Huangyao (Chinese: 黄姚) is a beautiful old town which is located in Guangxi, China. However, such a picturesque place has been stained by ‘Gongde’ (Chinese: 功德, Virtuous achievement), something which is supposed to be good and beautiful, Choumeizai feels so sad.
Outside the main entrance of an old big mansion where most tourists like to visit, there is a little girl who is only around 5 to 6 years old, next to her stands a paper signage on which her miserable handicapped life is written, the gist: asking for donations.
The little girl rolls her eyes and twists her face painfully, Choumeizai is moved and throws 5 Renminbi in the donation box.
While Choumeizai is about to leave, an old woman gets close to the little girl, the little girl becomes normal in a sudden and talks with the old woman subtly, then she resumes to a ‘handicapped’ girl again.
Choumeizai now realises the true meaning of ‘Gongde’.
Not too far from the girl, there is an old man who claims that he has got glaucoma, but his ‘performance’ is not as good as the little girl, the donation he got is less.
Someone has become an expert, he doesn’t even show his face but an identity card for disabled instead, beneath it is a ‘Gongde box’.
When Choumeizai is walking along the shopping street, there is a little boy watching the shop for the adults, Choumeizai tries to take a photo of him, but he is alerted and disappears in a second.
Choumeizai wanders around casually, then goes inside a broken old temple.
Suddenly, the little boy appears, he gibbers innocently, Choumeizai can hear the words ‘5 dollars’ and ‘Gongde’.
Stunned by what he has heard, Choumeizai then finds that the boy has become ‘handicapped’, showing the same face as the little girl…
Choumeizai leaves with sigh, he doesn’t expect that ‘Gongde’ can be so painful and sad.
