CHINA: then & now A generation of change brings greater wealth and greater disparities to the world's most populous nation; In ancestral village, life is better now METRO Edition

• Published in: Star Tribune
• Main Author: Tai, Wendy
• Format: Newspaper Article
• Language: English
• Published: Minneapolis, Minn Star Tribune Media Company LLC 27.05.2001
• ISSN: 0895-2825

For most rural residents - whether in Dai Village, in the foothills of Guilin's famous hills, or along the Yangzi River - daily life remains pretty simple: Toilets are buckets that are emptied every day. Water buffaloes still till many paddies. Families eke out a living by hauling goods on the Yangzi and living in their boats. A fisherman on the Li River relies on his cormorants to dive for the fish. (A cord tied around the bird's neck prevents the cormorant from swallowing its prize.) The glittering lights and rich abundance of Shanghai remain out of daily reach for the likes of my cousin in Dai Village. She hadn't made the 120-mile trek to Shanghai since I last visited in 1985. But she knows what she's missing, and she wants to make sure her teenage daughter has a shot at an even better life than what they've seen in the village. 2000: The author, [Wendy Tai], and her children pose in the village that bears her family name. The sign on the fence says "Dai Village." Tai and Dai are the same word in Chinese.