China News Service, Jishishan, Gansu, February 10th (Wang Mu Yutian Penghe) On February 9th, the Lunar New Year’s Eve, the warm winter sun shone into Xiaohongping Village, Jishishan County. The transitional resettlement houses here have been decorated, red lanterns are hung at the door of every house, and villagers have posted couplets on the door of the houses. The villagers sat around in the open space of the resettlement site and watched the "Village Spring Festival Gala".
On the eve of the Chinese Lunar New Year in 2024, at the "Village Spring Festival Gala" in Xiaohongping Village, Jishishan County, the "Ga Laohan" Erhu Band was performing for the villagers. Photo by Jiumei Danzeng
77-year-old Fan Zhengqian is the oldest member of the "Ga Laohan" erhu band. Every year, he and several old friends from the same village appear at the "Village Spring Festival Gala", and this year is no exception. The repertoire they performed included "Song of the Four Seasons", "The Farmer" and "General of the Yang Family". "The village was hit by a disaster this year. We old men can't do much. We can play some songs that the villagers love to listen to and encourage everyone. Life must continue." Fan Zhengqian said.
The musicians of the "Ga Laohan" band have a common New Year's wish, that is, they hope that young people can join the band and continue this repertoire every year. At the "Village Spring Festival Gala", the square was full of people. The audience watched intently and picked up their mobile phones to take pictures from time to time.
In the children's group dance program, a little girl dressed up extremely festively became the focus of everyone's photos. Her mother, Li Qingmei, said, "I bought new clothes, headwear and new shoes online for my children a few days ago. There will be no shortage of things prepared for my children during the Chinese New Year in previous years."
In the wooden house of Li Qingmei's house, although it is small, it is very clean and tidy. On the table are New Year's food and dried fruits prepared a few days ago.
At noon on New Year's Eve in 2024, Zhang Guoliang, a villager in Xiaohongping Village, Jishishan County, took out the freshly steamed buns in the wooden house. Photo by Jiumei Danzeng
Following the scent, the reporter came to the wooden house of Zhang Guoliang's family. The family enthusiastically stuffed the steaming steamed buns stuffed with chives into the hands of people who came to visit his house. Every table in the boardroom is filled with steamed buns and fried noodles, a must-have local New Year dish.
"This year we have cooked more food at home than in previous years. I just hope that the New Year flavor will be more satisfying. The family will have a prosperous New Year together and the family will be safe in the coming year." During the earthquake more than a month ago, Zhang Guoliang Our house collapsed during the earthquake, but fortunately everyone was safe, and the whole family moved into a resettlement house. "As long as people are well, nothing will happen and the house can be built again," Zhang Guoliang said.
On December 18 last year, a 6.2-magnitude earthquake occurred in Jishishan County, Gansu Province. More than 50,000 households and 240,000 people were affected in the county. Xiaohongping Village was one of the villages hardest hit by the earthquake. The village's 569 households currently have 379 residents. More than 1,800 people live in centralized resettlement sites.
The picture shows Fan Shengping, a villager in Xiaohongping Village, and his wife preparing for the New Year's Eve dinner of "hand-caught mutton" in a wooden house. Photo by Wang Muyu
Outside the house, Fan Shengping was collecting water to wash the mutton. "No matter what, we must have something to catch today." Fan Shengping is preparing for the New Year's Eve dinner. Today his two sons will come back from the county town, and a family of 11 will reunite in the wooden house. Hand-caught mutton is a local specialty that is eaten during New Years and holidays.
Fan Shengping's two sons have married wives one after another in the past two years. His family is not rich and he still owes some debts. Because of the earthquake, he stayed at home to take care of his 89-year-old father, while his wife took care of his daughter-in-law who had just given birth to a child in Lanzhou, the provincial capital. He tidied up the house and used discarded bricks to build a bed big enough for a family to sleep on.
When talking about the situation at home, Fan Shengping still had a smile on his face despite his calmness and indifference. After the Chinese New Year, he would go to work in a county factory to support his family.
On New Year's Eve, young volunteers, public security police, firefighters and stationed inspectors from the State Grid were seen from time to time around the board houses at the Xiaohongping Village resettlement point. They are busy protecting the villagers' "New Year".
The picture shows Ma Yu (first from left) and her colleagues checking the safe use of electricity in villagers’ prefabricated houses. Photo by Wang Muyu
"Seeing the smiles on the faces of the fellow villagers makes everything worthwhile." Ma Yu, who is stationed at the State Grid Station of the resettlement site in Xiaohongping Village, Jishishan County, rushed here after the earthquake. A month later, after his rotation, Ma Yu came here again. He said that he saw more smiles from the villagers this time. He and his colleagues were on duty around the clock to ensure that the villagers in the resettlement site had normal access to electricity.
As night falls, the heat of cooking dumplings in every household floats out from the wooden houses and condenses into clouds of white mist. Outside, the children set off fireworks, lighting up their smiling faces. (over)