Ρούνες
An Elderly Woman Selling Household Cleaning Goods
Baoyuan Rd. & Baotong Rd., Shanghai
Unlike the more common itinerant vendors in this city, who typically rely on motorized, heavy-duty tricycles, this elderly woman pushes only a handcart. A large plastic crate sits atop it, packed so tightly with merchandise that it spills over the sides. From a distance, the cart could easily be mistaken for a heap of discarded recyclables.
Her right leg is severely impaired. Every few meters, after struggling to force the cart forward, she must stop and stretch it, pausing briefly before moving on again. Because her household registration (hukou) does not belong to the 'urban category', she is excluded from any form of pension or social security. Under China’s 'hukou' system—a state-imposed structure of social segregation that could be compared to South Africa’s former apartheid—millions are denied basic welfare simply for being classified as outsiders.
She likely has no children to rely on. And so, at an age when rest should be her right, she is compelled to take to the streets, dragging her ailing body behind an overloaded cart, selling basic household cleaning goods merely to survive.
An Elderly Woman Selling Household Cleaning Goods
Baoyuan Rd. & Baotong Rd., Shanghai
Unlike the more common itinerant vendors in this city, who typically rely on motorized, heavy-duty tricycles, this elderly woman pushes only a handcart. A large plastic crate sits atop it, packed so tightly with merchandise that it spills over the sides. From a distance, the cart could easily be mistaken for a heap of discarded recyclables.
Her right leg is severely impaired. Every few meters, after struggling to force the cart forward, she must stop and stretch it, pausing briefly before moving on again. Because her household registration (hukou) does not belong to the 'urban category', she is excluded from any form of pension or social security. Under China’s 'hukou' system—a state-imposed structure of social segregation that could be compared to South Africa’s former apartheid—millions are denied basic welfare simply for being classified as outsiders.
She likely has no children to rely on. And so, at an age when rest should be her right, she is compelled to take to the streets, dragging her ailing body behind an overloaded cart, selling basic household cleaning goods merely to survive.