ABSTRACT
Mention Anhui Province in China and people immediately think of poverty and hardship and of a people famed for their grit and determination. Even the symbols that promote the province reinforce this impression. Anhui's quintessential folk opera and dance, the Fengyang Flower Drum (huagu), originated as a busking performance by beggar-peasants who lived amid the haunting reality of regular flooding along the unruly Huai River around Fengyang. More recent memories confirm a similar impression. The association between Anhui and poverty was reinforced in the 1960s and 1970s, when beggars from Anhui made their way to Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and in the 1980s and 1990s when the province began to supply a never-ending supply of menial servants and maids (bao mu, or ayi) who roam the country in the service of middle-class families from more prosperous regions. Anhui has earned a reputation as the Philippines of China – a poor area located within a far richer one, with hard-working men and dedicated womenfolk who have no choice but to abandon their place of birth and roam the country to keep body and soul together. The image was recently encapsulated in a film about Anhui maids, The Maid from Huang Shan (Huangshan lai de guniang), that reinforced an impression of provincial poverty even in the booming 1980s. Today, Anhui maids perform the Fengyang Flower Drum song all over the country.
