“Mayor” Song， as he is nevertheless still respectfully called (and most probably most of the younger people who address him like this， believe he has been the former village mayor which certainly is not true)， loves his white (and often not quite white) undershirts， he has only one single “real” shirt which he wears when they meet Sunday for dinner. Otherwise he does not need it. If it is cooler in winter， he puts on a somewhat aged leather jacket whose surface knows to tell a narrative of labour and food， this jacket he loves. That he cannot close it any more because his belly bends a little too far outward does not matter. “Mayor” Song has no car and does not need it， all he needs
His wife has already moved her body early in the morning.
is within walking distance. What he cannot find in XiaShaCun， he finds in walking distance to the neighbouring village of ShangShaCun (上沙村，Village above the Sand).
During the day he takes care of his business， meaning that he will have a breakfast in a small restaurant at the corner of the road， then he walks around in the village， talking with anyone and everyone， keeps his finger on the pulse and ponders whether he should demolish and replace that house or rather renew it. And maybe he should link those little apartments into larger units to be bought by the spring chickens who are running around everywhere， conceiving countless kids， then he would get rid of his concerns as a landlord. He might just try this with one of his four houses. One disadvantage is that the houses are so close together， the streets are occasionally just two metres wide and the houses grow six or eight stories high！ Do young families want to buy property there？ On the other hand， they move in here like mad， copulate and conceive， drive cars so big that others should be ashamed of them – why would they not buy homes here？ There is an ever active life here in the streets and alleys， he and all the other people around like it that way.
So， consider that well， he has to discuss it in detail with his friends， some of them have similar concerns and also burden themselves with such considerations. The wife of “mayor” Song has no such worries. She meets all day long with her friends， there is much to chat about. Early in the morning at half past six she rises to join a qi-gong team， after all they want to hail the day in sportive manner， inhale and exhale properly and not get rusty. She is not at all the eldest in the group.
On weekends they meet with a private choir to sing in the park. It’s so nice to sing all these old songs！ And before and after you can share the news with all your friends and acquaintances： the children fall in love and apart and again in love and into marriage， they beget themselves children， move to another city， set up a business and the grandchildren are in school (one’s grandchildren are always the best). The fountain of discussion and exchange is -inexhaustible.
In the afternoon (and evening)， “mayor” Song is playing cards with a few friends， it may occupy him for many hours. Most often they are found at the same place， but sometimes he goes to the park nearby where he meets some very witty players whom he reluctantly confronts because he will usually lose， yet sometimes it does itch him to go.
Ultimately， it does not matter if he loses， at least not with regard to money. He
Everything is prepared for the evening rush to the roadside restaurant.
Without a set-up shop you sell on the go.
is spending very little anyway， so sometimes he may invest a few hundred yuan in gambling.
His fortune he will inherit to his son， Xiao Song. Xiao Song is not much of “xiao” any more， that is “small”， but in his profession he has already been for a long time “lao”， an “ager”， being 48 years of age he is no longer that young， either. He is the head physician at the largest hospital in ShenZhen and chief of several medical divisions. There he is respectfully called Lao Song， or sometimes Dr. Song， which he refuses every time with a smile. He is， after all， a simple farmer’s son， at least in his memory. At the medical and scientific centre of the BeiJing University he has once studied， it is the prime medical school in his country. Although he received offers from abroad， he has remained in China and returned to his native town where he helped to modernise the huge central polyclinic in ShenZhen. All this did not detract from his humble attitude.
