preface
In Youyang Tujia and Miao Autonomous County, Chongqing, there is such a rural couple who live in a remote mountainous area at a high altitude, but rely on farming to raise eight children.
The eldest of these children was fifteen years old, and the youngest was less than half a year old. In order to give his children a better life, zhou chao, the father, finds odd jobs at the construction site every day. While her mother, Hu Xiaohong, works at home, she also needs to take care of her children with housework.
In this era when most young people think that having a child cannot afford it, the post-85 couple has to rely on an optimistic attitude and strong perseverance to give their children the education and life they deserve.
They firmly believe: "After more than ten years of hard work, the children will grow up, and our family will definitely live a happy life."
Hu Xiaohong and Zhou Chao
In 1987, Hu Xiaohong was born in the Wuling Mountains of Chongqing Miao Autonomous County, and was the third oldest in the family.
Due to poor medical conditions, Hu Xiaohong's older brother and sister died at the age of a few years, and her parents began to quarrel constantly, and finally the two divorced.
For this one-year-old daughter, they did not have much love, and when Hu Xiaohong was abandoned by her biological parents, the uncle adopted her.
Due to the poverty of his family, his uncle never married in his life. This rough big man looked at the one-year-old baby, learned to boil porridge, change diapers, and pull Hu Xiaohong to the age when he should go to school.
After graduating from primary school, Uncle Da's elderly life could no longer provide her with education, so Hu Xiaohong chose to drop out of school and go home to farm and cultivate land, taking on the burden of taking care of Uncle Da's family.
Social development is rapid, when Hu Xiaohong was 14 years old, the young people in the village chose to go out to work, so Hu Xiaohong, who felt that he had grown up, followed these people to work in a shoe factory in Fujian. It was here that she met zhou chao, a classmate in elementary school.
People who are not familiar with each other in the same village help each other take care of each other. Because they knew each other since they were young, Hu Xiaohong and Zhou Chao became close and naturally fell in love.
In 2004, 16-year-old Hu Xiaohong and 17-year-old Zhou Chao decided to live together and form a family. There is no wedding, no dowry, but for Hu Xiaohong, who has longed for affection since childhood, she has a harbor of her own.
Life choices
In September 2005, Hu Xiaohong gave birth to a baby boy, and the two cherished the child so much that they have not gone out to work since the birth of the child.
The family has six people's share of the field property, there are occasional casual workers nearby who can make money, and the patron can also alleviate some of the pressure, and the life of Hu Xiaohong's family is more than enough. In this case, in September 2008, a second boy was born.
Two boys in succession made the couple have some regrets, and the children in life are complete, and the couple wants to have a daughter. Subsequently, in September 2010, the third daughter was born.
However, due to the poor medical conditions and weak awareness of protection, Hu Xiaohong became pregnant again a year later. She came to the township health center to drain the abortion, but because the month was too old, the doctor told her that she could only induce labor after a certain period of time.
Hu Xiaohong needs to do a lot of farm work every day, this family of five has three children waiting to be fed, the couple is busy every day to earn money to support the family, and gradually forget about this matter.
By the time they remembered, induction surgery was already risky, and in the end, they decided to give birth to the baby. So the lucky girl was born in September 2011, the fourth child of the family.
In 2014, Hu Xiaohong repeated the same mistakes, fearing the pain of induction of labor, and eventually gave birth to a fifth daughter.
Looking at two sons, three daughters and five children, Zhou Chao wants to help the family after having another boy, but the gender matter is not something he can control. After giving birth to six daughters in 2016, hu Xiaohong finally gave birth to a seventh boy in 2018.
At this point, the family already had three sons and four daughters.
The burden of happiness
Already poor, with seven children, how can we support this family? In the eyes of ordinary people, this is a huge burden.
Hu Xiaohong and Zhou Chao, who grew up bitter from snacks, were not afraid. For them, hard work is the inevitable of life, and the two are still young and can always find a way out through hard work.
In order to support many children, Zhou Chao doubled down on his work outside. Installing a formwork on a construction site can earn 200 a day, but because there is not much work, it cannot be done several times a month.
Zhou Chao did not let himself be idle, even if it was fifty or sixty a day, he would go to find something to do. Although migrant workers in the city can earn more, because there are too many children, Zhou Chao chooses to work nearby, which can help Hu Xiaohong take care of her children and reduce her pressure.
Together with their parents and brothers, the family has a total of eighteen people, and the six-person farm property has been difficult to maintain. Therefore, Hu Xiaohong and Zhou Chao focused on the aquaculture industry.
When the youngest son was born, in order to take care of the baby, they raised four pigs, and in addition to ensuring the supply of their own meat, the rest was sold, barely enough to live.
Hu Xiaohong plans to wait for his younger son to grow up, so that he can raise more, and Zhou Chao also plans to find a stable job, with a fixed economic income every month, and the family's economic situation will naturally be much better.
At this time, Hu Xiaohong became pregnant with her eighth child, but due to an accident, she miscarried herself.
In October 2020, due to the long period of waiting for childbirth, Hu Xiaohong's physical condition was not very good, often needed to take medicine, and found that the ninth child pregnant could not undergo induction surgery, and finally, in July 2021, Hu Xiaohong gave birth to the last boy. All this disrupted the couple's plans.
Children in the mountains
In 2020, the post-85 couple attracted the attention of photographer Zhou Jin. In today's young and eugenics, the huge pressure of parenting makes having a second child a thoughtful thing, how can this couple raise eight children in a difficult environment?
Coming to Hu Xiaohong and Zhou Chao's home, the children were playing in the yard and inside the house. Despite its remoteness and sparse population, the eight children were never lonely. The home is full of the sound of children laughing, like walking into a kindergarten, full of vitality.
The eldest son, Hyun-kwok, is 15 years old, and he will change the clothes and pants of his 3-year-old brother, who is fourteen and a half years older than the youngest brother. The word "elder brother" as father was embodied in him, and from the age of seven or eight, Xiankui would help his mother take care of his younger siblings on a daily basis.
Now, at the age of fifteen, he is in his freshman year of high school, and outside of class, he also helps his younger siblings in other grades with their homework. Although he is not yet an adult, he has already taken on a lot of household chores and is a reliable helper for his parents.
As of 2020, five of the eight children are in school, and the best grade is the second child, who can get to the top three in the class. As a result, Hu Xiaohong and Zhou Chao paid him more tuition and went to a better private closed management school. For them, the second best student may be their hope.
The tuition, clothing, and living expenses of the five children who studied for only one semester cost thirteen thousand yuan. In order to let them go to school, Hu Xiaohong raised eight pigs, because the pork market this year is not good, can earn about 30,000 yuan, in addition to the cost, barely able to bear their annual expenses.
In addition, they also have a cow, which can give birth to a calf every year and sell it for thousands of dollars. The free-range chickens raised at home and the eggs they lay can subsidize the family, and self-sufficiency is not a problem.
Looking at these well-behaved, neatly dressed, and well-looking children, photographer Zhou Jin photographed their daily lives, showing their lives to the society with photos, and telling everyone about the diversity and happiness of this family of ten. Some netizens saw the cute children and proposed to adopt one of them, but asked the child to completely cut off contact with the parents, and Hu Xiaohong and Zhou Chao flatly refused after learning about it.
They said that although the days were hard, life was not a problem. Raising eight is also raising, and one less is not enough.
For their children, they do their best to let them read, even if the family situation is average, but the child can read to what extent, grit their teeth will also give them out.
"Since we can be born, when we are parents, we must have the responsibility of raising them, and one more and one less is to be raised, so we are determined not to give our children to others."
For Hu Xiaohong and Zhou Chao, the day the children grow up, they have survived and "completed their tasks". They don't want their children to have any big future, as long as they can grow up safely and healthily, it is their greatest wish. The road ahead, "is up to them to break through."
On January 1, 2022, Zhou Jin visited the family again.
The family is killing pigs, and the adults are very busy. When the children are hungry, they make their own bubble noodles and fill their stomachs. The youngest child can not eat, seven children each one pack, busy and very childlike. Because the water temperature is not enough, they will pour the water directly into the bag, pour out the hot water, mix it with condiments, and it is a delicious fried sauce noodle. The youngest brother is only three years old, and he learns from his older brother and sister in a similar way, and his self-care ability is very good.
The sensible third daughter, as the eldest girl, gave her mother a bite after soaking.
Looking at the intimate child, Hu Xiaohong showed a happy smile, for her, this moment may be the meaning of life.
In this inhospitable to barren and poor mountain, there is no need for rich material conditions, no need to compare with other superior families, this ordinary family is like a brilliant flower, emitting dazzling brilliance and seductive fragrance, in this era of fertility is about to be negative, fiercely knocking on the dry hearts of many people.