Homecoming can be a journey of discovery

The lure of the hometown remains strong for those who left, seeking opportunity amid pastures new. Visiting a place that we left can bring a kaleidoscope of emotions.

After staying in the capital as a beipiao (Beijing drifter), a term used for those struggling at the periphery, for nine years, singer Qin Hao announced on his Sina Weibo account on Dec 25 that he had moved back to his hometown in Southwest China's Chongqing city.

Like many who took the same journey, the 34-year-old has mixed feelings toward his hometown. He was once impatient to leave and applied to study, at 19, at Jilin Animation Institute in North China's Jilin province, far away from his hometown. He drifted in Beijing for nearly a decade.

In 2017, Qin went back to his hometown for a month to explore the relationship between himself and where he grew up. He put down his feelings on paper and took scores of photos, which are collected in a recently published book Dear Passersby.

In 2010, Qin who had tried various jobs, like illustrator, photographer and art teacher in several cities after graduating in 2009, organized a folk music band called Good Meimei with Zhang Xiaohou who worked as an engineer at that time. They then gave up their jobs and went full time into making the band a success. Their first album Spring Time, which cost only 2,000 yuan ($291) to make, sold 5,000 copies in 2012.

The songs of Good Meimei are melodious, soft and warm, a far cry from his upbringing.

"Qin sometimes recalls his childhood in an amusing tone, but nobody knows how many tears he shed and the sense of helplessness in his early life," says online message board Zhihu user Miao'er, a fervent fan. "I want to have a time travel and embrace the lonely boy."