I hadn’t been back to my hometown for more than three years since I worked. It was rare for me to have some free time during this National Day holiday, so I took my family back to the hometown that I missed so much. The local accent was filled with nostalgia indeed, and everything seemed to be in a dream. The next day, I was astonished to hear the familiar national anthem before I got up. At this moment, my mother called, “Our neighbor Grandpa Wang’s family is raising the national flag.”
Grandpa Wang’s house was at the east end of the village, less than 100 meters away from ours. In my memory, Grandpa Wang’s family had lived in two shabby adobe houses, which now became a two-story building. When I went home, I passed by his door and saw a few electric motorcycles parking in the yard, as well as the Audi car of his son.
When it came to Grandpa Wang, all kinds of memories in my childhood welled up in my mind. When I was a child, there was no TV to watch. The greatest pleasure then was sitting in the yard and listening to Grandpa Wang’s stories. He had participated in supporting the frontline of Huaihai Campaign. It was said that he had also assisted the People's Liberation Army in guarding the captives. This experience alone was enough for us to worship him.
Grandpa Wang was very eloquent. At that time, he vividly told us many revolutionary stories, such as the anti-Japanese hero Wang Erxiao and Zhu De’s carrying pole, all of which intoxicated us, as if we were the protagonists in these stories.
Probably when I was in junior high school, Grandpa Wang hung a five-star red flag under the eaves. Although the red flag was small and not as exquisite as it is now, it was the only national flag in our village. At that time, we were so excited that we desperately learned how to salute for hours in front of the national flag.
The village head said, “We must raise the national flag!” With the support of villagers, Grandpa Wang erected a “flagpole” (a wood more than three meters long) in the yard. Every time the national flag was being raised, we shouted slogans, sang the national anthem and gazed at the national flag. The sense of sacredness attracted more and more villagers’ participation. After a few years, Grandpa Wang’s son went to college. After his graduation, he knocked down the adobe house and built a two-story building instead. This time when I came home, I accidentally found that the “flagpole” was still there.
After answering my mother’s call, I arrived at Grandpa Wang’s home. More sorts of feelings welled up in me. It turned out that when Grandpa Wang died last year, his son undertook the mission of “raising the national flag”, as required by his father. The red flag, slightly dated, was still fluttering high, which made us feel the deep devotion to the family and country of the Chinese people.
With nostalgia appearing in our dreams, the devotion of family and country is always in our hearts. After two generations, the five-star red flag is still fluttering high in Grandpa Wang’s house. People still gaze at the national flag around the “flagpole”. This also makes me understand a truth that no matter how the situation changes and no matter how the living conditions change, all the Chinese people have this kind of nostalgia---the deep devotion to the family and country---in the depth of their hearts.
After 40 years of carrying the dream and forging ahead, China has achieved a great leap from “catching up with the times” to “leading the times”. As more and more people have felt the rising living standards and seen our country’s rapid development, this kind of devotion to the family and country has also become more intense, which is exactly a strong impetus to our national rejuvenation.
