XIAMEN, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- For migrant worker Yang Changqun, home is where the hometown flavor is. This is especially true on Lantern Festival, an important occasion for family gathering, which falls Tuesday.
Instead of cooking for his family thousands miles away, Yang, 51, cooked with several other co-workers for a special reunion lunch in the communal kitchen at a construction site in Xiamen, east China's Fujian Province.
The communal kitchen is an 18-square-meter room containing a gas stove, kitchen sinks with running water, vegetable oil and common condiments. It was set up in August 2017, allowing workers to cook their own meals for free and satisfy their craving for comfort food from home.
"I haven't spent the Lantern Festival with my family for at least 10 years. I miss them so much," Yang said. "Thanks to the communal kitchen, we can gather together and cook our hometown flavor."
Yang, from Tongren city of southwest China's Guizhou Province, has worked as a carpenter on the construction site for more than two years.
When Yang was stir-frying the sausage made by his relatives from home, Han Feng, a 31-year-old companion ladder chauffeur, was skilfully cutting cucumber.
The dish he's preparing is named Rich Harvest, a famous dish from northeast China's Heilongjiang Province where Han comes from.
"With cucumbers, carrots, cabbages, onions and soy sauce, it not only looks colorful but tastes good," he said. "I wish my friends a harvest year in 2019."
Over two hours, more than 10 various hometown dishes were finished. Migrant workers sat around the table, eating, drinking and gossiping.
China has around 280 million rural migrant workers in cities who have made tremendous contribution to the country's development.
According to Lin Binbin, who is in charge of logistics at the construction site, they have more than 400 migrant workers from over 10 provinces across China.
The Lantern Festival, known as Yuanxiao in Chinese, is the last day of the two-week Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations. It falls on the 15th day of the first month of the Chinese lunar calendar, when a full moon appears.
"Most of our migrant workers have returned from home, starting their work in the new year," she said. "In the communal kitchen, they can prepare for a feast. Home is where the hometown flavor is."
"We really miss our family members especially on holidays. However, we work together on the construction site, and cook and eat together in the communal kitchen like family members," construction worker Wang Xiuqiong said. "It is warm and cozy."
