Ningbo,China---My Hometown

As a person who is thousand of miles away from home and living in a place that is quite different from where I come from, the concept of a hometown means a lot more to me. Homesickness is not the only theme when I think of the word “hometown”, for me, it also means the roots of my personality and the collection of my memories. So each individual landmark on the map of my hometown can raise one of my precious memories and reflect one aspect of my personality.
The first time I left for the States, after I checked my luggage, got my boarding pass, got through the security check and turned back to wave my hands to parents, I cried. I cried not because of the fear of exploring my life alone, I cried about becoming a real man and taking the responsibility for my own future. Also because of a little bit of sentiment for leaving my parents, my friends and all the things that I was once familiar with. When the airplane took off, I looked out from the window to have the last glance of the view my hometown and got ready to meet all kinds of challenges waiting for me in the States. So the airport let me feel like I am already an adult, I have to be responsible for myself and it is also the place gives me a view of my hometown.

Another location in my hometown, my great-grand father’s tomb, always makes me feel like a child. My great-grand father, a typical industrious Chinese farmer, who devoted all his life to his beloved plum blossoms left us four years ago. My parents and me planted many plum blossom trees around his tomb, and every winter when the plum blossoms are in full bloom, my family will pay our respects to him at the tomb. Every time when I was in front of his tomb and surrounded by the falling plum blossom, it will always remind me the ancient Chinese adage that my great-grand father always told me, which is also engraved on his tombstone: Bitter cold adds keen fragrance to plum blossom. I have to say my great-grand father influenced me a lot in the way to improve my personal strength. And the fragrance of those plum blossom trees is the smell of my hometown for me.

After smelling the town of Ningbo, my tongue is itching. So the grilled squid store is the best place. The grilled squid store is located just a block away from my high school, which serves cheap but tasty grilled squid. Almost everyday after school, I will hang out with my friend there, eating squid and sharing everything interesting that happened that day. The professor went to the restroom with his wireless microphone on; Yao Ming scored 30, the highest score in season at NBA; one of my classmate got a new skating board; guess what will happen to Michael Scofield in the upcoming season of Prison Break. In that short span of an hour, it seems that the taste of the squid is not that important, it’s important that we are free from the school and the parents. The squid store is the taste of my hometown.

Since you are already full now, let take a walk at the Old Bund and have some fresh air there. The Old Bund was the earliest port that opened to the foreign commercial transaction in the Chinese history. It epitomizes the history of Ningbo and keeps the traditional culture of the city well. The Old Bund of Ningbo is located at the joint of three rivers. Bathing in the river breeze and I always lose myself in those riverside historic architectures which have a history of 300 years, injected with new fashion elements. I came up with the idea that I am also a joining of the ancient eastern culture and rituals, the western modern values and the vitality of the younger generation. When you touch the old bricks of the architecture at the Old Bund, at the same time you touch history of the city also the pulse of it.

Everyone has their own map of their hometowns. That is my map of Ningbo, a city where I was born and lived for 18 years.