Bi was one of thousands of workers from Jilin province who headed into pristine forests at the start of September to undertake lucrative — though sometimes dangerous — work: pine nut harvesting. His son, Bi Jianhua, had warned him of the risks. Like many other workers in the area, both father and son were drawn to pine nut picking for the money.
Since , the price of pine nuts has also risen, going from around 6 yuan to more than 20 yuan for half a kilogram, Sun said. But harvesting pine nuts can be dangerous. Traditionally, the pickers scaled trees with the help of spikes attached to their shoes, and knocked pinecones from overhead branches using a long pole fitted with a hook. If the branches broke, workers could fall. On Sept. Wu declined to give his full name, as his business is not aboveboard.
According to Bi Jianhua, his father hoped to earn around yuan per day and finish the season quickly, before heading home to meet his first grandchild. The team began by scaling the meter-tall trees the traditional way, the younger Bi said.
At only centimeters tall and weighing just 60 kilograms, his father had no problem climbing the trees despite his age. Bi Kesheng had never had an accident in his 16 years of pine nut picking, and at first, this season was no different. After Wu heard the story, he bought an 8-bymeter, 18,yuan gas balloon for his two aging workers and hired a sturdily built man named Wang Pingwen to anchor the balloon with a rope.
The balloon could lift around kilograms, and Bi Kesheng and Xu were instructed to work together inside it, as they had a combined weight of only kilograms. The group did a brief training on Sept. Over the next few days, the new approach worked well. When there was no wind, the balloon was quite stable, according to Xu. But on the morning of Sept. Xu and the elder Bi both got into the basket and started to release the rope, but no matter how much they reeled off, the balloon just hovered low in the air.
