Mom's stare at parting son moves netizens as CNY holiday ends

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A photograph of a Chinese mother saying goodbye to her son has captured the mood of a nation, as millions of people bid farewell to their families and returned to work after the Spring Festival holiday.

The Spring Festival is traditionally seen as a time of family reunions, and now the holidays have come to an end. Photographs capturing family members as they depart have been circulating on different Chinese social media.

Zhou's mother sees him off outside the car. / Qianjiang Evening News Photo

One set of pictures posted on WeChat, a Chinese instant messaging application, on Wednesday tugged at the heartstrings of many.

Zhou Jianhai, a coach at a sports school in downtown Hangzhou, east China’s Zhejiang Province, documented several touching moments of his mother seeing him off and shared them on his account.

The photographs show his 80-year-old mother Hu Xianju accompanying him from their home to the gate of the village on foot while Zhou slowly drove his car.

She smiled all the way despite frigid temperatures and the bitterness of saying goodbye.

‍Zhou's mother sticks her head into the car to exhort her son to take care of himself. / Qianjiang Evening News Photo‍

A picture of the mother leaning through the car window to tell Zhou to take care of himself,moved several netizens to tears, as they could personally relate to this all too familiar scene.

“A mother always worries about her traveling child,” Zhou noted on the post along with the photos.

“Though we all presumed to be happy, we could not help but feel the sadness when parting.”

Zhou's mother sends him to the village entrance. / Qianjiang Evening News Photo

Zhou, who currently works some 270 kilometers away from his village, rarely has the chance to go back home to reunite with his parents due to his busy work schedule.

Coming back home ahead of the Chinese New Year’s Eve and staying with his parents for some seven days amid the festive celebrations is a rare opportunity for the family to come together.

Zhou said his parents insisted on accompanying him to the village entrance the day he left with his wife. They lingered for a long time as they said their goodbyes before he drove away.

CFP Photo

“Though we always say ‘while our parents raised us up, we accompany them on their way of aging’, we actually have too little time to stay with them,” Zhou told reporters from local media.

His words struck a chord with many Chinese people, who reluctantly live apart from their aging parents but have to work in remote mega cities for better opportunities.

The Spring Festival vacation officially wrapped up on Thursday.

While Zhou drove, many people took the train to see their families. China Railway estimated that some 11.5 million passengers made journeys on the single day of Thursday with 3 billion journeys made altogether during the 40-day Spring Festival travel rush which lasts till February 21.

1131km