Portrait of an LBX

An old peasant man stops to pack his pipe during our walk through the Chujiawangwu Village surroundings with Mr. Chu and Little Liu.

Yangshuo, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region

I took this picture in Henan, a generally bare and dusty place that is one of China's poorer provinces. What is immediately surprising about this family is that it has three children, despite China's One Child Policy. In rural areas, I believe the policy permits you to have a second child if the first is a girl, but it looks like all three of these little hedgehogs are boys. It's possible they are from different families. What is not surprising is that they are being cared for by an older woman. The garden in my own apartment complex in Beijing is filled with little babies running around with crotchless pants, each with a middle-aged "ayi," or auntie, taking care of him or her. Here most of the ayis are hired and paid for their work. In the countryside, they are just an older member of the extended family who can care for the children while the parents labor away in the parched fields of Henan.