Scavengers

Construction goes on around the complex where I live. I am still the sole occupant of my building but slowly, other units are getting populated. As more people buy apartments around the development they are outfitting them for long term use: custom wooden trim and light fixtures, select flooring and maybe even tearing down a wall. Somehow it was deemed a good idea to dump the debris in front of my stairwell.

This picture is of two women scavenging through the rubble, retrieving potentially useful fragments. They hit the mother lode with rejected wood and flooring pieces. For about 2 hours they picked through the pile, throwing their bounty to the side and then bagging it up to haul away.

I have written before about people, usually old women who pick through refuse for recyclables (see Made in China entry, posted December 2010). This is taking the trash-picking effort to a whole new level.

There is a growing disparity between the haves and the have-nots in China. The problem is exacerbated on one side by tradition versus modern life, and on the other the ‘little Emperor’ syndrome.    

Little Emperor syndrome is what this generation is afflicted with. Each family is allowed one child. That child has two parents and up to 4 grandparents, each vying for favor. The child is treated to anything and everything he/she wants, and even things he/she doesn’t want. As individual Chinese wealth and buying power grows, so does the marketing of frivolous goods and luxury items. It is a vicious cycle, not uncommon to even America. Not one of my students is deprived of a cellphone and many of them have their own top of the line laptop computer. Designer clothing, accessories, games, money to burn… you name it, and some, if not most kids have it.  

So, on the one hand, you have tradition, which dictates you really don’t need that much to live. A wok, a hotplate, some food, one or two changes of clothes, a dwelling in which to secure your few possessions and house your extended family is enough.

And then, there are the Little Emperors. To deny the little darling is unconscionable. Thus, money must be earned/made/found to afford everything, including education for the family scion. And let’s not forget the immediate funds needed to take care of the elderly parents.

While most in the city enjoy buying power and comfort, those in rural settings or communities such as the Over the Wall Community lean more toward tradition. That is where these scavengers come from.

They are mostly uneducated beyond the minimum required by law, with no hope of earning more than a few thousand Yuan a year. While that is plenty for a traditional life, it is not enough to satisfy the growing restlessness to keep up with the next Little Emperor. Or the neighbor who just bought a new car.

So they scavenge. After a full day of working in the fields or around our campus in menial tasks such as street sweeping or landscaping, they hit the trash cans and debris piles, ferreting out what is even minimally salvageable or anything that could be sold to the recycler.

The art of scavenging has gotten so competitive that I am asked for my recyclables before I even have a chance to put them out. The other day, coming home from an outing one of the OtWC women to whom I had previously bequeathed a bag of recyclables accosted me to ask if I had anything to donate. Unfortunately this was just after my return from Xi’an and I had nothing recyclable.

Construction goes on. The debris pile outside my kitchen window grows. Again today the scavengers plunder. Such is life in this increasingly materialistic society.