Who is Chi Zijian– La Robi

Toilette per coltivatori di terra – La Robi

THE ROBI MINI GUIDE FOR INTREPIDI,

4 MAY 2016DI ROBI

La scrittrice cinese Chi Zijian

Who is Chi Zijian
 Famous Chinese writer, was born in 1964 and grew up in Heilongjiang, one of the coldest provinces arid to the extreme north of China. Narratively linked to his land and his past, he speaks with pride, simplicity and great descriptive ability.

Toilet for land farmers is a sage, sanwen in Chinese, which is part of a collection of essays by Chi Zijian entitled My world under the snow ("我 的 世界 下雪 了") and published in 2005 by the Shandong huabao publishing house . The leitmotif of the whole collection, and therefore also the theme of this essay, is the life of the farmers of the earth from the eyes to send it. A short essay that I present to you today, and which I have personally translated from Chinese to Italian, for those who love China in general, but above all the endless agricultural landscapes, the customs and traditions of the peasants, and for those who dream, or maybe live it also, a rural life made of simple and small daily gestures. The collection entitled My world under the snow by Chi Zijian, which includes the essay Toilette for land cultivators Toilets for land cultivators |

About Zijian

 I feel envy for geese and ducks. They just need a little water, whether it's a big rushing river, a cat or a puddle, they're always ready to fly in, hunting for food. Taking a bath for them is simple. They should not take off their clothes, wash and soap. Some somersaults in the river, some head diving, and voila, clean! And then to the shore, to let the last drops of water spill out, they just have to flap their wings a little, and they will immediately be smooth and shiny, ready to go home, rock here and there. What envy. In the summer they could wash all day. If only they wanted to. But if you think about the human species, well, there are a lot more inconveniences to keep in mind. Just like the water of the river, when it is very hot, it is only the children who try it, first with their toes and then with their white little asses. And then on like this, in a continuous dive in there. They call it a bath, they actually do it above all to have fun. But parents do not like this their habit. Some have drowned right there. But when they forbid it, they usually do not speak about drownings, but they frighten them, telling them that in the water there are very ferocious fish, which eat their little ones above all. And if there were no more children, they say, they would have passed off. But of course this does not scare them. On the contrary, they continue to go there, thinking that it would be fun to be bitten by those fishes while they pee. But then what does it matter? But the girls are not so casual. If they go to the river bank, it's usually to brush their shoes or do laundry. And even if after work, when they see that crystal-clear water, they want to take a bath, they roll up only trousers and sleeves, to wash their necks and legs. They do not dare take off their clothes. After all, to look at them there are not only clouds and birds in flight. But the most official and solemn bath was that of the twelfth month of the lunar calendar. It was called pulling water, and it was a real bathroom. It was about two days before New Year's Eve. Outside the window, only snow. And thirty forty degrees below zero. In the houses, the stove's fire burned uninterruptedly, and brought the inside temperature to twenty degrees or more. A pot of water was boiled and, when the kang (the rectangular shaped brick bed heated by the inside with the fire, typical of the people of northern China, ed) was also boiling, it was placed on a huge tub in metal to make us a bath. Then the water was poured, the curtain was pulled, and the bathroom was ready. And anyone who took a bath always used at least one, if not two hours, to wash away the fatigue of a whole year. And while inside the house there were those who washed, outside there were those who stood in line listening to what was happening there. The stove continued to be fed, so that the kang always remained warm. With the ladle the tub was topped up and so on. The fumes filled the bathroom and the splashes of water spread everywhere. Dripping with sweat, they washed themselves. And the pores opened, emanating delicate fragrances, almost as if they were buds. Even the past year seemed extraordinarily clean and unique. Naturally, people only in winter use the bedroom as a bathroom. But once summer arrives, some families invent a new one in the warehouse. And how thermal energy? The sun. Taking a large tank of clean diesel, you make two holes one on the right and one on the left, one end connected to the water inlet pipe, the other to the outlet pipe