Essay - The History of Change and Constancy

In 2009, the 60th anniversary of the founding of New China. 60 years and a half, what has changed in that time?

Han Lanying, 80; Dai Yasheng, 57; and Lu Xiubao, 52. Their memories of the Spring Festival may be able to sketch the contours of China's 60 years of change.

1949: Dumplings with cabbage and radish

Han Lanying, 83, grew up in Suining, Jiangsu Province. She clearly remembers the Spring Festival of 1949, which was characterized by a lack of supplies but a strong New Year's atmosphere. "At that time, the family's wheat, corn and sorghum had to be prepared a month before the New Year. Thirty pounds of wheat was used to exchange some money to buy two pounds of meat, plus flour and radishes to make meatballs. The rest of the money was used to buy dyes to dye the cloth. Cloth is also their own spinning to exchange, spinning ten days to spin out a whole catty line, in exchange for a ten feet of coarse cotton cloth, and then their own dyeing, tying flowers, do a whole three days to make a new dress. The cotton grown by themselves was ginned out and paid to be bounced, and when it was bounced and sewn into the clothes, it became a cotton jacket. The dumplings for the Spring Festival were made by themselves. Meat a **** two pounds, made meatballs do not make meat dumplings, dumpling filling is made of radish and cabbage, the first day of the year to eat a day of dumplings."

1959: Eat meat to taste fresh

The Spring Festival of 1959, the food supply is unusually tight. At this time, Han Lanying had been married to Shanghai for many years and had given birth to three sons.

This Spring Festival, she also has a deep memory: at that time, food and oil rationing, and the amount of small, New Year's Eve meal to get a hearty point is not easy. Han Lanying recalled: "Usually the family's rice will be enough to drink thin rice, in order to 'have a good year' to use the cloth ticket to go and people for food stamps, as a result, I did not add new clothes for three years. My eldest son, who was 10 years old at the time, cried when he realized he didn't have any new clothes to wear on New Year's Day, so he had to raise money to buy them on New Year's Day. Meat is really little, cook when looking and greedy, three taste two taste is almost, three sons can only taste a fresh."

1969: The youth returned to the city to celebrate the New Year

In 1969, a "revolutionary Spring Festival" was advocated at that time. Dai Ya Sheng, who was 16 years old at the time, has the fondest memory of this Spring Festival, when the young people returned to the city to celebrate the New Year. "At that time, the scene on the train was more crowded than the current Spring Festival! In addition to the number of people not to mention, at that time, due to the city of material poverty, to all parts of the insertion of the young Zhiqing will bring the local specialties back to the city, so the train chickens and ducks, soybeans, melon seeds ...... anything, the place is small, people rely on brute force to seize the luggage rack."

Although the road home is long, but go home and reunite with loved ones is the intellectuals look forward to. Dai Ya Sheng recalled that at that time, in addition to food, oil and cloth, melon seeds, peanuts, black dates and other New Year's Eve rations, these usually rare rations, so that the Spring Festival has a strong flavor of the New Year.

In 1969, Lu Xiubao was 12 years old, and she remembers the 1969 Spring Festival like this: "On the first day of the Lunar New Year, the children in the alley were wearing new clothes, with melon seeds in their pockets, eating them while playing, and all day long the melon shells on the floor of the alley were like a layer of carpet. A penny popcorn can always attract dozens of people lined up, heard the popcorn cart pushed through the door when the squeak will take the rice and soybeans rushed out, rice cakes do not want to take to the popping".

1979: something more

Dai Ya Sheng returned to Shanghai in 1979, the end of the youth career, he recalled the Spring Festival: "material is not rich, but a lot better than 10 years ago ...... a lot of foodstuffs do not need a ticket can be purchased, food stamps, on the contrary. Only more or less, and even only eat rice on New Year's Eve, 'foreign sago' also do not eat ......"

Lu Xiubao recalled: "At that time, the market for foodstuffs began to develop, like meat, eggs, etc. began to be able to buy in the free market It started to be available in the free market."

1989: the year-end bonus bought a TV set, refrigerator

Dai Yaosheng at this point in the story of the Spring Festival much easier: "1989 Spring Festival is much better, not to mention the new clothes, a lot of people wear leather shoes, suits, New Year's Eve before the idea is to buy new appliances, and no longer figure 'eat better wear better'. I'm not a big fan of that. My family's TV set, refrigerator are the end of the year when the year-end bonus bought, watching the CCTV Spring Festival Gala, feel like living a modernized Spring Festival."

1999: The New Year's Eve dinner market was on fire

The Spring Festival of 1999 was like people taking advantage of a traditional festival to revel.

During the Spring Festival, many restaurants organized New Year's Eve dinners.

Lu Xiubao said: "At first, people still keep the old concept that New Year's Eve dinner should be eaten at home, but then the restaurant booked New Year's Eve dinner like a wind.

2009: the warmth of the Spring Festival

2009, the global economic "winter", China ushered in the Spring Festival. This year, the Spring Festival has a stronger "New Year's flavor".

Lu Xiubao said: "This year, thirty is at home, simple, it does not matter, the important thing is to reunite, but not for the reason of the financial crisis, but a few years to the hotel to eat New Year's Eve dinner down, and found that the most important thing is still the reunion of the two words."