Zhong'ai Restaurant

Editor's Note:

This year marks the 105th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the opening year of the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30). A new year begins with new resolve and new momentum. The call to "fight for our dreams and our happiness, and turn our great vision into beautiful realities" continues to inspire action across China.

In the column "New Year on the Frontlines," reporters from the People's Daily traveled to the grass roots to witness the vitality of a vast nation, see its mountains and rivers in motion and its fields in abundance, and listen to the stories of people finding fulfillment in both life and work. 

Through these stories, the column seeks to present a vivid portrait of Chinese modernization. 

At 4am outside the Jianheyuan community in Chang'an district, Shijiazhuang in North China’s Hebei Province, the wind stung like needles against the skin. The sign of a small restaurant suddenly flickered on, casting a faint glow in the cold night.

“Is this Zhong'ai Restaurant?” A few young people who looked like students asked as they pushed open the glass door and peered in.  

By the stove, a woman peeling potatoes looked up, paused, and smiled. “Are you the new volunteers? Welcome, welcome! My name is Lü Xiaoyan. I volunteer here as well.”

She turned, took red volunteer vests from a cupboard and handed them out one by one, then briskly assigned tasks: peeling, washing, chopping, clearing dishes. The clatter of pots and pans, the volunteers' laughter, and the bubbling of stew in a big iron pot quickly filled the small shop with warmth.

The Zhong'ai Restaurant in Chang'an district is a charity kitchen that provides free breakfasts for nearby sanitation workers, couriers and others who begin their shifts before dawn. 

Since Chinese New Year's Eve 2024 (February 9, 2024), the restaurant has been open every day from 4 am until about 7 am, operating year-round, including during the Spring Festival. For more than 700 consecutive days, operating three hours each morning, it has served nearly 100,000 breakfasts. 

In bringing warmth to others and themselves.

“There's no big reason — we just want sanitation workers and other early risers to be able to have a hot meal,” said one of the restaurant’s founders, Wu Manquan, as he stirred a large pot and spoke with the reporters.

At first there were only the “old Wu” couple and a few friends. Each day they made their way through the dark to cook porridge and prepare dishes, often exhausted and still expected to work their regular day jobs. Before long, “old Wu” had lost more than 10 jin (5 kilograms).

Kindness is like a beam of light: once it shines, it is seen and shared. 

When the restaurant faced its hardest times, the Women's Federation of Chang'an district and the local women entrepreneurs’ association came to help; students from Shijiazhuang Jin Liulin Foreign Language School showed up; nearby residents also joined as volunteers. The restaurant’s volunteer WeChat group grew from a handful of people to more than 260.

By 6 am, the restaurant’s long tables were laid with hot stews, steamed buns and porridge. Sanitation workers finishing their early shifts came in one after another. They moved tables and chairs and lined up quietly. Faces chilled and stiffened by the cold gradually softened into smiles.  

“We used to bring our own dry food and gnaw on cold steamed buns in winter. Now we can have hot meals and porridge — it feels good,” sanitation worker Zhang Quanfeng said.

The “old Wu” couple can recount many of their patrons' stories. Most are not talkative, but they always respond to kindness with the simplest actions — helping to clean up, sweeping the floor, even bringing rice or flour from home to contribute.

At about 7 am, as dawn neared, the restaurant quieted. “I brought my child here to learn; but I ended learning something myself,” said volunteer Miao Yan, who had come with her child and now rolled up her sleeves to join the team.

Watching the steady stream of volunteers and their smiling faces, “old Wu” feels reassured. “As more people pay attention and join, I have more confidence to keep going,” he said.

Today, the Wu couple’s greatest wish is to run Zhong'ai Restaurant around the clock, so that community members and patients from nearby hospitals always have a warm place to turn to when they need one.

Outside, the sky was growing lighter, and the biting edge of the wind had eased. After finishing his meal, Zhang Quanfeng mopped the floor, wiped the tables and took out the trash. With everything tidied, he waved at old Wu and stepped out into the morning light.

Tomorrow, warmth will still be passed from here.