Country Life (1924-1936) - The Mountains

Words of my uncle:

The mountain is a unique feature in our district. A gigantic range of rolling hills and mountains was within walking distance from our area. About 4 or 5 generations before my time, it was said that a grandma was carried away by a tiger from her own doorstep. When I was a kid, I heard that a pig barn in the marketplace was raided by wild animals at night and the remains of a large hog were found nearby the next morning. Some sighted in the dark an animal similar to a big dog. One fresh grave was dug up and the corpse was partly eaten. I suspect it could be hyena or wolf.

One abundant resource in the mountain was firewood. The most abundant firewood in our region was fern. It provided a very important source of income for people from miles around. It was far better than any gold mine, iron ore, or any other metallic mine. In mining, the whole ecology would be forever disrupted. For harvesting firewood, nature would replenish it year after year.

Every morning before daybreak, when men-folk were heading for the rice field, most women-folk were heading for the mountain. They walked in staggering groups, talking, laughing, and gossiping all the way. Each of them was equipped with a bamboo stick for shoulder-carrying, a sickle for cutting the fern, and a bunch of hay-ropes for tying up the bundles. Going to the rice field, where it was wet and muddy , people went barefoot. Going to the mountain, where it was dry and rocky and sometimes thorny, people wore leather sandals which were cut from ox hide.

At the mountain, each individual could place some markings there to claim a small territory. she then bent down and cut as much fern as she could, and laid it there to let sun-dry. The dried up fern left from the day before was then tied into two large bundles, one placed on each end of the bamboo stick, and carried home. Again the whole group jogged home together, and rested on the way together. By early afternoon, most women were home to cook supper.

Two bundles of fern weigh from 50 to 100 lbs., depending on  one's own capacity. It could be sold in the market and traded for 1 to 2 lbs. of rice, enough for a meal. Mom did some mountain works. We kids didn't.

While the women-folk were halfway up the mountain, the oxen were grazing down at the foothill where grass was abundant, under the watchful eyes of shepherd boys. Each boy could handle 1 to 2 oxen. Those boys invented lots of songs and stories which were an important part of Chinese folklores.

Besides firewood, the mountain also produced wild fruits. One kind during the hot summer season was call nam. It was somewhat like blackberry, except the skin was thick and smooth. It was delicious but invariably caused constipation.

It was during one of those mountain trips that my cousin-aunt rescued the life of a Communist cadet. That cadet was under hot pursuit by the Nationalist troop. She hid him under piles of cut fern, and later brought him home under the cover of darkness. When the Communists finally won, that cadet became the chief executive of Taishan County and my cousin-aunt became a celebrity.