The two youths are trapped in the county's self -study room: 40,000 counties in the urban area, squeezed into 11 self -study rooms

The trend of opening the self -study room is spreading to the county seat.

Pingxiang, a small county with a population of only 40,000 in Xingtai, Hebei, in just one year, 11 self -study rooms were opened in just one year. Throughout Xingtai, this county town with GDP is one of the most rolling counties in the self -study room. Some parents even come to the local self -study room to pack a seat for their children.

In the county seat, the threshold for opening a self -study room is very low. A self -study room owner said that many people came to her self -study room and went back to be the owner of the self -study room. Such examples can be talked about at least four. Usually, a month can be opened in a self -study room. One of them, there was no rent, the person directly transformed the ground garage in the family into a self -study room. In the increasingly fierce competition, a boss also bought various snacks, "even Ruixing Coffee", and gave it to customers for free.

Behind the fierce competition in the county's self -study room, the strong needs of young people in the town of "self -study". Why can the county self -study room be fire? What kind of young people are the user group in the county self -study room? What changes are happening in the county seat? With these problems, the daily characters came to Pingxiang County and soaked in the county's self -study room.

In four days, we observed the lifestyle, family, education, and past of this group of young people, trying to understand the dilemma and choices they face.

Wen | Rao Tong language

Edit | Yi Fangxing

Operation | chestnut

Town loser

Studying in the study room of the county is first of all.

This heavy, to a large extent, almost everyone who comes here can be defined as a "loser".

On Monday, September 5th, at 9 am, in the "Xuexue" self -study room in Pingxiang County, Xingtai, Hebei, a group of young people with a dignified and hard -working study have been sitting in the self -study room early. This is the second self -study room in Pingxiang County, and the hottest one. It is often difficult to find here.

There are some common portraits in these young people: most of them are girls, and most of them are two and below, many of which are private universities. The desire to change such a background is the key driving force for them to come to the self -study room.

Zhou Lingdong, born in 1999, is a rare boy in this county's self -study room. He was used to sitting in the middle of the second floor, and he was studying here for almost half a year. Since entering a local university in Hebei, his life has continued to fail -the postgraduate entrance examination failed, and the test of the exams failed. The exam is required) also failed. In previous years, more than 130 points were enough to go ashore, but this year, this score is just enough to interview. On the day of release, the whole family was dispatched. Parents and brothers, accompanied him to rush to the city from the county to participate in the interview.

As a result, it was posted, and he was 0.5 points.

The family was silent first, and then comforted him: "It doesn't matter, let's come again next time" is the familiar comfort of the loser. These failures always have an equally failed opening -in the university, he chose biological majors. At the end of that year, when the top 10%of the students in the professional grade turned all of them, he knew that he entered a "Tiankeng major "". Everything he does now is to make up for the choice of the year.

Girls Xu Yihe in 1999 were the first customers in this self -study room. Her experience is similar to Zhou Rendong. At the end of the college entrance examination, she also went to a two books in Hebei. At that time, she was full of motivation. Every morning at 5 o'clock in the morning, she would get up to read English. She used a large and exaggerated voice tone. Sometimes she also put on a formal dress and led it on the podium. It wasn't until one time when she went to a job forum to know how bad her school was. At the time of employment, the Shijiazhuang Railway University next door was recruited by state -owned enterprises; the companies coming to their school were too lazy to see, "it is a college student."

That day, Xu Yihe was crying in the bench of the school. She hates her two degrees. Hebei is a province of college entrance examination. When she was studying, she had not relaxed. The only time was sent home by the school to review it because she wrote English homework under the flashlight late at night, but she was still the loser in the college entrance examination.

Chen Chao Chao was one year younger than Xu Yiluo. Her failed experience is also related to the exam. In high school, her parents sent her to Nanyong County next door because "there was a Tsinghua North University in the past few years." When she was in high school, she couldn't understand the class. And her at the same table, watching novels every day, her results can still be the top ten. She feels a huge frustration and she wants to drop out of school.

My parents were called by the teachings and threatened her. "If you don't learn, go back to the village to enter the factory." Chen Chao cried and answered, "entering the factory and entering the factory." When I couldn't speak, my parents lied that she was going to get out of the car, left directly, and left her in school alone.

When a group of losers gathered in the self -study room, the sense of depression appeared. The owner of the "Xuexue" self -study room, Bai Lindsha, said that the young people who study here are locals in Pingxiang, and most of them have experienced the failure of the postgraduate entrance examination. So they can only return to their hometown, continue World War I, or test the public. Exam. They will be more or less background in the battle.

Even Bai Linda himself is a member of the army in the exam. She is 25 years old and has been postgraduate twice in a row. She decided to return to her hometown to take Kaogong and failed again.

It is in such a "repeated defeat" that young people in the county town feel a kind of inconvenience.

Pingxiang County does not have public spaces like libraries. "Gathering together" is a thing that is difficult to imagine in the county seat. A boy who was studying self -study told his experience of "finding a place to learn". Once, he only found a conference room in a certain office building, and a conference table was placed in the middle of the room. He was reading a book there, and one day after day, back pain was not good. To some extent, these new self -study rooms have undertake the function of the library. And Bai Linda decided to open a self -study room and review the exam while starting a business.

▲ Young people studying in the self -study room. Picture / Rao Tong language photo

Eager to escape

In the county seat, young people's demand for the self -study room is not only reflected in the scarcity of public space.

In the small county seat, the time has a conventional order -graduation, work, buying a house, getting married, and having children. These "losers" are often derailed in the first ring. The tolerance of such "derailment" of the county is often very low. Many times, the "care" of relatives and friends is more like a torture.

During the year of Zhou Lingdong's full -time exam, some classmates married and had a baby -born baby, but his identity was still "fresh graduate". In the New Year, he returned to the village, and more than a dozen grandfather people would sit under the big tree of the village entrance, caught him and asked, "What do you do at home?" Even if he answered "in the exam" question--

"What is the use of education so high? Only the children in junior high school next door have driven 600,000 cars."

The problems encountered by the counties of the county are similar. Without exception, they are bound to the eyes of the family.

In this self -study room, Xu Yihe has a better family. Her mother is a doctor, her grandfather is a college student, and her aunt is a rare graduate student in the local area. They all hope that Xu Yihe will take the county. When I was young, the aunt's template story was told again and again: The aunt learned alone in the room that did not open the heating. Every time at home, my uncle said in front of all the children: "One lotus is good, let me order a lot." Before the brother's college entrance examination, the school asked the younger brother to get up at five o'clock, and the mother would get up. When my brother's reading sounded, the mother went back to sleep.

In the entire family's reinforcement again and again, Xu Yihe knew that she had to go out of the county, which was her mission. Reading only one undergraduate, obviously cannot achieve this goal. During college, she continued to verify -four or six, teacher qualification certificates, computer certificates ... and my mother knew the time points of various exams would remind her at various nodes.

Xu Yihe thought of various ways to escape from such eyes.

But in small counties, this is not easy to achieve. She moved out first, rented a house to live, and her aunt called her to attend a family banquet. She refused on the grounds that she was too far away, even if her grandparents were rare. She can reduce the time of eating as much as possible to stay away from her friends. In October last year, it was the entrance examination. She suddenly wanted to eat a potato powder in the east of the county seat. After that, some friends just sent a text message and asked her "where to eat." Xu Yihe turned off the screen directly, pretending not to see the information, hurriedly finished eating, and then fled.

Even the voices of strangers need to be blocked. For a while, when she heard the laughter of the people around, she would also be jealous: "Why are they so happy, so carefree? Why is I suffering?"

Until she fled into the county's self -study room.

Here, there will be no bombing -like care from relatives, nor will she feel that she is such a lonely and pitiful person. Xu Yihe compared herself a drop of water -outside, everyone's eyes seemed to be staring at her. Only in the self -study room can she really disappear and stealth like remitting the river.

▲ The corner of the self -study room. Picture / Rao Tong language photo

It is also this demand that the self -study room quickly became popular in Pingxiang County. In August last year, Pingxiang opened the first self -study room. By this year, there were only 40,000 small counties in this urban area, but 11 self -study rooms grew up. These seats are almost full. This is not an example. There are similar self -study rooms in Julu County and Guangzong County around Pingxiang County.

The first feature of these self -study rooms in the county is large enough. For example, the owner of the self -study room, Bai Linda, leased three floors at a price of 20,000 yuan a year, with 260 square meters, which can accommodate 65 seats.

Bai Linda's self -study room is a spacious and bright style. The main color is relaxed green, the lights are green, the calendar is green, and there are three French sycamores outside the window. This is different from many of the small cubes in the big cities. The kind of non -sleeping self -study room is very similar to "Please answer 1988". Everyone is separated in a small square and hidden in the darkness.

But Bai Linda always feels that the style is too unsuitable for the county, "we need to see the face of the people around us."

The atmosphere of the county's self -study room can no longer be stressed -the young people gathering here, in the face of failure and interpersonal relationships, want to have a public space full of "hope". Later, this idea was also verified by the choice of Pingxiang market. Bai Linda said that the self -study room with a dark tone has closed down.

There is no sense of indifferent and isolated elite. In contrast, Kunshan, the owner of a self -study room in the provincial capital city, said that his positioning of himself was "cosmetic". Except for going to open the door and closing the door, he would hardly stay in the self -study room. Customers came and went, maybe when they left the city, he asked, "What is the use of emotional connection?" But Bai Linda didn't think so. She almost knew everyone in the self -study room and spent all her spare time in the self -study room. She once matched a couple in the self -study room, and the girl was her junior high school classmate. She also took a picture of learning in the self -study room for her first client and gave her a piece of oil. In the photo, the afterglow of the window was spilled.

For these people, there are places to go when they want to escape.

▲ The painting of the self -study room given to Xu Yihe. Photo / Interviewee provided

County mainstream world

In Pingxiang County, you will have a strong feeling. The self -study room and the county seat are two worlds.

At 9 o'clock in the evening, the atmosphere of the Pingxiang self -study room was tight -reading lights were still on, and people were serious. Occasionally someone entered and leaving, and was in a hurry. A girl wearing a large shirt passed by my side and took a gust of wind.

But in fact, this time may be the most relaxed time in Pingxiang County. At this point, most young people in the county appear in the Internet celebrity shop in "Culture Street", and also appear on the trade street of the snack bar. Young people gathered here, playing billiards, singing K, or just strolling and shuttle.

Short video and grass planting communities have shortened the distance between the county and the big cities -at least in terms of lifestyle. Whether it is an online celebrity shop or a self -study room, as a new way of living in the county, it is just two sides of the coin.

18 -year -old Xiaodi and Zhizhi, they know that there are many self -study rooms in the county, but they have never been to. The place they love to go most is the "cultural street". This street was originally tried to build a building materials market. In the past two years, the real estate industry has become downturn, which has become a gathering place for net red shops.

The clothes shop that is engraved with "Pingxiang, Hello" is opened here. The Ins style decoration fills the gap between Xiaodi and Zhizhi. As long as there are new stores, they will go to check in. Today, the most popular in the county is a clothes shop, which gathers the trendy people in several counties around. "The girls inside are tall and dressed up, but they look good."

The cat coffee that can sting the cat also opened in the county seat. It only takes 19.9 yuan to get a Tmall here, unlimited time. Fang Yu, a 16 -year -old secondary school student, has not graduated yet. She is most willing to spend time here. After taking pictures, she replaced WeChat avatars with a photo with cats. She is designed in a vocational high school in the city, so she can make up, and the false eyelashes are flashing.

▲ One street in Pingxiang. Picture / Rao Tong language photo

In a sense, compared to the young people in the self -study room, Xiaodi and Fang Yu are the most universal Pingxiang youth -they finish elementary school and junior high school in the county town, and they cannot be admitted to the only in the county. High School Pingxiang No. 1 Middle School can only go to the high school, and return to Pingxiang after graduation.

Back to Pingxiang, it usually symbolizes the loss of life choices. Most of them will enter the bicycle industry that Pingxiang is proud of. Pingxiang people concluded: "Bicycles and children's cars have supported most of Pingxiang."

This sentence is not exaggerated. As a famous bicycle and hometown of strollers, the ancient temple town of Hegu Temple 11 kilometers away from the county center produces one -third of bicycles in China. Almost every family does a bicycle -related business. Essence Most of the young people in Pingxiang will enter the assembly line produced by bicycles and children's cars after graduating from a high graduation. Fang Yu said that at her school, even if she is a career, graduation internship is also a worker in the factory, and the salary of the hand. , Will be taken away by half of the school.

Later, there were more and more young people who didn't like the assembly line, and their professional path became a customer service -of course, it was still selling bicycles in online stores.

Xiaodi is one of them. She is a UI design in Gao Shi, but after graduation, the design related work cannot be found in Pingxiang. "Unless you go to the print shop to help press the printer, it is better to be an anchor and customer service." Xiaodi thinks about it. , She has a salary of 2900 yuan every month. It is already very good. What I want to learn is to shout to the uncle in the live broadcast room: "You can also order the beauty." And her Friend Zhizhi, a higher education, is a college. After graduating, he intends to enter a bicycle factory and children's car factory to make accounting.

If you are unwilling to enter the factory and do customer service, come back to open the store. Fang Yu, who studied styling design, planned to open a wedding shop, becoming one of many online red shops on Pingxiang Street -these reflect the narrowness of the county's employment channels.

But outside these shops, Pingxiang is exhausted. For example, public transportation, two years ago, there were buses here, but now, the two bus companies have closed down, and people traveling in Pingxiang mainly depends on electric vehicles. There are very few people who take a taxi. 60 taxis in the county are running less than 30, and the taxi company has to increase the price -the starting price at night is as high as 15 yuan, which can target first -tier cities.

Pingxiang's proud bicycle industry has been withered in recent years. The young boy who failed to do the king -in, Zhou Lingdong, was born in the ancient temple town of Hemiao Town, Pingxiang County. His parents did business for more than 20 years. This did bring wealth to their family. When he was young, his family could not afford even a schoolbag. He went to school with his grandmother's old schoolbag every day. Later, the business of the bicycle shop became better and better, and the family bought a 130 -square -meter house in Pingxiang County. In Pingxiang, the border with a bicycle is a symbol of wealth, and the marks in various places are showing this. From the national highway entering the avenue of Pingxiang County, the bright street lights are designed as a bicycle shape. The car, said, it must be a bicycle factory at home; the taxi driver who cannot pull the guest will tell me the envy that you can earn 6,000 yuan every month when you enter the bicycle factory. The taxi is good.

However, under the outbreak, the town is glory. In the past, Zhou Lingdong's parents issued a river ancient temple town once every quarter to participate in various bicycle expo and exhibitions across the country. After returning the order from those exhibition halls, after returning home, they were busy from six in the morning to ten pm in the evening. two points. Those bicycle workers with a flowing water line "can earn tens of thousands per month." But now, the order is disappearing, and Zhou Lingdong no longer needs to go home during the holidays to help ship and work. In the county seat, three main districts full of bicycle shops, most of the time.

He has no retreat. If the business at home is better, he can go home at least to take over the bicycle shop. In such an environment, it is just more than anyone else -there are several friends around him. The bicycle factory at home can support it for a while. These people did not pass the exam and went home to do business.

But he can't do it.

▲ In 2019, Xingtai, Hebei, was held in Pingxiang County, the twelfth China · North (Pingxiang) International Bicycle and Children's Car toy Expo. Photo /Visual China

Another mud

Sometimes, the boss Bai Linksha will feel that in his self -study room, the group of people who want to go out of the small county town most, they do not want to choose a life bound to bicycles.

Chen Chaochao, a 00 -year girl sitting on the third floor self -study room, is particularly firm. She is a graduate of a university in Hebei -such a degree, who is very high in the local self -study. After the failure of the postgraduate entrance examination last year, she had little hesitation and decided to return to Pingxiang to prepare for World War II. It was not enough to soak in the self -study room all day. She found Bailin Sha and asked if she could board it here. Her family is in the ancient temple town of Hegu Town. There is no bus. It takes more than an hour to travel to and from riding an electric car. It is too long. She does not want to waste time on the road to the county.

Under the needs of customers, Bai Linda opened a new business- "self -study boarding". In less than 500 meters away from the self -study room, she rented a small courtyard at a rent of 1,000 yuan per month and added four sheets to meet the needs of customers in the surrounding villages and towns. The monthly cost was 300 yuan.

After that, Chen Chaochao will come out of the boarding yard with his roommate Jiang Nian, walking through a long low alley, came to the self -study room, and started studying a day. After living in the self -study room, the two girls rarely returned home. They pinned all their lives here and learned from 8 am to the early morning of the next day. She felt that such a life was "very good and very fulfilling". Here, she could see the hope of getting rid of the "mud".

▲ The sky shot from the hutong. Photo / Interviewee provided

"Mud" refers to county life. There are four children in Chen Chaojiao. She is an eldest daughter, two sisters, and one brother. It was from her younger and sisters that she saw a life she never wanted to live.

Both sisters are vocational education. The third sister Chen Xiaoxiao, only 17 years old. After graduating from a voiced high, she did a customer service in the bicycle online store. Second sister Chen Lulu, 20 years old. In the same year in the test room of the elder sister Chen Chao, the second sister Chen Lulu chose to get married and married a boy who was one year older than her and opened a bicycle factory at home.

The fork of destiny has already appeared long ago. When the eldest sister Chen Chao was in high school, her sister Chen Lulu couldn't read the book. The two girls slept on a bed, and no one could persuade anyone. Chao Chao looked at the younger sister who was almost the same as himself, and said, "Then wait for me to go out, and bring you out." The sister was silent first, and then said, "OK".

Chen Chaohao has not forgotten her promise that year, but now, she can't say this -she knows that her sister has embarked on another path, and she is in a deep power. In the local area, as long as the girl does not read, there will be a continuous matchmaker who comes to the media. When the second sister Lulu is not reading, the matchmaker will come to the door. In Pingxiang, the age of 18 or 9 is to tell the girl's window period. Lulu will even see a family at noon and see a family at night. The topic talked about at home has become 100,000 to 200,000 colorful gifts, cars, and houses. If the blind date is the position of civil servants, these standards can also be relaxed, and the gifts only need half.

During that time, the biggest contradiction in the family always broke around the marriage. In June, the two men urged the second sister to be engaged. "Talking for so long, no engagement, there will be matchmakers to come to the door." The man felt a sense of crisis. But the eldest sister Chen Chaochao said that once the girl in the village decided to engage, the destiny wheel would slowly press, and the bride would no longer make any decision. When you are engaged, you must get married within one year, otherwise the villagers' saliva star will drown people -not to get married, is there any problem? I ca n’t drag it until next year, because according to her belongings, "the marriage will be a mother -in -law next year." When you get married at the end of the year, you must get pregnant before April. The eldest sister Chen Chaozhao has witnessed the quarrel between her sister and mother. The second sister Lulu was unwilling to get married so early, but her mother even wanted to get the marriage one month in advance. Lulu fell the door with a loud noise and locked himself in the room. Mom sat alone on the sofa and felt that the children at home were not sensible. Finally, this is the only thing she has won -the marriage period in December.

Sometimes, the eldest sister Chen Chao is still envious of her sister. For example, the young fiance will take her sister to buy clothes in the city. A piece of skirt is 1,300 yuan and a pair of pants 700 yuan. These are not enough to buy them, and they have to buy shoes. At a young age, Chao Chao wanted a Barbie doll, 15 yuan, mother said, "I bought it for you, I have to buy two sisters, I can buy a pair of pants, forget it", and give 15 toys, My brother can own it directly. At these moments, the parents asked their parents more than once, "In this case, why should there be so many children?" The only silence was silent.

In such a scarce life, continuing to study is the only way Chen Chaochao gets rid of all of this. Some matchmakers also asked her mother, "When will your eldest daughter meet someone?" The mother would refuse directly, "I'm still studying."

When I heard this, the Chao Chao would be relieved. She studied hard in the self -study room, and she must leave the mud.

▲ Young mother on Pingxiang Square. Picture / Rao Tong language photo

Cold?

The boy in the self -study room Zhou Lingdong, this summarizes the companions in the self -study room: "Many people studying in the urban self -study room may be to improve themselves and pursue a better life, but you ask the people here. change destiny?"

The pursuit of a better life and completely changing their destiny are two seemingly similar but essential concepts, which also makes the county's self -study room faintly sad atmosphere. After four exams failed, Zhou Rendong returned to this study room again.

In Pingxiang, life may be simply divided into two. The young people sitting in the self -study room, they have seen the outside world without exception. Everyone described that they have seen the "outside world".

▲ The self -study room is placed on cheering. Picture / Rao Tong language photo

Zhou Lingdong is a university at Tangshan. In his freshman year, he went to Tangshan to go shopping and was shocked for the first time. It turned out that everywhere can be the city center, there are people line up everywhere. Unlike Pingxiang, people will only concentrate on those two streets. Later, he went to Tianjin again, facing the gold trade center office building, Zhou Lingdong was in place, and people wore a suit to enter and exit. He watched it for almost ten minutes. The companion urged him to go quickly, and he returned to God. This is different from the flat hometown everywhere. In Pingxiang, the highest commercial building is only three -story shopping malls.

Jiang Nian, who boarded in the self -study room, also had similar expressions. The place where she is studying is Langfang, which is very close to Beijing. Almost every month, she will get up at 5 am, go to the bus stop near the school to wait in line for 805, take a two -hour car, and play in Beijing for a day.

In these times, Jiang Nian liked to drink milk tea and watch movies. When he returned to Pingxiang, he was a bit unaccustomed. Once, the movie she wanted to watch, there was no resources in the entire Pingxiang, she went to the county next door.

The Internet has also impacted them. A boy who often went to self -study Yang Yishuo remembered that when he was in college, he came into contact with the knowledge community. "The people in it will spend 50,000 yuan and buy a big V friends in the circle of friends." And Xu Yili's mother will tell her after participating in the dinner that a classmate went to work in the Internet factory and made a lot of money.

It also includes Zhou Lingdong himself. When K12 was flourishing in the past few years, he formed a small training course. The parents of the student recognized him and gave him 20 day dinner.

Therefore, the young people in the county self -study room are bet on the self -study room.

In August of this year, Zhou Lingdong suffered two defeats in a row, and it was difficult during that time. At 7 o'clock in the morning, he couldn't sleep. It took a week, just playing the game, from opening his eyes to the early morning of the next day. In fact, he didn't like to play games. After the results came out, he specially downloaded the game back and paralyzed his brother on the sofa with his brother.

The game allows him to regain some confidence in victory. Every time I lose, my brother will shout, "Don't give up, we can still come back! We can still come back!" In the past, if they were close to failure, they would choose to re -open a game directly, but now Zhou Lingdong needs to pass The game believes that you can come back. As a result, almost all the defeats won in the end. It was an extremely severe and short sense of happiness. He will immediately think of himself: the game can be turned over. Why is my life not?

The longing for the outside world, the desire for the turning around, and supporting the belief of the young people's suffering in the self -study room. From the self -study room, the eldest sister Chen Chao took a picture of the evening sunset. She flashed the picture of riding an electric car and carried her sister's randomly up. Perhaps, she could participate in her sister's return banquet as a quasi -graduate student. Although they appear together now, the same man and appearance, others will feel that the younger sister who dresses mature is the sister. But she still didn't give up that idea--

After going out by yourself, bring your sister out.

There are also examples of a mud. Xu Yihe, the first student of the self -study room, has successfully landed this year. Now, like her mother, she will build a beautiful world outside her brother.

But more people are still struggling. At the end of August, Zhou Lingdong, who failed four times, recaptured the seat of the self -study room for the fifth time, took a deep breath, opened the book, and the new Long March began again. The seat he chose is fixed -facing the window, and when you raise your eyes, you can see the tall and green French sycamores outside the door. Burning the head to study.

Zhou Lingdong said, "As long as you see green, I will feel that my life still has hope."

▲ Green outside the window shot. Photo / Interviewee provided

(The interviewees requested that except Yang Yishuo, the rest were pseudonym)

The article is original for daily characters, and infringement must be investigated.

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