"Staying for nearly two years away from home, we are finally back in Sichuan," the young couple said excitedly among a crowd of passengers elbowing their way out of Chengdu Railway Station in Southwest China's Sichuan Province.

Meng, 32, and Gao, 29, are farmers from Xindu County in western Sichuan. In March 2001, the couple left their five-year-old son at home and went to Lanzhou, capital of Northwest China's Gansu Province.

The husband worked as a cook in a local restaurant specializing in Sichuan food and the wife as a babysitter for a local doctor. Saving 8,300 yuan (US$1,000) in nearly two years, the couple quit their jobs early this month and sat in an overcrowded compartment through the train journey to reach Chengdu.

"We have come back to spend the Spring Festival," Meng said. "We know it is very difficult to get tickets one week before the festival so we have returned much earlier."

With a heavy bag on her back, Gao said she missed their now seven-year-old son very much. "We would take a local bus immediately and it will take nearly another hour to reach our village," she said.

To prepare for the Spring Festival, which falls on February 1, the couple asked their parents to prepare 66 pounds of bacon and sausages two months ago, when they decided to return home.

"Farmers in western Sichuan have the tradition of eating a lot of bacon and sausages for the Spring Festival. We were fed up with beef and mutton, the most popular meat in Lanzhou," Meng said.

Gao does not mind bacon and sausages, but influenced by the doctor she worked for, the junior high school graduate prefers fresh food.

"Six months ago, I wrote to my mother to encourage her to raise an 'environmentally friendly pig,' plant more 'environmentally friendly vegetables' and raise some fish in the pond," she said.

To be so-called environmentally friendly, she asked her mother to feed the family pig with grain rather than processed feed and not to apply pesticide when growing vegetables.

"Sichuan farmers did not have the custom of eating fish because of the location of their inland province," she said. "But I think that fish is better than meat because it can make people smarter and contains lower cholesterol levels."

Gao said they would rest at home for two to three days, enjoying the long-awaited family reunion with their son.

"Then we will renovate our big thatched cottage, give it a thorough cleaning so that all the 12 family members can have a sumptuous dinner there on the eve of the Spring Festival," Meng said.

As the oldest child in the family, Meng has three younger brothers, all of whom live in the same village. Although they consider their savings from Lanzhou as modest, they will invite all of the family members of his brothers to dinner.

"It is the tradition for Sichuan farmers to have a Lunar New Year dinner among the bigger family. It is a matter of course for us to play the host as we have been away from home for too long," Meng said.

Gao said they would share their experience in Lanzhou with their folks at the dinner.

"What is more important, as the eldest sister-in-law of the three younger brothers, I will teach them up-to-date concepts of hygiene and nutrition," she said.

The couple said they would not return to Lanzhou after the festival. With their savings, they plan to open a small restaurant in the county to sell Lanzhou noodles.

"Our son will attend primary school in the autumn. We have to stay at home to take care of him," Gao said. "We feel that education is very important to our son. We have suffered a lot because of our low education level. If our son proves to be a good student, he may lead a better life."

(China Daily January 20, 2003)