I am from the countryside of China. I lived in the countryside of Northern Jiangsu province from when I was born until I was fifteen. I really feel lucky about this fact. And you will understand more about why I feel so after the stories I am about to tell you.

It must have been the Chinese New Year of 1994. An aunt of mine came just before New Year's Day to give us food. This is how relatives share stuff with each other at this time of year. But that year, instead of meat or other fancy specially made food for New Year, we received Chinese cabbages! The fourteen year old girl that I was was probably disappointed for a while. But I was moved later when I saw the cabbages. They were not normal cabbages, they were the insides of the cabbages. If you know Chinese cabbages, you would know why I was moved.

Now looking back, I could understand more - her family must have been so poor that year that they didn't have any meat or other nice special food for New Year. All they had was cabbages and possibly some other equally cheap vegetables. But she cycled such a long way to give us what they had. Not only what they had, but the best part of what they had - the insides of the cabbages, every Chinese cabbage eater's favourite part!

Last time I visited my granny's village was this January. My granny's one-room house is right next to the house of my fourth uncle - my favourite uncle out of my five uncles. So I was expecting to see them both when I arrived, but my fourth uncle wasn't there! "Where is Fourth Uncle?" I asked my granny. "He was here ten minutes ago, where has he gone?!"

Ten minutes later, my fourth uncle came back with a basket full of green Chinese carrots. "Look, your fourth uncle went to dig carrots out for you to eat!" my mum said. Yeah, those carrots were normally buried underground to keep them fresh during winter time. I could feel tears dripping inside of my heart. That was all my uncle, my poor hard working uncle had to welcome his favourite niece who he hadn't seen for three years. My fourth uncle - the only person who the baby me was happy to be held by apart from my mum; the person who always gave me and my brother sweets before giving them to his own children; and the person who was always the most generous to give me and my brother money at New Year and whenever we visited him. He must have thought so hard about what he could bring out to welcome his niece, and just at the moment I was about to arrive he remembered he had carrots buried somewhere, so he went to dig them out for me.

Do you understand why I said I felt lucky to be born and raised in the countryside now? I was far away from the Backstreet Boys, I was far away from those fashionable jeans, I was far away from those more or less materialist city girls, and instead, I was fed and brought up by people with amazing hearts, those who always give, those who only think about how to give rather than how to get.

The first time I heard Xinran speaking in public, one of the very first sentences she said was "I am educated by the Chinese peasants!"

I really knew what she meant.

From the story of my aunt's cabbages to the story of my uncle's carrots, thirteen years have passed, but things have only got worse for them. My fourth uncle left the village to work somewhere in Inner Mongolia shortly after I last saw him. "I don't know what he was doing there, but he had to work so hard, your cousin Lei said the skin on his hands was all broken..." My mum told me this on the phone.

Like many other men from my granny's village, they wouldn't have left the village to work as hard labourers in big cities and be far away from their families if they had a choice. But there is no choice, their families need to eat and their children need to continue at school. I had been hoping China's new policies for the peasants, for instance the free tax policy, would draw back some peasants from the crowded big cities, but it doesn't seem to be working.

"Your cousin Meng was ill, I had to go to see him and send him to the hospital..." my mum told me on the phone. I am glad my mum can take care of Meng. It would be heart breaking for my fourth uncle who is thousands of miles away to know that his son is ill and no one can send him to the hospital.

I have been supporting several of my cousins through education, including Meng, for several years now. This is only several out of millions that need support in China. Every time I see news about how China is doing well and getting more and more "developed", I feel disturbed. Bullshit! (I don't normally swear but it's necessary for certain occasions.) From what I know, and what I can see, most people's lives have only got harder and worse.

I couldn't wait to leave Beijing. Not only because the weather was boiling hot, and the air quality had been very bad, but emotionally, I needed a break too - I could feel the pain from my heart whenever I see old women begging for money on the roads with broken legs; old blind men playing whistles or Chinese fiddles to beg for money; disabled people singing on underground trains to beg for money; mothers playing flutes begging with their children standing next to them (I saw a boy pulling his mum's clothes while his mum was playing.

Poor boy! He looked only about three years old, probably much preferable to do something else rather than just standing there all day.); and whenever I hear their stories, including local Beijingers' stories, of how poor they are and how hard they have to work.

I have more stories to tell, but I'll leave it for another time. This is my second day off after I have been back; I haven't even unpacked my boxes yet. By the way, big hugs to you all (I am back in a country where people hug a lot now!), I have been missing you all.