Xuanqing New Residence, an Exotic Architecture in the Urban Village

Xuanqing New Residence (璇庆新居) is situated in the Shabeili Village (沙背坜) in Longgang District, 40 kilometers to the northeast of Shenzhen city center. Notwithstanding the name of the village, due to the hectic urbanization of Shenzhen after the opening-up of China, most of the rural areas have been transformed into industrial areas incorporated into the fabric of the metropolis. Likewise, Shabeili Village is predominated by modern buildings and factories. 

The mansion stands out for its elegant outlook combining traditional Chinese architecture and western architecture features. It was built by Qiu Man, a Malaysian Chinese who migrated from the village to British Malaya in the early nineteenth century. He worked hard as a coolie in a tin mine and was fortunately appreciated by the owner. The owner betrothed his daughter to Qiu Man. 

The couple inherited the tin mine after their father passed away. Being rich, Qiu Man was not satisfied with only one spouse. Afterward, he married more concubines. The youngest concubine pleased the new mine owner the most, however, she could not get along with his other wives. 

Qiu Man decided to send the youngest concubine back to his home village and build a residence to accommodate her and his extended family. The construction of the residence was completed in 1936 and was named after his courtesy name Xuanqing. 

Nonetheless, after the communist took over China, Qiu Man and his youngest concubine were separated permanently in a miserable manner. Qiu Man was stranded away from home in Malaysia and all connection with China was cut off. 

Surprisingly, despite some damages caused by political movements, the residence is better preserved, compared to the other traditional architectures in the metropolis, we can still observe many traces of its elegant past. 

A three-arched portal demonstrates its adoption of western style, while two side arches with the Islamic pattern further extend its cultural diversity and artistic creativity. The long gable on the top is carved with passion fruit patterns and traditional Chinese natural landscape painting. Two fortified four-story corner towers on both sides, as auxiliary buildings, defend the building from external threats. On the top, lovely carp-shaped plaster scuppers build the drainage system.  

Stepping into the residence, a fully Chinese tradition-style mansion brings us back to the ancient world. Crossing two inner halls, the ancestral hall is located right in the middle, though no memorial tablet is placed. Above the first inner hall door, an inscribed plaque "ju ren you yi" （居仁由义）is placed; above the second inner hall door, "fu qing kao xiang" is placed, though the color fell off a lot. Architraves, lintel and beams are well carved and decorated with ancient Chinese stories, letters, follower patterns and auspicious animals.

At present, the residence is inhabited by domestic migrant families who rent side houses inside the residence, rather than the clansmen of Qiu. The rent is much lower than the average inasmuch as the lack of modern amenities such as private toilets and gas. 

There used to be a crescent pond in front of the residence. However, the pond was filled and a factory was built on it. The actual owner is advertising on the poster that the residence, together with the factory building, is for lease. 

Several-minute walk from the residence, Qiu Clan Ancestral hall is located but remains closed. The antithetical couplet in the gate indicates a wedding of a couple with Qiu surname and Zhang surname was held recently. 

However, where are the locals? I can not hear anyone speaking the local Hakka dialect. Probably no one would know the story of Qiu Man. Instead, Hunan and Sichuan restaurants are everywhere around the village. After the opening-up, people from less developed provinces flocked to Guangdong Province in search of better jobs and became migrant workers. Shenzhen is the most popular destination for them. The majority of them reside in urban villages in considering the low rent. At this moment, these migrant workers have been new locals in the village.

Conflicts between Clans in Chi Village before 1949

The conflict between clans was common in southern China. The possibility of battle was ever present in a clan-dominated area, and a permanent state of preparedness was maintained through village watches and strong walls around the clan’s territory (Baker, 1979:149). 

John Scarth(1860: 63-67), a British merchant traveling in Chaozhou in the late 1850s recorded that the villages were surrounded by distinct walls about sixteen to twenty feet high, and each seemed prepared to fight with its neighbor.

Thomas Buoye(2000:143) also states that violence is prevalent in Chaozhou’s rural area and the overall number of homicides was much greater than in any other prefecture in Guangdong Province in the 18th century. 

As the two influential clans in Chi village, the relationship between Chen and Xie was hostile. Before 1949, they banned inter-clan marriage. Moreover, battles often broke out due to some disputes including deity procession. The elders in Chi village told me about a brutal battle that happened between them before 1949. 

Xie’s members attacked Chen’s third division living in Yueyingku, which was located close to Xie’s territory. The third division had fewer people to fight. Eventually, they were defeated in a miserable manner. Thirteen clansmen of Chen were decapitated and their heads were placed on the ground. Members from the first division and the second division of the Chen clan arrived late. They did not manage to help their clansmen but witnessed the horrible scene of the heads dripping in blood.

Upper Yang and Down Yang did not have a good relationship. Although they shared the same family name, they originally came from different places as stated previously. Before 1949, Upper Yang was more powerful than Down Yang. Many members from Upper Yang went to the city center to do trading and thus became businessmen. They were called “those wearing long shirts (Changshan)”. They even built a temple to worship their community god called Lord Shengzu. 

The majority of Down Yang were farmers and had less power than Upper Yang. Even though they built the ancestral hall together, they still had a lot of conflicts. Upper Yang allied with the Chen clan, while Down Yang allied to the Xie clan. When conducting the procession of gods during the spring festival, Upper Yang borrowed the Second Lady from the second division of Chen, while down Yang borrowed the Second King from the Xie clan.  

Bibliography

Baker, H. (1979). Chinese Family and Kinship. Columbia University Press
Buoye, T. M. (2000). Manslaughter, Markets, and Moral Economy: Violent Disputes over Property Rights in Eighteenth-Century China. Cambridge University Press
Scarth, J. (1860). Twelve Years in China: The People, the Rebels, and the Mandarins. T. Constable and Company.

Three Mountain Kings in the Chi Village before 1949

All clans in Chi Village worship a group of community deities called Three Mountain Kings. They are a group of community deities widely believed in the east of Guangdong Province. Chi Village has formed its own sacrificial circle based on the folk religion of the Three Mountain Kings.  

The belief originated from Jinshan, Mingshan and Dushan mountains in Jiexi County, a Hakka ethnic area in Chaozhou. They were originally the mountain deities of these three mountains. According to the legend, in 677, General Chen Yunguang wrote the Inscriptions on the Temple of Chaozhou Three Mountain Kings (si Chaozhou sanshan shen ti bi 祀潮州三山神题壁) when he stationed his troop in Jiexi County. 

Moreover, another historical celebrity Han Yu is also related to Three Mountain Kings. Han Yu was a Chinese essayist, poet, philosopher, and politician during the Tang dynasty. In 819 AD, he was demoted and exiled to Chaozhou because of his strong protest again Emperor Xianzong’s support of Buddhism. The biggest river in Chaozhou was renamed Han River for honoring him. In 819, during his stay in Chaozhou, Han Yu went to Jiexi County to pay homage to Three Mountain Kings and wrote the "Text to Worship the Boarder God" (ji jie shi shen wen 祭界石神文). In general, articles of General Chen Yunguang and Han Yu praised the three mountain gods' effectiveness in bringing rain. 

During the 14th century, Three Mountain Deities were upgraded to the rank of the king (Wang 王), and thus became Three Mountain Kings. Because Three Mountain Kings appeared on the battlefield and assisted Song Taizong, the second emperor of the Song Dynasty, to win the victory, they were promoted to King of the Country (Guo Wang 国王). Mingshan was granted the title De Hua Xian De Bao Guo Wang (清化咸德报国王), Jinshan was granted the title Zhu Zheng Ming Su Ning Guo Wang (助政明肃宁国王) and Dushan was granted the title Hui Gan Hong Ying Feng Guo Wang (惠感宏应丰国王). 

Regardless of whether the story of the Three Mountain Kings helping to win the battle is true or not, it objectively demonstrates that the authority of the Three Mountain Kings is recognized by the state. Moreover, it promoted the worship of the Three Mountain King among the people in Chaozhou at a large scale, making Three Mountain Kings superior to other community deities. Many villages worship the Three Mountain Kings as the main protector. Temples for Three Mountain Kings predominated in most of the villages in Chaozhou.

Since Three Mountain Kings became the village's protector, the village generally only allowed their people to enter the temple to worship. According to the tradition of Chaozhou, there is an unwritten rule that when it rains, they can go to the Tudigong (Lord of the Soil and the Ground) Temple to take shelter from the rain, but they cannot go to the Temple of Three Mountain Kings in other villages to take shelter from the rain. They believe that this is because Tudigong protects the whole world, while Three Mountain Kings in each village only protect the people of their villages. It states that Three Mountain Kings, as tutelary deities, have exclusiveness, indicating the boundary between inside and outside the village.

Chi Village worshiped Three Mountain Kings as the main deity of the village. They built the West Lake Temple, commonly known as Da Gong (Grand Palace), to worship Three Mountain Kings. Apart from being worshiped in the temple, the statues of the deities were also carried out for a deity procession in the Spring Festival every year. 

Stone Tablet of West Lake Temple

Nonetheless, due to the importance of Three Mountain Kings, how to allocate their statues to each clan in the village became a dispute. Finally, it was decided by Poe divination. People drop two little wooden pieces of a crescent shape on the floor and get the divine answer by the positions of the pieces. Each cup has two sides, one flat and one curved. If one piece has its flat side facing up and the other has its curved side facing down, it is called Winning Poe (Sheng Bei, 胜桮), representing the god's agreement with the devotee's wish; if both pieces have their flat sides facing up, it is called Laughing Poe (Xiao Bei, 笑桮), meaning that the god is laughing and the devotee has another chance to drop again; if both pieces have their curved side facing up, it is called Unfortunate Poe, meaning that the god's disagreement with the devotee's wish. 

However, according to my observation in the village, even if the devotee gets an unfortunate Poe, normally they will drop it again to get a winning Poe to satisfy themselves. David Jordan (1982) argues that the results of Poe divination are known and deliberately manipulated by the people while they simultaneously believe the fall of Poe is governed by divine will. 

As long as humans can manipulate the result, the distribution of Three Mountain Kings was not simply decided by the random result of the Poe divination either. Notwithstanding the form of Poe divination adopted in the procedure, It was in fact determined by the power of different clans. The temple has six deities: the First King, the Second King, and the Third King, along with their consorts, the First Lady, the Second Lady, and the Third Lady. As a result, their distribution is as below.

Table. Clan and Distribution of the Deities in Chi Village

Deity	Clan or division
The First King	Ke
The Second King	Xie and Down Yang
The Third King	Hong
The First Lady	Chen’s first division and Upper Yang
The Second Lady	Chen’s second division
Third Lady	Chen’s third division

Consequently, the Chen clan actually got three ladies, while the Xie clan only got the Second King. It is indicated that Chen is much more influential than Xie. Before 1949, Chen’s population in three villages Buding Zhuang, Tianqian Zhuang and Yueyingku reached 315 households and 1425 people. Xiecuo Village was dominated by Xie’s clan, yet there were only 248 households and 976 people. 

When the Japanese army invaded Chaozhou in 1939, they came to Chi Village and tore down the Temple of Three Mountain Kings. Villagers saved the statues of the deities and hid them in ancestral halls. The villagers had not rebuilt the temple since the Japanese invasion. Unfortunately, the statues did not survive afterward. They were demolished in the communist political movement after 1949. 

Bibliography

Jordan, D. K. (1982). Taiwanese Poe Divination: Statistical Awareness and Religious Belief, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion Vol. 21, No. 2 (Jun., 1982), pp. 114-118

Meatier China and Vegetarian India

I witness the change in meat consumption after the economic reform in China in the late 1970s. When I was a child, my family could only afford meat once per week. 

Nevertheless, from the 1990s onward, with the rapid economic development of China and the wealth growth of the Chinese middle class, meat became more affordable, and meat consumption rocketed. The chart presents information about changes in meat consumption in China over the period 1991 to 2026. Overall, there is a dramatic surge in meat consumption from around 20 kilograms per capita to 50 kilograms per capita, showing a noticeable increase of 150 percent. At the same time, it is predicted to increase modestly up to 55 kilograms by the end of 2026. Moreover, the variety of meat markedly expanded. At the beginning of 1991, pork was predominant with more than three-quarters. Nonetheless, its percentage inclined to three-fifths in 2017. There is a significant upward trend in poultry, beef and sheep.

Frozen meat is common in supermarkets, while in tradition people only preferred fresh meat in the market. Nowadays, China has become the second-largest meat market in the world in terms of revenues, only second to the United States. 

On the other hand, considering the per capita consumption of meat, China still lags behind most of the developed countries, with only half of the per consumption of meat in the United States. As a matter of fact, like economic inequality is large in China, the meat consumption difference between the rich and the poor is huge. 

Notwithstanding the tantamount population of China, India is a country where the per capita consumption is the lowest in the world, possibly due to its strong religious tradition. Meat consumption in China is in fact fifteen times as much as in India. 

The map below illustrates the percentage of the vegetarian population in India. In stark contrast to China and the United States, 29 percent of Indian citizens are vegetarians. In particular, Rajasthan has the largest number of vegetarians, which account for three-quarters of its population. More than 2 in 5 persons in nine states do not consume meat. Lakshadweep is the only state where no one is vegetarian. In eight states, the vegetarian population is less than three percent. Overall, northwestern states have a higher percentage of the vegetarian population than southeastern states.

Meat consumption in China is in the “middle” of the world and is expected to continue to rise, notwithstanding the interruption of Covid-19. However, it is undeniable that excessive meat consumption still causes environmental problems and contributes to global climate change. Overall, how to balance meat consumption between "too much" and "too little" is an interesting topic to research in the future.

Old General Huang, a Deity Invented by the Villagers

There are many folk deities worshipped in Chi Village. However, one deity is unique because it is not found anywhere rather than in Chi Village. The name is Old General Huang (Huang Lao Jiang Jun). People also called him Gong Ye in the community. A temple was established to worship him. 

The exact name of this general is Huang Ruiyuan. He was a general in the Ming Empire and passed away in Chi Village after combating a bloody battle. Afterward, the villagers built a temple to worship him. 

Villagers do not take the statue of Old General Huang for procession during the Lunar New Year like the Three Mountains King, but his status in the village is not lower than the Three Mountain kings. There is no other temple of Old General Huang in the other places in Chaozhou. The worship of General Huang Lao is exclusive to Chi Village.

There are also many legends in the village about Old General Huang. During the Republic of China (1912-1949), a pandemic broke out in the village. Therefore, the villagers organized a procession of Old General Huang. The deity procession reached Wuyang Township, 5 kilometers away. As a result, the pandemic subsided. Villagers attributed the subsidence of the epidemic to Old General Huang.   

Another legend happened in the nearby Annanmiao Village. One year, an eerie water ghost appeared in the pond of Annanmiao Village and ate children. People groaned with pain but found no way to combat the ghost. Eventually, elders and gentries in Annanmiao Village came to Chi Village to request Old General Huang to evict the water ghost. Just as everyone was worshiping the general, the bronze statue of Old General Huang suddenly flew out. People saw it and quickly followed. The bronze statue of General Huang arrived on the pond side, turned around on the grass mat on the ground, then sank and vanished. People were amazed, and when they returned to the temple, they saw that the deity had already caught the two water monkeys. They were the water ghost and the culprits of the tragedy. Old General Huang saved Annammiao Village! Due to this legend, residents of the Annanmiao Village began to visit Chi Village to worship Old General Huang likewise.

Old General Huang eliminated potential threats to the village. A carp monster stirred up troubles in Fengxi Town, near Chi Village. He even planned to harass Chi Village. Knowing this, General Huang was incarnated as a farmer, wearing a rice hat and carrying a pot of wine, and walked towards the gate of the village. The monster saw the farmer coming. He suddenly realized the farmer was the deity Old General Huang and the village was under the protection of the deity. He was shocked and immediately left the village. Since then, he never came to the village anymore.   

Even Chaozhou municipal government relied on General Huang's divine power. Once upon a time, a drought happened in Chaozhou. The government requested the Buddhist monks in Kaiyuan Temple to pray for rain. The temple was the most renowned Buddhist temple named after Emperor Xuanzong's era name by himself in the Tang Dynasty. They performed rainmaking rituals, but it was futile. When the monks heard that Old General Huang was powerful, they started a pilgrim to his temple from Kaiyuan Temple. They kneeled once while walking every three steps, begging Old General Huang to offer them rain. Finally, the rain came to Chaozhou. 

Overall, a range of legends was "invented" for this unique deity. Villagers were proud of Old General Huang as their tutelary. In fact, The name Huang Junyuan can be found in the essay 'Farewell to Huang Junyuan, the Advisor to the County Government, who will Become Government Official and Look After His Mother'(送郡幕黄濬源致官侍母) written by Lin Xichun, a Chaozhou scholar in Ming Dynasty. Nonetheless, it is possible that the general was originally a ghost spirit worshipped by the locals. The name Huang Junyuan was attributed to it in order to be recognized by the state.

英国新首相与遍布全球的印度侨民 Britain's New Prime Minister and Global Indian Diaspora

英国首相苏纳克/HM Treasury

英国在经历史上最短命的44天首相之后，迎来了史上最年轻的42岁首相苏纳克（Rishi Sunak）。苏纳克受到关注不仅仅是因为他的年纪，也因为他是纯正的印度旁遮普裔英国人，他的父母是印度裔，妻子也是印度人。甚至，他自己也信仰印度教。

巴基斯坦方面还有争论。由于苏纳克的祖父出生地现在属于巴基斯坦，所以还有人说应该把苏纳克归为巴基斯坦人。历史与政治夹杂在一起的诡辩太复杂了。总之，苏纳克的祖父出生的时候，还是英属印度，所以姑且还是先认为首相是印度裔吧。

昨天开始，是为期五天的印度传统节日排灯节（Diwali）。苏纳克当选之后，印度总理莫迪向他致以传统节日的问候。莫迪称，苏纳克是印度与英国印度裔社群之间的桥梁，他将和苏纳克携手将历史纽带转换为现代的合作伙伴关系。

苏纳克的背后有着英国庞大的印度裔族群以及印度力量在全世界的崛起。印度裔英国人是英国最大的少数族群，达到140万人，占整体人口的2.3%。华裔族群只有43万，仅占人口比例的0.7%，排在巴基斯坦裔和孟加拉国裔的后面。实际上，在1947年印巴分治之前，巴基斯坦和孟加拉国都属于英属印度的一部分，如果都一起算上，英属印度的后裔占英国总人口的5%。

苏纳克的祖父Ramdas Sunak出生在英属印度古吉兰瓦拉（Gujranwala）。当时，古吉兰瓦拉有超过七成以上的人口是穆斯林。可是，印度教徒和锡克教徒掌握了这座城市三分之二的资产。Ramdas Sunak 的家庭在这座城市就属于上层阶级。

由于贫富差距引起的宗教冲突，Ramdas Sunak于1935年就离开古吉兰瓦拉，前往非洲肯尼亚的内罗毕工作。两年后，他的妻子Suhag Rani Sunak带上婆婆也从老家搬到了内罗毕，一家团聚。两人生了六个孩子，三男三女。苏纳克的父亲Yashveer Sunak出生于1949年。1966年，十七岁的Yashveer十七岁到了英国利物浦，在利物浦大学学习医学。1977年，Yashveer与印度裔的女孩Usha结婚。

1980年，苏纳克出生在南安普顿。苏纳克成长在保持传统的印度裔社区中。1971年，Ramdas就在当地建立了印度教神庙。一直以来，英国的印度裔保守自己的宗教信仰、传统节日、语言文化，是英国辨识度最高的少数族群。

苏纳克的妻子也是印度人，是印度亿万富翁、科技巨头Infosys的创始人、印度IT之父纳拉亚纳·穆尔蒂（Narayana Murthy）的女儿Akshata Murty。Akshata Murty出生在印度，至今仍是印度国籍，拥有Infosys公司0.93%的股份。夫妻两人在2022年《星期日泰晤士报》英国富豪班上排名222，而今年排名第一的也是印度人——欣杜贾兄弟（Sri and Gopi Hinduja）。

印度本土有14亿人，与中国旗鼓相当。在海外，印度有3200万海外侨民，现在每年还有320万印度人移民海外，这两个数字在全世界的移民群体中是最高的。

大规模的现代印度移民起源于19世纪中叶，英国的殖民统治在印度正式开始。由于当时黑奴贸易废止之后造成的劳动力短缺，殖民帝国开始从亚洲输入劳工，这些劳工大部分来自中国和印度。形容劳工的“苦力”（coolie）一词，也有一种说法是来源自南印度的语言。

由于英属殖民地之间的联结，印度劳工大量前往非洲的毛里求斯岛、南非、东非，美洲的圭也那、苏里南、加勒比海地区，东南亚的马来半岛，这使得印度侨民在全球广泛分散。

第二股移民潮则是发生在1960年之后至今，以中产阶级为主。其中大部分是专业人士、医生、工程师、程序员，移民目的地以美国、英国、加拿大、新加坡等发达国家为主。他们大部分都由于在印度国内接受完高等教育之后，无法寻找到适当的就业岗位，转而寻找海外更高经济收入的就业机会。

其中，最令人瞩目的就是IT产业。印度的IT产业诞生于1967年的孟买，此后发展迅猛，形成班加罗尔、海得巴拉、金奈等几大科技中心。印度培养了大量的IT人才，在全球“猎身”，成为最大的科技出口国。印度移民由于受教育水平高，并且英语能力突出，很容易在新的国家中跻身中产阶级。在保持自己文化传统同时，提升经济地位，融入社会主流。这与来自东欧、中东等地的难民形成的贫民窟形成强烈的对比。

与其他移民社群相比，如今的印度，和广泛分布在世界各地的侨民社区在文化上的纽带，是相当紧密的。以侨民为桥梁，印度与其他国家之间的经济文化交流也越发丰富多样。和韩剧在东亚地区流行一样，印度的电影、电视剧也在世界各地流行。

印度电影不仅仅是唱唱跳跳的宝莱坞喜剧，反映社会矛盾的作品在这些年不断推出。经济发展的同时，贫富差距、贪污腐败、环境污染等社会问题日益突出。印度看到自己的色彩，也看到自己的暗处。

如果现在还认为印度是一个贫穷落后的国家，那就大错特错了。我曾三次去过印度，在北印度的农村中，看到过极度的贫穷；在那烂陀寺遗址，想象着当年玄奘在此求学的模样；在加尔各答，听到美妙的孟加拉传统音乐；在班加罗尔的Infosys公司，见到充满朝气的年轻IT程序员。如此多元复杂的印度，居然能够成为一个国家，想想也是一种奇迹。

这种多元复杂又复制到其他的国家，在新的土壤中生根发芽。可见，世界本身也是如此复杂多元，每个人的身份认同也可以是多元的。苏纳克可以是印度人、巴基斯坦人、旁遮普人、英国人，当然，他也可以是超越国界的地球村人。

参考资料
1. Ilyas Chattha. Partition and Locality: Violence, Migration, and Development in Gujranwala and Sialkot, 1947-1961. Oxford University Press, 2011 
2. Neelum Naz. Historical Perspective of Urban Development of Gujranwala, Pakistan. 3rd International THAAP Conference held in Nov. 2012 in Lahore
3. Xiang Biao. Global "Body Shopping": An Indian Labor System in the Information Technology Industry. Princeton University Press, 2006
4. Office of National Statistics; 2011 Census Key Statistics. webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk. Retrieved 2021-09-07.
5. Population of Overseas Indians. Ministry of External Affairs (India). 2018-12-31. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2018-12-25. Retrieved 2019-04-18.

格莱珉为澳洲八分之一的穷人编制社交网络 Grameen Creates Social Networks for One in Eight Poor People in Australia

​10月17日是联合国消除贫困国际日，同时在澳大利亚，这一周也是反贫困周（Anti Poverty Week）。澳大利亚社会服务委员会和新南威尔士大学最新研究表明，澳大利亚有八分之一的人生活在贫困线之下。

研究的数据基于澳大利亚统计局2019-2020年居民家庭收入数据，将家庭税后收入中位数50%以下定义为贫困人口：单身成人每周收入489澳元（约人民币2218元）以下，以及由一对夫妻和两个孩子构成的家庭每周收入1027澳元（约人民币4660元）以下。生活在贫困线以下的有331.9万人，占总人口13.4%。即在澳大利亚每八个人中，就有一个是穷人。在儿童群体中，有76.1万名儿童生活在贫困线以下，占儿童总人数的16.6%。

（图/Grameen Australia）

反贫困周的宣传海报（图/Anti-poverty Week）

2020年新型冠状病毒疫情在澳大利亚爆发，3月，澳大利亚颁布禁令，宣布对本国居民外的所有人关闭边境，开始全国性的封城措施。在严格的新冠防疫政策下，经济受到巨大打击。2020年第一季度，贫困率飙升至14.6%。

不过，由于在澳大利亚政府在严格防疫期间，实行经济支持补贴、新冠补贴、求职补贴等一系列政策，在2020年第三季度，贫困率下降至12%。随着防疫形势好转，2021年3月来时停止发放新冠补贴。2022年2月21日开始，澳大利亚也重新开放边境，迎接外国游客入境旅游。

不过，澳大利亚1/8的穷人仍是个重要的社会课题，单靠政府补助难以持续性解决问题。在澳大利亚开放边境之后，一个孟加拉国人从纽约飞往澳大利亚。这位孟加拉国人叫Shah Newaz。2008年，在格莱珉银行创始人、穷人的银行家尤努斯教授（Muhammad Yunus）的派遣下，在格莱珉银行工作了30年的他前往美国纽约。彼时的美国，正在遭受金融海啸的冲击，全美有七分之一的人生活在贫困线之下。

Newaz选择了纽约皇后开始这个全新的项目，让低收入的女性组成五人小组、每周召开中心会议，提供1000美元左右的资金，通过做小生意摆脱贫困。项目一开始到处碰壁，很多人以为他们是骗子，在第一年只有几十个客户。Newaz一开始的策略是利用老乡网络，在孟加拉国移民中发展客户，后来才发现美国有一个巨大的贫困群体：讲西班牙语的拉美裔移民。

我在2015年和2017年分别访问了格莱珉美国在洛杉矶和纽约的支行，惊奇地发现大多数客户连英语都不太会讲，大多数的母语是西班牙语。不谙西班牙语的孟加拉国专家，甚至还需要通过翻译才能与他们交流。本以为美国国语是英语，自然人人都会，实际上一大群底层是新移民的英语能力仍然相当有限。

我与Newaz在纽约的中心会议，地点在地下室（图/无畏）

格莱珉美国逐渐壮大，也吸引了华裔女企业家、前雅芳总裁钟彬娴（Andrea Jung）加入，担任格莱珉美国总裁。尤努斯加上钟彬娴的网络，让格莱珉美国不断获得融资，与越来越多的银行、公司、基金会合作。如今的格莱珉美国项目，已经遍布全美24个大城市，服务16万低收入女性。客户群体从拉美裔移民社区也扩展到各个族裔。一周前，尤努斯教授还出席了位于纽约著名的黑人社区哈莱姆（Harlem）的支行13周年的庆祝活动。

尤努斯出席哈莱姆支行13周年庆典（图/YC）

在格莱珉美国蒸蒸日上之时，Shah Newaz又选择了另外一个新的挑战，就是飞往太平洋彼岸，在一个新的国度开始新的格莱珉项目。澳大利亚和美国很像，同样是一个移民国家，同样有巨大的底层人口，同样有爱家庭、爱孩子的母亲。在澳大利亚，他的策略是从移民和难民群体入手。第一个项目点就设立在墨尔本——具有巨大移民和难民人口的城市。

Newaz（右）澳大利亚的女性会员小组
（图/Grameen Australia）

格莱珉澳大利亚的阿拉伯语广告（图/Grameen Australia）

截至目前，格莱珉澳大利亚已有60名客户。为这些女性提供的首笔小生意资金额度为1000-4500澳元（约人民币4500-20000元）。

2016年，Raghad和她的丈夫从伊拉克逃亡到澳大利亚。ISIS夺去了他们的房子，抢走了他们的钱，让他们变得一无所有。今年Raghad加入格莱珉，在异国他乡有了一群每周见面的好姐妹，还从格莱珉得到资金扩大她的家纺小生意。

Dalal通过格莱珉的资金，开起了自己的理发店，她想告诉姐妹们：“即便许多姐妹做了很多年的家庭主妇，一直在照顾孩子，但做起自己的小生意永远不晚！”

多年从事金融和贸易工作的越南人阮约翰，一直参与非营利机构的活动，帮助社会边缘群体。今年，他成为格莱珉最基层的工作人员——中心经理，他的目标是帮助维多利亚州的越南移民社区。

不管在哪里，面对贫穷，格莱珉不断在为底层人编织社交网络，用于对抗社会原子化。这个网络，从孟加拉国的乡村，到战后满目疮痍的科索沃，到贫富差距巨大的美国，到发展中的中国，到澳大利亚，让底层人互帮互助、战胜困难、分享喜悦。

参考文献
Davidson, P; Bradbury, B & Wong, M. (2022). Poverty in Australia 2022: A snapshot. Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) and UNSW Sydney.
Simmel, G. (1950). The Metropolis and Mental Life. The Sociology of Georg Simmel. Wolff, K.H. (eds.) New York: Free Press. pp. 409-424