The Shule River, under the Yin Mountains. From Shanghai Hongqiao Airport, it takes less than 3 hours to reach Hohhot, the capital of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, and then drive 100 kilometers north to reach the Siziwang Banner belonging to Ulanqab City. 61 years ago, children from Shanghai, riding a green-skinned train, went through a long journey to come here.
The flag is an administrative unit at the county level in the autonomous region. The Banner of the Four Sons, which has a population of only 210,000, is named after the four princes of Genghis Khan's descendants. The haggis soup of the Four Sons King Banner is a must, and the more famous here is the grassland Erjidu Guima.
Street view of Wulanhua Town, Four Sons Of Wang Banner. Photo by Si Zhanwei
In the early 1960s, during the great famine in the Jiangnan region, orphanages in Shanghai, Jiangsu, Anhui and other places flooded with young children. Under the government's arrangement, the children were sent to the relatively well-supplied north. From the beginning of 1960 to 1963, more than 3,000 orphans were accepted in many parts of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
When the children set off from Shanghai, Du Guima, who had just been hired as a nursery nurse at the Four Sons WangQi Nursery School, also set off from Namu Gengsumu on horseback. Along the way, when the children arrived, she was already waiting in the town of Ulanhua. She was 19 years old at the time and was looking forward to her new job.
The heavy responsibility of caring for 28 infants and young children made this girl who had not yet started a family a little busy. And for those children from the south, from now on, fate will restart on the steppe. Hunger, disease and poverty will be remembered for a long time. Half a life has passed, the pain has been smoothed out, and about the ups and downs of childhood, these old people with children and grandchildren can calmly laugh and talk.
Sun Baowei is one-third of the "three thousand orphans entering Inner Mongolia", and he firmly believes that he is a lucky person. The title of "orphan" has long ceased to be appropriate, and the love of the parents who have been stripped away in fate is soon, 1800 kilometers away, re-endowed by some forces. When the "children of the country" grow up and look back at their childhood, they find that they are full of traces and miracles of the times.
During the CCTV recording, "the child of the state" Zara Gamuji told the host, "I have 4 mothers: my biological mother, Dugui Ma Erji and two adoptive mothers. ”
Sun Baowei corrected him, "No, it's 5." "How come it's 5?" Zara Gamuji was in a hurry. "Isn't the party our mother?" Sun Baowei asked.
"People's model" du Guima. Photo by Si Zhanwei
A model for the people
2019 is the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, and Duguima was awarded the national honorary title of "People's Model".
Before going to Beijing, Duguima prepared the Mongolian robe she wore most often. The purple dress was matched with an orange bandana and belt, which she always wore in most public occasions. Qi Li intended to make her a few new sets, but she refused. The clothes are good, clean, and what to do is new.
On September 29, the Ceremony of Awarding the National Medal and National Honorary Titles of the People of the People will be held in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. At 10 o'clock, Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, president of the country, and chairman of the Central Military Commission, and the winners of the national medals and national honorary titles entered the venue at the same time and sat down in turn. Duguima took out a handkerchief and wiped the sweat several times.
Bao De (first from left), Du Guima's daughter Chagan Chaolu (second from left), and Tu Gege, a cadre of the Fourth Son Wang Qi Nationalities Committee (first from right), accompanied Du Guima (second from right) to receive the award in Beijing. (Courtesy of the interviewee)
After receiving the award, Du Guima looked at the "Model of the People" medal and carefully touched it. (Courtesy of the interviewee)
The night before receiving the award, Du Guima was a little excited. In the hotel room, he reached out and rubbed the Mongolian robe that was about to be put on the podium, and his eyes were full of expectation. She is almost 80 years old, and Tugrag, a cadre of the Nationalities Committee of the Four Sons Wang Banner who accompanied her to receive the award, was worried that the old man's blood pressure would rise because of his excitement, and told her to rest early.
"Tomorrow we won't bring anything, you just have to change into your Mongolian robe." Tugrage comforted the old man.
"Can I wear the party member badge?" Duguima asked. In 1974, Duguima submitted an application to join the Party and became a member of the Communist Party.
There was thunderous applause in the Great Hall of the People, and Duguima slowly took the stage from the left. Xi Jinping presented an award to Du Guima and told her to take care of her body. When he turned around to take a group photo, he found that the old man had limited mobility, and Xi Jinping helped him. Tugrage saw that Duguima walked down the stage with a light step after receiving the award.
"It was a moment I will never forget." Duguima said.
The day after the award, Du Guima, together with the winners of honorary titles from other countries, came to Tiananmen Square to observe the National Day military parade. The old man went alone, and when he returned, Tugrage found something in her left hand. When I took it out, it was a bag of small biscuits. Because of the long time of holding, the plastic wrapping paper has been soaked in sweat and deformed.
She ate a small snack in the car, got out of the car and did not find a place to throw wrapping paper, afraid of causing trouble to others, so she stuffed it in her own hand. Tugragon looked at Dugui Ma's hands and his nose was sour.
In the Four Sons Banner, everyone calls Duguima "Eji", and the Mongolian word Eji means mother. Eji, who has worked in the pastoral area all her life, has now moved from the pastoral area to Qili, and the government has arranged for her to live in a building.
When she was at home, she liked to sit on the dining chairs in the dining room. On the wall facing the seat hangs a family portrait of the four generations together, which can be seen when you look up. Du Guima also often watches the news on her mobile phone to pay attention to national events, or chats with Baode and other orphans she raised on WeChat.
Bode has lived in the steppes of Honggelsumu for 60 years, and the family has three or five hundred sheep. On March 15, 2021, affected by the sandstorm in Mongolia, China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region also experienced severe weather that has not been encountered in ten years. Du Guima remembered the children in the pastoral area and asked Baode on WeChat whether the family was affected.
The sheep of the Baldur family. Photo by Si Zhanwei
The Boyds' herd. Photo by Si Zhanwei
Become a mother
Compared with Shanghai, which is 1800 kilometers away, the Durbert Grassland is quiet and wide, with four wild fields. On the road from Ulanhua Town to Honggelsumu, occasionally cattle and sheep cross the road, and cars stop and wait. The lamb was halfway through, turned its head, and looked at the lamb walking behind it. Sunlight crossed the leaves overhead and fell on the white and soft sheep's back.
A 1-hour drive from the town of Wulanhua in Siziwangqi, deep in the grassland, you can find Baode's home. Baode came to the grassland from Shanghai 60 years ago. Here she met Duguima.
"At that time, I was very young, and I heard that I was going to go to the flag to take care of the children, and I felt very fresh to be able to work out of the pastoral area." Duguima recalled. In 1960, at the Four Sons Wang Qi Nursery, she met Bao De, Sun Baowei and the other 26 children.
"The child was picked up by the doctor sent by the hospital, and our four sons Wang Qi received 28." Duguima remembers the appearance of the children when she first saw them. They were all too skinny, like little lambs. The oldest is only 5 years old, and two of the youngest are not yet full moons. The boats were tired, and the children were crying.
In the nursery's mud room, Duguima and another girl are responsible for the lives of 28 children. Cooking, washing, boiling milk, teaching Mongolian, playing with the children, putting the children to sleep... Every day I was busy on all fours and in a mess.
"At first, I felt very energetic, but then I found that taking care of children is to watch day and night, and I can't go anywhere." Duguima said slowly. She also had times when she was bored, but remembering the children's lives, she could always grit her teeth and persevere. Similar to the 28 orphans, Duguima's parents died when she was a child, and she grew up under the care of her grandmother and aunt.
After a few months, the children's bodies were well-conditioned and the adoption was transferred to the pastoral area. Duguima, alone, in a yurt with the children, waits with the children for a second parent who will come to pick them up and take them home.
On the grassland, the 19-year-old Duguima became the 28-child Eji.
She placed her bed in the center of the yurt, and the children's beds were arranged in a circle, so that when she got up at night to take care of it, she could get as close as possible to each child. Before becoming a nurseryman, Du Guima received a few days of training in the Four Sons Wang Banner, and the duties of the nurseryman were meticulous, and they could not scold the child, could not let the child pee in the quilt...
The children began to sprout new teeth, learned to walk, and shouted "Eji" for the first time. They grew up and the days slipped away. After spending more than 500 days and nights together, the time of separation came. Every few days, adoptive parents come to pick up their children with freshly sewn Mongolian robes. The sorrow was like a cloud on the grassland, gently pressing on Duguima's heart.
She looks forward to every child being safe and healthy, leaving with her adoptive parents and starting a new life. At the time of parting, it is inevitable to be sentimental. She was not at ease with the children's lives in the house of her adoptive parents, and sometimes rode her horse to sneak a peek, looking from a distance. Zaragamuji's first adoptive parents, who were not very good at taking care of children, found out and took him back to his home until he found a second adoptive parent who could fulfill his parental duties.
After nearly a year of care by Duguima, Baode was picked up by Honggelsumu's adoptive parents. They have only one daughter, Bode, and they regard it as a treasure. Bald didn't like herd sheep, but she loved the prairie. After becoming a herdsman's daughter, she regained the love of her parents.
Family portrait of Boulder. (Courtesy of the interviewee)
"Children of the Nation"
Boulder always laughed. She was laughing when she found the treasured invitations and boarding passes from the large wardrobe and talked about the experience of accompanying Dugui Ma Erji to Beijing to receive the award; she was smiling when she put on a royal blue Mongolian trench coat and looked in the mirror; she was laughing at the group photo she took with her adoptive parents at the door 30 years ago; looking out the window, the daylight was warm, and her husband and son were taking care of the sheep, and she was laughing.
When he was eight or nine years old, Bao de heard about his origins. The intellectual youth who went to the countryside said that she was a "Shanghai doll". Bode did not believe it and ran home to ask his parents for verification. Her parents told her truthfully, but she still did not believe it. Despite the harsh conditions, her adoptive parents have always loved Baode and never let her do heavy work.
In order to take care of her adoptive parents, Baode, who graduated from high school, chose to give up continuing her studies, and she was reluctant to leave the grassland. At the age of 20, Baldur married Dawa, who was 4 years her senior. In order not to leave Baldur's adoptive parents, Dawa became a door-to-door son-in-law. On the day of the wedding, Dawa drove cattle and sheep and rode horses to Honggelsumu. On the grassland, they had a son and two daughters, herding sheep for a living, and now they have reached the age of teasing their grandchildren.
The pastoral area has just concluded its busiest season, and the two months of the beginning of the year are the peak time for the birth of lambs. In the past, when there was no greenhouse, Baldur and Dawa would take turns on duty, one guarding the first half of the night and one person in charge of the second half of the night. Once a ewe is born, it needs to be looked after to ensure that the lambs survive warmly.
"Child of the Nation" Bode. Photo by Si Zhanwei
In the grassland, welcoming the arrival of new life is a particularly difficult task, and Du Guima has deeply experienced it. In 1974, she attended training at Siziwangqi Hospital and became a midwife. 30 years ago, the wife of the "child of the nation" Zara Gamuji was about to come to the end of the pot. Duguima happened to pass by, and by chance, she delivered the third daughter of Zara Gamuji. Fate is winding, and the guardian will always be by his side.
In 2006, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Ulanf's birth, the Government organized the commemoration of the "Children of the Nation". They met again. The same experience allowed them to have the largest family in the world. Online and offline, there is almost daily communication. Because his adoptive parents are mongolian, Baode speaks Mongolian and sings many Mongolian songs. In the "Children of the Nation" WeChat group, You can always hear Baode's singing.
The "children of the nation" knew each other and had made an appointment to visit Dugui Ma Erji. In 2007, Eji was still living in the pastoral area. When the children went, she had already boiled milk tea and made hand-held meat waiting for her children to come home. It was their first reunion after a long absence. Duguima watched the children come over, her hands trembling with excitement. She dragged the child into the house and sat down, and when she ate, she had to cut the meat by herself and feed it to the children.
Sun Bao always remembered Eji's hands. Because he lived in the town, over the years, he often had the opportunity to visit Duguima, and every time he went, Egil always grabbed his hand and talked about many homely things.
Sun Baowei visited Dugui Ma Erji. (Courtesy of the interviewee)
The 100th anniversary of Ulanf's birth was attended by both Bao de and Sun Baowei. (Courtesy of the interviewee)
Lucky
Sun Baowei was more than one meter and eight meters tall, could speak the authentic Inner Mongolian dialect, and looked like a standard northern Hanzi. "When people ask me where I am, I don't have to think about it, From Inner Mongolia." Sun Baobao, who is over the age of flower armor, runs a veterinary pharmacy in the town of Wulanhua in the Fourth Son Wang Banner.
Sun Baowei has always felt that he is a lucky person. His adoptive father was a veteran who worked in the justice system and had lived in a privileged family environment since childhood. "When I was a kid, I always had sugar in my pocket. Wearing a red scarf, the cloth is one cent and eighty-one, the silk is three cents and five-one, I have never worn a cloth. Recalling his childhood life, Sun Baowei still feels happy. He was reluctant to call him "adoptive parents," as he had said in interviews over the years to make a distinction.
Sun Baowei learned of his origins from his childhood playmate. "When a child gets into an awkward fight, people say I'm holding it." He ran home and told the adults that his mother was going to drag him to find someone else's theory. Sun Baowei did not dare to mention this matter to her again, "If anyone says me again, I will fight, and if I can fight, I will fight, but I will not be able to pull down." ”
The ID card reads November 14, 1960. Sun Baowei is a relatively young of the 28 "children of the state" of the Four Sons of Wang Qi, but in fact, none of them can confirm their date of birth. There is no one who is not curious about where they came from, which has nothing to do with the later living conditions.
Name is key information for identity. After contacting other "children of the country", Sun Baowei knew that someone had checked the information. The only remaining archives show that the children in the welfare home were uniformly surnamed Dang, followed by a string of numbers. Some children have followed the party surname all their lives, and some have the surname of the country.
"Child of the Nation" Sun Defend. Photo by Si Zhanwei
Sun Bao's family portrait. (Courtesy of the interviewee)
In 1979, Sun Baowei went to Shanghai for the first time on business. The city was huge and unfamiliar, and Sun Baowei ended his work, inquired about the address of the welfare home, and went alone. He wasn't going to go in, he wasn't going to look for proof, he just stood at the door for a long time.
He still felt that he had a lucky life.
"If I hadn't come to Inner Mongolia, I would probably be a Shanghainese, but if there was a famine, I don't know if I could live or not." Sun Baowei said. Coming to Inner Mongolia, meeting Dugui Ma Erji and meeting his adoptive parents was a miracle in Sun Baowei's view. "This is the superiority of our national system. Now that I am older, I sometimes want to confront the foreign media that smears us, and I myself am proving that I am living well and well, which is the best proof of human rights in our country. After the counter of the veterinary pharmacy, Sun Baowei patted his chest and said, some excitement.
Boulder also felt lucky. "My greatest fortune is to meet such good parents and Dawa." She felt that the days were sweet, and the ups and downs of her childhood had long been erased by the love of too many people.
She had just returned to the grasslands after a party in Hohhot. At each party, Baode would ride a motorcycle across the grassland to the neighboring villages, hitchhike to the town, and then to Hohhot. The road is not easy, but Boyd does not feel troublesome.
"Folk party!" She smiled and showed the photos on her phone, "We are all fellow Villagers in Inner Mongolia." Baldur said.
The fellow villagers bao de said were the "children of the state" of Xilingol and Ulanqab. Every few months, they get together with their children and grandchildren. At the dinner table, someone sang a long Mongolian tune, melodious and soothing. The whole table began to whisper softly, and the rhyme was long.
"This is a song of praise for motherhood." Baldur said.
Column Editor-in-Chief: Zai Fei Text Editor: Zai Fei
Source: Author: Li Chuyue