On the glory road home

We met her when my mother-in-law was hospitalized a few years back, and we offered her a job, her own room and a steady income when the old lady was discharged.

Our belief in her has paid off handsomely, and she is now a valued member of the household who looks after everybody, including our two little French bulldogs. They are the ones visibly pining for her, but they are not the only ones missing her.

To help her get her ideal daughter-in-law, Ayi has been hoarding gold.

In her village, it is the custom to give five pieces of solid gold jewelry to the girl as soon as the marriage date is set, and I have been actively conspiring to help her get the best.

In the past year, each time I visited my mother in Hong Kong, I have bought back gold earrings, a bracelet and a necklace. Three down, two to go, but we will complete the quota when Ayi returns from her Spring Festival leave and tells me whether she has found the ideal girl.

While I would never dream of interfering with my son's choice of a life partner, it is still very much part of the parents' duty in rural China to make sure the children get married off.

Ayi's son seems very phlegmatic about her schemes, and they are probably meeting a series of marital prospects even as you read this.

This is the China that very few foreigners come into contact with, but this is as much a part of the nation as the glistening metropolises with their bright lights and high life.

My nanny is like the backbone of the country. She has all the earthy qualities that make us believe that China can be anything it wants to be, and the sparkle in her eyes-they light up the world brighter than any urban neon installations.

Related: Looking back, looking ahead

Pony tales for the new year

Moon landings and Chinese grandmas

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