Man traveling with 100 home-cooked flatbreads sets off wave of nostalgia

Pictures of Zang Tao, a man from Shandong province who now lives in Chengdu, Sichuan province, recently began circulating online, striking a chord with citizens around the country. In the photos, Zang is removing the breads from his overweight luggage at Nanjing Lukou International Airport on Feb. 2.

The flatbreads were made by Zang’s mother, who is in her 70s and lives in Shandong province, during the Spring Festival holiday. Knowing how much Zang enjoys her homemade Shandong bread, she spent over three hours preparing more than 100 rounds of the snack, and packed many extras for him to bring back to Chengdu. Besides the flatbreads, other local specialties also weighed down Zang’s luggage.

Since he is unable to see his parents often, Zang views this Spring Festival trip as a way to make up for lost time, so he was determined to carry home everything his mother prepared for him, no matter how difficult it would make his travel.

Moved by this devotion, the airline on which Zang was flying eventually agreed to waive the overweight luggage fee. 

Zang was surprised to learn about his sudden popularity online. He remarked,“maybe this strikes a chord with other people who cannot spend much time with their parents.”