Nowadays when people talk about the new urbanization drive purported to integrate millions of villagers and farmers into city life, I think of the two rural women who worked as nannies for us.

I found the first one in the hospital where my son was born four years ago from among the yuesao or confinement nannies who milled around to be picked by new parents. Sister Zhang impressed me with her rapid-fire self-introduction and a certificate that testified to her abilities to look after both the mother and the newborn.

Sister Zhang, who was in her late 30s, worked for us for one month. Besides performing diligently the duties of a yuesao, which required her to attend to my wife and son day and night, she also cooked for us, did light housekeeping and, if she still had energy left, entertained us with interesting anecdotes of her past employers.