Forget stereotypes, I want to stay ‘ hungry’ and ‘ foolish’

Before I traveled to the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region to cover stories about poverty alleviation, I expected to be reporting about people whose annual incomes had risen after they received employment training or their businesses received State aid. At least, that was what I had discovered in similar previous interviews.

The Xinjiang trip shattered my expectations by reminding me not to stereotype people or take anything for granted.

When I arrived at a village in Jiashi, a county in Kashgar prefecture, I asked Abdukerim Kurban to estimate how much money he would earn this year and whether the improvement in his circumstances would be the happiest development for his family.

To my surprise, he said the rise in his income was less important than having a safe source of water. The conclusion of a water project in the county at the end of May means he no longer has to carry water home and filter it before drinking.

“I knew I smelled dirty in the past, but water shortages meant I could only take a shower once every seven or eight days at most,” he said.

“Therefore, drinking and using safe, clean water at any time at home is this year’s biggest and happiest development for my family.”

His 13- year- old daughter nodded and told me she had often endured thirst because the unpurified water was undrinkable and quickly caused an upset stomach.

I was silent for a while after hearing their replies, even though they had only touched on the matter slightly.

If I had not spoken with them, I would still have naively believed that water safety was not a problem in China, and imagined that raising incomes was the sole objective of the national poverty alleviation campaign.

Their words woke me up, helping me to realize that my reporting had become reliant on stereotypes and prompting me to change course as quickly as possible.

I realized that after more than a decade as a reporter I unconsciously set or assumed answers prior to interviews because I believed I had acquired knowledge and mastered some skills in my work.

It was like a reporting inertia that made it hard to look for new angles.

I have to reiterate my gratitude that I went on the trip, because it piqued my curiosity about the world again and reminded me to “Stay hungry, stay foolish” — the favorite saying of Steve Jobs, co- founder of technology giant Apple.