Home video touches hearts worldwide
A 15-second video made by four generations of a family who live near Puyang, Henan province, has touched hearts around the world.
First, a 10-year-old girl runs into a room and shouts “Ma”. Then her 33-year-old mother runs into the room and shouts “Ma”. The 60-yearold grandmother then runs into the room and shouts “Ma”. Finally, the 93-year-old great-grandmother comes into the room, laughing.
It has inspired similar videos and family photos from other fourgeneration families not only in China, but even in Denmark and Peru. Just in China, it has been viewed 70 million times and received 2.3 million likes and 120,000 messages.
Foreign Media such as Huffington Post and Australia Broadcasting Corp News have described it as “charming” and “wholesome”.
“I have to give that to China. Family devotion is usually a strong value . ... Bravo,” said netizen Antoine Yupud.
Geng Shumin said she shot the video on a Sunday, when the entire family — 26 people — dined together to celebrate her father’s birthday. Each of the family’s five children is married and has children. Every weekend they stay at their parents’ home, where their grandma lives.
“The girl is my niece. The second woman is my sister. The third is my mother, and the fourth is my grandma,” Geng said.
“We did not expect our video would be viewed by so many people in and outside China,” Geng said.
“We are ordinary people and live an ordinary life. We are not rich, but we are happy and healthy.”
Foreigners living in China often comment on the traditional closeness of Chinese extended families.
The video is timely, with the approach of Spring Festival, when Chinese return to their hometowns for family reunions. In Chinese culture, it’s traditional for a nuclear family to live with their grandparents. Today, as young couples prefer to live on their own, big family reunions have become something to cherish.
Saman Pouyanmehr, an Iranian who runs the Global Foundation for Young Entrepreneurs at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, said, “Persian culture is much closer to Chinese than Western culture. In both, family is a core value. Persian culture is mainly based on love, patience, politeness and respect. You will find respect and love in the Chinese family and afterward politeness and patience. In general, in terms of family ties, both cultures are very, very similar.”
Ilya Cheremnikh, from Israel, founder of the Culture Yard Chinese-language school in Beijing, said: “As for Israel, it is somewhere in between China and the US and Northern Europe. Families are still quite close-knit, and it is very common in Israel to meet every Friday for dinner as well as on major holidays with the whole extended family.”
Jermane Ocampo McLoughlin, a business and marketing consultant who imports Chinese balloons to her native Philippines, said: “Among the cultural values that Filipinos take pride in are their close family ties. … We are taught that this has always been recognized as one of the core values of our families,” she said.
Geng said: “Whether Chinese or foreigners, I hope that the tradition of respecting the old and loving the young will flourish in every family. ... Family ties do not respect national boundaries — all the people of the world are a close family.”