The golden autumn breeds the comfortable autumn wind.
This year marks the 69th anniversary of the founding of New China and the 40th anniversary of the reform and opening-up, for which the Chinese people celebrate together in a variety of ways, such as calling friends for dinner. How time flies! The development achievements of China are obvious to all. Today, changes in eating for the masses are overwhelming, reflecting the continuous progress of our society.
As the old saying goes, “Man is iron, rice is steel, and one is hungry without eating”. As the life priority, eating is also the first demand for human survival, for which the elder generation feels deeper. My parents were born in the 1950s when food and materials were so scarce that they had to mess together. It was common for them to be underfed. As they recall, even the rough corn soup was a blue moon then. A small piece of corn flour cake was only a thing at festivals, occasionally.
Our life is changing with the developing times. When I attended the primary school, the commodity economy and food materials were gradually booming, thus eating was no longer a problem, although not so varying. In effect, corn noodles, sweet potato noodles and porridge were still the main course for most families. It’s still clear to me that there was a store allowing exchange of an egg for a bag of melon seeds, so frequently, you could see a buddy running to the store with an egg.
After entering the junior high school, I could narrowly fill my stomach, but snacks were out of the question. To say that there were snacks, popcorn was barely counted. After the corn rich in the north was collected and dried, popcorn appeared. A popcorn machine and a big container at the entrance of the village were attraction for massive children, who were as greedy as their parents. The adults would take two plastic bags in their pockets every time they went to a wedding banquet, so that they could pack the leftovers to eat at home.
During my senior high school time, food materials became richer, and meat common. Especially after I entered the university, the school dining hall prepared for us a wide range of dishes, from southern ones to northern ones, mirroring the continuous improvement of people’s living standards. When I returned home during winter and summer vacations, it dawned on me that popsicles and instant noodles were no longer extravagant expectations for children. And for the villagers, eating meat on festivals was also not a difficult thing.
When I was in the graduate school, food materials became all the more rich. The people eating at restaurants, which filled the surroundings of the school, mounted. On festivals, cold dishes, hot dishes, steamed and boiled food, snacks and fruits were all necessary on the table.
The changes happening during the 40 years of reform and opening up can be perceived as “overwhelming”. In this day, a dazzling array of grain, oil, meat, eggs, vegetables and fruits are displayed in the shopping mall, with wide variety. It can be said that as the reform and opening-up proceeds, people’s income is growing, thus their expectations for eating are shifting from stomach filling to eating healthy, eating taste, eating culture, and nutrition and health science.
The changes on the tip of the tongue have witnessed the progress of New China in 69 years and the tremendous changes in the reform and opening up. In this beautiful autumn season, all the Chinese people are expressing their sincere gratitude for their happy life in the new era and their best wishes to the motherland. People’s gratitude and good wishes are the most powerful driving forces for national rejuvenation.