Sweetness and light nourish office worker bees

Office "worker bees" in their 30s and 40s like myself, worn out by the daily stress and strain of living in busy Beijing, have become increasingly blunted emotionally. On most weekdays we look as sulky as the wintry weather.

But small gestures, especially from those around us, can sometimes touch our hearts.

My friends and I shared our experiences at noon the other day. During our lunchtime get-together my colleague, Mr Pan, told me his parents had come from Suzhou in East China's Jiangsu province to join his family in the Chinese capital. And that's where he began his story.