A Small Town in Southern China: Wuhua, Meizhou

This time, I did not go back to Wuhua for a trip, and I was not trying to check off sights. I came back from Shenzhen mainly because I wanted to watch one of our Hakka team’s matches. After the team was relegated from the Chinese Super League, this opening game in China League One felt important to me. When you have been away from home for long enough, there are moments when you suddenly want to go back. This match simply gave me a reason.

I lived in Wuhua for more than twenty years. It is not the kind of place that stuns people at first glance. It does not have the bustle of a big city, and it is not the sort of destination that gets polished up for visitors. But it is still the place I come from, and that has always mattered to me. Some places are so familiar that they are hard to describe, yet the moment you return, you feel yourself settle down.

Back in Wuhua

What struck me first when I got back was not novelty, but familiarity. Life here moves more slowly than it does in a big city. People do not seem to be rushing all the time, and the streets carry a steadier rhythm. Walking around Wuhua, I did not feel the need to hurry anywhere. I only had to turn into a side street to see the kind of small-town life I had known since I was young. Wuhua is not a big place, but it has its own order, its own pace, and a kind of quiet that never feels empty.

A Meal at Home

This trip was also a chance to see my family. More than any restaurant meal, what I had missed was a meal at home. The table was not filled with anything extravagant, but everything had been prepared with care. The taste itself was not dramatic or surprising. It was simply different from what I eat outside. A meal like that has a way of making you quiet. For someone living away from home, home cooking is never only about flavor. It is also about feeling grounded again.

At the Match

The main event of this trip was still the match itself. It was the team’s first game in China League One after dropping out of the top flight, and I had made the trip back mainly to cheer for them in person. Sitting in the stands, listening to the supporters chant again and again, and watching the players give everything on the pitch, it was impossible not to be drawn in. Following a match from another city is one thing. Being there is something else entirely. Only in the stadium do you really feel the direct connection between a hometown team and the place it belongs to.

When the match ended, the result was disappointing. Of course I felt let down, but it was not an empty kind of disappointment. It came from caring. For me, the meaning of this trip was never limited to the match alone. It tied together several ordinary things—coming home, seeing my family, eating at home, and sitting in the stands for a team I still care about. That is what made the weekend feel concrete and worth remembering.

Leaving Again at the End of the Weekend

The weekend went by quickly, and before long it was time to leave again. I still had to get on the train back to Shenzhen and return to my usual life. When I think about it now, there was nothing especially grand about this trip. I just went home, ate a meal with my family, and watched a match I had been thinking about. But maybe that is exactly why I wanted to write it down. Wuhua is not a place that needs to be exaggerated. It is simply my hometown. Every time I come back, I remember a little more clearly where I started.