It is our tradition to visit relatives during the Chinese New Year, but now I am more and more tired and even afraid of such behavior.
We live in Guangzhou, and a relative of mine lives in Huizhou next door, more than half an hour's drive, but we rarely come and go.
My mother said that I don't usually come and go, but now that it's the New Year, I still have to go to him to pay a New Year's greeting. I guess that's what my relatives told my cousin as well. No, my cousin brought a large family to us on the second day of the Lunar New Year.
My relatives are now running a scrap yard and have grown their business with diligence and integrity over the years. My cousin did not graduate from junior high school, and he ran a scrap yard with his relatives on weekdays, and he was responsible for delivering goods to nearby places such as Dongguan and Guangzhou.
My wife and I are both traditional small-town problem-solvers, and after graduating from college, we worked as screws in the company; When I was a kid, we went fishing and birding together, but I didn't interact much since I was in high school, and I didn't cross paths even more after graduation. In the past two years, because they have been in the Greater Bay Area, there are some contacts every Chinese New Year.
I just became a father this year, and my cousin is 4 years younger than me, but he is already a father of two children, and the youngest child can already make soy sauce.
During the dinner, except for chatting about some childhood memories and current work status, it was so embarrassing that there was almost nothing to say.
Many of my friends around me have the same experience as me, and now more and more people are reluctant to go to their relatives, and I think there are several reasons for this:
We used to be an agrarian society, but since the reform and opening up, we have become an industrialized and urbanized country. Originally, every household lived relatively close, and it was inconvenient to travel to distant places, and information spread very slowly, so many traditions remained unchanged for many years.
Nowadays, most people live in cities, and their neighbors don't even know each other; City administrators also prohibit festive and dangerous items such as fireworks.
In today's great material abundance, the delicious food, good clothes, and fun that were only available for the New Year before are now enjoyed every day; If you want to see someone, it is also very convenient to fly and high-speed rail, and there is a lot less expectation for the New Year.
Now the industry that everyone is engaged in is more detailed than before, and the traffic between the circle and the circle is smoother. Ordinary workers and business managers, businessmen and politicians, scientific research institutions and live broadcast workers...The daily life and topics are completely different.
For example, my cousin is engaged in scrap products, I am engaged in finance, the difference between industries is huge, there are not many common topics, except for talking about some memories when I was a child, it is difficult to have a deep exchange. My cousin felt that it was better to start a business than to work for someone even if he was studying, and entrepreneurship does not require a high degree of education.
With the growth of social information, everyone receives different information and forms different values.
You think that people can not get married and not have children, but he thinks that this is a big rebellion; You think that reading can change your life, and he thinks that his academic qualifications are worthless; You think that **falling to 2800 points should be**holding, and he thinks** to clear the position....
Every day, we are in contact with a lot of people, and there are very few people who can talk together. And between relatives, they are just strangers with an extra layer of blood relationship.