short series

The 1970 Rural Drought: My Family Dug Into an Underground World

share time: 2025-12-30 06:07:49

In 1970, a village in western Henan faced a century-long drought. Seventeen-year-old Su Xiaomei watched corn wither to ash, while her brother had a fever from water shortage and rambled in delirium. Her father led the family to dig a well. On the third day, the hoe opened a bottomless karst cave—inside was clear spring water, murals of people in animal skins holding water jugs, and a notebook from a missing educated youth: “There’s a living spring underground, but those who touch it will be targeted by the ‘well guardians’”. That night, her mother’s bucket vanished without a trace, and her brother mumbled, “Uncle in fur clothes”. Staring at the blue-glowing pool in the cave, Su Xiaomei panicked: What her family dug wasn’t a life-saving well, but a “box” tied to the village’s fate—should they tell the villagers? Who exactly is the “well guardian”?

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