Regular Jobs in China
While in China we saw so many different jobs, many of which I'm sure are in America, but they seemed so interesting here in China. I mean anything from the guy that comes around to pick up the scraps at the restaurants for his farm animals, to the motorcycle taxi guys to the street side fish vendor (actually these ones are not in America), there are so many different and interesting jobs. We've just included a small handful, to kind of give a small perspective of what we found to be interesting.
Boat ride guide. This was in Yangshou.
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Local back alley barber, just doing a shave for a regular customer.
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Shoe Polisher
This hardworking lady shines and cleans shoes all day. You will see a shoe shiner wherever you go, and its just amazing that they sit on these small little wood box objects all day long. Obviously Ben didn't need his tennis shoes shined but we just did it for the picture and to help support some of these poor hard working people.
It was just amazing at the different ideas people can come up with to make money. Really made me think how important it is to NOT always give free handouts, much like I believe the government of America has done and continues to do. I don't believe by giving people things it will help them, but supporting the hard works and inspiring people to go out and make it happen, this helps make people stronger. The people in China are very strong, and have the desire to make ends meat for their families.
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Cormorant Fishing in Yangshou
This unique way of fishing use to be a way of survival for some fishermen, but now it's mostly an attraction for tourists. We first saw this act on the Discovery Channel. Seeing it in person was a real treat.
These birds are slaves to their masters and they are thoroughly trained. They tie a type of rubber band around it's neck and tell them to dive into the water and get a fish. They bring it back to their master in their mouths. They can't swallow it because of the thing around it's neck. After a handful of fish are brought back then they get a small fish as a reward. |
Bicycle Taxi in Guilin
Chinese people will wear their big puffy coats even if it is warm outside. Granted it was a bit chilly this night, our taxi (bicycle) driver was working up a sweat, she continued to pedal almost the entire route with that coat on. This was actually a fun ride. She did a great job. What you will find is that transportation comes in many different forms and at a very small price. Often its nice to pay a little extra as a tip (if they will take it), they just work so hard for so little, we tried to be generous when we could.
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The short videos above were of two other jobs we found interesting. We watched the bricklayers lay a few bricks, and they allowed us to do a few, just for fun. They do so many bricks here, I'm sure this is a popular job. The other video is of a tea guy poring tea at one of the nice restaurants near our university. It had this long spout and made it look hard to pour, he did a good job and was fun to watch for people that had never seen one before.
