Tao Daqiang

Biodata

Background / History

Tao Daqiang’s mother died when he was young. He lives with his father, Tao Jianshe, while his older brother, Tao Dayong, has married and established a separate household. His father, brother, and sister-in-law repeatedly call him stupid, and other village youths seldom include him in their activities. Before traveling with Li Long, he has never been outside the township; the village sideline crew refused to take him into the mountains because they considered him slow-witted 9 10 14.

His household consistently favors Tao Dayong’s family. Daqiang goes without meat during winter despite the family having slaughtered a pig, and his saved supper is given to his nephew, Mao Dan. Local household rules also prevent him from establishing a separate household while he shares a residential plot with his father 9 14 28.

Previous Timeline

In Li Long’s previous life, Tao Jianshe gave the family’s land to Tao Dayong after the household responsibility system was introduced. Left without land to farm, Daqiang joined people digging fritillary bulbs in the mountains. He initially returned once or twice a year and always visited Li Long with a gift 9.

Later, his visits stopped. Li Long heard from the Tao family that Daqiang had married in the mountains and suffered a broken leg from a wild boar; no further news followed. Remembering his sincerity, Li Long regrets having neglected their friendship 9.

Appearance

Tao Daqiang has a large build that Li Long finds intimidating when he encounters him outside the courtyard at night 14.

• Height: Nearly six feet tall, approximately a head taller than Tao Dayong 28 46.
• Complexion: Dark-skinned 31.
• Expression: Frequently greets Li Long with a cheerful or sheepish grin 9 31.

Personality

Daqiang is honest, loyal, and reluctant to claim more than he believes he has earned. He refuses the valuable muskrat he catches because he used the Li family’s net, and takes only five fish despite being offered a much larger share. He also tells Li Long about his father’s plan to copy the mountain route rather than concealing it 12 24.

His eagerness to work is driven by poverty rather than comfort. He keeps fishing after his clothes are soaked, carries heavy catches to contribute more physical labor, and endures freezing weather because he sees a chance to improve his life. That enthusiasm can make him neglect his own safety or forget to give Li Long a turn with the net 10 28 39.

Initially accustomed to obeying his father, Daqiang becomes more assertive after experiencing the Li family’s hospitality and earning supplies through his own work. He recognizes his family’s favoritism and insists that his labor should benefit him too. Nevertheless, he remains attached to them: he buys meat buns for his father and helps fund Tao Dayong’s release after the market raid 28 34 35 41 48.

Abilities & Skills

Physical Strength and Manual Labor

Daqiang supplies much of the heavy labor during his outings with Li Long 9 16 28.

• Breaks thick lake ice with a pickaxe, loosening his grip at impact to reduce the shock to his hands 9.
• Pushes the horse cart through deep snow and helps move it onto a slope near the herders’ winter quarters 16 17.
• Carries a sack containing a substantial fish catch on his back, preferring to rely on his strength rather than drag it on a shovel 28.

Ice Fishing

Daqiang learns to fish through ice holes using the Li family’s scoop net 9 10.

• Secures his footing on steps cut into the ice and sweeps the net beneath the surface 10 27.
• Catches a muskrat along with several fish during an afternoon outing 11.
• Improves his technique by waiting for surface ripples to disappear and lowering the net slowly so he does not immediately frighten away gathering fish 28.
• Recognizes that repeatedly used holes may produce fewer fish and advises Tao Dayong to open a new one 46.
• Depends on borrowed equipment; his early fishing partnership uses the Li family’s net 10 12.

Close-Quarters Fighting

Despite his usually mild manner, Daqiang has experience with fights and roughhousing in the Production Team 40.

• Distracts a chain-wielding robber by throwing his hat into the man’s face, then follows with a kick and headbutt 40.
• Helps Li Long subdue the second robber with a punch 40.
• Returns to his guileless demeanor immediately afterward, contrasting sharply with his aggression during the fight 40 41.

Market Awareness

Daqiang learns practical precautions from Li Long but remains less confident about selling than catching fish 37.

• Understands that knowing the mountain route alone would not reproduce Li Long’s trading success: the herders trust Li Long personally 22.
• Remembers Li Long’s warning to flee from enforcement officers wearing armbands, even if it means abandoning goods 37 46.
• Spots the Black Market raid and urges Tao Dayong to leave the fish and sled behind 46.

Equipment / Items

• Rabbit-fur gloves: Bought by Li Long after Daqiang refuses a five-yuan payment for helping on the mountain trip 19 20.
• Scoop net: Borrowed from the Li family during their fishing partnership; the Tao family later uses a borrowed net for its own venture 12 46.
• Ice-breaking tools: Uses a pickaxe and shovel to open or clear fishing holes 9 11.
• Transport: Helps move fish and timber using borrowed Production Team horse carts and the sled built by Li Jianguo; neither is identified as his personal property 14 28 31 37.

Relationships

• Li Long — Friend and working partner, addressed as “Brother Long.” Daqiang remains friendly even after Li Long distances himself in the previous timeline. Their renewed partnership gives him work, food, and confidence; Li Long supports his departure to work with Tao Dayong and shares safety advice 9 24 37.
• Tao Jianshe — Father. Favors Tao Dayong’s household, redirects Daqiang’s supplies, and strikes him for resisting. Later urges him to stop fishing with Li Long and work with his brother instead 14 20 34 37.
• Tao Dayong — Older brother. Takes Daqiang’s wood, fish, and mutton until Daqiang confronts him. Subsequently brings coal to their father’s home and becomes Daqiang’s fishing partner 34 35 37 46.
• Ma Chunhong — Sister-in-law. Pressures Tao Dayong to obtain supplies from Daqiang’s earnings and resists sending coal back to Tao Jianshe’s household 34 35.
• Mao Dan — Nephew and the family’s favored child. Receives the supper that had been saved for Daqiang 14.
• Li Jianguo — Welcoming elder whom Daqiang calls “Uncle.” Invites him to meals, recognizes that he is not stupid, and lends him twenty yuan toward Tao Dayong’s fine 11 12 26 48.
• Liang Yuemei — Provides meals and travel food. Her insistence on giving him another bowl of mutton-offal soup nearly brings him to tears because his own family treats him less generously 14 26.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Renewed Friendship and Mountain Trips

• Joins Li Long at Little Haizi, helps open fishing holes, and participates in a catch exceeding ten kilograms 9 10.
• After refusing to surrender his fish to Tao Dayong’s household, is beaten by his father and spends the night at Li Long’s home 14.
• Accompanies Li Long into the mountains, helping with the cart and visiting a Kazakh herder family 16 17.
• Receives gloves, firewood, sesame cakes, and a leg of mutton through their work together 19 20.
• Fears Gu Ermao will replace him on the next trip; Li Long reassures him that they will continue traveling together 22.
• Reveals his father’s attempt to replace him with Tao Dayong and obtain the mountain route. Li Long keeps him as his partner and arranges a share of mutton and extra timber 24.

Fish Selling and Standing Up to His Family

• Switches back to fishing when other households borrow all the available horse carts. Li Jianguo builds a sled for transporting the catch 26 28.
• Stays awake all night for fear of missing their pre-dawn departure to the county Black Market 31.
• Helps Li Long sell and trade fish for grain and flour, but refuses a ten-yuan payment 33.
• Confronts Tao Jianshe and Tao Dayong over the repeated removal of his earnings. Tao Dayong leaves without taking the newly delivered food 34.
• Warns his father that he will stop bringing supplies home if he never gets to eat them himself; the confrontation also prompts Tao Dayong to bring them coal 35 37.

Final Sales Trip with Li Long

• Reluctantly tells Li Long that his father wants him to fish with Tao Dayong. Li Long accepts the change and teaches him how to avoid arrest while selling 37.
• Receives fifteen yuan from the Stone City sales, keeps five, and asks Li Long to hold the remaining ten 39.
• Fights alongside Li Long when two armed men attempt to rob them on the return journey 40.
• Returns home after buying six meat buns, including some for his father 41.

Tao Family’s Black Market Venture

• Catches just under forty kilograms of fish with Tao Dayong and Tao Jianshe. His advice to make a fresh ice hole is dismissed 46.
• Escapes a Joint Defense Team raid after trying to persuade Tao Dayong to abandon the stock and sled. Tao Dayong refuses and is arrested 46.
• Contributes five yuan and borrows twenty from Li Jianguo toward the fifty-yuan fine. The failed venture exhausts both Tao households’ savings and leaves them owing the borrowed money 48.

Notable Quotes

“I'm not afraid! Being broke is what scares me!” 10

“I may be slow, but I'm not stupid!” 34

“Don't let my brother take it away again, and don't send any over to him either. If you do, I won't bring anything home next time.” 35

Trivia

• Daqiang calls Li Long “Brother” but Li Jianguo “Uncle,” despite the two being siblings. These forms of address follow his separate relationships with them and Li Jianguo’s standing among the Production Team’s older residents 26.