Observations during the month of April in the countryside
In April, when relatives were traveling, I stayed at home to help them watch the store. Two weeks later, when the relatives returned from their trip, I took the following photos on the way back.
This is a small mountain village on the plateau in the southeast of the mainland, with ever-changing weather and rugged terrain.
To return home from here, you can either drive yourself or take a bus on the rural route. Although it's called a bus, the driver often waits until the vehicle is full before departing. The one-way journey takes about an hour and a half. When I walked to the bus stop with my toiletries, I saw this roadside barber shop.
(The image looks normal on my PC, but after uploading, it was rotated 90° counterclockwise... I don't know how to fix it.)
Rural people, without social security, are mostly widows, widowers, and lonely individuals. They usually face the earth and work hard. On market days, they take basic hair cutting tools and a chair to the streets to start working. They don't even have the basic conditions for washing, cutting, and blow-drying hair, so styling hair is simply impossible. Some just cut their hair short, and when there are no customers, they sit on the chair to rest. When someone comes, they work to earn some money to cover their basic living expenses.
Those with slightly better conditions will use a simple tent to protect themselves from the wind and rain.
These people went to big cities to work when they were young, but they never got married and have no security in their old age. They can only live an ordinary life like this, which makes me feel that the mainland's pension security still has a long way to go.