The 11th of February is the traditional Lantern Festival in China. On that noon, the dining hall of social welfare home of Licang District of Qingdao was full of people; workers prepared abundant banquet for the senior citizens spent holidays in the home and enjoyed the festival together with them. During the lunch the microphone was passed in the tables, the elderly grabbed the microphone to express their inner joy.

    There are 220 old people living in the social welfare home. A few of them enjoyed government subsidies while most of them are attracted to live here. Over half of them prefer to stay in the home to spend holiday, some returned here since the 2nd day of the Lunar New Year. About 160 senior citizens were in the home on the festival day.

    “Lantern festival show will begin soon, one of the show will be mine,” 80-year-old Yu Ruifang, who lived in the home for 7 years, said with joy.

    The show began at 2pm that afternoon. Yu’s program is the 2nd, her classmates in the senior citizens’ college joined chorus with her. “I have no hobby when I live at home. Now I can sing and play piano,” Yu’s partner Wang Baorou said.

    Three-and-half-sentence show Blessing New Spring brought laughter to these old people. 4 showmen were all dressed in white working clothes; all of them are cooks in the dining department. If you watch from a close distance, Li Dongping who played drums pasted all lyrics on the drum. Li said: “I started to prepare the lunch from 6:30 on the morning and end the work at 12:30, and I will go to make dumplings after the show, I really have no time to remember the lyrics.”

    85-year-old Li Tingqian spent Chinese Lunar New Year in the home. He said the old people had their living style, and the home has service to match them. It is an ideal place for the old people.

    Liu Xinghou likes to play basketball, and his wife Wang Baorou likes to listen music in everyday life. They choose their loved classes to learn separately in the home. “When we live at home we spent all our time on cooking, now we can have our spare time to play basketball and have class, our lives are so happy.”

    As the society develops, diversified nursing ways brings colorful life to the old people.

    “Workers in the social welfare home treat us so well, they are really tired.” The old people make efforts to keep the workers in their mind.

    Guessing lantern riddles, enjoying sit-com shows, the show ends with the chorus Loving Each Other As a Family. Just like lyrics of the song, they enjoy a happy life loving each other. (Zhang Jin) [Playing in Lantern Festival showed by workers were popular among the old people]

    Qingdao: Love of Yangge Dance of 4 generations people of a family

    There is a family in the Chengxian village of Jiaoxizhen city of Jiaozhou city of Qingdao. All the family members are folk artists, no matter whether 76 years old man or 9 years old kid in the family, all can show traditional skills such as walking on stilts, dancing lions, or dancing Yangge.

    76-year-old Wang Guoyou loved traditional folk drama and dance since he was young influenced by his father, he loves the dancing lion, walking on stilts, dancing Yangge, and playing boat-show and singing Maoqiang in the past 60 years. He even established a troupe for his hobby in the past 40 years. After his daughter Wang Enqin married, he thought these traditions would be ended, out of this expectation; his son-in-law loves the dancing lion influenced by his wife and Wang Guoyou. His two grandsons also love these at a very young age. The family will give over 300 shows every year in almost all happy events in the area.

    “My dad was a member of village troupe, I listened to his drama since I was a kid and I love traditional drama very much,” Wang said. “I began to learn playing drama, dancing lions, and walking on stilt when I was 16 and joined the show troupe in the village.” In order to let more people to know about Yangge and love Yangge, Wang formed his troupe. There was no pay for the show, and they often need to walk to villages to perform while carrying their packs on their own, they still love it so much.

    Wang has a daughter named Wang Enqin, who loves traditional drama and dance when she was very young under her dad’s influence. When she turned 16, she started learning. 45-year-old Wang Enqin now is the leader of Yangge and stilt troupe. She has learned her dad’s essence, boat-show, yangge, walking on stilts, and lion dance performed by her are welcomed by all people seen it.

    “My husband began to love lion dance and walking on stilts soon after we married.” Wang Enqin said she never thought her husband would love these too. Her husband Zhao Bin has a keen interest in lion dance. He learned lion dance, walking on stilts, and boat show from his father-in-law, and his skills improved quickly. Now he has already become a key lion dancer in the troupe.

    The birth of their son Zhao Jiyu brought life and energy to the family. Influenced by the family, Zhao Jiyu started to learn these skills from 8. Wang Guoyou said happily that Zhao Jiyu is so clever he can learn every skill very quickly, and he can join troupe show in a short time. 21-year-old Zhao Jiyu studies in college in Yantai now, and he is eager to give a performance with the troupe on every holiday. Although he was young, he is an old player in the troupe. The family often performs in the yard in their house, playing yangge and walking on stilts. (Lu Bo)