Two Worlds, One Heart: Navigating Life Between My Hometown and Beijing
I’m living in Beijing, and I travel to my hometown when the spring festival comes. I figured out a lot of differences between Beijing and my hometown. My friends asked me a question, “Which place do you prefer?” I think I used just one second to answer this question. He thought he would guess correctly, but he was wrong. Beijing and my hometown are very different. Most Chinese people might prefer living in a city over the countryside, but I'm not that kind of person. I love them both, although there are many differences.
The first difference is the environment. Beijing is a city and an urban area. My hometown is in the countryside. In the countryside, there are not any tall buildings and most of it is farmland. The most terrible thing is that we don’t have heating in the countryside. Although the temperature is higher than in Beijing, I actually feel colder in my hometown. Maybe because I always stay in my room, and my home has central heating in Beijing.
The second difference is the lifestyle. In the countryside, there is a lot of farmland, so, people always cultivate various vegetables and raise chickens, which means that we don’t need to buy them. Also, I think the vegetables from my grandmother’s farmland are more delicious than the vegetables that I buy in Beijing. And, I can’t find a shopping mall or an amusement arcade to play games. The only thing that I can do is to walk along the country road and feel the breeze, sunshine, and frozen winter air.
My grandparents’ pets
In my hometown, the toilets are not the same as in Beijing. They don’t have marble tiles, an exhaust fan, and bright lights. It is just a room with a toilet. Because they have not set up an exhaust fan, the smell is really bad. But I’m already used to that smell.
In addition, the means of transportation are hugely different. In Beijing, I can take a bus, or subway, or drive somewhere. But in the countryside, if you don’t have a car (or you have a car but don’t know how to drive it), the only thing that you can use to go somewhere might be your feet. The nearest supermarket is about five kilometers away. The nearest shopping mall is even farther. If I want to go to that shopping mall, I need to spend 30 minutes by car, and you can imagine how much time I would need to spend if I walked.
The last huge difference between the city and my hometown is the memories. Because my grandmother and my grandfather don’t often come to Beijing, the only chance to see them is the spring festival. I can make a lot of happy memories and well-being when I am in my hometown. I don’t need to think about my grades in school, my relationship problems, or my homework. The only things that I need to do are to enjoy my life and relax. It’s like, I’ve worked hard for a whole year, so rewind yourself, and just relax. Don’t be stressed out and anxious. My grandmother always cooks a million dishes for me, which is nice for me. All my family members will meet at this time. It’s awesome.
The most important reason for that is their care for me. In China, a lot of relatives are mean and terrible because they always think that young people should marry earlier and have a kid after their marriage, which is a kind of control over our lives. Nevertheless, my relatives are pretty nice. They never ask these questions. My uncles are good at cooking, so they cook so many different foods and butcher chickens to make soup. My aunts think the laundry machine cannot wash the clothes clean, therefore, they wash the clothes by hand in the winter. That is why I love my family and my grandparents, which is also why I look forward to the spring festival and the memories behind this celebration.
In conclusion, there are many differences between Beijing and my hometown. The natural weather is different; the lifestyle is different; the feeling is different; the people are different. In Beijing, I can go to the shopping mall, hang out with my friends, and feel the love of my family. So my friend thought that I would prefer Beijing to the countryside. But my answer is they are the same, though I can say my hometown is more special to me. In my hometown, I can feel the love from my grandparents, my uncles, and my aunts. I have a lot of special memories that I could not make in Beijing, like cultivating vegetables in a large farmland. Hence, for me, Beijing and my hometown are both special to me. They can satisfy me in different ways and parts of my life.
