Letter from Dongxiang: ' The revolution hasn't succeeded yet'

Dongxiang people are smart, but they're the most illiterate ethnic minority in China. Drought is to blame.

Although Dongxiang Autonomous County is bordered by the Yellow River, two other smaller rivers and a massive reservoir, its annual rainfall is just 350 mm.

This year is different, however, as there were heavy rains in late July and again in late August. Floods destroyed three bridges and five major roads, claiming the lives of two children.

Ironically, increased rainfall has created new problems for Dongxiang, related to transportation and electricity supply.

Rain was blamed for power cuts at our hotel and when we tried to drive around the county collapsed bridges blocked our way.

But it isn't just rain that is causing problems for Sartans (as Dongxiang people call themselves). Centuries of isolation have left them with an agricultural system that belongs to the past.

There are also problems with implementation of the government's family planning policy, as attested by posters reading: "Three thousand to 5,000 yuan for families that stop conceiving after two daughters and sterilize after three."

We stopped at 55-year-old Ma Dongcai's house minutes from China Daily Readers First Hope School, or Zhouya School.

Dongcai, who has a forestry business and is the richest man in the area, has fathered two sons and a daughter.

His eldest son, Ma Long, 23, has dropped out of school because of severe headaches. His siblings are studying Arabic. Ma has a 7-year-old son.

Sun Yat-sen's final words somehow came to mind: "The revolution hasn't succeeded yet. Comrades, work hard!"

(China Daily 09/19/2007 page6)