Yu Chengming, who digs bird's nests on the Yalong River, can earn 26,001 kilograms if he can get a better one.
But even so, his children chose to do odd jobs instead of inheriting his job.
What the hell is going on?
When it comes to bird's nest, we can't fail to mention the Yalong River, which is a high-quality bird's nest in western Sichuan.
This tributary is the largest tributary of the Jinsha River, and due to its abundant water source and superior natural conditions, it is the most ideal habitat for swifts.
In Haizi Village, which is close to the Yalong River, Yu Chengming, who lives on the Yalong River to collect bird's nests, lives there.
Surrounded by mountains and waters, this place is not a good place to farm, so until the discovery of ways to make money from picking bird's nests, people did not have a good life.
As the saying goes, there is not enough land, there is not enough land to cultivate, so they can only rely on their own land to sustain themselves.
To this end, the people of Haizi Village set their sights on the nearby forests and mountains, and as the development of generations of people, the "high-paying" work of bird's nest was gradually accepted by the villagers.
In 1979, Yu Chengming was only a teenager, and he set his sights on this high-paying job, which paid very well, but the greater the harvest, the greater the danger, and the same is true for picking bird's nests, which is a great danger in the process of picking bird's nests.
First of all, the collection location of bird's nest, we all know that in order to avoid being discovered, bird's nests often place their nests far away from humans, but how to find such a nest is the first problem Yu Chengming faces.
At the beginning, the road had been repaired and it was possible to ride a bicycle, but then the road became a mountainous area, and there was no way to get transportation, so Yu Chengming chose to hike.
It would take a few hours to get from here to the Swallow's Nest, but now they had only walked a third of the way, and beyond that was a lush forest, plus there was no one and no road, so Yu Chengming handed over his task to the others.
Next, there is the next road, which is a steep cliff, and the terrain here is very dangerous, and it is difficult for anyone to walk on it, let alone climb it.
After this series of treks, Yu Chengming and his entourage finally saw the cliff full of "bird's nests", and officially kicked off their prelude.
Facing the cliff in front of him, Yu Chengming, an experienced person, will take out a roll of ropes, these ropes are Yu Chengming's life-saving things, Yu Chengming will naturally not be stingy, "This rope alone cost him two thousand yuan." ”
Of course, a set of specialized equipment alone is not enough, and it must rely on a rock climbing master like Yu Chengming.
Generally speaking, bird's nest collectors will take off their shoes first, because the shoes are easy to slippery, not suitable for bird's nest pickers, and not suitable for walking on steep mountain cliffs, in addition, if you wear shoes, the soles of your feet cannot fully touch the rocks, nor can you fully exert the strength of your legs to contact the crevices of the rocks, therefore, bird's nest pickers will take off their shoes first.
He then tied the rope tightly to ensure that it would be useful in case of an emergency.
Then, he looked at the skin bag around his waist, the skin bag is used to hold bird's nest, but the skin bag is tied to the back, so it will be hooked by the surrounding stalagmites, if you don't pay attention, it is likely to put a bird's nest person into it, so it is particularly important to let him stay "honestly" by his side.
Of course, when Yu Chengming is climbing and collecting bird's nests, more often he still has to "jump off the cliff", because the weather around the Yalong River is relatively unique, most of the bird's nests are built on the cliffs, if you want to collect the bird's nest, Yu Chengming must quickly descend to half of the cliff, if you are lucky, Yu Chengming can still see the bird's nest, but for so long, those bird's nests that are easy to pick are gone, leaving only the bird's nest hanging on the cliff.
In order to get so many bird's nests, Yu Chengming could only shake his body, and then shake himself, the whole person was like swinging, sometimes it even took more than an hour, bird's nest is a luxury, and it is understandable.
After a few more hours, Yu Chengming's legs fell to the ground again.
At this time, Yu Chengming's clothes were soaked with sweat, his fingers were constantly digging in the cracks of the rocks, and blood was constantly flowing.
However, what can Yu Chengming learn after "fighting for his life"? As for the outcome, it depends on providence.
In addition to the uncertainty of yield, the quality of bird's nest from the edge of the cliff also varies greatly, so here we want to popularize some common knowledge about bird's nest.
Bird's nests are generally made of swifts and swiftlets, and the bird's nests we raised at home when we were young were not edible.
Because ordinary house swallows are made of soil and do not have any nutrients, but swifts and swiftlets are not like this, their nests are made of some relatively soft materials such as feathers and moss, and what humans call nests is actually secreted by their saliva.
The nests made by this method usually contain a large amount of amino acids, and after research, 40% of them are necessary for human beings.
The quality of bird's nest is judged by the quantity and quality of bird's saliva.
The first is the amount of saliva secretion, which is usually the piece we end up eating, so the bigger the thing, the less impurities, and of course, the higher the **.
Next, there is the quality of the "saliva", because the chaffinch is used for breeding, so they build nests in the nest, and they will choose some dry areas.
However, when the swallows leave, due to the change of the surrounding climate, the originally dry place will become humid, resulting in the moisture of the bird's nest, the bird's nest itself is a great tonic, which is rich in nutrients, if it is wet by water, then these bird's nests will become moldy, turn black, or even unqualified, and cannot be eaten at all.
In addition to the quality factor, there is also the element of consistency with nature.
As I said before, swallows' nests are used to reproduce, and if their nests are taken down at an inopportune time, it will definitely affect their reproduction, so the surrounding bird's nest pickers will make a rule, that is, when laying eggs, do not go to pick bird's nests.
When their breeding season is over, they can safely collect the nests, and even if they don't, they will tear down the nest the next year and build it again.
It is precisely because of this that the value of bird's nest is so high, at the age of 79, one can be sold for 2 US dollars, and now it has risen to 2,0021 kilograms, that is, 261 kilograms.
Yu Chengming has relied on this income to support a whole family, and he has been living a very prosperous life for more than 40 years.
Time passed minute by minute, Yu Chengming had reached the time of dying of old age, his body was no longer as strong as before, but seeing his wife, Yu Chengming still had a good impression, so he came up with the idea of passing on the craft of bird's nest, so Yu Chengming regarded his two children as the first choice.
In 2013, Yu Chengming took his eldest son Yu Zhengcai to exercise his son on the cliff where he collected bird's nests.
Seeing this scene, Yu Zhengcai's whole body trembled, and he didn't notice what his father was saying at all, nor did he notice what his father was saying.
Yu Chengming saw that his son was already a little scared, so he didn't say more, and quickly dispelled the idea of letting his eldest son learn the craft of Cai Yan.
After finishing speaking, Yu Zhenghua looked at his No. 2 person, Yu Zhenghua, after hearing about this incident, Yu Zhenghua also followed Yu Chengming to do a job, but in the end it was still unsuccessful, Yu Zhenghua gave up the bird's nest job and began to work part-time.
Yu Chengming's sons didn't want to do this work anymore, so Yu Chengming became the last person to dig a bird's nest on the Yalong River, which is why the three of them were responsible for collecting bird's nests.
Overview. China's economy is becoming more and more developed, the standard of living is getting better and better, and many traditional skills are gradually lost, such as Yu Chengming's collection method, this method has been lost, of course we feel a pity, but at the same time, we are also very fortunate that people like Yu Chengming no longer have to run for life.
Facts**: China Finance and Economics - People who pick bird's nests by the Yalong River: Children would rather work than study, which is to "fight" with their lives.