MACHANG: For the the past 70 years, 100-year-old Tan Ban Sing had been celebrating the Chinese New Year with his beloved wife Kua Yok Ting at the couple's wooden home here.
This year, however, the Year of the Dragon bears no meaning for him as Kua died in September at the age of 96.
Tan still celebrated the lunar new year with his children and nine grandchildren, but the emptiness has swallowed him whole.
"For me, this year's Chinese New Year celebration will not be the same like before. If before this, my wife will be the busiest person making all the preparations to welcome the festival.
"But this year, she was not with me and l am not in the mood to celebrate the Year of Dragon," he said when met at his home today.
Tan said his wife died three months after she slipped and fell on a concrete floor while heading to her farm.
"Of course, my children and grandchildren tried to make me happy yesterday. But while eating mandarin oranges, l think about my wife and her sweet smiles.
"Our 70 years of marriage were filled with happiness and l really missed these moments," said the father of five.