Blog: . Ornate villas
Up the hill behind the village a crop of new villas is sprouting out of the farm fields. Some of them are huge.
Despite such stories, and the tragedy of the Morecambe Bay drownings, the flood of young migrants leaving this part of south-east China continues unabated.
In a nearby house, Mrs Li takes me to see her husband’s uncle. Unlike Mrs Li, Lin Yiming lives in a spacious three-storey house.
On the sofa his wife is cradling a tiny baby, only five months old. “This is my grandson,” Mr Lin tells me with pride.
“He was born in Japan but last week my daughter-in-law brought him back to stay with us.”
It turns out Mr Lin’s son and daughter-in-law are both living in Japan illegally.
“They work very hard,” he said. “My son often works two shifts in the factory, the day and the night. That way he can make more money.”
Mr Lin himself spent 10 years in Japan working in factories and restaurants.
“That’s how it works round here,” he said. “Young people go out for 10 to 15 years and save enough money to come home and build a house like this one.”
The evidence is all around the village. Mr Lin’s house is modest compared to some.
