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Reuters
Reuters
Business
By Eduardo Baptista and Farah Master

Rust belt province got old before it got rich, as much of China will

Farmer Wang Zhanling sits next to his wife in their house in Quansheng village, Heilongjiang Province, China, February 8, 2023. REUTERS/Thomas Peter

Wang Fengqin suffered from hunger in her youth, when Mao Zedong was running China, so it brings her joy to cook a nice dinner whenever her sons visit her in the rapidly depopulating northeastern village of Wudaogang.

"Come home to eat, mum can still afford to make you this meal," the 70-year-old retired farmer said, recalling how their phone calls usually start, as she took a break from chopping cabbage in her wood-fired kitchen.

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