Chongqing- An ancient Chinese proverb says, “Festive seasons bring stronger feelings of missing home.” For Chinese people, the Spring Festival is a time for reunion. The protagonist of today’s episode also holds an earnest longing to return home. Her name is Dorothy. Decades ago, she spent her childhood in Chongqing; years later, her story became the centerpiece of writer Hairao’s new book My Homeland Is in China. In this special episode of Let’s Meet, let us step into Dorothy’s memories of Nanshan.
My Homeland Is in China: The China Memories of an Elderly German Woman
On December 30, 2025, the launch of writer Hairao’s new book My Homeland Is in China was held at Chongqing Nanshan Clessence Bookstore. The book tells the story of Dorothy, an elderly woman from Germany who spent her childhood in Chongqing—an experience that bound her life closely to China. In 2018, while translating Hanna’s Chongqing in Germany, Hairao happened to learn of Dorothy’s connection to the city. Determined to preserve this rare and valuable memory, she conducted what she calls “salvage interviews” with Dorothy, who was 87 at the time, and carried out extensive archival verification. After two years of work, the book was completed. Sadly, Dorothy passed away one year before its publication. Now, in honor of this long-awaited book launch and to fulfill their mother’s final wish to return to her hometown, Dorothy’s eleven descendants have traveled all the way to Chongqing for a reunion across time.
Half Pain, Half Joy: Dorothy’s Nanshan Years
In early 1941, five-year-old Dorothy moved with her parents to Chongqing and lived on Nanshan at the former site of the German Embassy. There, she spent a childhood filled with the wild charm of the mountains—climbing trees on Nanshan, enjoying Chinese food, and speaking fluent Sichuan-accented Mandarin. Yet the shadow of war never lifted. The Chongqing bombings left an indelible wound in her memory. With joy and pain intertwined, Chongqing became the most unique hometown in Dorothy’s heart. In 1955, at the age of 19, Dorothy left China and settled in Europe, later making her home in Switzerland. She passed away in 2024. Her greatest wish in life was to return to Nanshan in Chongqing with her grandchildren, to the old house filled with the light and shadows of her childhood. “Going home” became the dream she never got to fulfill, and a promise her descendants are determined to keep.
Donating Keepsakes: Letting Longing Return to Where It Began
On December 30, 2025, the stone paths of Nanshan once again heard familiar footsteps. Dorothy’s two sons, accompanied by their children, traveled thousands of miles to complete their mother’s final homecoming. They brought back not only her longing, but also a heavy trunk. Inside were the treasures Dorothy had kept all her life: a small embroidered bib made by the family’s nanny in Chongqing, worn childhood shoes, toys from her early years, and yellowed documents. Each item tells a piece of the German girl’s story. Carefully, they were placed in the room that had once been her bedroom. After crossing oceans, these keepsakes returned to the very place where the story began. In this way, Dorothy completed her journey home—another kind of return.
Seeing a New Chongqing: Experiencing the Mountain City’s Transformation
In fact, this is not the first time Dorothy’s family has returned to Chongqing. In 1987, Dorothy came back to Nanshan with her two sons. Now, as her descendants stand once again by the Yangtze River, the city before them has been completely transformed—like a cyber world out of a science-fiction film. Her eldest son marveled at the view, saying it felt “like a new world.” The youngest son recalled that the area had been poor and underdeveloped back then, but today the streets are orderly, bridges span the river, and Chongqing has grown into a truly world-class metropolis. The grandchildren, too, admitted that visiting the place where their grandmother once lived filled them with joy—and with deep reflection.
The shadow of war has long faded into history, yet the profound bond between Dorothy and Chongqing has evolved into an enduring tie that connects her family to the city. Today’s Chongqing still bears the imprints of old times, while brimming with the dynamic vitality of modernization. Dorothy never truly departed. Bearing her longing and last wish, her descendants have carried forward this transnational bond as they witnessed the tremendous transformation of the mountain city. And so this time-defying journey home has come to a fulfilling conclusion against the fresh, new visage of the times.