Wang
Wang Zhiqiang (???) is the other one of the guards I became friends with. I’m unsure of whether he takes his job less seriously or, because his status is a tad higher than Yang’s, he has more freedom, but he is much more willing to speak to me [while working] than Yang was.
He first started talking to me after I gave Yang my mobile number. He said, “Hi! I do not mean to disturb you. You may not know who I am, but you remain fresh in my memory (????)! Can we be friends?” and “I am Yang’s friend, I also work at Pingod. I’ve seen you a few times, but you don’t know me! You gave Yang a brownie to give me, do you remember? Although I was able to eat it, I was not able to see you!” We continued to text each other, though sometimes it would be hard to maintain a conversation, as I know what he does every day from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m., and know that he doesn’t go far when he isn’t working.
* * *
One day I went out with him to get noodles and he told me his personal story.
His mother first married a taxi driver and had two daughters with him. Her first husband left her after he had an affair with a mistress. Wang’s mother kept one daughter and the other one went with the father. After a while, ahe remarried and had two more sons, one of which was Wang Zhiqiang. Wang’s father died when he was 8 from lung disease. At the age of 8, there was no one to make money in the house or ??? (laborforce, manpower) so he and his brother (then 11) worked in the fields instead of going to school (though at one point he had finished middle school).
After a few years passed, a friend told Wang’s mother that there was a man whose wife left him for another man. He was looking for a new wife. Wang’s mother asked her children if it was okay that she marry him. They agreed, and she moved out. A year later, Wang’s sister married and moved out. Wang and his brother had the home to themselves, and couldn’t make enough money with the crops, and had to sell their cows and soybeans. They had nothing left, so they decided to go out and find opportunities elsewhere.
Wang has, since he left, worked in factories making pants, been a waiter, worked at the front desk of a hotel, been a guard at a ski resort, and now, at 21-years-old, a guard at our apartment complex.
Wang watching fireworks
Wang and Yang playing with fireworks
He’s a sensitive and caring person, but naive beyond all hell. But it’s hard for a man like that to grow emotionally when, at such a young age, he had to take on such responsibilities and forgo living a child’s life. I am unsure of whether he has ever had a girlfriend, which is probably why he took on to liking me so suddently. While, I applaud his bravery in taking the initiative to speak to me when we first met, and tell me his feelings as our friendship developed, the reasons are too many why we aren’t more than friends.
* * *
Just as I thought I would still have a friend at Pingod, Wang told me on Thursday that he may be leaving soon, too. A new group of guards-in-training arrived at the apartment complex this past week, and apparently they’re there to take over all of the current guards, who will then be placed in other security jobs across Beijing.
I asked him what he thought about the change, and he said he was ready and welcoming of it. The situation that he’s in is truly despicable, and he hopes that things will improve with change. (Sounds like he just endured 8 years of George W. Bush). I wish him happiness as he transitions to his new job, and hope that he and I will continue to be friends.