Father And Daughter
Take The Same Photos For 41 Years

A Father's Love Through Time

Hua Yunqing - the story of my life:

Forty years ago, life was a melody filled with laughter. My quiet, brilliant love, Wang Shu, and our precious daughter, Huahua, were the music to my soul. Now, the melody has softened, tinged with bittersweet notes. Wang Shu's absence hangs heavy, a constant ache in my heart. Huahua, my sunshine, has blossomed into a woman, building a life far away. It feels like just yesterday we were a young family, yet somehow, six decades have slipped by in a blink.



Back then, wages were meager, film was a luxury, and developing photos cost a fortune. Each picture was a treasure, capturing fleeting moments.

One captured Huahua, barely a sprout, starting piano lessons at the Children's center. We, both swamped with work, couldn't be there every step of the way. But seeing her tiny fingers dance on the keys filled me with a pride that warmed my heart. Little did I know, piano would become a thread weaving through generations.


At that time, telephone numbers were only five digits. When I rode my bicycle to take my daughter home from school, my colleagues would often jokingly shout, "Captain Hua!" I asked them what they were shouting for, and they would smile and say, "We weren't shouting you. We were shouting Huahua."


As Huahua grew, life unfolded new chapters. In 1998, China and Japan exchanged students, and Huahua was selected to study in Japan. From then on, my daughter had to spend less time with us.

Huahua worked and studied in Japan, and passed the highest level Japanese language test in just one year. We are all very proud of her.

My daughter and I have taken photos together by the Jinshan Pagoda Lake in Zhenjiang every year since 1979.

A few years ago, a photo of a father and daughter from more than 30 years ago was exposed by the media. Many netizens asked: Why are there only photos of father and daughter, where is the mother? In fact, every year we are a family of three and go to take photos happily. But the photo of the three and the photo of the mother and daughter are not complete, only the photo of the father and daughter was exposed.


Later, Huahua met her Japanese husband and stayed in Japan. However, she would come back almost every year to take photos with me by the Jinshan Pagoda Lake in Zhenjiang. Only one year, she was so anxious that she cried when she couldn't go back to China. This is the last photo of our family by the lake.

In 2008, there was a happy event in our family. Our first granddaughter was born and my wife brought her home for the first time.


In 2009, we encountered a heartbreaking accident.

We had a car accident, I was in a coma for a month, and my lover left us forever. Sometimes when I was alone at home, I felt really sad when I thought about these things, but outside I would only show my optimistic side. Later, we had a second granddaughter. The older granddaughter always proudly "showed off" to the younger granddaughter: I have a photo of my grandma holding me, but you don't. The younger granddaughter was anxious, so she asked me to hold her, and we took an almost identical photo at this door.

Since my daughter went to study in Japan, my wife and I are the only ones left at home.

Every year on my wife's birthday, we play a little joke. I buy a cake the day before and hide it in the car. The next morning, I put the cake on the table and set it up. She would pretend to be surprised and ask, where did the cake come from? She always said: Cakes are so expensive, and we can't eat such sweets when we are old, so we should just not buy it. I think it makes sense, and I almost didn't buy it in 2008. But then I thought, how many years can two people be together? I bought it anyway. Fortunately, I bought it!

I still buy her a cake every year to celebrate her birthday.


Speaking of which, my lover and I have very different personalities.

My wife is quiet and successful at work. She was one of the first six certified public accountants in Zhenjiang. I am more outgoing and playful.

I wanted to travel around the world after retirement. She said she didn't want to travel around with me and only wanted to go to Egypt. But before I retired, I encountered the nightmare in 2009. In 2013, I went to Egypt and brought a photo of her with me. When my companions were not paying attention, I secretly took a photo of her in front of the Sphinx, which was a wish come true.

In the end, we were discovered by our sharp-eyed friends and everyone couldn't help crying.


After my lover passed away suddenly, I had to start living alone.

I live in a small building in Zhenjiang, with a small yard downstairs. In winter, snow sticks to the ground and freezes easily. The people living in the building are all old comrades, and I am the youngest, so I went downstairs to shovel snow for everyone. I also took a photo and posted it on WeChat Moments.

There are only a dozen permanent residents in the building, and everyone's children are either working in Beijing, Shanghai or Hangzhou, not in Zhenjiang. Neighbors often visit their children and stay for a few months, and I am no exception. I go to Japan once or twice a year to see my daughter and her family.


Every time I go to Japan, I bring a few Chinese books with me.

During the day, when the adults go to work and the children go to school, I am left alone, so I read books or go out for a walk. My clothes, shoes and hats are all bought by my daughter. She wants to dress me up as an old lady who conforms to international trends. Every time I go out, if I look at something for a while, she will buy it. Sometimes when I want to compare prices, she is worried that I will not be able to bear it, so she buys it immediately.

I think it's because she can't take care of me and is worried about me living alone, so she keeps thinking about making up for it. Now when I go shopping in Japan, I don't dare to look at her for a second, for fear that she will spend money recklessly.


Watching my two precious granddaughters practicing the piano at my daughter's house, I can't help but think of the time when I accompanied my daughters in practicing the piano and riding a bike, as if it was just yesterday.

I remember when my son-in-law came to our house for the first time, my wife quietly told me that my son-in-law not only plays the piano, but also plays better than Huahua. I asked my son-in-law to perform for us. After washing his hands respectfully, my son-in-law started to play the piano. I found that he really played better than my daughter.

Although I can't play the piano myself, I used to accompany my daughter in piano practice and can tell whether her performance is good or not.


In my daughter's small family, I can always hear the children's laughter and enjoy the family happiness.

My granddaughter is in the first grade in Japan. The school has issued uniforms and she needs to sew a number plate on the front of her clothes. I can sew, so I sewed it for her. Children who go to school in Japan have to wear short-sleeved shirts and shorts in winter. We elders feel sad when we see this, but we have to adapt to the local customs.


In addition to visiting my daughter's family, I also have hobbies such as photography, writing, traveling, and fitness. As I get older, my childhood friends have passed away one after another. Every time I attend a memorial service, I feel heavy-hearted and secretly resolve to live a better life.

In a year, I even travel for three or four months at most. I have traveled to 145 countries. I think the most suitable country to live in is Switzerland, and the food I hate the most is curry.

This photo shows me jumping in the Uyuni Salt Lake in Bolivia. I am short and always want to be taller! Haha, it's a waste of time!



When I travel abroad, people always think I am Japanese, which is very troublesome to explain. I just put a national flag or emblem on my clothes or hat, so that no one will misunderstand me!

Some people think that I must have spent a lot of money traveling abroad so frequently, but in fact I didn’t. My family is indeed well-off, but I often travel abroad on a budget. A group of my friends and I drove from Spain to Portugal for more than 20 days, plus the round-trip airfare from China, and each person spent 600 to 700 RMB a day ($82-$96). And now the translation software on mobile phones is very convenient, you don’t need to know the local language to travel around the world!


When I'm not traveling, I'm always busy in Zhenjiang: having dinner with friends, participating in various association activities, being invited to serve as a guest judge and supervisor... When I'm alone at home, I have a lot of things to do.

In the past, my mother always taught me that a person must learn more skills to survive. I updated the five lamp panels in my home by myself in two hours.


Since 1991, I have been getting up at 6 am to exercise and going to bed at 10 pm. After retirement, I usually get up in the morning to run, and then do some literary work in the morning, such as writing articles and editing photos. In the afternoon, I go to the gym. I swim 1,500 meters first, and then play with the equipment. It is also very painful to get up in the morning in winter, but I believe in the power of persistence, and I have persisted for more than 20 years.


For a while, when I was jogging in the morning, I could always see this old couple, walking hand in hand. I couldn't help but stop behind them. Looking at them, I thought, this is the most romantic thing in life!

Being together physically is just a reunion, but being together in heart is reunion. Of course, being together physically and mentally is the highest state of happiness.

I watch movies and TV shows occasionally. I remember the marriage scene in the TV series "A Good Man". It made me cry. The love between father and daughter was expressed in a special way.

In fact, until now, every time I attend a wedding, I still feel excited when I see the father hand his daughter's hand to the groom.


My daughter married and moved abroad, and we haven't celebrated the Lunar New Year together for many years. I usually go to Japan in December to celebrate Christmas and New Year's Day with my daughter and her family.

Many friends know our family situation and would enthusiastically invite me to their homes for a reunion dinner during the Spring Festival. I think it would be a bother for others if I went there. I would probably feel sad if I saw their families having fun together. So I would go traveling every year before the Spring Festival.

In fact, there was one time when I didn’t go out, but I “lied” to my friends and said I was not at home.


Every Mid-Autumn Festival, I would go to the mooncake factory to buy a few old-style mooncakes. My father liked the old-style mooncakes from Zhenjiang, not the more popular Cantonese-style mooncakes. He passed away around the Mid-Autumn Festival.

I just want to buy a few old-fashioned mooncakes to express my longing for him.


When I sort through old things at home from time to time, I can still find my daughter's childhood pledge and resolution: "I promise not to get married when I grow up. Huahua. August 26, 1987."

To be honest, this is the biggest regret of being an only child. As I get older, I gradually feel that it is better for my children to be around. Sometimes I feel a little regretful for letting my only daughter go to such a far place.


I took out the little notebook my wife gave me. It was the first gift she gave me. We were not dating at that time. She was a radio correspondent and she gave me the notebook as a gift. I used it to write down some diary entries.


I also found the clippings of my published articles. Since the first time that Zhenjiang City News published two tea-leaf-sized articles I wrote on April 13, 1982, my passion for writing has never diminished. Looking at these three clippings in front of me, I couldn't calm down.

I remember that in 1984, on my wife's 30th birthday, I used the three cents, five cents, and one dollar in royalties that I had saved to buy her a very thin 18K necklace. It cost less than 200 yuan ($27.50), but I was very proud of myself.


This is my childhood friend’s father, who is over 90 years old and also my online friend.

Chinese nursing homes usually have yards and gardens. Japanese nursing homes are usually located in remote areas and are not very big, but they have complete facilities and considerate services. The staff take good care of the elderly, just like their own children.

I dare not imagine what my situation will be like in ten or twenty years, but living in a nursing home seems to be the only way for families with only one child. I am very open-minded about it, unlike the older generation, who think that living in a nursing home means being abandoned by their children.


My daughter and her family come back to visit me once or twice a year, and we take photos together as usual. Zhenjiang is south of the Yellow River, and it is cold in winter and has no heating. I always used air conditioning in the winter, but it was too dry. A few years ago, my daughter was going to bring her granddaughter back home. I was worried that they were used to the heated environment in Japan and would get sick from the cold in Zhenjiang. So I spent 20,000 to 30,000 yuan ($2750 - $4125) to install radiators.


Time flies. Before I knew it, my lover has been gone for almost ten years, and my two granddaughters have grown up.

My granddaughter Pinya, who was not very good at Chinese, has also learned to read. When she returned to China in 2016 to visit her ancestors’ graves, she looked at the tombstone and said sadly: “My name is not on it.” I was very excited. Before the Qingming Festival in 2017, I asked someone to carve her name on it as well.


The "chronological" father-daughter photo of Huahua and I taken over 30 years ago has been widely reported by many media outlets.


The group photo of my father and daughter at the Jinshan Pagoda Lake in Zhenjiang continues. This is our 39th group photo on August 26, 2018. My daughter promised me that she would pass on the tradition of taking a group photo every year to her children.

Having lived to this age, I have experienced several life and death situations.

I understood a long time ago that childbirth is a gift from God that also depends on us, but leaving this world is inevitable.

In 1998, I was flying from New York to San Francisco. One of the plane's engines broke down, and the plane fell from an altitude of 10,000 meters to more than 4,000 meters, which was very dangerous. In 2000, I was diagnosed with cerebral hemorrhage, and the survival rate was said to be 3/1000. All the patients I knew had passed away. In 2009, I was in a car accident, my lover passed away, and I was in a coma for more than a month before I woke up.

The length of life cannot be controlled, I can only try to make my life more meaningful.