Remembering the Past

It is nice to be able to remember the past. Unfortunately, only a few very special people can remember what they experienced when they were young. Even fewer people had their pictures taken and preserved so that they could confirm their memories and re-experience their feelings of their past. My mother tried very hard to have some pictures taken and she certainly did her best to save all her pictures carefully. But there were no pictures taken at all during the period when we lived in Zouying (the new spelling for Tzung-en, sorry, I just learned), none whatsoever! And this was the period that I was old enough and started to remember things!


In 2006, I went back to Zouying. There was nothing that looked the same as what was in my memory. The trees were all gone and buildings were everywhere. Views like the one in the picture below were completely gone. I had to confirm my memory by the image in an old painting!

 There were no bamboo forests, no steams, no fruit trees, no ground for farmers, and no tomb for my younger sister. My cousins now live on the 12^th floor of this building:

Our old school next to a lake was still next to a lake but with new buildings and a new board at the door:

Classrooms still held 50 students. Activities for students were similar, yet so different!

There was a stone grinder in front of a house, it looked just like the one father used for making soy milk! Was someone played a trick on me!?