Our New Family Tradition - Watching and Enjoying a Movie Together

We stopped over in Zhengzhou spending a night there while enroute to our next destination, Anyang, China.

Since my husband is a history buff, he suggested us to visit the museum in Anyang. But getting there in late afternoon, the museum staff stopped selling admission tickets and we just missed the cut off time for the museum. We did some exploring of the city on our own and strolled around the neighbourhood. We came upon a city park where the residents were doing their exercises, singing and dancing. Chinese people, especially the elderly, seemed to be enjoying life and having fun with their friends.

It didn't matter where we went in China, we could always find people gathering in a park and doing these fun activities in the evening or for older people during the day too. No wonder some of my friends suggested retirement in China. Food for thought indeed! After doing a bit of shopping in the local market, we had dinner at a restuarnant serving a western style buffet. However, we didn't have time to enjoy the full buffet as we wanted to catch a movie in the nearby cinema. The waiting staff greeted us warmly, and were helpful and accommodating. They assisted us in selecting our dishes that could be served in a very short time so that we could make it to the movie after our meal.

This was the second time we watched a movie with J. in China. Last year the movie we watched was called Chang An Thirty Thousand Miles, a Chinese animated movie. It was about the life of LeBai, a renowned Chinese poet whose poems have long been a part of the Chinese curriculum in Hong Kong, Macau and mainland China. We enjoyed the movie watching experience together so much that this year, we did it again on this trip! We introduced J. to a movie with its story written by a modern day novelist, Jin Rong. I heard of his famous novels when I was young but never read one. We all loved the movie as it was set against some significant historical events in Chinese history. The older we get, the more difficult it is for us to do something together as a family. Watching a movie together is an activity we enjoy doing together. Therefore, we have decided that we will make it a tradition to watch a movie with our loved ones everytime we visit each other. It's never too late to start a new family tradition! RT Anyang, China 02052025