For Hu, an 82-year-old overseas Chinese living in the United States, "going home for the New Year" is an unforgettable dream in her heart. She left her hometown of Qidu Town, Lucheng District on 1958. For more than 40 years, she rarely had a chance to go home and have a look.
"I can't recognize the way out at home!" Mrs. Hu, who has been in the United States for nine consecutive New Year's Eve, said excitedly, unexpectedly, now that the island is paved with cement roads, the scenery at home has completely changed.
"Where to spend the New Year is not as warm and lively as home." Mrs. Hu said that in foreign countries, on the first day of the first month of each year, overseas Chinese will also prepare rich dishes at home and invite relatives and friends to enjoy a reunion dinner in a foreign land. However, folk activities such as pounding rice cakes, blocking streets and praying for blessings were omitted. I hope my family can have a real China Year when I come back this time.
Counting this year, Hu Baochun, an overseas Chinese living in Qidu, has gone home for the New Year for the third time. The day before yesterday, the family had a reunion dinner in advance. In a warm atmosphere, more than 20 people living under the same roof for four generations sat around two tables, chatting while eating. Hu Baochun's two sisters who live in China are the hosts, and her sister and brother-in-law who live in the United States also came back this year. When the fourth generation of this family-the 6-year-old child climbed onto the table, everyone's smile deepened.
Qidu Island is the only hometown of overseas Chinese in our city, and is known as "Small Island United Nations". There are more than 8,000 permanent residents here, and the number of people living in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan and overseas is 1.5 million. On holidays, hundreds of overseas Chinese go home to visit relatives, but the vast majority of overseas Chinese fail to return home. Please think twice about your relatives during the festival. When the year is approaching, relatives who stay at home often buy some local products to send to them. Zhou Xiaoguang, director of the post office in Qidu Town, told reporters that these days, the post office can receive forty or fifty parcels every day.
Qu Zhangshao, a villager in Qidu Laotu Village, has three children living abroad. Lao Qu has not seen them for six years. Although there is still a week before the Chinese New Year, Laoqu bought jellyfish, mushrooms and other local products and delivered them early. Different from previous years, there is one more thing in the package of old songs this year: DVD. Lao Qu said that the children called and said that they really wanted to listen to the local accent and see the scenery in their hometown. So he had this DVD recorded and sent to them.