"Going to Wei" is one of the most important folk activities of the Hakka people in western Fujian, and every lunar calendar "369" is the day when the "Wei Market" opens. On February 8th, the twenty-ninth day of the lunar calendar, it coincided with the "New Year's Wei" in Shifang Town, Wuping County, Longyan City, and people who bought New Year's goods rushed to the "Wei City".
This is the "polder market" taken on February 8 in Shifang Town, Wuping County, Longyan City. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhou Yi "Yesterday, I told the children that they would come to the market, and they were so excited that they couldn't sleep at night. Wang Yuxiang, a villager in Shifang Town, said that she has been working in other places all the year round, and it is rare to come back once, and she feels more lively than the "polder market" in her memory.
There are many kinds of commodities in the "polder market", such as "rice shop" for grain, "chicken and duck shop" for poultry, "meat shop" for pork and beef, and "cloth shop" for clothing. With the changes of the times and the development of the countryside, the former "Weiri culture" is also changing.
In the past, it was the trade of poultry raised by farmers and the agricultural products produced by farmers, but now there are not only poultry and agricultural products, but also more precious local products, such as tea oil, purple ganoderma lucidum, golden clematis, dendrobium, and even handmade silver jewelry. Lin Ping, a villager in Shifang Town, who has experienced more than 20 years of "polder market", said that the goods of "polder market" are now more abundant and diverse.
This reporter saw that it was no longer all peasants who rushed to the "polder market," but also college students, young and middle-aged people who worked abroad, and ......old people who went to the city to help bring their grandchildrenThey are not only shopping, but also experiencing a New Year's atmosphere. "Even if you don't buy anything, it's nice to come and go around. Zhong Xiaoping, from Wuping County, said.
Although most of the participants in the "polder market" are still rural elderly, mobile payment transactions have become popular. Some elderly people squinted their eyes on their mobile phones for a meal, and some successfully completed the payment with the help of street vendors.
In addition, the reporter found that the changes in "going to Wei" are also reflected in the mode of transportation.
On February 8, a rural woman used her mobile phone to pay at the "polder market". Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhou Yi "As an authentic Hakka family, since I was a child, my family took us 'to Wei' since I could walk. In the past, the transportation was not developed, and the 'going to Wei' could only rely on two legs, and I went out before dawn in the morning, and walked the mountain road over the mountain, and it took an hour or two to get to the town, and most of them were to buy the vegetable seeds to be sown in the season and the tools to be used for farming. Liu Fulong, who has been setting up a stall here for many years, said.
From walking to bicycles, to riding motorcycles and taking buses, the Hakka people in western Fujian are now "going to Wei" and even taking the high-speed rail. At the end of last year, the Longwu section of the Longlong high-speed railway was put into operation, and the "circle of friends" of "going to Wei" was bigger. Chen Yuyun, a passenger attendant at Wuping Station of Longlong High-speed Railway, told reporters that every "going to Wei" day, there are many passengers at Wuping Station, who come in the morning and leave in the afternoon, carrying all kinds of Hakka specialties.
For the Hakka people, there is a strong sense of "nostalgia" in the "polder market", and "going to the polder" is more like a festival for exchanging emotions. Times are changing, but the Hakka "polder market" has always remained lively. (Reporter Zhou Yi).