Changes in Yangxiang Village

Author: Yan Shunli
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-11-01
Features: Mysterious Tribe · Power · Savagery · Disappearance and Transformation
Mysterious Treasure · Savagery · Herd Mentality · Disappearance and Transformation
At the dawn of the founding of New China, the beggar villagers of Gai Village lived in mountain caves, indifferent to farming, and earned a living by begging year-round. At the age of six, the villagers began to study the "Begging Scriptures." When they mastered playing musical instruments, singing, and reciting rhymes effortlessly, and could speak three dialects to suit different audiences—humans or ghosts—they would then train in a set of graceful yet formidable "Dog-Whipping Staff" techniques, qualifying them as true beggars.
Due to the village's reverence for begging skills, the village head was elected every ten years based on begging performance. As a result, each successive village head had an extraordinary "glorious career." The exception was Wang Chun’s father. He was not elected as village head for bringing back valuable treasures or for any outstanding contributions to the beggar village. The reason was that he brought back a stunningly beautiful young woman from Hangzhou.
The girl was slender, with rosy cheeks and pearly teeth, and her bright eyes left the entire village’s men in awe. She was no less than a celestial beauty of the mortal world. Her tiny feet, like two small Zongzi (sticky rice dumplings) moving delicately under a lantern, and her frail, graceful posture made her seem delicate and fragile, a condition that could never be cured.