I was staying with my neighbours and their relatives for a few days in a small town in Henan before going for a farm visit. The apartment buildings here were made of bricks and rendered with concrete. But they were were not painted and I don’t think the walls were insulated either. There was also no central heating here as they had in Shenyang and also no other forms of heating in the house. It seemed that it was common here to wear winter clothes at home to manage the cold. I did feel cold but I managed. More importantly, this family made it up for the winter’s cold with the warmness of their hearts for a foreigner.
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