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环球时报首席记者赵瑜莎

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2023年春节返回家乡

了解中国县城过大年，为家乡betway必威体育官网点赞

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和小编一起通过这篇文章

来了解一个小县城独特的春节

hometown witness: warming reunions and growing vitality, a unique spring festival in a small chinese coun

家乡见证：温暖的团聚和日益增长的活力，一个中国小县城独特的春节

It was only when I took out my phone at a gate in Beijing Capital International Airport, ready to scan health code but found no sign of the code, did I realize that days of COVID-19 restrictions were far behind us, despite the government had already downgraded the management of COVID-19 earlier this month.（当我在北京首都国际机场的登机口拿出手机，准备扫描健康码，却没有发现健康码的迹象时，我才意识到，关于新冠肺炎限制的日子已经远去了，政府下调了对新冠肺炎的管理。）

I haven't seen the airport so full of people for three years.  Two days before China's most important festival, the Chinese New Year [which falls on January 22 this year], the airport was crowded with luggage-dragging passengers, whose faces beamed with smile and excitement, hurrying to the departure gate, chatting on their phones in different dialects to inform their loved ones the time of arrival and being ready to return to their hometowns to celebrate with family the unique holidays, after the reunion was thwarted by COVID-19 for three years.（我已经三年没见过机场这么多人了。在中国最重要的节日春节(今年是1月22日)前两天，机场挤满了拖着行李的乘客，他们脸上洋溢着微笑和兴奋，匆匆走向登机口，用不同的方言在手机上聊天，通知亲人到达时间，准备返回家乡与家人一起庆祝这个独特的节日，之前三年，家庭团聚一直受到COVID-19的影响。）

Those years absence of memories of spending the Chinese New Year in my hometown Chongqing made me forget how cold winter can be here. I was shivering with a mixture of coldness, excitement and sorrow when I saw my parents waiting for me at the airport parking lot.（这些年没有在家乡重庆过春节的记忆，让我忘记了这里的冬天有多冷。当我看到父母在机场停车场等我的时候，我冷得发抖，又激动又悲伤。）

It was a bittersweet feeling. Sweet was for the reunion, bitter was because my parents were aging so fast that it was visible to my naked eyes, thus nothing can make up for my three-year absence from the most important reunion of Chinese culture. But maybe it was also what made this Chinese New Year, the first one after China further optimized its COVID-19 response, carry more weight. （这是一种苦乐参半的感觉。甜蜜是因为这次团聚，痛苦是因为我的父母老得太快，我肉眼都能看到，所以没有什么能弥补我缺席中国文化中最重要的一次聚会的三年。但这也可能是中国进一步优化COVID-19应对措施后的第一个春节更有分量的原因。）

A homemade banquet dinner, which was prepared by the whole family across a whole day, greeted me when I arrived at Yunyang county in Chongqing, the place where I was born, to spend this year's festival. （当我来到我出生的地方——重庆betway必威体育官网县过今年的春节时，迎接我的是一顿全家花了一整天时间准备的自制年夜饭。）

Usually, people create all sorts of wishes when making toasts during Spring Festival dinners. But this year, it was all about "wish you good health," a most cherished and sincere wish from Chinese people, many of whom were recovered from the Omicron infections during the past month.（通常，人们在年夜饭上敬酒的时候会许下各种各样的愿望。但今年都是关于“祝您身体健康”，这是中国人民最珍惜和最真诚的祝愿，其中许多人在过去一个月里才从奥密克戎病毒感染中康复。）

The topic about COVID-19, of course, dominated the dinner table. Family members discussed their experiences of fighting the virus, some showed mild or no symptoms, while some suffered much more serious symptoms. Those who suffered more were lectured by the rest of family to take more exercise and drink less alcohol. "Ebbing away of COVID-19 should also be a starting point, a new start we all learn to take better care of ourselves and cherish things we had long neglected," said one of my family members. （当然，关于新冠肺炎的话题占据了餐桌。家庭成员讨论了他们与病毒抗争的经历，一些人表现出轻微或没有症状，而一些人则出现了严重得多的症状。那些症状严重的人会受到家人们的教导，让他们多锻炼，少喝酒。我的一位家人说:“新冠肺炎的消失也应该是一个起点，一个新的起点，我们都学会了更好地照顾自己，重视我们长期忽视的东西。”）

On January 22, the first day of Chinese Spring Festival, traditions in my hometown has it that people should climb mountains, symbolizing moving up step by step than previous year. People rubbed shoulders with each other at the steep and narrow stairs, and almost everyone had their masks on.（1月22日是中国春节的第一天，在我的家乡，市民们都要去爬登云梯，象征着比去年更上一层楼。人们都戴着口罩在陡峭狭窄的楼梯上摩肩接踵。）

When I arrived at the mountain top, I was asked by a 30 something year old girl to take picture of her big family. When I returned her the camera, I said what a pity that the background was too crowded.（当我到达山顶时，一个大约30多岁的女生让我帮她拍一张全家福。当我把相机还给她时，我说太可惜了，背景太拥挤了。）

But she answered, "It is ok. I don't like taking pictures. I just want to capture the moment of family reunion. I haven't been home for four years due to the epidemic. Who knows when I come back next time?"（但她回答道:“没关系。我不喜欢拍照。我只是想抓住家庭团聚的时刻。因为疫情，我已经四年没回家了。谁知道我下次什么时候回来?”）

Making traditions count（让传统发挥作用）

However, not everyone has the luxury of celebrating this unique festival with families. As the rest of us are eager to shake off the shadow of COVID-19 restrictions, some are sticking to post to safeguard the bottom line of public health.（然而，并不是每个人都有机会和家人一起庆祝这个独特的节日。当我们急于摆脱新冠肺炎疫情限制的阴影时，一些人仍在坚守岗位，捍卫公共卫生底线。）

Wang Hailin, the head of a hospital in Shuikou township in Yunyang county, is one of them. Wang said many of his employees had not take holiday since October. "Before December 8 [when the government scrapped off mass nucleic acid test and allowed home quarantine of COVID-19 patients with mild or no symptoms], our staff were living in the hospital the whole day. After December 8, there came with the first wave of infection, we were busy in receiving patients and had no time to rest," said Wang.（betway必威体育官网县水口镇医院的院长王海林(音)就是其中之一。他说，自10月份以来，他的许多员工都没有休过假。“在12月8日(政府取消大规模核酸检测，允许轻症或无症状患者居家隔离)之前，我们的工作人员整天都住在医院里。12月8日之后，出现了第一波感染，我们忙着接待病人，没有时间休息。”王海林说。）

The central government and health experts have been calling for rural areas such as Shuikou township, to prepare for possible cluster infections during Spring Festival holidays, as an influx of travelers swarm into those places with less developed medical systems. （随着游客涌入这些医疗系统不发达的地方，中央政府和卫生专家一直呼吁水口镇等农村地区为春节期间可能发生的集群感染做好准备。）

Wang's hospital put in place an emergency plan of asking all employees to stand by 24/7 in case of a major outbreak during Spring Festival. "But there's no such huge outbreak currently and things are so much better than we previously estimated."（王海林所在的医院制定了一项应急计划，要求所有员工24小时待命，以防春节期间发生重大疫情。“但目前没有如此大规模的爆发，情况比我们之前估计的要好得多。”）

He told me that the number of COVID-19 infections had already ebbed away in this small town two weeks ago, and fever clinics receive fewer than 10 people per day. （他告诉我，两周前，这个小镇的新冠肺炎感染人数已经下降，发烧诊所每天接待的人数不到10人。）

A total of seven patients with severe COVID-19 symptoms were hospitalized in the hospital with 30 beds. The hospital also has abundant storage of medicines, including ibuprofen and China's domestically developed Azvudine, to cope with any possible mass infection in this small town.（该医院共有30张床位，收治重症患者7名。医院还储备了大量药物，包括布洛芬和中国自主研发的阿夫定，以应对这个小镇可能出现的大规模感染。）

A peek into a vibrant economy（一探充满活力的经济）

Western media has always portrayed the three-year COVID-19 restrictions as big disruption of China's economic and social activities. But in Yunyang, a small town and home to roughly 1 million, the dazzling changes during the past two years had me once again feel the vitality, resilience of Chinese economy, despite the effect of COVID-19 shadow.（西方媒体一直将为期三年的新冠肺炎疫情防控限制描述为对中国经济社会活动的重大干扰。但在betway必威体育官网这个拥有约100万人口的城市，尽管受到新冠肺炎阴影的影响，但过去两年的巨大变化让我再次感受到中国经济的活力和韧性。）

A brand new shopping center emerges near riverside of the county, and during the past two years, trendy cafes, high-end supermarkets, fashion brands fell over each other to rent commercial space. A railway connecting this county to Beijing opened last year, making the trip to the capital, approximately 1,600 kilometers away, only seven hours ride. （在过去的两年里，县城新修了滨江购物公园，时尚咖啡馆、高端超市、时尚品牌争相入驻。去年，一条连接该县和北京的铁路开通，使得到1600公里外的首都北京只需7个小时的车程。）

Zhou Tao, who co-founded a local rice noodle brand, told me that he opened three shops in this small city last year, even "everyone told me that the COVID-19 control will impact my business." But, the city's government stamped out every small outbreak in the past year very quickly. "My business stay basically unscratched," said Zhou.（周涛是当地一家面业品牌的联合创始人，他告诉我，去年他在这个小城市开了三家店，甚至“所有人都告诉我，新冠肺炎疫情会影响我的生意。”“但是，政府很快就消灭了在过去的一年里的每一次小规模疫情。我的生意基本上没有受到影响。”周涛说。）

He said during Chinese New Year, because many people returned home this year, his business boomed. An employee in his shop said they can sell several hundreds of bowls rich noodles per day, several times more than usual.（他说，今年春节期间，因为很多人回家，他的生意兴隆。他店里的一名员工说，他们每天能卖出几百碗面条，比平时多了好几倍。）

The optimization of COVID-19 control unleashed pent-up demand of consumption nationwide. Data from online travel agency Trip.com Group points to a surging demand for Spring Festival travels and sightseeing. Reservations for domestic group tours during the holiday, for instance, registered a yearly increase of 354 percent as of January 15.（新冠肺炎疫情防控的优化释放了全国被压抑的消费需求。来自在线旅行社Trip.com集团的数据显示，春节旅游和观光需求激增。例如，截至1月15日，春节期间国内团体游的预订量同比增长了354%。）

Zhou said the optimization brought a new start for his business as he is set to open new rice noodle shops in nearby cities, immediately after the Spring Festival holidays.（周涛说，这次优化为他的生意带来了一个新的开始，因为春节假期后，他将马上在附近的城市开一家新的面条店。）

Fireworks, which is another Chinese New Year tradition that were originally used to scare away evil spirits, has becoming more-than-usual popular during this year's Spring Festival holidays.（放烟花是中国新年的另一个传统，最初是用来吓跑“岁”，在今年春节期间变得比以往更受欢迎。）

I visited a designated firework spot on the Chinese New Year's Eve. The multi-color and creatively patterned fireworks, coupled with people yelling, lit up Chongqing's cold, dark winter night. Some people were shouting, "Happy [Chinese] New Year, COVID-19 goes away!（除夕夜，我去了一个指定的烟花燃放点。在那里五彩缤纷、图案新颖的烟花，加上人们的喝彩声，点亮了重庆寒冷黑暗的冬夜。一些人高喊:“春节快乐!”）

One of my friends posted pictures of the firework with words: "May the most spectacular fireworks in my life dissipate all the unhappiness in the past three years; may they take away all the uncertainties and fears brought by COVID-19 and usher in a new year with love, gratitude and hope."（我的一个朋友晒出了烟花的照片，并写道:“愿我生命中最壮观的烟花驱散我过去三年的不快乐;愿它们带走新冠肺炎带来的所有不确定性和恐惧，带着爱、感激和希望迎来新的一年。”）