We used to live in a big family

I talked about my old life in Yonglefang and the changes that happened there. Now I want to say something about what the old crowded way of life brought us that is lost now.

Of course Linong life was hard and every little space had to be shared with others but it also brought us an extremely precious thing- it made people closer to each other than anytime in the history or the future.

I remembered when I just moved out Yonglefang to an apartment. I was so lonely. My parents went out to work and left me alone at home. I went out to find if there was somebody who can accompany me and play with me, but after searching through the entire building, I found there was even not one person in the building. Adults went out for working and kids were locked indoor. Each family had their own world in their apartment, without any connections to the world beyond their door. People didn’t know anything about their neighbors. In fact, they didn’t care who lived next to them at all. During that time, I always spent my summer vocation alone at home, watching TV and playing video games. As a primary school student, spending summer vocation alone at home made me really bored and disappointed. However, living in Linong was totally different. I knew every kid in Yonglefang well and my parents knew everyone there, too. I had so many friends at that time. When I got bored, I just knocked on some friends’ doors and asked them to play with me. Everytime at least 10 kids came out. We played many games in the Linong- hide and seek in anyone’s home, chased each other in the Linong, played soccer and many other game. I could spend a whole day with my friends happily. I really felt that Linong was a big family for us all. The whole Linong was my home and I could be extremely free and happy there. I loved that life style so much that when I lived in apartments, I constantly missed Yonglefang.