Poetry with Images: Our Extraordinary Year

Sept. 2, 2025, 10:35 a.m. Essays

This year is destined to be quiet. With family members who cannot reunite, wishes sent through WeChat, a toast made via video, greetings exchanged through voice calls, and red envelopes filled with lucky money, various groups urge protection. This quietness reveals the care of friends and family.

This year is destined to be empty. There are no long lines of cars on the road, no crowded crowds in the vegetable markets, no lost children in shopping malls, KTVs shut down with silenced speakers, internet cafes disconnected from the internet, movies have been taken down, even reunion dinners are divided into multiple locations. This emptiness reveals the's self-discipline.

Mouse Year

Shoes kept in high cabinets

Lala girl's broadcasting

Kiss through the window

This year is destined to be uglier. Those beautiful women who have grown from long hair to short hair, the young ladies with wounded faces after taking off their masks, the petite ladies who quickly turned into Lala girls after repeatedly warning not to go out or gather and drink – are they ugly? This ugliness reveals the's halo.

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This year is destined to be full of longing. The phrase 'hello, is that you?' is heard in corridors wrapped in protective layers, a kiss through glass with masks, a solitary figure standing in front of a window unable to sleep, a sense of watchfulness… This longing reveals our .

This year is destined to be moving. Returning overseas youth are no longer in a hurry to come out, accompanying their mothers by the campfire at the roots of old trees in rural areas, listening to them recount the helplessness and experiences of the previous year of the Mouse, and counting the mutual help and warmth of the present day. This slowness reveals the old people's contentment.

This year is destined to be for cultivation. Spending days at home, practicing calligraphy, painting, playing musical instruments, yoga and Tai Chi online, notes accompanying cooking, dances performed for family members, fishing with children in a fish tank, telling children about the relationship between humans and plants and the natural world, making dumplings and sweet dumplings together, and delivering them to the selfless. This cultivation reveals the subtle and gradual kindness.

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The sound of music - the note of the Music Rune

Chess against opponent

Dumplings

White-clad warriors

This year is destined to be anxious. Those white-clad warriors who concentrate in isolation for patients, the traffic police guarding various roads, personnel drawn from all units to measure temperature and register, and villagers in townships who patiently persuade people – each has a family behind them worrying about them. This anxiety reveals the's sentiment.

This year is destined to be wishful. The plum blossoms have reported good news, spring is coming, wishing that this contest between humans and viruses will end as soon as possible, wishing that our white-clad warriors will return safely, and wishing that Wuhan, which has experienced hardships, will soon set sail and restart. This hope is full of it.