Red hairpin, green cotton coat, red boots... On February 4, the second day of the Chinese New Year, there were few pedestrians on the road. Around noon, a figure in green suddenly appeared near several trash bins on South Third Road in Urumqi.
After repeated attempts, the empty mineral water bottle in the trash bin wouldn't come up easily with the stick. "I don't believe it!" Throwing away the stick, Yang Shanshan forcefully tilted the trash can and began to reach for the bottle with her hands; her little face almost buried in the trash can.
"This is the 39th bottle, and I will soon have enough for 3 yuan!" After finally getting the bottle, Yang Shanshan happily smiled, her danfeng eyes narrowing into a slit.
Charity: Collecting Junk
Yang Shanshan, 12 years old, has been part of the Young Eagle Team organized by her school and has served as an educational officer since three years ago. Selling scrap has become a part of her extracurricular life.
"The Young Eagle Team mainly uses winter and summer vacations to show love to impoverished families in the community," said Yang Shanshan. During each event, most parents of classmates provide financial support, "but my family doesn't have money, so my mom told me to find my own way."
The method Yang Shanshan came up with was picking up bottles and waste paper to sell for money. "A bottle is worth five cents, and each event roughly requires ten yuan, so I need to collect 200 bottles," said Yang Shanshan. "Sometimes, my team members also help me pick them up."
On February 5, it was the day everyone had agreed to visit Mr. Nie, a low-income household. Early in the morning, five regular participants of the activities—Zhao Bo, Zhao Xichen, Ma Zihao, etc.—joined Yang Shanshan in collecting bottles on the street.
However, after turning around for a big circle, six of them had little success. The children then took out from under Yang Shanshan's building the scrap she had stored over half a month—a large bucket of empty bottles and a full bag of urea containing waste paper and cardboard—and searched everywhere for scrap buyers, eventually finding one.
After much haggling, the scraps were sold for five yuan. Holding the hard-earned five yuan, Yang Shanshan wasn’t happy. To not disappoint the children, her mother Cai Xia added twenty yuan, allowing them to buy a box of milk for Grandpa Nie. "If the children do good deeds, we as parents must support them."
Grandpa Nie’s name is Nie Fengzhang, eighty years old, and both he and his blind wife are recipients of low-income assistance in the South Third Road community. The visit from the children was a pleasant surprise. "These children have visited us three times, either bringing goods or helping us clean our house," said Nie Fengzhang. He has three descendants, but they are all busy and cannot often return home. "We are happy when these children come."
While Grandpa Nie was speaking, Yang Shanshan wasn’t idle. She and her classmate Zhao Bo gave shoulder massages and leg rubs to the elderly couple.
Nie Fengzhang isn't the only person who has interacted with the Young Eagle Team. Over the past three years, the 12 members of the Young Eagle Team, along with Yang Shanshan, have shown love to eighteen poor residents. "When we have money, we buy rice, flour, and oil to send over, and when we don't, we help clean up," said Yang Shanshan. The majority of the eighteen households are elderly people, including low-income households, the elderly without family, and military dependents, "all introduced by Aunt Ru Kuya, who is responsible for low-income work in the community."
Currently, through Ru Kuya's introduction, Yang Shanshan has found a new beneficiary—a same-aged girl suffering from leukemia—and decided to give her the book she likes the most, "How the Steel Was Tempered," hoping that she could be strong.
Studying Hard: Copying Books at Bookstores
Each of the poor residents who have received aid from the Young Eagle Team actually does not know that the leader of the team, Yang Shanshan, like them, is also a recipient of low-income assistance, a child who lost her father at the age of five.
After her father Yang Fajun passed away, Yang Shanshan and her mother Cai Xia became recipients of low-income assistance under the support of the community, receiving nearly 600 yuan per month in low-income subsidies.
At the age of seven, Yang Shanshan started primary school. "I didn't attend preschool, so my grades were very poor, and no one wanted to play with me," said Yang Shanshan. She feared the most when teachers asked parents to sign report cards, "Every time, my mom would cry and chase me around the house with a broom."
"At that time, my mom spent all the money buying test papers for me, and if I didn't do them, she would beat me." In Yang Shanshan's memory, the first half of the first grade was filled with twenty test papers every day and many broken brooms.
Later, the school teacher learned about Yang Shanshan's situation, and her Chinese teacher Wang Jihong often helped her with homework. By the second semester of the first grade, her grades improved significantly. "Classmates started to play with me," said Yang Shanshan. Realizing the difference that better grades brought, she began to study actively.
Without money for study materials, she would bring a small notebook and "hide" in bookstores to copy them, "I've been kicked out many times." Later, she changed her strategy, memorizing the materials in the bookstore and then writing them down outside before returning to continue memorizing... Through such efforts, in the second grade, she became a group leader, and in the third grade, she was appointed as the deputy class monitor.
"This child is very enthusiastic," said her homeroom teacher Hao Yahui. She would take the initiative to pair up with classmates whose academic performance was poor and help the teacher supervise everyone's attentiveness in class.
To her classmates, Yang Shanshan was very righteous. "Although she often scolds us, she never tattles to the teacher," said classmate Ma Zihao, giving her a thumbs-up, "so when she organizes activities, we all support her."
In August 2010, the school had a student spot for the World Expo. After discussions among the school's moral education department and teachers, this spot was given to Yang Shanshan. "She is not the smartest, but she is the hardest-working. Moreover, she has always used her actions to help or influence others," said Hao Yahui.
Living Struggles: Taking Care of Mom
At school, Yang Shanshan gained praise from teachers and classmates through her own efforts, and at home, she was also the mainstay of her mother.
Yang Shanshan lives in Room 701, Unit 2, Building 7, Xingyun Real Estate Complex, Henan Road, Urumqi. Because they haven't paid the heating fee, their unit has been without heat for five years, and basically, no one lives there.
Winter is the hardest time for Yang Shanshan and her mother. Without heating, they have to carry coal blocks from the first floor to the seventh floor. Since the third grade, Yang Shanshan has taken on the task of carrying coal.
Each time they buy 100 yuan worth of coal, which comes in ten bags. "I can't carry a big bag," said Yang Shanshan, dividing the coal into small piles and putting them into plastic bags, moving them slowly to her home, "my mom's body isn't good, so if I make more trips, it'll be fine."
In winter, the mother and daughter rely on burning coal in the living room to keep warm. The three cats they keep sometimes nap on the sofa without cushions next to the stove. "Cats are my best friends."
Because she has heart disease, Cai Xia cannot work outside and often laments the impermanence of life. At these moments, Yang Shanshan always wipes away her tears and tightly embraces her, "we don't have dad, but I'm here."
The idea of taking care of her mom first sprouted when she was eight. "My mom had a fever and didn't get out of bed all day," said Yang Shanshan. She was extremely hungry, but couldn't find anything to eat at home. "That night, my mom made tomato noodles for me, and it was the best meal I've ever had."
From then on, to take care of her mom, Yang Shanshan started learning how to cook and began washing clothes at the age of nine. In October 2008, she found a job, "helping another unit clean the hallway on weekends, earning 150 yuan a month, but the money is with my mom." Yang Shanshan pouted her lips but quickly smiled again, "I know my mom is saving money for me, so I can go to high school and college."
When talking about her daughter, Cai Xia's expression was full of pride, "this child understands. Although we can't afford study materials and tutoring classes, she has always been in the top three of her class."
Once, Cai Xia suffered from constipation for a week, "it was Shanshan who helped me." Cai Xia said, her husband spent all the savings when he returned, and she was pregnant at the time. They even lacked the money for an abortion and often went hungry. Later, the community applied for low-income assistance for them, improving their situation, "as long as we are alive, there is hope. Shanshan is so ambitious, and her father would be proud too."
Dialogue:
Reporter: How did you think of helping others despite such hardships?
Yang Shanshan: If it weren't for the community and other people's help, maybe I wouldn't have enough food or clothing, let alone going to school. So, I also want to use my strength to help others.
Reporter: What do you want to do when you grow up?
Yang Shanshan: I want to be a doctor. But my mom wants me to attend a military academy because it doesn't cost money (laughs), so I'll be a military doctor.
Reporter: Do you feel any regrets in life?
Yang Shanshan: I miss my dad. If he were still here, we wouldn't have to work so hard.
Reporter: What are your New Year's wishes?
Yang Shanshan: Buy a few sets of math test papers. I want to read "Dream of the Red Chamber" and the four great classical novels (laughs), but I can't afford them now.