Yichanghasjurisdiction overfive county towns, three cities and five urban districts. My hometown is one of the three cities - Zhijiang, which has a comfortable and livable environment.
I have lived in Zhijiang for nearly 20 years since I was born. I am afraid that she will have changed too much, yet alsoworriedthat she will have changed too slowly. I have never left her, even if I have gone to college. I held this idea when I filled in the college application. It is very fortunate that I have been admitted to China Three Gorges University.
My father, with the big family, used to live on Laozheng Street in Dong city. Many houses in Laozheng Street have a history of over a hundred years. Lots of Zhijiang residents are willing to live in this kind of houses. However, I have never lived in my father’s house on the ground that their family had removed toZhijiangcity for better development before I was born.
Whatimpresses me most is eating breakfast in Zhijiang and we often call it as“guò zǎo”.Zhijiang residentseat a very heavy breakfast and they are particular about breakfast. There are all kinds of breakfast for you to choose, such as twisted cruller, bum, steamed bread, wonton, fried wontons, boiled dumpling, noodles soup, sliced noodles, hot-and-dry noodles, rice stick, soybean milk, congee, bean curd pudding and so many delicious food.
From my perspective, the mostdeliciousfood is soup dumping. It is such a wonderful thing that you could start your day with soybean milk and soup dumping! Firstly, biting a small hole; then drinking soup from the small hole; after that, eating the whole soup dumping. Just imagining these steps can make my mouth water!
For breakfast, steamed food is a must, especially for elderly Zhijiang residents. It seems like every dish could be steamed, such as beef, pork, mutton, vegetables and sweet pumpkin. ElderlyZhijiang residentslike to have an alcoholic drink at breakfast. They often order two or three bowls of steamed food withChinesespirits carried by themselves and eat a bowl of rice. Maybe theChinesespirit is“ZhijiangDaqu”, which you have to mention when you talk aboutZhijiang. As an old saying goes,“Sichuan alcohol is strong while Hubei alcohol is fragrant. ButZhijiangalcohol is both strong and fragrant because by the Yangtze River,thewater has an aroma. The pace is unhurried and theChinesespirits flow steadily. They like the relaxed cadence of theirretired life.
Like many of China’s county towns, this little town is bustling, but not fickle.
“My Zhijiang, my hometown……”the familiar melody swirled all around in my ears again.
Writen by Jiangxia Zou