Wheat reapers' now and then

A woman in red headscarf carries a survey instrument to measure the wheatland in Yongshou county, Northwest China's Shaanxi province, on June 17, 2015. [Photo/CFP]

More than 400 harvesters were gathered to participate in the local wheat harvest in Yongshou county, Northwest China's Shaanxi province, on June 17, 2015.

Middle of June is the time to harvest wheat. Along with the wheat harvesters, a group of people, such as the owners of the 400 harvesters, are called wheat reapers.

The wheat reapers are usually migrant workers earning money by reaping other family's wheat when the crops are ripe. Unlike earlier manual reapers, wheat reapers nowadays use the modern machines such as harvesters, survey instruments, walkie talkies to help them measure the wheatland and guide the drivers of the harvesters.

Though the machines facilitate the harvest, some wheat reapers nowadays still choose to sleep out on the street like their predecessors, because the harvesters are narrow and sleeping at a hotel is still unaffordable.

Besides, wheat reapers nowadays are often couples with the woman measuring the land and the man operating the harvester.