If someone asked you what is the most precious thing in your life, what would you answer? Have you thought of anything? What have you bought or want to buy? How much of what we have contains human factors?

During the period of 1998, the Hong Kong charity Oxfam visited several farmers in the southwest mountainous area of China and asked them what was the most precious or precious, and why?

Oxfam believes that the lack of adequate food, clean water and basic medical services for the poor directly affects their physical condition; Thinking, mind, mood, self-esteem, money-making skills, yearning and pursuit of quality of life, freedom from discrimination and fear ... need a certain standard of living to ensure. Therefore, understanding people's choices in life is the most precious and important thing, which is a way to understand the life of local residents and a useful educational tool to let the rich residents know about poverty.

What are the answers? A primary school student in a remote rural area said without thinking, this is a cloth bag-something he longs for; A woman pointed to her pig-what a precious animal it is in the rural economy; An old woman said she wanted to learn to read-she always wanted to learn.

In 2000, under the sponsorship of the Hong Kong Arts Development Council, Oxfam Hong Kong expanded its program and successfully collected stories from Brazil, Mozambique and ten Asian countries, including several stories from Hong Kong. Answers from different places near and far can give us a glimpse of different lives, different values of life and different cultures.

Some interviewers need to struggle with their answers several times, and interviewers often have to change their wording to connect the questions with valuable, important, practical, or inner and emotional ones. But sometimes I still can't find the answer.

In the answer, only half thought it was material possession. You can buy half of it with money and make the rest yourself. Only two people talked about non-functional goods-a Hong Kong security guard said that Teresa Teng chose CD, while East Timorese children wanted football.

And intangible things are often invisible but full of enlightenment. The farmer who lives in the rainy and cold area of Guizhou answered "No", and her life is too hard. Her husband says "time"-he works too much and has too little time. In the war-torn Mindanao, Philippines, immigrant women don't have enough breastfeeding. Her most precious thing is her newborn daughter. Three people from China, a young woman, a middle-aged woman and an old woman, all said that they wanted some form of education.

What do Hong Kong people say? The answers vary (CD, pen and "nothing to do"), but they can all be related to "stress": security guards play CDs in low-paid jobs when they work long hours, a new immigrant writes to his family to vent the pressure of society and being a cleaning lady, and an old woman has endless work.

Social factors exist in many stories. War forced people to leave their homes, son preference and poverty caused too many girls to drop out of school, and environmental degradation put communities at risk, widening income gap, marginalization of labor force and urban vagrancy.

An interesting phenomenon is that no one says that "money" is the most precious. Then, money or material wealth bought with money is not an important indicator of poverty. Some people don't have rich "material", but they don't think they lack it. Family, housing, security, livelihood, community life, music, education and so on are all precious to people.

So, what is the most precious thing for us who live in Shenzhen, a relatively rich city in China?

Yu Liangquan: Friend

In my life, the most precious thing is my friend. I think my friends are the most important to me in a fast-paced society like Shenzhen. Because in this immigrant society, human feelings are relatively indifferent, I get help from my friends and get happiness. There, I can pour out my unhappiness, release my pressure, and even disclose my personality without scruple. ...

He Gong: Parents

There can be many friends and card friends, but there is only one parent in life. If you lose them, you won't come back. Children are parents' days, parents' land and parents' everything. In this world, only true feelings can last for a long time, and parents' affection is the most precious.

Zhong Tong: Healthy.

Health refers not only to physical health, but also to mental and spiritual health. Only a healthy body and mentality can guarantee a smooth work and a happy life. Without a healthy body, there will be all kinds of taboos in life, and you can't enjoy them to the fullest. Losing health will reduce the quality of life. Compared with health, wealth, fame and fortune are just things outside the body.

I am willing to give up other things and choose health, so that I can really relax and feel comfortable in my mind!

Zhu: Time.

At the end of the day, you will never come back. This uniqueness highlights the value of time. With the passage of time and the gradual increase of age, I cherish the remaining time more and want to seize every minute to complete my unfinished business and realize my unfinished wish. Cherishing time means cherishing life.

Deng Qin: Sincerity.

Sincerity is a noble quality. Speak frankly, be honest and trustworthy, treat people sincerely and live sincerely. Sincerity is an ideal white cloud, a clear spring of life and a mirror of feelings.

Guo Haiyan: Happy.

Everyone wants to live happily, even if they die, they want to live happily. How can we be happy? Contented people are always happy, helping others and so on. I think the "happiness" of helping others is the most meaningful. We always sigh that good people are not rewarded, because they always want to return, so this good person has a discount. In fact, doing a good deed every day is like eating every day. The latter nourishes your body and the former perfects your soul. "Helping others is fun" because helping others is beneficial to others and makes you happy. Happiness is the best reward.

Zhu weixiao

Smile is an attitude towards life, whether you want to choose "life" or "living"! Smiling can give you confidence and make you full of infinite hope for life. Faced with setbacks and obstacles, I am full of confidence. I often say to myself: "In the face of difficulties, I can only smile!" Do not cry! "

Smile is my most precious wealth, which makes me full of confidence and hope for every day and happy every day!

Quirrell: Love

If there is no love in the world, it is equivalent to losing passion, life will be a stagnant pool, and everything will be boring! Without love, freedom will become an endless wandering, and there is no love harbor for the soul to park and rely on. How lonely! If there is no love, work will become a kind of mechanical repetitive work, and life is a boring chore of working for survival. ...

Jiang Ping and Zhang Hongbiao: Now

In my opinion, the most precious thing in life is to seize the present. Whether it is happiness or sadness, it is an experience of life. Every minute, everyone and everything around you now is a part of life. Cherish what you have and grasp yourself. This is the most important thing in life.

"Now" is intuitive to me who dreams a lot, vivid to me who believes, real to me who has no hope, and eternal to me who is alive. ...

Deng Changqi: Dream

People have only lived in the world for a few short decades, and it is a pity to have a muddled past. The most important thing is to know what you want and how you want to live. This is the goal and motivation of life. Follow your dream, whether it is successful or not.

Xia Shiquan: Basketball

Because of basketball, I found confidence from my inferiority complex and liberated me from being taciturn and unsociable. Because I pass the ball, I am familiar with it and there will be communication. Because of basketball, there will be confrontation, collision and challenge, and there will be opportunities for me to show my wildness in confrontation, face danger and win. Because basketball needs cooperation and teamwork, I can know myself in collective action and give full play to my energy in division of labor and cooperation.

Basketball is my refuge. If I feel uncomfortable and unhappy at home, I will run to the court and vent my temper on basketball instead of the people around me.

Yellow, comfortable and harmonious: life.

To paraphrase a famous saying: life is the most precious thing for people, and it belongs to us only once. All the wealth in the world can be recovered, but life can't come back. Life is handed down from parents to offspring, and all life is handed down from generation to generation in this way, forming a colorful world. Our generation was born in peace and prosperity, and it is a great blessing that there is no war. As children, fathers, society and country, we should cherish life and live well.

Don: Classmate.

For me, the most precious thing is the classmate friendship I established in middle school, playing football together, studying together, studying together and solving disputes together, which have branded our youth. Perhaps it is the communication after work that often wraps itself up. With the change of life and work, friendship will be diluted. Only the friendship forged when I was young has not become blurred with the increase of time and distance. On the contrary, trust, understanding, support and communication are added to friendship, and there is also a speechless experience when drinking tea.