How come college students become "Dehua" when they go home for the New Year?

　　【Editor's note】

　　Year after year, the way of celebrating the Spring Festival changes. Since when did the family problem of "go to your house for the New Year or go to my house for the New Year" have a new solution; since when did the social relationships during the Spring Festival have been quietly reconstructed... Year after year, the same Spring Festival continues Witness new phenomena, give birth to new careers, and bring new feelings. China News Network launched the "New Spring Festival Illustrated Book" plan to record the changes in annual customs and freeze the changing China.

　　China News Service, Beijing, February 13 (Wei Xianghui) During this year’s Spring Festival holiday, “College Student Dehua” has become a group that has attracted much attention on the Internet. After returning home during the winter vacation, they took on the heavy responsibility of taking care of their brother or sister's children, just like the role of Jiang Dehua in the TV series "Parents' Love", and they were called "College Student Dehua".

  Image source: Stills from "Parents' Love"

"College student Dehua" is back!

　　I had a good Spring Festival this year, and the "Dehuas" in my family were indispensable.

　　Dehua was originally the younger sister of the male protagonist in the TV series "Parents' Love". She helped raise five nieces and nephews while the male and female protagonists were busy at work. One of the famous scenes is when De Hua, after helping his brother and sister-in-law raise three children, learned that his sister-in-law was pregnant with twins again: I'll forget it because I'm exhausted!

　　Nowadays, college students who go home during the holidays have become Dehua, taking care of their children during the holidays for their brothers, sisters-in-law, or sisters-in-law. In the past month, content about "College Student Dehua" has repeatedly appeared on social media hot search lists.

　　Zhao Yutang, who just entered his sophomore year this year, can be regarded as a "senior Dehua". Due to work reasons, her brother-in-law is away from home all year round, while her sister, parents, and parents all have their own jobs. So since her sister gave birth to her first child, as an aunt, she began to help share the burden of raising the child, changing diapers and feeding the child from childhood until the child grew older.

  Zhao Yutang and his two nephews together. Photo provided by the interviewee

　　Currently, the eldest nephew is 5 years old and the younger nephew is 2 years old. From Zhao Yutang's point of view, raising children is not a troublesome thing. With the full support of her sister and brother-in-law, she said, "I can handle it if I get used to it."

　　In contrast, Kangkang, who majored in preschool education, is more comfortable raising children. During her internship, she took care of a group of children about the same age as her family, and also took care of her younger sister and cousin's children. The experience even made it easier for her to get recognized as an intern.

　　Kangkang said that now she and her nephew are almost inseparable, and her time for socializing and entertainment has been significantly reduced. "Sometimes my partner contacts me, but I can't get in touch at all." From Kangkang's point of view, although the process of raising children is very hard, she feels very gratified to be able to watch her children make little progress in all aspects.

  Kangkang and his nephew together. Photo provided by the interviewee

A way to maintain family ties

　　In addition to the fact that the topic of parenting has its own traffic on the Internet itself, the reason why "College Student Dehua" became popular may also be related to the fact that in recent years, how to maintain the relationship between the younger generation has received attention.

　　Hu Xiaowu, associate professor of the Department of Sociology at Nanjing University, wrote in the paper "Young people's "disconnection": Why does it happen? "Where to Go From Here" proposed the concept of "disconnection" and defined it as a phenomenon in which people almost no longer interact and communicate with relatives within the second generation. This paper once caused heated discussion.

　　When kinship ties are no longer an important social support network, one wonders what the family structure of younger generations will look like.

　　There is a popular saying on the Internet: "College students go home during the holidays and do housework to maintain family ties." Whether taking care of children or taking the initiative to do housework, it is not difficult to see that contemporary young people are already consciously consolidating family relationships.

　　Compared with Dehua in the TV series, Zhao Yutang believes that they are similar in that they live in a big loving family and help each other. In the TV series, Dehua selflessly helped his sister-in-law raise their children because of their brother-sister relationship. She also grew up with her sister. Naturally, they should understand and help each other. This is what brothers and sisters should do. The difference is that her sister probably won't have so many.

Go in both directions instead of forcing it

　　Ms. Chen believes that having someone help her take care of her children can help her, who is married far away, to eliminate the sense of strangeness to her new family. It also makes her relationship with her children's aunt become more like sisters.

　　Although Ms. Chen's "Dehua" is only a freshman in college, he has been helping her take care of her child since she was in confinement. The child is now 9 months old.

  Ms. Chen’s child’s aunt helps take care of her child. Photo provided by the interviewee

　　"The child doesn't want to be hugged by his mother when he sees his aunt. Although he is a college student, he is very considerate. When it is windy when he goes out to play, his aunt will wrap the child's head with a blanket." Ms. Chen's child's father and grandparents both have jobs. She was busy, and her family was far away and couldn't come over. It happened that the child's aunt was on vacation at that time, so she offered to accompany her.

　　Ms. Chen recalled that her aunt’s hands were shaking when she held the child for the first time. Slowly learn to change diapers, hold the child to sleep, play, and later change clothes, shoes, and help with bathing. "The aunt loves the child, the child loves the aunt, and everyone goes in both directions."

　　After "College Student Dehua" became popular, some people believed that this phenomenon should not be taken for granted. In this regard, Ms. Chen said that first of all, everyone's rights must be respected, and no one must be forced to help themselves. There is no such rule. She is very grateful to her children's aunts who take the initiative to help, and usually gives them new clothes, cosmetics, etc. as gifts.

　　"In some places, when you give birth to a child, you will want someone to help. This is human nature. But it is wrong to force others or criticize them because your aunt doesn't come," said Ms. Chen. (over)