Generally speaking, this place in northern Shaanxi is so poor that people and water are rainwater accumulated in the cellar, and crops are harvested by the sky. I estimate that the highest yield in that place is potatoes.
The poor return to poverty, but the people are simple. I couldn't believe it when I went. Although the conditions of ordinary families are poor, when we go to every family (or just stroll around), we all know that we foreigners can't get used to their water and can't give them sugar. I guess they are usually reluctant to give up.
We work in the fields, and the situation is very special. Once we moved and there was no place to cook. As a logistics manager, I went to people to discuss borrowing stoves to cook. They agreed without saying anything, and they did not charge any compensation. I was so moved at that time that I gave them all the remaining boxes of instant noodles.
The company sent me to Shanghai for work reasons. I remember that some local villagers also said many words of blessing to me at that time, which made my heart warm. After all, I lived there for more than a year.
Now people in Shanghai often think of the ups and downs in northern Shaanxi. Hey, think about how time flies. I left northern Shaanxi in 2004, and now it's almost five years. I miss that time, miss the folk songs in northern Shaanxi, miss the simple people there, and miss the loess plateau that honed me!
To sum up, it can be summarized as simplicity, integrity and selflessness. But there is also a negative side, that is, backwardness.