Is it true that there is no distinction between southern and northern Jiangsu? After the lifting of household registration restrictions in Jiangsu
In 2018, my elementary school classmate Zhang Xiaowen returned from the police station for the last time, took out a brand new household registration book from his bag, and reconfirmed his name on it, feeling mixed emotions. In 1983, at the age of 7, he went boating with his parents from his hometown of Xinghua to Changshu. It had been 35 years in the blink of an eye. From first grade elementary school to this year, he studied, worked, got married, and had children in Changshu. His accent was no different from that of a local resident in Changshu. The only regret was that he was unable to settle down for a long time because he did not pay taxes as a sole proprietorship, and one of the important conditions for settling down at that time was to pay taxes for three consecutive years. Without a local household registration, it brought a lot of trouble to his life. For many years, he traveled back and forth between Changshu and Xinghua. In the end, in the winter of 2018, everything came to a good conclusion, and the matter of household registration settled. After living in his second hometown for 35 years, he was officially accepted. The parents who came earlier than him, whose household registration is still in Xinghua, have long lost the idea of settling down locally and are preparing to return to their roots when they grow old. The significance of household registration for Zhang Xiaowen is not only based on this piece of paper, which makes things more convenient, but also perhaps a sense of belonging. It is because Changshu has completely opened up its mind to him as a person from northern Jiangsu. The complex emotions he had accumulated over the years, which were both familiar and unfamiliar with this land, deep in love and unsure of his identity, always left him feeling lost. The local people's prejudice against the people of northern Jiangsu always occasionally pricks him unintentionally, as if reminding him that no matter how long he lives here, without that household registration, he will always be an outsider. The prejudice of people from southern Jiangsu against those from northern Jiangsu has a long history, and it was commonplace when we were young. A very extreme example is when my college classmate, a Suzhou girl, falls in love with a Haian guy in the same class. The other person comes from a decent family, with good looks and character. However, the girl's parents strongly oppose it, and persuasion from relatives and friends is futile. In the end, there is a strong sense of "having him but not us" in the end. We all don't know what the girl's parents are being stubborn about. Is it really difficult to get through the hurdle of "marrying someone from northern Jiangsu"? Besides, Hai'an is not counted as northern Jiangsu, but as central Jiangsu. The two of them persisted in love for many years, until they were 30 years old. As they watched the girl grow older and their relationship became stronger than gold, they would rather not marry than break up. The parents reluctantly relaxed their words. On the contrary, in Shanghai, this situation is not so extreme. There are probably more people from all over the country in Shanghai, and a large proportion come from northern Jiangsu. Among my friends and colleagues, who have been from northern Jiangsu for two or three generations, it is highly likely that they are from northern Jiangsu. The group of colleagues is enough to hold a Yancheng hometown meeting. When it comes to joking and saying a few Su Bei dialects, everyone looks at each other and smiles, which is a way to adjust their lives, but they don't wear colored glasses. In Shanghai comical dramas, there are seventy-two tenants from Shandong, Suzhou, Ningbo, and Shaoxing, while the residents from northern Jiangsu appear less prominent. The prejudice of people from southern Jiangsu against those from northern Jiangsu, although ubiquitous in my entire upbringing environment, has gradually subsided in the past decade. The seemingly natural views have suddenly become less convincing. Starting from our generation of "po
