There are two things that always brought a special sparkle to my paternal grandfather’s (yeye’s) eyes when he talked about them. First was his time as an Air Force engineer in 1950s China, where he worked alongside Soviet engineers at the height of Sino-Soviet cooperation. The second, he would always say with a gentle smile, was having me as his granddaughter.

When pancreatic cancer found him at age 85, he could no longer tell stories about fixing military aircraft engines, but he held onto his second pride and joy until the end – the granddaughter who stayed by his side through his final days.

当你老了