and often has to return home in the middle of the night for dinner.

Wu Jinlian and his colleagues hope that there will be more buses stopping at the river lip as before, so that the "Dan Zhan Jun" can return to the river lip from Yulin more conveniently and save costs.

Wu Jinlian, who is thin, sells fruit at the T-junction not far in front of the train station. Photo by Jiang Xuelin

Mo Baotian, deputy director of the Zhanjiang Station Police Station of the Nanning Railway Public Security Bureau, said in an interview that there are now about 10 people in charge of the army, and at its peak, there were dozens of people. In the past, some "responsible troops" went to Laibin City in Guangxi Province, Litang Town in Binyang County, Nanning City, and Guigang City to sell fruits, but now the farthest ones are only to Yulin, and no one has gone to Guigang, Litang and other places.

Mok Baotian said that most of the "responsible soldiers" are women over half a hundred years old, and no new people have joined the team for a long time. As a local of Helip, Mo Baotian observed that due to the fewer and fewer buses stopping at Helip, and now selling fruits through e-commerce and live broadcasting, the "Dan Jun" as a product of a special historical period may gradually disappear.

Wu Jinlian sits at a fruit stall eating lunch. Photo by Jiang Xuelin

Wu Jinlian said she wanted to work for a few more years and quit. As a younger member of the "Responsibility Army", Li Xiaoju also said that if he works for a few more years, when his younger son gets married, he will not travel so far to sell fruit.

"My children don't want to sell fruit across provinces anymore. One or two hundred dollars a day, young people want to earn it in a different way. Li Xiaoju said. (End)