Whether it is better to live in the countryside or in the city, which one would you choose?

I sold my house in Fuzhou and moved to Yunxiao, a small county in Zhangzhou. I originally planned to retire in this rural area. This is the ideal life for many people, growing flowers and vegetables in the countryside until they grow old. But I failed, experienced a major trough in my life, and almost lost my life.

As far as growing flowers is concerned, it doesn’t matter where you grow flowers, but as far as life is concerned, the gap between rural and urban areas is too big. Not only life, but also folk customs, ways of doing things, etc. are all very different from those in cities.

First of all, there is folk custom. The whole of China has the habit of burning paper money, but in the rural areas of southern Fujian, this habit has been magnified several times. Here they are burned on the first and fifteenth day of the lunar month and during the New Year and holidays. There is also a large-scale one at the end of the year, which is called the wish fulfillment. What’s more, they also pay attention to the fact that what is burned to the gods is called gold and silver, and what is burned to the dead is called paper money. It must be burned in two buckets. Of course, I respect the beliefs of the people in southern Fujian, but they cannot affect other people's lives.

Paper money here is burned downstairs or at the door of private houses. On the first and fifteenth day of the Lunar New Year, the whole county is covered in gray. It’s overwhelming how much paper money is burned. People who live on lower floors are unlucky. They have to clean their balconies every first and fifteenth day of the Lunar New Year because the balconies are filled with ashes.

On the other hand, there are also fevers in cities, but the number is small and everyone will not affect others. Either burn it yourself in the corridor, or have a centralized area. At least the soot will not float everywhere, disturbing the people, and will not cause a city to instantly turn into a smog city.

There is also the habit and style of doing things. Cities are generally more fair. There are legal regulations for going to the Civil Affairs Bureau or police station or other state agencies to do things. The staff will not make things difficult for you. You can do whatever you can do, and you can't do what you can't. But things are different in rural areas. There are gray areas, and almost anything can be solved with cigarettes and money.

For example, if you build a house on the roof of a community, the real estate agent will come and it will be handled by two Chinese companies. This style of looking at people and doing things is more popular in Yunxiao. For a small security guard, many people will share cigarettes with them when they see them, and occasionally they will share food with them when they buy some food. I understand this very well.

The house I live in is at the back door of the community. According to the community regulations, this door is only for exit and no entry. But many times, people drive in through the back door, and some park inside, and the security guards help them occupy parking spaces. When I first moved, it was close to my house, so I entered through the back door. The security guard refused to let me in at first, but then the driver went over to share the cigarettes and said a few words in local dialect, and he was allowed in again. I was forced to separate cigarettes when I saw security guards later, or when I needed to enter through the back door, I had to separate cigarettes in advance and say hello.

People here in Yunxiao still care about face. A teacher here earns over 3,000 yuan a month. Most of the working-class people have low wages, but here you have to smoke Furong Wang at least when you go out. If you are a little solemn Nothing is possible without China. When I was in Fuzhou, I always smoked cigarettes that cost 10 yuan. When I got here, it cost 25 yuan. To be honest, I spent a lot on cigarettes in the past six months. Of course, Smoking Yunxiao is an exception, and most other places will not be like this.

The folk customs here are also very strange, and friendship becomes very fragile in the face of interests. Most of the people in southern Fujian are individuals. People in southern Fujian have the idea of ????working hard and venturing out on their own. This is very admirable, but it is different in many rural areas. Yunxiao used to be a poor county, and many people's families used to be poor, so it later became known as the capital of counterfeit cigarettes. In recent years, counterfeit cigarettes have been heavily investigated by the state, and they gradually stopped doing it, so these people began to change their careers to do other things.

People in cities have a relatively stable life, and they are very indifferent to making money. If you can make money, make money. Your money is your money. But it's different in Yunxiao. Many people really do anything for money. Take my house sale this time as an example. I put the keys with agent A, and agent B asked agent A to open the door to view the house. After the deal was completed, agent B asked me to sign the contract. The contract was signed and the agency fee was paid. Later, agency A jumped out and said that I was his client and I wanted to pay him the agency fee.

This is not the scariest thing. The intermediaries here are all small individuals. A small store can act as an intermediary. None of them are intermediary companies. Moreover, the house payment here is directly transferred to the other party's account without going through the bank. All house transactions here do not go through the bank. Except for the loan part, which is approved by the bank, the rest of the money is deposited directly into the account. When a person buys a house, the down payment or the full payment is transferred to the landlord's account. If the landlord wants to walk away, it is very easy.

Of course, there are good people and bad people everywhere, and not all of them are people who do whatever it takes to make money. However, during my six months in Yunxiao, I didn’t make a single friend. I only made an older brother who sold dry goods at the vegetable market, and I went there to drink tea every day. And he is different from most locals. He lived in the city when he was young and only returned to the countryside later, so he actually already has the style and habits of doing things in the city.

To be precise, there are two types of people in rural areas. One is those who work and study in cities. The habits and aspects of these people are the same as those in cities. The other kind of people have never worked or lived in the city, and their thoughts still remain rural. This creates cultural differences.

In addition to the above, medical care, education, transportation, etc. all determine that rural areas are not suitable for life and retirement. As people get older, they tend to get sick more often. It’s very troublesome to have to go to the city to see a doctor. Of course, I believe that the current situation is temporary. As the country vigorously develops rural areas, supporting facilities in all aspects of rural areas will definitely be improved. I believe that in the future it will become a new rural area with Chinese characteristics.