When I was only several months old, I was brought to Northern China with my parents to do business there. So my childhood was spend there, and my memory was stamped by the regional custome, the diet and the habit that were different from my birthplace. So homeland became stranger place to me and instead where my childhood buried is my home.
The place where my parents do the business is AnShan, which is famous for its steel. In my early memory, the weather in there is wild. In winter, the snowflakes stick to the window and formed a gorgerous painting and I gazed at the sophisticated snowflakes with my eyes open widely. Sometimes it has five angels; sometimes six; sometimes it has saw-like angels; soemtimes tooth-like.
I always heard people say there are never two snowflake exactly alike. Every snowflake has its own form, just like human. I relished the tiny, pure masterpiece and use my finger to delinate their different beauty, keen as an artist. Outside the window, a new blow sweeped the snow into the sky and carried them far, far into the skyline, which I hoped the wind would carry them into the heaven. The crystal flowers grew on my window and near this tiny square glass only a child to discover their intricate beauty, as graceful as white daffodils, as pure as angle from heaven, as sophiscated as woman's heart. I carefully get closer to it, but kept my distance for I would hurt them and my warmth would turn these fragile flowers into drops of water. They are as fragile as egg-shells.
The little town, AnShan, carried too much child's memories and I could't pent out its whole beauty with just few words. It's beauty lied in its wild weather, simple environment and people's warmth. It is there I heard the rhythmical cutting mutton into slices, the slices of the mixture of pink and winte and have a strong special favor when it is boiled; it is there I saw the swirling of snow swallowed the whole town and plunged the hustle and bustle once again into harmonious tranquility and gave people one-time-a-year relaxation, physically and psychologically; it is there I listened nature's wild song, including ode to the wind, ode to the snow and ode to the sand. In my belief, nature's voice was always beyond man's, which has its power and magic to bring people to its beginning point and thinking about phisophical meaning and be wiser.It is in there I felt the sharp freeze of the winter wind and snow and warmth of people and delicate food.
Outside, it is infinitely freezing cold while inside, there is a variety of food being thrown in the hot pot and being pressed by chopsticks, and then being dipped with sesame soy and finally being nipped, chewed and swallowed. I always be burnt by white Tofu and my mom chuckled and said:" You can't eat hot Tofu with a hasty heart." And papa and other relatives roared into laughter and the air was filled with sweet smell. I knew it is home that breeds warmth, a sense of belonging.
In this home, I had read my first book, which was brought by my papa. Having finished my first book, I realized it is as tasty as Tofu in hotpot. The books was full of the stories of Chinese four-character idioms. It was the first time I encountered with so many people excluded my families and my friends. I transcended the time and space, hear my ancestors' stories and knew the "spine of the nation" and their unyeilding and perseverence paved the road for the whole nation. And now I can trace the left four-character idioms back to their life, their ups and downs, their spirits, their achievements.
My first book linked me with so many great people's thoughts and literature, and I knew my journey for infinite sea of knowledge has started. The canvas of passion has risen and the caption–me has decided to sailed into unknown world and prepared for any storms. I my later life, sometimes I encountered a thinker called Thoreau,who always faced Walden lake and the tranquility enveloped him; sometimes I followed a group of people travelling around the world in just 81 days or travelling undersea for about 20000 miles or travelling deep into the core of earth and returned to the surface of the earth by other routes; sometimes I made acquaintance with Jane Eyre to go through difficult life and pursue our own happiness and freedom and I felt my heart and soul and hers are so linked together that I let her to live in the bottom of my heart.
The books are so entranced me that when I have free time, I always recalled them into my mind and talked with them, and let them guide me, inspire me and encourage me when my spirit was low and anxious.
Someone said life is a river. If it is true, I would say my river of life changed its course when I was 9 years old. My parents decided to move back to Yuhuan,Zhejiang. Suddenly, I lost my root because unconsciously I believed that my home was where my childhood were. I encountered culture shock in the place where my parents regarded as my home. Then, I took the local primary school and became an stranger and outsider in my birthplace. During the culture shock, there was no honeymoon,and only the feeling of distance and loneliness throttled me for I was not an well-apated person. I was willing to find power from inside instead of outside. During these dark time,my life was spared with friends and the feeling of empty occupied my heart. Later,I found study hard would help me to fill these empty. I was willing to liken study to wine, because they both had the function of making a person forget the barren reality in a while.
When I was ten, my mom born me a sister. She was cute,with her big eye as black as night and her rosy cheeks as red as ruby, however, she was so naughty. Sometimes, I had to pretend very angry to avoid her wrongdoings, but when she saw her sister fury eyes,she would surprise me with a big bear embrace, like a raccoon embracing the tree,which sandwiched me between helplessness and humor. All in all, she could be pleasant like an angel and naughty like a devil.
