Chapter 995 Ilka's Identity
The girl's name was Ilka Kuchi. After hearing her story, Xiao Peng fell silent for a long time. Her mind was a mess - sometimes many things in reality were illogical.
It is actually very easy to see Albanians in various European countries, most of whom are Albanian men. If you see some people with Middle Eastern faces and some Central Asian characteristics sitting there drinking beer and singing at night, they are very likely Albanians.
This phenomenon has become increasingly common, especially since Albania became the only rear-end member of the European Union in 2017.
The Chinese people have very complicated feelings towards Albania, it is really a love-hate relationship!
Albania is nicknamed the 'Land of the Eagle'. In the 15th century, Skanderbeg led the Albanians to resist the invasion of the Ottoman Empire. Since then, the national spirit of Albania has been to never bow to a strong enemy.
They said it, and they did it. After the end of World War II, Enver Hoxha rose to power, aligning himself with the Soviet Union and becoming a bridgehead against Europe! He refused to bow to Western influence. He embraced any religion, and Albania was the first country in the world to openly declare itself atheist, and it was Hoxha who pushed for this decision. At that time, anyone in Albania who dared to claim religious faith would be sentenced to three to ten years in prison!
I'm afraid no one except the Koreans would dare to preach there!
But Hoxha's diplomatic methods were a bit willful, such as breaking with the United Front's Yugoslavia and dealing with the China issue.
Albania and China had a "super honeymoon period". When China returned to the United Nations, it was a group of countries led by Albania that proposed this motion.
China, always grateful for what it has received, provided Albania with a massive amount of aid. How much? Over 10 billion! That's equivalent to giving every Albanian 5,000 yuan! At the time, the average Chinese salary was only a few dozen yuan a month!
China's assistance to them is not without purpose.
After all, Albania was a bridgehead against Western forces. At the time, Albania was under pressure from all sides. China had given them most of its best fighter jets and provided them with a large amount of aid. And what about that period? China was in the grip of a famine, but instead of being grateful, they wasted it recklessly! They used the finest steel China provided for utility poles and the best cement for fortifications. Over 360,000 forts were built across the country, along with over 10,000 monuments to the martyrs of World War II!
Anyway, they don’t feel bad at all about wasting things that come for free!
Even so, they continued to ask China for money endlessly, making all sorts of exorbitant demands. In fact, much of the aid back then was low-interest loans, but they never even considered repaying it. Their president publicly stated: "What you want, we want too!"
This was unbearable for China, and they terminated the aid they had offered them in 1978. Actually, it couldn't be considered a termination, as China had offered aid in the form of loans, but they ended up putting China on the 'blacklist' - breaking off diplomatic relations with China!
What is Albania like now?
It's no exaggeration to call it "Europe's African country." It's even a compliment. They're so poor over there they can barely afford to buy pants!
It was a country that was destroyed by legend.
In 1991, newly elected President Berisha completely overturned Hoxha's policies and initiated major economic reforms and privatization of state assets. At that time, things seemed to be going well for Albania, with GDP increasing year by year. But what's the saying? Taking too big a step can easily backfire, and Albania's development at that time left significant hidden dangers.
First, the banks ran into problems: they were lending to many state-owned enterprises, but these enterprises were struggling and unable to repay their loans. This repeated cycle left the banks short of funds, jeopardizing their credibility. Then, the entire country began to engage in pyramid schemes. They called them "fund-raising companies," and at their peak, there were over a hundred of them!
Then there's the pyramid schemes and Ponzi schemes, where they rip Peter off Paul and use high returns as bait to defraud ordinary people. Over two-thirds of the country's population isn't working, instead throwing their money away with these fundraising companies, waiting for returns.
The structure of the Ponzi scheme meant that it would inevitably explode one day. Just three or four years later, all the fundraising companies in Albania went bankrupt, and many people fled the country with the money, causing huge financial losses to the people.
The deceived people were unable to catch the scammers, so they pointed the finger at their own country, believing that the country's inaction led to this situation, which eventually triggered riots.
The riots were horrific, with over 3,000 people killed, over 20,000 injured, and over 700,000 guns and 1.5 billion rounds of ammunition lost.
Although the local people have improved a lot in the past 20 years, it is still the poorest country in Europe. The average monthly salary is about 100 euros...
This is why there are a large number of Albanian men in the European Union: when a country is poor, there will definitely be a large number of people leaving their homes to go abroad to make money!
Then why are they all men?
Albania is probably one of the most degrading countries in Europe for women. It is very difficult for women to go out.
How much can it degrade the status of women?
The most popular surgery in the country is hymenoplasty. This is because the men working in other European countries have much more financial resources than local men, and they place great importance on female chastity. Therefore, domestic women repeatedly undergo hymenoplasty to please these men...
Ilka's situation was even worse. She was a "vowed virgin" (fourth tone) in Albania.
This is a local custom in Albania.
Because the status of women in the local area is too low, according to their customs, women are just men's property! They basically have no status at all. Even if all the men in the family die, women have no right to inherit property!
What should I do at this time?
At this time, if one wants to inherit the family property and maintain the family, a woman needs to step forward and be a "sworn virgin". This woman must be a virgin herself, and she must remain a virgin for the rest of her life after she completes the oath. In this way, she can exchange herself for the power to be a man, and from then on she can do what a man can do - such as inheriting the family property!
So why does Albania have this strange tradition?
This is a long story, and we must also mention the former Albanian leader Hoxha, who had a bizarre foreign policy.
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