大爱暖人间

钟允香.单益波

一个从前名不见经传的小村，在短短几年里成为全国闻名的仁孝之村，吸引了新华社、中新社、《人民日报》、《浙江日报》、《中华孝文化》杂志、《春晖》杂志、香港《文汇报》、澳门《华侨报》及美国《中国日报》等近百家媒体的持续关注和深度报道。

这个村叫东溪单村，位于浙江省临海市东塍镇。据记载，单姓村民的先祖是隋唐人物单雄信，他与哥哥单雄忠读书练武，以孝贤仁义闻名于世，备受敬仰，人称二贤。唐宋间，单雄信的后人从山东辗转迁徙，定居临海。东溪单村民风淳朴，传承了先祖遗风。

孝文化的传承与重构

孝道伦理是东溪单村的道德核心和文化基础，千百年来，在族人间起着维护稳定、增强凝聚力、协调复杂微妙关系的作用。随着历史发展，东溪单村的孝文化发生了嬗变，开始从单纯血缘的家庭、家族、宗族关系向公众同构的社会模式转化。听老人们说，东溪单姓人重孝道早就出了名，但形成一种文化氛围却是从近年开始的。

东溪单村在当地是一个典型的老龄化村庄，全村2048人，步入老年的有508人，且空巢居多。这种现状成了村两委的棘手难题。为此，村两委决定重构孝文化，改建家庭式孝道为公众模式，把集体的大爱送给老年人。因此，他们发动150多位在外工作、经商的乡贤及全村村民捐款，筹得50多万元善款，设立全国第一个村级孝心基金，给老人们一定的物质帮助，在村里形成一种爱老、敬老的文化氛围，让全村的老人都过上幸福晚年。

村孝心基金会理事长单坚说：“一个人若不能敬爱生他养他的父母，那么他也就很难为他人、集体、国家做出什么贡献。倡导孝敬长辈，是弘扬感恩精神、善化人性，也会起到和睦邻里、稳定社会的作用。”他认为“孝”是形成现代和谐人际关系的价值渊源，是形成和睦社会风尚、保持社会稳定的精神措施之一。

以前，村里宗族祠堂有壁画《廿四孝图》，其核心是要求子女顺从父母意志、侍奉父母天年并追终慎远、纪念祖宗，内中夹杂一些封建糟粕。村孝心基金会倡导以家庭美德为着力点的尊老养老，培养人本意识，促进孝文化的传承与重构。在子女爱父母之道德感情的推动下，孝文化在社会主义新农村建设的过程中，以崭新的姿态存在并影响人们的思想和行为，从而凸显其巨大活力和深厚价值。为此，村孝心基金会制订了“十佳孝星”评选表彰制度，每年评选若干名孝子、孝媳。

孝敬成为时尚的风气

村两委的举措和孝心基金的设立使村民们实实在在感受到，孝敬之风在村里悄悄蔓延。以前，村民家庭难免有矛盾，婆媳之间难免吵架，现在，调解吵架的几率小了。孝敬长辈在村里成了时尚的风气。

村书记戴荣华说，孝星们的行为影响着周边村子和好媳妇们的娘家人。他印象最深的是村里有个外村嫁过来的媳妇，对公公婆婆是出了名的孝顺，小姑出嫁后常说：“嫂子对我爸妈好，我也要学她孝敬公婆。”

有一位叫卢诚的青年说：“我从母亲身上读懂了‘孝字的真义。孝敬父母是一个人最基本的道德责任，爱父母才会爱他人、爱社会和爱国家。一个人对家庭有责任感，才会对国家社会尽职尽责。妈妈待爷爷这么好，当上孝媳，很荣耀！将来我结了婚，也要和老婆一起待爸爸妈妈好。”

戴荣华说：“榜样的力量是无穷的！近年来我村不断涌现出孝星，去年和今年，村里给八位孝星发了铜牌和证书，并给孝媳的娘家发去喜报，送去贺匾。这份礼物，让孝媳的娘家人惊喜、骄傲。”

向孝媳的娘家发喜报、送贺匾，是为了扩大影响力，在村内外形成比孝心、比奉献和学孝敬、当孝星的浓厚氛围。在给予“孝星”现金奖励的基础上，村两委会同当地农村信用联社，授予孝子孝媳家庭“金牌信用户”称号，享受优先贷款权、免担保和最优惠利率。村两委编印了孝文化乡土教材—《人间孝道》和《百善孝为先》，发放给全体村民，用身边事教育身边人；并在村小学开设了乡土孝敬课程，让青少年学会感恩，懂得责任，树立回报家庭、社会的理念。村里还设立了临海市青少年生活道德体验空间。

把村庄办成温暖乐园

村主任单国取说：我们设立孝心基金，最根本目的就是对老人实行精神和物质援助，解老人燃眉之急，使老人老有所乐，老有所养！

东溪单村孝心基金是老百姓自发帮扶老人的一种行为。它的设立，推进了东溪单村的老龄工作，填补了老人精神上的一些空虚，受到老人们的称赞。屈优兰老太太日子维艰，靠加工彩灯赚些生活费。去年农历四月十九是屈优兰八十寿辰。那天，东塍镇一家蛋糕店的店员突然把生日蛋糕送到她家。屈优兰喜出望外。听说这是孝心基金会送的，老人更激动得直掉眼泪。她说：“我活到老，还没吃过生日蛋糕。现在老了，反而过上了生日。”

单国中老人同样对村两委充满感激，认为孝心基金的设立造福于老人。单国中家境贫寒，孙子在读大学。前两年，他家里不慎着火，急需建新房子。村里商量后决定，免费提供地基，再凑些钱给老人买建材，并给他添置了一些必需的家具和生活用品。去年，单国中还从村里领到了几笔钱，前两笔在春节，高龄生活补助300元，困难户慰问金500元；第三笔在重阳节，也是500元的慰问金。另外，每次领钱还附带米、油、点心等物。这对普通家庭算不上什么，但对单国中家来说，却是一种相当温暖和有力的帮助。

东溪单村建立高龄老人生活补贴制度，从两年前设立的孝心基金里，给予全村47位80周岁以上老人每人每年300元生活补贴，并在春节、重阳节等节日发放社会各界捐赠的生活用品；建立困难老人生活补助制度，对困难老人每年在春节和重阳节分别发放500元现金及节日礼品；建立医疗援助制度，每年重阳节邀请卫生系统志愿者开展义诊活动，对全村老人实行免费体检，并邀请大医院的专家到村里开展专家门诊，使老年人的生活得到保障。对于突发事件导致生活困难的老人，由理事会成员帮助联系相关部门进行救助。

东溪单村无愧是村镇孝文化一面旗帜，东溪单姓人用自己的善良展示了传承千年的孝义，以自己的真情诠释了孝字的含义，用自己的热情和努力感召着更多的人共同谱写这动人的大爱之歌！□

Village Takes Care????????of the Old

By Zhong Yunxiang, Shan Yibo

Dongxi Shan Village has put itself on the national map by creating and running a village foundation for taking care of the old in the village. Over the past few years, nearly 100 media at home and abroad have covered the village project.

The village is in Dongchen Town, Linhai City in southeastern Zhejiang. Most of the villagers are presumably the descendants of Shan Xiongxin, a rebellion hero who set out to overthrow the Sui Dynasty (581-618) and ended up getting killed later. It is said that the hero was a man of filial piety and virtue. About 1,000 years ago, the descendants of the hero migrated from Shandong Province and came to Linhai and settled down. The descendants have carried on the family tradition of respecting and taking care of the elderly people.

The filial piety has been the core of the village culture for more than centuries. The culture holds families and the village together. The culture has evolved, spreading from a single family to the clan and the whole village community. The old people recall that the Shan clan has long been renowned for respecting and taking care of the elderly among local villages, but promoting the tradition is a new cultural movement started a few years ago.

The village is home to quite a few empty nesters. At the last count, it had a population of 2,048; 508 were elders and most of them were empty nesters. How to take care of these elderly people became a big problem for village managers two years ago. They decided to promote the family filial piety on the village scale and to let the whole community act as a family and take collective care of the elders. Donations came in from more than 150 villagers who had moved away and made it in the outside world and from other villagers. The donations amounted to 500,000 and came into a village foundation for taking care of the elderly people. It happens to be Chinas first village foundation that helps the elderly.

Nowadays, 47 senior citizens at Dongxi Shan Village who are above the age of 80 years receive an annual subsidy of 300 yuan in cash from the village foundation and household necessities from the public. The village evaluates the financial situations of all the elderly villagers annually and gives 1,000 yuan in cash per year to individuals who qualify for the poverty aid. The foundation also provides medical aids to the elderly and gives them free physical examinations.

In addition to financial aids, the village government encourages family members to take care of the old and honor those who perform their filial duties well. The village honors sons and daughters-in-law who take exemplary care of their elderly people. These star sons and daughters-in-law are role models and many people are willing to emulate.

The young people in the village respond warmly to the project initiated by the village piety foundation. Lu Cheng says that he has got to understand filial piety through his mothers good care of his grandpa. He is proud of his mother being a model daughter-in-law and he promises that he and his future wife will be nice to his parents when he gets married. A woman in the village is well known for her good care of her parents-in-law. Her husbands younger sister is now married and says her sister-in-law is her role model and she will do all she can to treat her parents-in-law well.

Over the past two years, the village has certified eight filial sons and daughters-in-law. For the families of these women, it was surprise, honor and pride when people from Dongxi Shan Village arrived and publicly announced the honor and delivered the honor plaque.

To promote the family values, the village government has put together, printed and distributed two booklets to educate villagers on why and how to treat the elderly respectfully. The project has greatly reduced family tension and promoted harmony among villagers.

By doing all these things, Dongxi Shan Village has created a role model for villages across the country. □