Chapter 50 Chapter VII

In recent years, people's lives in the Mainland have undergone fundamental changes. The days of "limited" grain and oil every month have long passed, and the difficulty of buying cloth with "cloth tickets" has become a memory.Everyone has enough food and clothing, their hair is black, and their faces are shining. Suddenly, some people think of the corn buns of stick noodles, but they haven’t eaten them for a while. For example, at Tanzhe Temple in Beijing, a big pot was set up at the entrance of the temple, and a "porridge shed" was set up to attract business, allowing tourists to return to the "famine era" for free, especially to experience "cultural tourism".

In August 2005, I saw on Hong Kong TV that many people were queuing up in a square, not knowing what they (almost all local old men and women) wanted to buy.At that time, because I was in a hurry to go out, I didn't read or understand the news.The next day I met a friend and mentioned this matter, the friend told me: Those people are not waiting in line to buy things, but waiting for rice, waiting for someone to deliver rice.Every year in Hong Kong, there is a "Ghost Festival" (Yu Lan Festival) in the seventh month of the lunar calendar. At this time, rich people or rich companies will distribute "Safe Rice" to the elderly. The life of Hong Kong people was very difficult, so various religious and charitable organizations began to lend a helping hand to some poor old people.

"Gorge to help the poor"?today?A highly developed society in Hong Kong?Is it useful? Even though the tradition of "Pay Rice" was born in a special historical period in Hong Kong, today's Hong Kong and that "period" have long since "bye bye" and become very wealthy. Why does this "tradition" continue?This makes people curious, and it makes people wonder: Is this practice hoping for peace and auspiciousness, or there are still poor people in Hong Kong society today, and every year when it comes to the season of "distributing rice", everyone is still looking forward to getting money from the hands of the rich. In order to subsidize the family and relieve the financial constraints of life?I don't believe it, but I started working hard to find the answer——

In 2005 Hong Kong's "Haunted Festival" and the distribution of "Safe Rice", although I paid attention to it for the first time, I was taken aback by this attention. Why? There are as many "distributing rice" groups as dozens or hundreds, and as many people waiting for rice as many as hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands each time. On August 31, I first saw such an article in Singapore's Lianhe Evening News, "Hong Kong Distributing Rice Causes Disaster - 15,000 Stampede, 13 Injured".I don't believe this is true, but in fact, on August 30, it was later confirmed by the local media that there were indeed more than 10,000 people waiting (queuing) at the Tsz Wan Shan Central Playground in Hong Kong - in the morning The "rice distribution" started at 8:30, and there were already people waiting at the scene the first afternoon. By the next morning, at 4:00, the number of people queuing had reached 7,000, and at 6:00, the number had risen to 15,000."Most of these people are elders, and there are also teenagers and children among them."The staff later saw that the queue was getting longer and longer. For safety, they wanted to close two of the four gates in the playground to control the crowds. "Jielong", fearing that he would not be able to get the "safety rice", rushed in, and the result: "The order was chaotic, more than a dozen people fell down, there were constant calls for help, the children were so frightened that they cried, and the police immediately rushed into the crowd to take the injured away." He got up from the crowd and rushed to the ambulance station. One of the old men injured his head, and the other old woman was also sent to the hospital for treatment because of cramps..."

The midsummer of 2006 has just passed, and people have been busy for half a year. At least I have completely forgotten about the "distributing rice" in the first year, and the "Ghost Festival" is coming quietly. On this day, July 27, the first The "Yu Lan Festival Rice Distribution Party" was held at Carpenter Road Park.In the morning, although the Hong Kong Observatory put up a "yellow rainstorm warning" signal, no one paid attention to it.Suddenly, my heart tightened, and I remembered the "distributing rice" in 2005. On September 2, a "distributing rice" group did not change the way of "distributing rice" because they did not learn the lesson of the chaos that occurred in Tsz Wan Shan just a few days ago. , As a result, another old woman had an accident in the Ford Temple in Tsim Sha Tsui. This "accident" was not sent to the hospital for treatment, but died...

However, despite my worries, in 2006, the enthusiasm of Hong Kong people did not decrease in the slightest because of the "death" at the "Pay Rice" scene last year.The first "Pay Rice" conference, that morning God kept crying and kept raining. From the TV screen, I saw that some people waiting for "Pay Rice" had umbrellas in their hands, some were wearing raincoats, Someone simply wrapped the whole head with a plastic bag.It is said that there is only one place on this day, and there are hundreds of people waiting for "dispensing rice". Among them, an old man who is in the first place is over 80 years old. He got the first "rice chip" and came to wait in the middle of the night. I don't know if his family knows about his "feat".

Hong Kong people take the annual "rice distribution" as no joke. A bag of rice weighs only about one kilogram, and the price is only seven or eight Hong Kong dollars. The family is short of such a little ration for a year?I don't think so, but since "it's not possible", why are there still so many people who know that "distributing rice" every year is dangerous, and are willing to let their elderly and children make fun of their old and young lives? Later, I noticed that in addition to the first rice distribution conference in 2006, dozens of rice distribution sites in Hong Kong were filled with crowds of people.Officials claim that "Paying Rice" is purely a religious and charitable activity, and the organizers do not need to apply to the Hong Kong police for a rally or procession in accordance with the "Public Order Ordinance". Therefore, they are not subject to any laws and regulations.However, many intellectuals have been calling for it in recent years: According to the current sound social welfare system in Hong Kong, the substantive effect of "distributing rice" to help the poor is no longer significant. The normal procedure is to apply for "CSSA" from the government. Therefore, the current practice of "distributing rice" must be reformed. I advise the elderly in Hong Kong to cherish their lives, and it is not worth risking their lives for a bag of "safety rice".But no one listened, and people were still excited and crazy when it came to the "Ghost Festival", and they would risk their lives to line up every day and endure the midsummer.

Perhaps in the eyes of Hong Kong people, especially some elderly people, they think that they can eat "safe rice" "handed out" from the rich every year, which is different from the ordinary rice "buy" from the supermarket with their own money. What is that "taste"?Don't need money, is a bag distributed?Some people lined up for several hours, received a "rice chip", turned around, and then lined up again from the end of the line. Although many enthusiastic people in Hong Kong charity groups have many moral reasons for "distributing rice", they explained: "Although this move is to help the poor solve the problem of eating, it is not only that, but more importantly, it is to promote the Chinese nation to help the poor and help the world." , the noble virtues of accumulating blessings for good, and at the same time show the world that living in Hong Kong society, everyone has love and kindness, so it is beyond reproach to continue to 'distribute rice' every year." However, in my outsider's view, Hong Kong The society is not only rich, but also rational, so what method can be used to express "love and kindness"?If the love of a philanthropist may lead to the consequences of unfortunate casualties of citizens, isn't this consequence the greatest and most thorough injury to "motivation"? Another reason why the custom of "distributing rice" has been passed down to the present in Hong Kong is that there may be poor people among the common people. I think this is the "hard truth".Is this judgment correct?Is this the actual situation?Are there poor people in Hong Kong?If yes, how many?where are all

A local friend of mine once told me that one of her neighbors lived to the age of 70 or 80, but he had to wait for "paimi" every year.She tried to persuade her several times, but her sons and daughters did not listen to her persuasion. The old man thinks about "Pay Rice" every year, and looks forward to it every year. A small amount of fruit and peanuts, dried seafood, and sometimes red envelopes are given out, which adds more oil to the elderly's endless hope. I asked: "Then the old man you mentioned, is life at home not very good? Is it financially poor?"

My friend said: "Yes, it is indeed not very rich. So I want to say, don't think that Hong Kong is full of rich people all over the world. In fact, there are also many poor people. Everyone lives in different corners. If you don't visit, neither will others. Take the initiative to complain to you. This "poor" of course does not mean that you can't eat or wear clothes, let alone the old society in the Mainland decades ago, but many people don't eat well and live in worse conditions. You have time for this. You can take your time to pay attention to—” My friend's words made my heart silent, but my feet began to feel a little bit around the corner.

At that moment, I realized that the poor and the rich in Hong Kong, a hazy and realistic world, will really have to be measured by my own feet step by step from now on...