China In My Shoes


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Transcript


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Hi, my name is Juewen. I'm ten years old.

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My nickname is Wen-Wen. I live in Shanghai.

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Shanghai is the largest city in China.

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It is an important shipping port.

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This is the busy Huangpu River where the Yangtze River meets the sea.

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SHE SPEAKS CHINESE

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Shanghai has grown massively in recent years.

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The city is now a mix of traditional Chinese buildings

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and shiny modern office blocks.

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With so many cars on the roads and so much congestion,

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many people prefer to use public transport.

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More than 23 million people live in Shanghai.

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Shanghai is split in half by the river, but many bridges

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and tunnels connect the two sides.

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The Huangpu River,

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flowing through Shanghai, forms the final section of

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the Yangtze River before it opens into the East China Sea.

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It's very deep.

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It has to be, to accommodate the giant container ships.

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Across from the Bund is the new commercial and financial

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district, with its skyscrapers, swanky hotels and shopping malls.

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The tall building with the hole at the top is

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the World Financial Centre.

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At the moment, it's the third tallest building in the world.

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Juewen's cello teacher lives just up from the Bund.

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Life can be pretty hectic for Chinese children,

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especially those living in cities.

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Their parents push them hard to achieve.

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SINGING

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In China, it's seen as very important to get a good job

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and to keep the economy booming.

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So Chinese children go to lots of after-school clubs to

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develop their skills as much as possible.

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Olympic Maths is very popular in China.

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Children study hard and regularly take part in competitions.

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Many children are keen to work as accountants and bankers

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and it is thought that Olympic Maths will give them the edge.

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"Yes, he does, of course... he likes James' garden's peas.

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"and he likes peas out of the pod." TEACHER: Very good, OK.

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TEACHER SPEAKS CHINESE

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Shanghai is the largest centre of Chinese industrial technology.

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The city is one of the most important seaports,

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and China's largest commercial and financial centre.

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Shanghai draws the attention of the whole world.

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SHE SPEAKS CHINESE

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I am ten years old.

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Ruiqin and her family live in a small village in a mountain

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valley in the Jijiang district of Yunnan Province.

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Her village is called Chan'gou. It's a very beautiful place

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in a mountainous and remote part of China.

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The landscape is covered with terracing

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to provide patches of flat farming land cut into the steep slopes.

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This ingenious method of farming allows people to grow a whole

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range of crops like rice, corn, barley, wheat and sweet potatoes.

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The teacher sends the children on their way with instructions

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to do their homework and respect their parents,

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but also with a word of warning about fire.

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There are always lots of fireworks around at festival time.

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The journey between school and home is often too far to walk

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every day, which is why so many children board during term times.

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There are no buses, so walking is the only way.

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The route is rugged and tiring, especially

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when you have to carry everything.

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But the views along the way are stunning.

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The Jinsha River is deep and wide.

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It's a headwater stream of the famous Yangzte,

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and winds its way south through a deep gorge.

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Jinsha actually means "golden sands".

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Over the years, gold deposits have been found along its banks.

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The ferryboat is a lifeline for people living in the remote

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villages along the river bank.

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Without it, they wouldn't be able to buy or sell goods or even

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see a doctor if they were sick.

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The trails and tracks of the rugged terrain are heavy going.

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Mules and horses are still the best way to get around.

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After a long journey home, everyone is hungry.

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Almost everything Ruiqin's family eats is home-grown.

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Like most people in the mountains,

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Ruiqin's family are subsistence farmers.

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They grow only what they need to eat well, and the chances are that

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everything they have is grown within a five-mile radius.

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Life can be hard here. Travelling any distance is tricky,

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and growing enough to eat requires skill and perseverance.

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But communities here are close and supportive of each other.

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It's a healthy and simple life, but Ruiqin

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and her family love living in such a remote, mountainous area.

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HE SPEAKS CHINESE

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Lijiang is located in the province of Yunnan,

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in the southwest of China.

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It's one of China's most famous ancient cities and home to

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over a million people.

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The area around Lijiang is where the Naxi people come from.

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"Na" means senior and honoured, and "Xi" means people.

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Wang Yuxi's family are Naxi.

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First stop for Yuxi and his dad is the famous

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Jade Snow Dragon Mountain, on the outskirts of the city of Lijiang.

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These mountains give the people water,

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wood and some natural medicines.

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Scientists come from all over the world

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to study the rare plants and animals found here.

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The peaks are covered in snow all year round

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and are home to the southernmost glacier in the northern hemisphere.

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Not far from these beautiful mountains is Lake Lashihai.

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The lake is also a good place for birdwatching.

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Yuxi and his father visit the ancient tea route,

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which begins near the lake.

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More than 1,000 years ago, the locals started using these

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special horses to carry the tea grown in the fields of Yunnan.

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The mountain tracks of the tea route,

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or Silk Road, as it's also known, were the best way to

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transport not only tea but also sugar and salt for trading.

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Traders visited neighbouring provinces like Tibet

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and Guizhou to sell their goods.

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But some of traders would trek for hundreds of miles through

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mountains and forests until they reached

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the markets of neighbouring countries Burma, Laos and Vietnam.

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Yunnan has great conditions for growing tea -

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fertile soil, lots of rain, never blisteringly hot

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and never freezing cold.

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Yunnan tea has a very special flavour

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and is enjoyed all over the world.

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Yuxi and his dad went to a local teahouse to try it for themselves.

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Naxi families like Yuxi's are very close-knit,

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which probably helps them to keep their traditions alive.

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Yuxi is off to find his best friend.

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A local Naxi wedding is taking place in Lijiang Old Town.

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SINGING AND MUSIC

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Yuxi's hometown of Lijiang really is a beautiful and unique place.

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And it's no surprise

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that so many people come here from all over the world to visit.

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SINGING

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My name is Ma Siduo.

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I am nine years old.

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I live in Yangshuo.

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Yangshuo is part of Guangxi Province in Southern China.

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It is a spectacular area, very popular with tourists

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drawn here by the sights of the amazing karst landscape.

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At the bottom of the valleys flow the rivers Yulong and Li.

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Temperatures are generally warm

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but it can get very wet and foggy in the rainy season.

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SHE SPEAKS CHINESE

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The whole area where Siduo lives is on a bed of limestone rock.

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It's the limestone that forms the steep-sided mountains,

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or karsts, and the underground caves.

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Limestone is a porous rock and alkaline,

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so when the slightly acidic rain falls,

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as it does in the rainy season like now, the rock dissolves,

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forming impressive stalactites and stalagmites in the caves.

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A whole tourist industry has built up in Yangshuo. There are lots of

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hotels and restaurants and bustling street markets

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where farmers and local craftsmen can sell their goods.

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School and after school clubs are a very big part of

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Chinese children's lives.

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The children learn about the history of maths,

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reading it out loud as a class before they start their sums.

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THEY CHANT IN CHINESE

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SIDOU VOICE-OVER

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TEACHER SPEAKS CHINESE

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SHE SPEAKS CHINESE

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The children exercise to keep warm,

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as there is very little heating, if any, in the school buildings.

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Siduo loves her friends and her school,

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and her hometown of Yangshuo.

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She is lucky enough to live in

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one of the most beautiful parts of China.

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My name is Memgke. I'm 11 years old.

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SHE SPEAKS CHINESE

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The town of Sandouping is on the banks of the Yangzte River

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and has a population of about 35,000 people.

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Memgke lives with her grandparents

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because her parents have had to find work in another part of China.

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The family, like many others in the region, were displaced

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when the Three Gorges Dam was built.

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Their farm is now underwater and they've had to find work

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elsewhere, too far away to commute.

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The Yangtze provides all the water the dam needs to generate

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millions of kilowatts of clean and renewable electricity.

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It is then distributed all over China.

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But not everyone was happy about the dam. The people who lived by

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the river had to sacrifice their homes and way of life.

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The Spring Festival is also the Chinese New Year Celebration

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and the time when the majority of Chinese people

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take their annual holiday.

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FIREWORKS POPPING

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Even though they've lost their farm, Memgke's family work hard to

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provide as much fresh, home-grown food as they possibly can.

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The traditional Spring Festival feast takes a lot of preparation.

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Memgke's parents are travelling home from where they now work

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in Southern China.

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It's 1,170 kilometres away and it takes 13 hours to drive.

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Memgke and her family have lived through many changes

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over the last few years.

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The building of the dam has ensured regular water supplies

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and clean energy for many people across China, but it has been

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hard at times for the families now separated because of work.

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So they really make the most of the times they have

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to celebrate together.

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Subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing by Red Bee Media Ltd

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