Huazhou is the best hometown anyone could wish for
It’s where I have my roots
Many of my friends know that I grew up in a big city in China. However, they don’t know that I spent times being a wild child in a country where raised my grandparents and their family. I haven’t seen my grandparents for one year, so I came back home this summer and visited them.
Ngai Dialect, a Hakka Chinese spoken by my grandparents
Besides madrain, there are many dialects in China, these languages reflect different culture backgrounds in my country. My grandparents come from Huazhou, which is a small province in southeastern China. They speak “Ngai” (pronounce “nai”, the “g”is silent), it’s a dialect diverge from Hakka Chinese which is a dialect spoken by some of the people from southeastern China. In Hakka, “Ngai” means “I”. My mom and her siblings speak “Ngai” too. Although I didn’t speak “Ngai” very well, I could understand it a little bit when my mom speaks “Ngai” with my grandparents. Plus, my grandparents actually understand Cantonese and mandarin so I am able to communicate with them.
My grandparents and me
My great grandma is 106 years old
My great grandma and me
When I came to visit my grandparents, I also visited my great grandma which lives in a small village near my grandparents. My great grandma suffered from dementia since 2011 so she couldn’t recognize most of the relatives, and she can hardly move or get out of bed.
In Huazhou, the health care condition is very poor, all hospitals and clinics don’t provide equipment such as X-ray, MER for patients. Many people suffer from diseases and never get enough good treatments. My great grandma creates a miracle in her village.
I got to act like a wild child
A water pump which is used by local people for fresh water
When I was a kid, my parents brought me to Huazhou once or twice a year, it took one day to go to Huazhou by train. Since I grew up in a city, I found so many interesting things to do in my grandparent’s place such as feeding chicken, raising chicks, digging carrots, collecting corn, and cutting sugarcanes.
A local farmer is helping the chicken to find their way home
My grandparents used to raise chicken, they had a chicken field. One day, I built a little barn for the chicken so they could have a shelter, usually, I went to feed the chicken or collect eggs from the chicken field. Few years ago, my grandparents sold the chicken field, but they didn’t sell my childhood memories.
Most of the people in the country are farmers, they grow corns, sugarcanes, rice, and carrots. I used to collect corn and sugarcanes with my grandparents. One time, when I collected sugarcanes by sickle with my grandpa, I cut my finger by accident. My grandpa hurry carried me to the water pump (an old tool for local people to get water) and clean my bleeding finger by pumping lots of fresh water. I was only 5 years old.
I will never forget my “root”
Although Huazhou is very hot and humid during the summer, my family insist on visiting my grandparents regularly. Comparing to many places such as Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and even Iowa, Huazhou is a very small place where has outdated buildings, backward technology, poor health care system, and imperfect education system. However, this place raised my grandparents who teach me to be good and kind. Wherever I am in the future, I will always remember my grandparents who love me so much.