Spring Festival is a happy time for family reunions and marathon feasts. Going home for the holidays an important time many look forward to, especially those who only have one chance a year. Our reporter He Lin in Wuhan tells us the story of one family that is taking a long drive home to the parents, to prepare a special New Year’s dinner.
With the coming of Spring Festival, an online activity titled "For the Smile of Your Family" was held via Weibo, Tencent’s popular micro-blogging site.
Sun Qiong, originally from Huanggang, plans to give her parents a break, and cook the Spring Festival dinner this year.
Her simple wish of cooking a New Year’s Eve dinner for her parents went viral online.
To offer suggestions, people started to post recipes of local dishes on Weibo. On January 20th, Sun Qiong left Wenzhou with her husband and two year old son to head home, recipes in hand.
Sun said, "My parents do not have many chances to travel, and I would like to bring home all the delicious Chinese New Year dinner recipes to them."
Sun Qiong’s story touched many people. Xu Jingyang from Wuhan soon contacted her, saying that Hubei people like to make lotus roots and meat bone soup.
He said that by simmering them together, the meat and the soup will have the sweet taste of the lotus root. He also recommended Rib lotus root soup and steaming Wuchang fish.
Xu said, “Those two dishes are essential foods for a New Year’s dinner in Wuhan, and are also my parents’ favorite. Helping Sun Qiong to realize her dream is a way for me to achieve mine.”
With the help of other Weibo users, she also learned 14 other delicious local dishes.
At this year’s Spring Festival dinner, Sun will share her love and laugher with her family, thanks to the help of her online friends.