Although her household was full of women and children, Feng Qingxue was taken aback by their annual income of over twenty Chinese dollars.
What surprised her even more was the presence of a 'hanging family' within their production team.
A 'hanging family' is one with little labor power, earning few work points that, when finally converted, fall short of grain money. They either have to dig into their own pockets and buy work points from Production Team Three, essentially purchasing food, or they rack up a debt with the team when collecting their grain allocations. Some families accumulate debt year after year, stuck in a perpetual state of indebtedness, colloquially referred to as 'perpetual hangers'. This is a tremendous source of shame among their neighbors.
Families like Lu's that could save money were known as 'successful hangers.'
