Chen Yuhang doesn’t know why, but every year when Spring Festival arrives, the 25-year-old civil servant feels a natural impulse to go home. Not to the one he rents in Beijing, but the old apartment back in Jiangxi province. It’s by no means an easy ride.
“It’s like a seasonal spike of emotions. You go through all that toil of taking three trains to get home because you just know you have to go back, no matter what,” said Chen.
It’s a feeling Chen shares with most people in China at this time of year.
What makes home so unique in the Chinese value system, and how its definition is changing according to social values, serves as a key to understanding the character of China as a nation.
Ye Tao, a researcher specializing in folklore at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, says the deep roots of family culture come not only from the warmth of being with relatives, but also because the family, as a unit, has long been regarded as an important part of the social mechanism.
“As Confucius said: ‘cultivate the self, regulate the family, govern the state, then lead the world to peace’,” explains Ye. “The family has been an integral part of the social order since the very beginning of China’s cultural development and extends its impact to the present day.”
That’s why China’s long history of a communal and collective lifestyle is so fundamental in shaping people’s attitudes toward home: it is not only a place to live, but also a social responsibility.
With the growing mobility of the population, young people are leaving home to pursue better education and career opportunities. This trend is challenging family-based traditions.
Shi Jiepeng, a researcher at the Institute of Chinese History at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, explains that with horizontal kinships becoming weaker, the urge to reunite with close, or vertical, family members — siblings, parents and grandparents — is becoming stronger.
“The family planning policy has forged strong emotional bonds in smaller families,” said Shi. “It is an inevitable process of society.”
In defining the function of homes for Chinese people, especially the young, Ye Tao says that finding an escape from the rushing tempo of their daily lives serves as the primary incentive for people to go back home today. “Young people are under mounting pressure from all sides,” said Ye. “Home is a shelter where they can return to a simple lifestyle, although only for a brief period of time.”
“The warmth of home is the best chicken soup for the soul,” added Shi Jiepeng.
71．The author mentions Chen Yuhang at the beginning of the passage to show____________.
A. why Chen Yuhang wants to go home at the Spring Festival.
B. civil servants have the same feeling with ordinary people.
C. the Spring Festival is the most important thing for Chinese people.
D. how significant home is for Chinese people.
72．What is the main idea of the passage?
A. Chinese people always go home at the Spring Festival.
B. Social functions of family
C. Family-based traditions are being changed.
D. Family shelters Chinese people
73. From which section of a newspaper would you find the passage?
A. Festival B. Travel C. Life D. Debate
74. Which of the following is true according to the passage?
A. Ye Tao is an expert in social science.
B. Shi Jiepeng is in favor of the family planning policy.
C. Chen Yuhang go home without difficulties every year .
D. The majority of people in China go home at the Spring Festival.
75．All of the following can be concluded from the passage EXCEPT that ____________.
A. Young people have great pressure nowadays.
B. Family size in China has become smaller than before.
C. People can return to simple lifestyle at home.
D. Knowing the meaning of home helps to understand the character of China.