In this character report, it narrates the experiences of Ma Jinhua, a rural woman from Gansu who has been a nanny for “retired veteran cadre” Liu Daoshì for 20 years, from the beginning to the present. The report excessively glorifies the employer, disparages the nanny, and promotes Confucian family values, which is extremely disgusting. Therefore, here I will provide some analysis of the incidents and reveal the truth behind them.
Who is this employer being excessively glorified? We can see from the text that he is a retired bureaucrat from Zhongxiu. He lives in a two-story small building with a courtyard, drinks Yuqian tea costing over 3,000 yuan per jin, and his retirement pension has increased multiple times. All of this is not earned through labor but built on the exploitation of the working people, draining the blood and sweat of countless individuals. When Ma Jinhua’s husband needed surgery but had no money, Liu Daoshì, with a kind heart, gave 2,000 yuan. However, his cheap “bitterness” cannot redeem his sins. Ma Jinhua, who cannot afford to eat, her husband unable to get surgery, the regulated water consumption in Beishan, the impoverished rural Gansu—all these are Liu Daoshì’s original sins, the responsibilities he must bear as a Zhongxiu bureaucrat.
How did Liu Daoshì gradually enslave Ma Jinhua? At the beginning, when searching for a nanny, Liu Daoshì was attracted by Ma Jinhua’s simplicity, saying, “Bring her back for training; she should be a good nanny.” Seeing that Ma Jinhua was illiterate, he taught her to recognize characters. But even in this seemingly friendly scenario, his Confucian patriarchal attitude was exposed: he stipulated, “If you don’t recognize a certain number of characters in a day, you can’t eat.” After Ma Jinhua’s husband died, Liu Daoshì’s daughter arranged the funeral, but this was just a deliberate move to further bind Ma Jinhua, so she would take good care of Liu Daoshì. Ma Jinhua indeed fell into a trap, “From then on, she no longer talked about money.” When Ma Jinhua fought for her legitimate rights and wanted to be paid according to caregiver standards, Liu Daoshì revealed his true thoughts, believing that since she was now a “family member,” it was inappropriate to ask for wages based on temporary caregiver standards. Later, Liu Daoshì hypocritically lamented that Ma Jinhua used to be very good to him but now, because of “300 yuan,” she was causing trouble. He was dissatisfied with this unobedient servant who had been enslaved for so many years but still refused to obey completely. Ultimately, after leaving Ma Jinhua hanging for half a year, he reached her to compromise out of livelihood pressure, achieving his initial goal of training Ma Jinhua into a good nanny and harvesting a more obedient household slave.
In an interview, Liu Daoshì said Ma Jinhua was a “Pixiu” (a mythical creature symbolizing wealth and protection), and that paying her daily expenses without gratitude was unreasonable. But how much could her daily expenses be? He himself does not produce anything, spends his days in retirement and comfort, and lives off the labor of the working people—an absolute parasite. Who is the real Pixiu? Isn’t it clear? Ma Jinhua’s demand for a wage increase is a reasonable request. As a 24-hour caregiver, her salary is even lower than the 300 yuan daily wage of temporary caregivers. Earning at least 2,000 yuan in 15 days, her daily wage is only about 133 yuan. After Liu Daoshì adds 100 yuan, Ma Jinhua remains dissatisfied, indicating her daily wage does not exceed 200 yuan, and her monthly salary does not surpass 6,000 yuan. Liu Daoshì’s daughter claims that Ma Jinhua’s salary is already the highest level in Kaifeng, revealing her greed and the bourgeois attitude of “contentment brings happiness.”
After her daughter was beaten by her son-in-law, Ma Jinhua used her so-called “connections” to intimidate her son-in-law, helping her daughter escape his oppression. But this was only a way to oppose privilege with privilege, using bureaucratic power to challenge Confucian family authority. It cannot truly solve her daughter’s plight of being oppressed by her son-in-law. In a family environment dominated by Confucian patriarchs created by Zhongxiu, her daughter is more likely to become another male’s household slave.
After her strike for a wage increase failed to achieve her goal, Ma Jinhua told Liu Daoshì, “Uncle Liu, do you miss me? I miss you.” She hoped he would rehire her, reflecting the difficulty workers face in employment under capitalism. After her strike, lacking skills and experience, she struggled to find a job and had to return to Liu Daoshì because “she had been with him for over twenty years, and the feelings are there.” In fact, this is just her self-comfort. If there were true feelings, how could Liu Daoshì leave her hanging for half a year? Moreover, Liu Daoshì’s own confession clearly exposes his indifference to Ma Jinhua’s life: he excitedly said, “I want to leave her aside and see how capable she really is.” It’s evident that Liu Daoshì is retaliating against his enslaved servant who does not fully obey him, using utilitarianism to treat “more than twenty years of feelings,” showing his shamelessness in pursuing his goals by any means.
Wang Ju commented on Ma Jinhua secretly seeking work behind Liu Daoshì’s back, saying she is illiterate and capable of doing anything, and from the perspective of high-level intellectuals, she belittles Ma Jinhua, a laboring woman, as worthless. But “the noblest are the most foolish, and the most humble are the most intelligent.” As a “end-of-life caregiver” serving these retired bureaucrats, she merely shares a slice of the laboring people’s blood and sweat that the officials exploit. Ma Jinhua, who once relied on farming in rural areas to survive, was a creator of social material wealth. Now, working as a low-paid nanny in Liu’s family, oppressed by Liu Daoshì and poisoned ideologically, her plan to find her own livelihood is despised by these exploiters who live off the people’s blood and sweat as a “small-minded profit-seeker.”
However, the contradiction between oppressors and the oppressed will never be eliminated. Ma Jinhua will eventually see through Liu Daoshì’s true face of exploitation and will no longer be willing to be a false family member but will become a rebellious slave willing to fight!
All of this is caused by the rule of the bureaucratic monopoly bourgeoisie of Zhongxiu. They widened the urban-rural gap, forced a large number of workers into cities, created a batch of corrupt officials who devour human flesh and blood, strengthened Confucian family values, and cultivated obedient servants who are exploited and made to feel grateful. Only in socialist society, through the gradual elimination of inequality among people, can this Confucian concept of ruler and subject, father and son, be thoroughly eradicated.
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This employer is just ridiculous. The nanny has been serving him for twenty years, and his tea leaves cost only 3,000 yuan per jin. His salary is so little, and if asked for more, does he have social security? Does he manage retirement? Does he pay on the 1st or 15th of each month? He still expects people to be his lifelong slaves. Moreover, he gets upset when he hears the nanny donated 50 yuan. So what? Does he think people are just his property? From personal to financial matters, everything from what to eat to whether they can read or write is under his control. The news says the nanny has gained some knowledge by being with him, but isn’t our feudal parents also saying, ‘My child lives with me, and I raise him!’
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Truly heaven-defying