The disappearing Guanzhong Mike?

In the north of China, due to the difference of wheat ripening time in different places, some people who harvest wheat as their profession exchange income. Most of these people are strong, skilled and hard-working. These people are called Mike. The existence of Mike has alleviated the difficulties faced by the vast rural areas in the summer harvest season, such as tight time, heavy tasks and insufficient manpower. It is often these problems that lead to a bumper harvest year, but the yield and quality are reduced because of the untimely harvest. Due to the differences in maturity of wheat producing areas, such as generally maturing from east to west, some wheat customers are located in late-maturing areas, from north to south, from south to north, migrating and wandering like migratory birds, collecting all the way, and their own wheat is ripe when the wheat customers arrive at their doorstep; The other part is that farmers in early-maturing areas go to relatively late-maturing areas to harvest after harvesting at home. Their similarity is that in groups, including brothers, fathers and sons, and even husband and wife, come to the wheat-producing areas to find someone to hire, cut wheat for others, and exchange sweat for meager income to make up for the shortage of families or find a way out. People in the wheat producing areas call them "Mike". Mike usually takes a dry food bag, a sickle and indispensable bedding with him. China local chronicles recorded Mike at least in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Ten years after the Cultural Revolution, Mike disappeared, and it was not until the family contract system was implemented that Mike first appeared in the rural areas of Guanzhong. After agricultural mechanization, a large number of harvesters go to all parts of the country to harvest wheat every year. Now it's called cross-regional machine harvesting wheat. Because of the similarity with Mike, it is also called Mike, "modern Mike" and because it is mechanical harvesting, it is also called "iron Mike" and "mechanical Mike". So now it is extended that anyone who harvests wheat for others or even helps others for free becomes Mike, which is the same as the first use of this word. Mike's difference between the past and the present is that in the past, almost all Mike people were forced by life, and left home to cut wheat for others to make up for their families during the busy farming season, which was similar to that of farmers going out to work now, except that the living and working environment at that time was relatively bad, such as the bedding they brought, because they often had to sleep out. They usually sleep under some eaves in villages and towns, even in the open air, waiting for their employers there like refugees, and occasionally staying at their employers' homes because they leave to look for other employers after finishing their work. And half a day will be over, unless the harvest area is large or comes at night, and then there is food, the general employer will take care of the food, because the summer harvest time is tight and the work intensity is high, the general catering employer will treat it well, but there are exceptions. If you work after supper, you are sure to get entertainment. If you eat after completion, the employer will perfunctory. They are still very economical after receiving their salary, and they will not use their salary unless they have to spend it. At present, wheat customers are all harvesting mechanically. If wheat is not harvested in time after maturity, it will reduce yield and quality. At this time of the year, the government will give them special care like opening a green channel, such as exempting bridge tolls and high-speed charges. They go out together like traditional Mike, but their work and life are completely different from traditional Mike. The most obvious is their tool harvester. Many machine owners hire full-time drivers to operate it. They only charge harvesting fees, or take turns to operate with employers or relatives.