It is 5 p.m. Beijing Time on July 25. This is the first time I, Brother Gu, write an episode of *Casual Talks on Sensors* via in-flight Wi-Fi mid-air. As the satellite signal shifts when flying across different national airspaces, the internet connection remains highly unstable.

I traveled to Budapest, Hungary last month, and now I’m heading there again on purpose. My goal is to finalize a production plant for Chinastar M&C’s sensors and transmitters in Hungary, Europe, so we can supply products to European and American clients with higher efficiency.

This morning, I took a Ctrip ride-hailing vehicle from downtown to Xi’an Xianyang International Airport. My driver was a 60-year-old man eager to chat.

“How’s your business this year?” Brother Gu asked.“Terrible,” the driver replied. “I only get two or three rides a day. The overall market is sluggish: fewer passengers, yet far more drivers.”“Xi’an is in peak tourist season right now. Shouldn’t business be booming? What’s the reason?” I asked again.“Tourists have less disposable income these days. Many skip taxis and ride-hailing cars to take subways or city buses instead; group tours also rarely book private rides, so passenger numbers have dropped sharply. Meanwhile, the pool of ride-hailing drivers is expanding rapidly. College students take up this job during summer vacation, plus staff from state-owned institutions hit by poor business turn to ride-hailing as a fallback—even bus drivers do this. With fewer customers and more competitors, it’s inevitable that business has turned tough.”

Dear readers, is this the reality everywhere these days?

We chatted about all kinds of topics. Even though his daily earnings are modest, the driver lives without anxiety thanks to his small pension. As a member of the generation born in the 1960s, he believes modern society is vastly better than it was three or four decades ago, so he stays cheerful.

When our conversation turned to his son, who serves in the military, I commented that military personnel enjoy decent benefits nowadays. He agreed and said such rewards are well-deserved.

He then told me about his father-in-law, a war hero of the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea, who counted himself incredibly lucky just to return home alive. During a battle, he tumbled down a mountain and accidentally fell into a lime kiln. He lay unconscious for a long time with his lips submerged in limewater, leaving one side of his lips permanently curled and disfigured; no corrective treatment could fix the scarring. After returning to China, his disfigured appearance made it nearly impossible for him to find a wife. Eventually, the Party organization stepped in to help. When officials asked what kind of woman he preferred, he said he hoped for a girl from his hometown Shandong. Authorities then located a young woman from Shandong and brought her to Shaanxi to meet him. Her entire family accompanied her for the visit, but upon seeing his war-disfigured face, they refused the match and headed back to Shandong. After a month of mediation, the young woman returned to Shaanxi, and the two finally tied the knot.

He also spoke of his maternal uncle, a veteran Red Army soldier. After the victory of the revolution, he was already advanced in years and had never married, so the Party organization once again arranged a match for him. When the young bride-to-be asked how old he was, he smiled and replied, “That’s classified Party information; I cannot tell you.” They still went ahead with the marriage. More than a decade into their union, his wife finally learned he was eighteen years her senior.

What exactly is marriage? It is deeply intertwined with the social context of its era; modern marital values simply cannot explain the unions forged under those historical circumstances.

I cannot help but reflect: we ought to remember not only the heroic men who fought through wartime, but also the countless ordinary women who sacrificed their personal lives to stand beside them in marriage.

Today’s discussion may seem far removed from sensors, yet these thoughts came straight from my heart.

#Flight FM891 | Xi’an to Budapest | 18:06, July 25, 2025#