Gifts from the Mountain Villagers

By Li Qing & Gao Lingya

“So barren in Jiangnan to find any decent present,

Just bestow you a flower adorned with spring tint.”

Profound meaning is conveyed in this ancient poem inscribed on the packages of this batch of special donations. It delivers the utmost kindness from the villagers in Changleping, a town located in Wufeng County of Yichang City, Hubei Province. This area is around 500 km away from Wuhan. Many of the villagers have never left their mountainous hometown in their entire life, nor have they visited Wuhan. However, climbing over mountains and wading through rivers, in the modest silence they came, bringing 85 tons of supplies.

“What a great love!” There was preserved meat, vegetable oil, radish, Chinese flowering cabbage, potato, rice, candied sesame chips, and more. Looking at all these bags of supplies, Wang Ning, an official from the Development and Reform Bureau of Wuchang District in Wuhan, while counting and moving all the donations, kept wiping his teary eyes and choked out, “I did not expect people from such a poverty-stricken mountain village to undertake so great a deed.” All of these supplies came from Changleping Town of Wufeng County, Hubei Province. They were collected and then carried to the donation site by over ten thousand local residents, plodding through the snow and rivers, on their shoulders and backs. These are indeed products of the mountain, with a smell of fresh soil.

江南无所有，聊赠一枝春。

在一批特殊的捐赠物资上写着这首古老的诗，语义深远。这是湖北省五峰县长乐坪镇老百姓心意的表达。该镇距离武汉约500 公里，他们当中很多人，质朴老实，甚至一辈子没有走出大山，没有到过武汉。但他们不声不响，跋山涉水，送来85 吨物资。

“真是大爱。”腊肉、菜籽油、萝卜、菜薹、土豆、大米、麻糖……看着一包包沉甸甸的物资，武汉市武昌区发改局干部汪宁一边搬运清点，一边揉揉湿润的眼睛，哽咽着说，“我真没想到在这个贫困的山村，淳朴的村民们会有如此善举。”这些物资全部来自湖北省五峰县长乐坪镇，是当地上万村民，蹚水踩雪，肩挑背扛凑出来的冒着“乡土气息”的纯山货。

长乐坪镇位于五峰中部，全镇皆为山区，位置最高的村，海拔有2000 米。2012年起，武昌区开始对口帮扶长乐坪镇脱贫致富，派驻扶贫干部，给予资金和产业帮扶，特别支持长乐坪镇卫生院软硬件建设，每年免费接收医务人员进修培训……

“我们对武汉人民的帮扶情谊铭记在心。”长乐坪镇镇长谢陈陈告诉我们。疫情发生后，村民们自发找到镇政府，提出要为武汉出一份力。

“有什么就捐什么，把心意带到武汉去。”在镇政府的组织下，全镇17 个村的村民们迅速行动。从2月18日起，村民把物资送到所在的村委会，络绎不绝。

“几乎所有的村民都下田下地，大家有什么就挖什么，实在没有的，就准备家里的干货，比如腊肉、猪腿、香肠、麻糖等。”谢陈陈说，淳朴的村民们毫无保留。

桥坪村海拔高达2000 米，从家里到村委会，单程4 公里。村民张爹爹前后跑了3 趟，用背架把自家吃的200 斤土豆扛下山，他腿脚不好，一路上拄着木棍，边走边歇。朴实的老人一辈子没有去过武汉，他笑着说：“送去武汉比我自己吃，心里还要舒服。”

柴埠溪村是镇上最偏远的村，山路陡峭，地势险要，村民毛师傅把300 多斤红薯扛到索道旁运下山，再蹚过小河，送到马路边的货车上，“这是我的红薯种，今年就不种红薯了”。

石桥沟村高师傅用棍子挑起4壶菜籽油就往村里跑，“我家里没有种好多菜，这4 壶菜籽油是我亲手榨的，干干净净可以直接下锅”。百年关村的杨婆婆把自家做的调料、小菜满满装了一袋，委托邻居送到村委会。菖蒲溪的困难老人冯爹爹拿着几棵大白菜，一步步送下山，“我只能提供一些蔬菜，这也是我的一点心意，一定帮我带到武汉去”。

一位淳朴的老人匆匆送来一捆葱和大蒜苗，每一根的根须都清洗得干干净净，每一把都用棕叶仔仔细细地捆好……

至今，一些海拔较高的村塆，积雪还未融化，为防止摔倒受伤，村民们肩挑背扛，结伴下山送物资。“踩在雪地里还有嘎吱嘎吱的声音，但比起一线医护人员，这点危险算什么？”村民们说。

Located in the middle of Wufeng, Changleping is an entirely mountainous area. The altitude of the village sitting at the highest point reaches 2000 meters. Since 2012, people in Wuchang District have been helping alleviate poverty in Changleping. Along with poverty alleviation measures, officials are sent to work in the front line; funding and assistance are allocated to develop local industries; further support has been particularly offered to advance both development and construction for Changleping Town Hospital; free training is provided for the local medical staff on a yearly basis.

“The help from the people of Wuhan is and will be always born in the depth of our hearts,” Xie Chenchen, head of Changleping Town, said to us yesterday. Hearing about the outbreak of the epidemic, villagers, acting on their own initiative, came to the office of the local government, asking to make their due contributions to helping Wuhan.

“We will donate whatever we have, and show our support and sympathy for Wuhan.” Organized by the local government, people from the 17 villages of the town acted quickly. From February 18, supplies had been continuously sent to each village community center.

‘It is fair to say that nearly all the villagers went to their fields, collecting whatever could be found. Those who truly do not have any goods in the field would prepare dry goods at home to donate, such as preserved meat, hams, sausage, or candied sesame chips,” stated Xie Chenchen. These lovely people would give without any reservation.

Qiaoping Village is at an altitude of 2000 meters. Uncle Zhang, a villager there, used a back pad to carry 100 kg of potatoes, which he had originally saved for his family, from his home to the village community center. With 4 km of distance between these two spots, he managed to finish this mission by making 3 trips altogether. His legs are not that strong so he needed to rely on a stick and take breaks rather frequently on his way. He has never been to Wuhan, but he said with a smile, “I feel even better sending them to Wuhan than having them myself.”

Chaibuxi Village is the most remote village in the town with steep mountainous roads and a dangerous terrain. A villager, Mr. Mao, carried over 150 kg of sweet potatoes to the cableway site to send them down the hill, and then crossed a river to get them onto the truck pulled over by the road. He said, “These are my sweet potato seeds, and I am not going to plant potatoes this year.”

Mr. Gao in Shiqiaogou Village ran all the way to the village community center, carrying 4 pots of vegetable oil with a stick. He said, “There are not many vegetables in my field. These 4 pots of rapeseed oil are squeezed by myself and can be used in cooking directly.”

Aunt Yang in Bainianguan Village filled a bag with homemade spices and pickles, and asked her neighbor to send them to the village community center.

Uncle Feng in Changpuxi is among the most poverty-stricken of the population. Backing some Chinese cabbages, he walked step by step down the mountain. “What I can offer are some vegetables and they are my token of care. Please make sure that they are sent to Wuhan.”

Another senior villager brought in a bunch of spring onion and garlic sprouts. They were washed so clean that even their roots are free of mud. Each handful of them were tied neatly with palm leaves.

Even now, the snow has not melted in some villages of high altitude. To avoid falling over and getting injured, local people formed teams to walk down the mountain and deliver donations with their shoulders and backs. “While walking on the snow, we could hear the crunching sound of our footsteps. However, the danger we experienced was nothing compared to what the frontline medical staff are going through,” local villagers told us.

Many of them have never been to Wuhan, and some have never left this mountain. Yet they willingly and generously donate what little they have to help Wuhan, a city that is least familiar to them to defeat the epidemic. The heavy burden on their shoulders has crooked their back, but by no means could it withhold their passion for supporting Wuhan.

By February 19, the yard of the community center of Changleping is full of supplies from 17 villages across the town.

To ensure supplies of high quality are sent to Wuhan, Xie Chenchen said that volunteers and government staff from Changleping were organized to reprocess and repack the food to a standard that is higher than that required for common commercial vegetables.

Dozens of villagers and government officials gathered voluntarily to pack supplies with storage bags, paper boxes, and ropes. They told us, “If any rotten leave or mud is found, we will remove it and make sure everything is good and clean.”

Villagers carrying their donations to the village committee on their backs and shoulders 村民们肩挑背扛，把各家捐赠的物资搬到村委会集中

On the evening of February 21, those supplies weighing 85 tons in total found their way into 5 heavy logistic trucks.

The fleet of trucks arrived in Wuchang the next morning, where workers started unloading. We were told that those donations would be delivered to needy residents and welfare agencies in Wuchang and Caidian Districts, in hope of helping people there weather the difficult time.

“So barren in Jiangnan to find any decent present, just bestow you a flower adorned with spring tint.” Xie Chenchen told us that many volunteers wrote their wishes on the packages. They strongly believe that, their care and love for Wuhan embedded in those supplies, though limited in quantity, is of inestimable value. (Translation: Zhang Xueqin)

他们中，有不少人没有来过武汉，甚至一辈子都没有走出大山，却愿意为武汉这座陌生城市战胜疫情，慷慨解囊倾其所有。肩上的重担，压歪了他们的脊梁，却无法阻挡他们一心援汉的淳朴热情。

至2月19日，来自全镇17 个村的物资，已将镇政府大院挤得满满当当。

谢陈陈说，为确保把最好的物资送到武汉去，长乐坪镇组织志愿者、干部群众对所有捐赠物资进行再加工再包装，以高于成品菜标准进行分装整理。

10 位村民和机关干部又自发集合，大家用蛇皮袋、纸盒、绳子等，有序整理打包，“但凡有一点烂叶子和泥巴，我们都要清理干净”。

2月21日晚，这批85 吨重的物资，装上了5 辆大货车。

次日清晨，车队抵达武昌，工作人员开始组织卸货，据介绍，这批物资将分发至武昌及蔡甸两个城区的困难居民及福利机构，帮助他们渡过难关。

“长乐无所有，聊赠一枝春。”谢陈陈说，不少志愿者在打包袋上写下祝福，大家说，物资数量有限，但这情谊，无价。