A middle-aged couple in their fifties who relied on cleaning and scavenging for a living celebrated their combined "centennial" birthday at Xinjiekou Cibei Community.
Yesterday afternoon, while passing by Cibei Community in Nanjing's Xinjiekou area, I saw a couple in their fifties celebrating their combined "centennial" birthday and marking 20 years of entrepreneurship in Nanjing. The couple is often seen around the neighborhood, busy transporting garbage from several surrounding office buildings early in the morning and collecting waste such as old cardboard during the day. In the eyes of ordinary people, cleaning and scavenging are associated with dirt, fatigue, and poverty. However, it was reported that this couple from Suqian not only raised three children through cleaning and scavenging but also bought two houses and one car in the bustling Xinjiekou area, and they have now become grandparents.
[Their Roots in Nanjing]
Twenty years ago, they transitioned from carpentry to doing odd jobs in the community for cleaning services.
Xu Jiahui, 50 years old, is from Suqian, as is his wife Liu Cuizhen. Now both of them have put down roots in Nanjing, relying on cleaning and scavenging. Moreover, their three sons have also settled in Nanjing, with the eldest and second son already having families. Now, the elderly couple has become the proud grandparents of two little granddaughters. Before coming to Nanjing, Xu Jiahui was once a carpenter and worked for a private boss in Harbin. Xu Jiahui told reporters that during the National Day holiday in 1990, a relative introduced the couple to do odd jobs at the Cibei Community in Nanjing. His wife Liu Cuizhen worked as a cleaner in the community, and at that time, the community provided them with a guardhouse to live in. Although there was no electricity in the guardhouse at the time, it was still a place to eat and sleep.
"After we had children, life without electricity became unbearable, so our family squeezed into the guardhouse. Later, after negotiating with others, we pulled an electric wire and installed a light bulb." Xu Jiahui said that from then on, he had a dream: if they could own a house in Nanjing, how wonderful would that be? But it seemed that achieving this goal through cleaning and odd jobs was still very distant.
[Their Life of Poverty]
The New Year's Eve dinner in the first year of buying a house didn't even have a single piece of meat.
Liu Cuizhen and Xu Jiahui gave birth to three sons. After the eldest son served in the army and was discharged, he found a job as a driver in Nanjing and has since started a family and had children. The second son, although unemployed, has also started a family and helps his parents collect waste. The third son is still attending technical school. "In 2004, we bought a second-hand two-bedroom apartment in Minghua Xincun in Xinjiekou for a total price of 380,000 yuan. We borrowed 100,000 yuan from the bank and tens of thousands from relatives, and the rest was saved through cleaning and odd jobs. After buying this house, our lives became even more frugal. I still remember that New Year's Eve when there wasn't a single dish with meat on our table; everything was vegetarian," Liu Cuizhen said. With the pressure of the loan, the couple not only lived frugally but also worked tirelessly. They discovered that if they could enter nearby office buildings to collect waste, they would definitely "get rich." Liu Cuizhen said that they bought an electric-powered garbage truck to help clear waste from a nearby hotel and also helped commercial buildings like Jinlun Building, Jinlun New World, and Huachen Building clear waste. "I usually get up at 4 a.m., helping several buildings transport garbage to the Doucai Bridge garbage transfer station. There are at least six trips every day, and I eat breakfast at 8 o'clock. Then, I continue to collect waste," Xu Jiahui said.
[They Still Have Goals]
To buy a third house in Nanjing for their youngest son.
Through collecting old cardboard and newspapers, the income of Mr. Xu's couple significantly increased. Their second son, though unemployed, usually helps them. Later, they bought a 52-square-meter second-hand house in Cibei Community and also purchased a minivan for transportation. "At that time, the housing price was 10,000 yuan per square meter. Including the loan for the first house, our highest debt to the bank was over 300,000 yuan. I often tell my son that life is tough, and we must work hard," Liu Cuizhen said. Despite owning two houses in the Xinjiekou area, they rarely live in their own home. Most of the time, they sleep on manhole covers by the roadside, which is dirty and smelly. However, they have no choice because of their work. Now, their goal is to buy a third house for their youngest son.
[They Are Also Very Kind-hearted]
Carried a paralyzed elderly woman
upstairs and downstairs for many years.
At 2 p.m. yesterday afternoon, I saw the Xu family eating lunch by the roadside in the Cibei Community alley. Both sons, daughters-in-law, and two granddaughters who were not yet in school were all there. The whole family gathered together for a reunion meal. This reunion meal had special significance as it marked the 20th anniversary of the Xu couple's marriage, considered a pearl wedding anniversary, as well as 30 years of entrepreneurship in Nanjing. Additionally, since Xu's birthday was around this time, the couple celebrated their 50th birthdays together, symbolizing a combined "centennial" birthday, implying love lasting until the age of a hundred. The reunion meal was simple, with the dining table being made of cardboard boxes. Liu Cuizhen cooked a pot of fish and stir-fried two dishes, and the local Yanghe Puqu liquor was used as the "home banquet" wine. "Frugality and diligence" were their wealth-building philosophy.
Liu Cuizhen said that before buying a house, the whole family squeezed into a bungalow, and the surrounding residents disliked them, thinking they were dirty. "To take root here, not only must you endure hardships, but you must also be willing to help others," Xu Jiahui said. During his time as a cleaner, there was an 80-year-old woman living on the fifth floor of the building who later became paralyzed. Her children worked during the day and couldn't take care of her, so he carried the elderly woman up and down the stairs. Over those years, he carried her up and down the stairs no less than 500 times. A security guard from a nearby insurance company said that the Xu family was diligent and hardworking, and the garbage clearance and recycling of old items in the building depended on them.
Fan Xiaolin and Ren Guoxiong wrote and photographed.