"Young people nowadays don't want to do this anymore."
The man sighed, his eyes revealing helplessness and regret.
Yu Chengming, a dark-skinned, thin-skinned middle-aged man, has the traces of time and the wind and frost of the rainforest carved on his face.
He comes from a family that has been collecting bird's nest for generations, and has been exposed to it since he was a child, relying on this "high-risk" job to support his family.
The last bird's nest picker - Yu Chengming
The older generation lives in the mountains or villages, and the reason why they can live a stable life for generations is that they rely on the mountains to eat the mountains.
Farming, chopping wood, to meet the basic food and clothing, but with the development of society, money becomes more and more important.
Money can buy more necessities, and for them, the best way to make money is to go deep in the mountains to find bird's nests to sell.
However, swallows' nests are not so easy to find, according to the living habits of the species, they like to build nests on cliffs to survive, and it is even more difficult to get their nests.
Climbing steep cliffs with bare hands can kill you if you're not careful.
The changes of the times have not been able to change the ultimate fate of this profession, and now, there are very few people in the entire village who still insist on picking bird's nest.
Moreover, bird's nest harvesting is very seasonal, with only a few months of the year to be harvested, and the income is also unstable.
The combination of various factors has made the young people in the village look away.
Whenever the season of bird's nest collection comes, Yu Chengming will prepare tools early and go up the mountain to collect bird's nests.
Dressed in special climbing gear, he held a long pole and a hook and carefully searched the cliff for traces of bird's nest.
Sometimes, in order to find a suitable bird's nest hole, he needs to climb for hours, or even a whole day.
However, when he finally found the bird's nest, the joy and sense of accomplishment made him feel that everything was worth it.
And according to Yu Chengming's own statement, although collecting bird's nest is hard, it is even equivalent to licking blood on the tip of a knife.
Yu Chengming began to pick bird's nest in 1979 and witnessed the price of bird's nest rising year by year, from the initial 2 yuan a tael to the current sale to 2,600 yuan a tael, and he relied on this to support his family.
As time went by, Yu Chengming felt more and more powerless, and he couldn't earn this money even if he wanted to.
His body is no longer as flexible and robust as it was when he was younger, and it is becoming more and more difficult to climb cliffs.
Yu Chengming knew that he couldn't keep doing this and needed someone to take over his job. However, he couldn't find a suitable candidate.
Young people are reluctant to do this, and the older generation is already overwhelmed. This made Yu Chengming feel very worried and anxious.
Yu Chengming's son Xiao Yu is just in his early twenties this year, which is the age of youth.
However, he chose to leave his hometown and work in the city.
I'd rather work hard in the city than inherit my father's bird's nest picking business.
He felt that the job was too dangerous, too hard, and not very well-paid. He hopes that through his own efforts, he can make a world in the city.
Yes, for young people, living conditions are better now, and there are more opportunities for choice.
They no longer need to take the risk of picking bird's nests for a living, as was the case with the older generation or even the older generation.
Although these things make us seem a little regretful and emotional, this is the inevitable result of the development of the times, and no one can change it.
In the development of today's society, people's requirements for material level are getting higher and higher, and more and more people are eating bird's nest.
What can I do if the demand is increasing but the supply is not keeping up?
Source: Red Star News 2019-05-22 20:23 The last bird's nest picker in Yalongjiang: It is expensive to 20,006 pounds, and his son would rather work than study
Scientific methods of collecting bird's nests
At present, there are two main sources of bird's nest: natural picking and artificial breeding.
Naturally harvested bird's nest refers to the nest that has been found in a high-risk place (such as on a cliff) by the swallow itself without human intervention.
Picking natural bird's nests is life-threatening as they grow on cliffs and require climbing ropes or using special tools such as ladders.
In Sarawak, Malaysia, the walls of the caves are 100 meters high, and the bird's nest pickers are connected along the sections and picked at a high altitude.
Artificially cultivated bird's nest is a method of cultivating swallows and collecting bird's nests by simulating the natural environment.
This method involves selecting the right swallow species (e.g., white-bellied, red-bellied, gray-bellied, etc.);
Build a suitable bird's nest, provide suitable feed and water, pay attention to disease prevention and control, etc.
Farmers will build swiftlet houses in specific places to provide a safe and comfortable environment for swallows to nest.
Bird's nest picking is carried out after the swallows leave the nest or just after leaving the nest to ensure that the bird's nest is complete and dry.
For those wild bird's nests, the picking process still requires manual climbing and special tools, but modern technology has assisted the bird's nest collection process to a certain extent.
Aerial reconnaissance can be carried out using drones to determine the exact location of bird's nests, reducing the time and risk of manual searches.
However, until now, it has not been feasible to rely solely on technology for bird's nest collection, as bird's nests are often grown on hard-to-reach cliffs and require manual final harvesting.
Although modern technology has played a certain auxiliary role in the collection process of bird's nest, the natural harvesting of bird's nest still requires manual work.
The ancient trade is drowned in the torrent of the times
The development of the times will eventually eliminate many ancient trades.
We can understand that they have not kept pace with the times, just like the outdated old objects, no matter how much they are nostalgic, they can't withstand the rolling torrent of social development.
Just like those craftsmen of the older generation, although fine, they really can't keep up with the rapidly changing social needs, and in the end they can only be slowly eliminated and disappear into our lives.
Just like the merchants who walked the streets and alleys with their burdens in the past, they carried all kinds of small goods on their backs and attracted the attention of the villagers with their shouts.
But nowadays, online shopping, supermarkets, convenience stores, you can buy things anywhere, and no one in the merchant industry does it.
There are also those shoemakers who specialize in repairing shoes, who used to be reluctant to throw away anyone's shoes when they were broken, and they can wear them for a few years if they find a shoemaker to repair them.
But what about now? If the shoes are broken, throw them away, and they are not expensive anyway, so how can they be repaired?
There are also some ancient craftsman's crafts, such as iron-striking and bamboo-weaving, which require a long period of practice and accumulation to master.
But today's young people are more willing to choose those industries that come quickly and have a low threshold, and these skills are gradually lost.
To be honest, it's a pity that these things are gradually disappearing, after all, these are the precious treasures left by our ancestors.
But then again, society always has to develop, and some things are destined to be eliminated, which is also something that cannot be helped.
We can only hope that those truly valuable ancient industries can be preserved and passed on, so that they can continue to shine in our lives.
What do you think about this?
Text/Editor: Xiaoyang Baa Baa