Wang Fengqin suffered from hunger in her youth, when Mao Zedong was running China, so it brings her joy to cook a nice dinner whenever her sons visit her in the rapidly depopulating northeastern village of Wudaogang.
"Come home to eat, mum can still afford to make you this meal," the 70-year-old retired farmer said, recalling how their phone calls usually start, as she took a break from chopping cabbage in her wood-fired kitchen.
On a 2,000 yuan ($290) monthly pension, she can hardly afford anything else. Going to the hospital to check her growing abdominal pain could cost her 1,000 yuan, she said.
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