The Earnshaw Vault

‘New China’ girl gives state £35,000

Graham Earnshaw was the Daily Telegraph correspondent in Beijing from 1980 to 1984, and he's been looking through his clippings, which seem to prove both that China has changed completely and also that China has stayed exactly the same. This spring and summer, Danwei will be publishing a series of these reports from the past. This is today's resurrected item:


‘New China’ Girl Gives State 35,000 Pounds


By Graham Earnshaw in Peking
August 5, 1981

A 23-year-old girl in eastern China who recently inherited more than 35,000 pounds sterling has given the whole amount to the State “to help the country realize the four modernizations”, the People’s Daily reported yesterday.

The paper said she did not have a place of her own to live and was staying at a friend’s house. “I wouldn’t be able top spend so much money in a whole lifetime, and anyway if I kept the money it would not bring me any real good fortune,” the paper quoted her a saying.

“I belong to new China and real good fortune comes from relying on one’s own labours to support oneself.”


Author's note: one can guess at the pressure brought to bear on her. But back then, with the Cultural Revolution still fresh in everyone’s minds and nobody with any money in sight, the dangers of being “rich” were significant. Times have changed.

There are currently 1 Comments for ‘New China’ girl gives state £35,000.

Comments on ‘New China’ girl gives state £35,000

Interesting how things have turned out today. While there are certainly lots of Chinese who need money, the government certainly doesn't need any to realize the four moderns or the harmonious society.

Now that I think about it, I wonder it that story wasn't embellished by the government a la Lei Feng.

It's interesting to think how that headline might read today.

Post a comment

All comments are moderated and subject to review by Danwei contributors and editors, but well-grounded and articulate comments will be published regardless of which way they lean. Because comments published on any website ultimately contribute to the character of that website, we may decline to publish comments that are irrelevant, redundant, or that do not adhere to generally accepted standards of courtesy; if you are looking for a fight, there are plenty of other venues available online.


Some useful html: <b>bold</b>, <i>italic</i>,
<a href="http://www.danwei.org">link</a>

Media Partners
Visit these sites for the latest China news
090609guardian2.png 090609CNN3.png
China Media Timeline
Major media events over the last three decades
Danwei Model Workers
laomo2008fpA.jpg
Recommended blogs and new media
Books on China
AXL090619paulfrenchbook.jpg
Foreign journalists in China, from the Opium Wars to Mao : Paul French, author of a book on Carl Crow has written a book about the lives and exploits of foreign journalists reporting from China from the 1820s to 1949.
Earnshaw Books' Tales of Old Peking: Tales from Old Peking is available from Earnshaw Books, and like its sister, Tales from Old Shanghai is a book of fragments of information about periods, events or places in Beijing's history, collaging together pictures and text about eunuchs, concubines, the Lama Temple, Opium Wars, art, emperors, and a miscellany of other interesting topics
Henry F. Pringle's "Bridge House Survivor": Pringle was imprisoned by Japanese forces from October 1942 to August 1945, and Bridge House Survivor, available from Earnshaw Books, is his harrowing account of torture under the Japanese.
Front Page of the Day
A different newspaper every weekday
From the Vault
Classic Danwei posts
+ A short interview with Muzi Mei (2004.02): Danwei interviews Muzi Mei
+ CCTV vs. classic movies (2006.03): A rundown of several pastiches of Chinese movies appearing online as 大史记 - "The Year That Was". Some from CCTV, others not. With links to video.
+ Street hawker cries of Beijing (2006.12): Yang Changhe demonstrates hawker's cries in a video shot by Muzimei.
Danwei Archives
Danwei Feeds
Via Feedsky rsschiclet2.png (on the mainland)
or Feedburner rsschiclet.gif (blocked in China)
rsschiclet2.png rsschiclet.gif Main feed: Main posts (FB has top links)
rsschiclet2.png rsschiclet.gif Top Links: Links from the top bar
rsschiclet2.png rsschiclet.gif Danwei Jobs: Want ads
rsschiclet2.png rsschiclet.gif Danwei Digest: Updated daily, 19:30