王嫣

The round table

The most affectionate memory of my childhood is about a round table.

When I was still little， my entire family would reunite on almost every traditional festival to have dinner. While the grownups were discussing something beyond our comprehension， we kids would be scuttling around or even crouching under the table to play hide and seek.

When I got a bit older， my aunt brought back her boyfriend， a tall and shy man. And my grandma joyfully added another seat to the round table. It seemed a little bit more crowded， but we all felt closer to this new family member. When I was twelve， my grandpa passed away because of cancer， but when the entire family reunited once again， his chair， his bowl and his chopsticks remained the same， even though his seat was empty. But it felt like that he had never left us.

We all have a table like this in our homes. It is a symbol of a reunion of our families representing our sentiment（態度）， an attachment to our families. But as a matter of fact， in China， almost everything can be solved over a round table. The marriage bells between a loving couple， the mourning of the deceased， the negotiations between business partners and a state banquet to a president from other country can all happen on a same round table. So I start to wonder what is this round table to us， what it has been doing to us and its true significance starts to unfold in front of me.

The food on the table may change with time. The people sitting beside it may come and go. The reasons why we come together may be various， but the sensation behind it remains year after year the same and that is our tolerance of different people or willingness to embrace different cultures and artistic forms or care and love， and respect for not only our family， but also for a community， our nation and even the whole world.

In less than two months before the Spring Festival， an annual epic migration would take place in China. Hundreds of people， men and women， the young and the old， the rich and the poor， the dead like my grandpa and the alive will find a way to go back home and go to the round table to reunite with their families. The power that drives us to do so has been the power that has been sustaining Chinese civilization for thousands of years， and the lives of us， or even the history of our nation has been the stories of looking for or running to the round table to which we belong. The round table has been a symbol of the Chinese sensation. It was， it is and will always be.