中國日報20200515 4版
Ke Enya attends an online class under a market stall while her mother talks to a customer over the counter in Yichang, Hubei province, on April 29. YANG WEI / FOR CHINA DAILY
By LI HONGYANG
Under a bustling market counterin Yichang, Hubei province, a “study room” had been created for a 7 year old girl with cardboard as a cushion, two paper boxes stacked as a desk, a lamp and a secondhand laptop.
Above the “study room”, her parents were chopping braised vegetables and meat for sale to make a living. Under the counter, Ke Enya was curled up and taking classes online due to the shutdown of her school during the COVID19 outbreak.
The family of three lived a life considered normal in the market until April 29, when Ke’s teacher visited the stall. The teacher was touched by the scene and posted pictures of the girl’s “study room” on her WeChat moments, which went viral.
A deluge of posted comments encouraged the girl to work hard and described her as a caterpillar ina cocoon who would emerge as a butterfly.
Zhao Weiwei, the girl’s mother who could not be reached by China Daily, told Hangzhoubased newspaper City Express that it was common for store owners in the market to care for their children at the stalls. The only difference was that her stall was much smaller. According to the Changjiang Daily, a newspaper in Wuhan, Hubei province, on Monday, a local communication company opened up broadband access for free at Zhao’s stall to help the girl stream her online classes more smoothly.
She had been using her mother’s mobile phone data to connect to the internet on the computer. Another company offered toinstall broadband and a camera in Zhao’s home for her to supervise her daughter from the stall.
On Wednesday, Zhao posted anarticle on her Sina Weibo account saying that she didn’t expect so much attention from across the country and that she felt sorry for her daughter.“If she were born in another family, she would definitely not study under the chopping board, and her living environment would definitely be better,” she said. Zhao and her husband startedtheir business in June 2007. They sell braised and sauced food such aschicken, duck and various kinds of vegetables in an iron stall.
They prepare all food by 6 amand are open until nightfall. After the outbreak, they needed to look after both the business and their daughter.
“My daughter has performedpretty well in her online classes andhas never complained about the poor environment,” Zhao said. “Shedoesn’t make trouble for us at all.”
She explained that Ke did notresist staying in the market becauseshe is used to the environment and has some friends there.
The mother expressed her gratitude to netizens who are concerned about the girl’s health and said she would increase the size of the stall. “Being tucked in such a smallspace and watching a screen for a long time can surely do harm to her,so I would always let her go out to play and do exercise during breaks.
I feel sorry, but I am confined to thecurrent situation. That’s the best we can do for her,” she said.
