Found out my Chinese coworker grew up in a village without running water

I was talking with one of my guys on the crew last week, and he mentioned he grew up in a small village in Guangxi Province. He said they didn't get running water until like 2008, and before that everyone walked to a shared well every morning. That really surprised me because I always pictured modern China as all cities and skyscrapers. It made me realize how fast things are changing over there. Anyone else hear a story from a Chinese friend or coworker that changed how you see the country?

2 comments

2 Comments

nina_clark24d ago

Knew a guy from Anhui back in my warehouse days who told me his village still used oxen to plow fields when he was a kid in the early 2000s. He said the first time he saw a car in person was when a relative drove a beat-up Jetta into town when he was like 15. Blew my mind because I grew up in a suburb with a car in every driveway and took that for granted. He showed me pictures on his phone once - dirt paths between houses, chickens running everywhere, no streetlights. Really makes you think about how different life can be just a few hours from a city like Shanghai.

rodriguez.jordan24d ago

But is it really that different though? If that guy grew up happy and healthy in his village, what does it matter if they used oxen instead of tractors?