news

한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina

cheng cheng, 25, is from hunan. in april last year, she opened a convenience store in altay, xinjiang.

this easily reminds people of li juan's "my altay". earlier this year, the tv series adapted from her work became a big hit, making people yearn for the remote altay pastoral area. in the play, zhang fengxia's store, as it migrates between winter and summer pastures, becomes a scene that connects many stories, and the warmth and coldness of human nature all happen here.

various commodities on the shelves of zhang fengxia's store. (photo: my altay)

chengcheng's store is located on a construction site, and most of the workers are elderly. they buy cigarettes, alcohol, and instant noodles, and sometimes ask her, "you are so young, why are you wasting your time here?"

life is far from as romantic as in tv dramas. cleaning, preparing goods, keeping accounts... chengcheng's days are repetitive, and her income fluctuates. but life also has surprises. she also met a "batai", a kazakh boy who brought her camel milk and invited her to his home to celebrate eid al-adha.

at first, chengcheng also missed the familiarity and convenience of the city, but the scenery of altay can always heal her. she likes to watch the sunset every day and also likes to watch the clouds. in her heart, a perfect day is simple.

the following is chengcheng’s story.

chengcheng built a display cabinet for her store. (photo/provided by the interviewee)

01

find the life you want

opening a small shop in altay is my fourth job. i feel that each of my careers spans a wide range. i majored in tourism management in college, and my first job after graduation was as a clerk in a clothing brand in ningbo. my second job was doing e-commerce in changsha, but the salary in changsha was too low. two years ago, i went to hangzhou and worked in a foreign restaurant.

i was a left-behind child since i was young. my hometown is yiyang, hunan. my parents have been contracting projects in other places and have been in xinjiang for more than ten years. when i was in middle school, i came to beitun, altay, to play. at that time, my impression of xinjiang was that the scenery was beautiful, but it was so dry that my nose bled. after that, i never came to xinjiang again.

when i was working in hangzhou, my salary was not very high, and my parents had to subsidize me for rent and other expenses. at the beginning of last year, my parents asked me if i wanted to come to xinjiang to find them and open a small store on the construction site of their contracted project.

mineral water purchased from chengcheng. (photo/provided by the interviewee)

they were very optimistic about this job. the shop on the construction site did not need to pay for water, electricity, or storefront fees, and what you earn is what you earn. at that time, i was also confused and wanted to live in a different place and save some money. altay is indeed a beautiful place in my heart, and it is rare for me to be with my family for so many years. considering these, i agreed.

last march, i came to general mountain in altay with my luggage. the construction site was at the foot of the mountain, and it was a football field for young people. there were 20 to 30 workers. we had planned to open the store on april 1st, but the snow in altay was too heavy in winter, and the temporary board house that was intended to be used as the store collapsed. we had to rebuild the house and connect water and electricity. by the time everything was ready, half a month had passed.

when i first arrived, i was full of confidence. when the house was ready, i went to beitun with my parents to buy goods. together with some pre-ordered cigarettes and alcohol, we bought more than 10,000 yuan worth of goods. i put the goods in order, and on april 19, the store officially opened.

chengcheng who just prepared the goods. (photo/photo provided by the interviewee)

because the workers had just started work and needed to buy pillows, beddings and other daily necessities, my sales on the first day exceeded two thousand yuan.

but this joy did not last more than three days, because the construction site was too small, and soon only a few people came to buy things every day, and the turnover dropped to three or four hundred yuan a day.

during that time, i began to miss hangzhou. on the one hand, i felt lonely, and i missed my familiar work and friends. on the other hand, it was inconvenient to wash clothes and take a shower on the construction site, and i missed the convenience of the city. i could only comfort myself: maybe after staying here for a while, i would find that this is the life i most yearn for?

02

monthly income exceeds 10,000!

just like what is written in "my altay", zhang fengxia's store will move with the winter and summer pastures, and my store also needs to move with the construction site. at the end of last year, i came to fuyun county, altay, 17 kilometers away from the county seat, with a new project.

on the way there, i kept contacting the wholesale market in the county, thinking that i must do better this time than last time. the "urgent needs" on the construction site are cigarettes, alcohol, and beverages. summer is coming, and i also plan to buy some ice cream. on the one hand, i think the sales will be good, and on the other hand, i want to eat it myself. i communicated with the boss who bought the goods, and finally he provided me with a freezer for free.

summer is here, chengcheng bought a lot of ice cream for the store. (photo/photo provided by the interviewee)

there were 700 to 800 people on the new construction site, and the number of customers was much greater than that of my previous store. on the first day, i didn’t have all the goods, but the turnover exceeded 2,000 yuan. the ice cream sold very quickly, and they took the beer one by one. because the demand became larger, i began to write down what the customers needed, such as shoes, thick clothes, and fleece-lined rain boots. when i went to the county town to purchase goods, i bought them one by one and brought them back for them.

just like in the movie "my altay", some people here also buy on credit, and i still have some money i haven't collected yet. fuyun county is in northern xinjiang, and the prices are a little higher than in southern xinjiang. sometimes they will bargain, and i can only explain to them that it's not me who raised the price.

since then, the turnover has been more than 2,000 yuan every day, sometimes even 3,000 or 4,000 yuan, which made me very happy. the net income every month is at least more than 10,000 yuan. i also gradually decorated the store more exquisitely, and asked a carpenter to help me build a cabinet, which was filled with snacks and daily necessities. it was very fulfilling to see it. every day, i felt that my strength had increased from carrying water and arranging goods. the workers would knock on the door at 6 o'clock in the morning to buy things. i even got used to getting up early. when i heard the knock on the door, i could wake up quickly like a conditioned reflex.

chengcheng's purchase list. (photo/provided by the interviewee)

the workers were both local and foreign, mostly over 40 years old. as a young girl, i looked a bit out of place here. a few days ago, i wore a pair of white converse, and some workers said to me, "are you crazy to wear white shoes here?"

they always ask me why i am here, saying "this is not a place for young people" or "you need to find a boyfriend, you can't find one here". some people will educate me with the feeling of being an elder. at first, i will tell them my own ideas and say that i want to experience a different life. after a long time, i feel that there is no need to explain to them. they think i am talking nonsense, and i don't have to correct their ideas.

03

in altay, i also met "batai"

when i first came here, i didn't have much contact with local people. the first person i met was a kazakh uncle who came to buy wine on a motorcycle. he drank a bottle in my store and took two bottles away. he didn't speak chinese, so i asked him how many sheep he had at home, but i couldn't understand his answer.

later, a young kazakh man came to my store. he was a local herdsman who found my store by chance and came in to buy something. he spoke chinese well. we chatted for a while, and he suddenly asked me if i had ever drunk camel milk. i said no, and he said, "my brother has dozens of camels. if you want to drink it, i will bring it to you tomorrow."

the next day, he took a 1-liter bottle of master kong green tea and brought me a whole bottle of camel milk. he told me that camel milk can be drunk directly, but our han stomachs may not be able to adapt to it, so he asked me to put it in the sun to sterilize it. i drank a sip first and put the rest in the sun, and it turned into yogurt, which was too sour.

the kazakh boy gave chengcheng camel milk. (photo/provided by the interviewee)

later, many kazakhs came to my store. i was puzzled at first, but later i found out that the young man told his friends the address of the store, and many of them came to buy things from me. kazakhs love to drink, sometimes they drink in the store and ask me to join them. many of these young people have other jobs, some are firefighters, some are phone card dealers, only the young man is a full-time herder. their eyes are really beautiful, like gems.

the young man became more and more familiar with me. he often came to chat with me and gave me milk tea. once, he gave me a bracelet he bought at the market. this year, i also went to several kazakhs' homes, helped them cut grass, learned kazakh with them, celebrated eid al-adha with them, and went to play on the grassland with them.

chengcheng cuts grass with the kazakhs. (photo/provided by the interviewee)

before this summer, i felt like i had a perfect life. i made a lot of new plans, such as installing an air conditioner in the store and building a shed at the door to sell fruit. but i didn’t expect that the funding chain on the construction site would be broken. the workers didn’t get their wages in time, and many people stopped working and left, so my business was gone. recently, the daily turnover has become a few hundred yuan again, and the gap is really big.

but my mentality is much more stable than before. i think the only thing i have gained in the past two years is growth. at the beginning, i was just looking for money, and then i slowly experienced the scenery, food, and people in altay. now it seems that it is almost enough, and i have to think about what to do next.

grasslands near keketuohai. (photo/provided by the interviewee)

i have also read li juan's "my altay" and "sheep road". the altay she described is more beautiful. on the grassland, she saw cattle, sheep, camels, horses and forests every day. on the construction site, i saw more sand and soil.

but xinjiang is really a place that can heal me. i like the clouds, sunsets, and starry skies here. i can watch these scenery for the rest of my life. this spring, i dug up a few succulent plants from the desert and planted them in front of my store.

chengcheng in the sunset. (photo/provided by the interviewee)

i would give altay 100 points, because i am so happy here. there are such beautiful scenery, people who like me, i can be with my parents, i don’t have to pay rent, i don’t have to look at the boss’s face, and i don’t have to interact with too many people. overall, there is no pressure. it is indeed the life i once longed for.

in the past, when my friends in the city knew that i opened a convenience store here, they all thought it was cool and called me "boss lady"; but they also said that this could not be a lifelong career.

i have been exploring what kind of environment i want to live in. now it seems that i still prefer this natural environment to the crowded big city. if i can make more money, i will be so happy! but this is the reality, there will be surprises and accidents.