Time I started to repay lifetime of debt to my folks

"No matter how old you are, in the eyes of your mother, you're always a sweet baby in need of constant care." It's a statement that epitomizes a mother's unconditional love for her child, including my own mother, who whenever I go back home lavishes me the gentle treatment usually reserved for infants.

She does my laundry the minute I shed the outfit I traveled in, even if it's only what I'd regard as 20-percent dirty. She serves me home-cooked meals and then takes care of the washing up, as well as bans me from any family chore. She constantly bombards me with fruit and other snacks so my mouth is never idle.

During the recent Spring Festival holiday, she braved the cold morning weather to stand for five hours outside a train ticket window so I could have a sleeper bunk and doze as I headed back to Beijing. She goes out of her way to care for me to make up for the times when I'm not around.