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In some countries, it's quite traditional for people in their late teens and early 20s to live at home with their parents, but in other places, flying the nest to start their own independent life is very desirable. But there's been a growing trend, in the UK at least, for young people to return home to live — or not to leave home at all.

A survey by a price comparison website found that 18% of adult children in the UK said they were moving back home because of debt, compared with 8% last year. More young people had lost their jobs, and others couldn't afford their rent compared with the previous year. So, it's easy to see why they're increasingly becoming home birds.

The BBC's Lucy Hooker explains that many returning adult children enjoy home comforts. But for the "hoteliers", that's mum and dad; the survey found the average cost to them has gone up sharply, and that they are sacrificing luxuries and holidays to look after their "big kids". Emma Craig from Money supermarket says "they're trying to look after their children more. If your child comes home and you see them struggling financially, you feel more awkward asking them for rent or to contribute. It tugs on your heartstrings more."

With parents splashing out around￡1,886 on takeaway food, buying new furniture and upgrading their Wi-Fi for the benefit of their offspring, it's easy for the returning children to put their feet up and make themselves at home. That's before they learn a home truth — that one day it might be their own kids who'll be checking into the hotel of mum and dad!

Wu Mingzhu was born in 1930 into a scholarly family in Wuhan city. After her graduation in 1953, she was assigned to work in Beijing. But Wu had already set her eyes on her long-awaited goal. "What I studied was the science of fruit and vegetables. I wanted to work in the fields, not in an office," said Wu.

In 1955, Wu voluntarily went to work in Shanghai County, Turpan Basin, where working conditions were quite hard. She found that the Hami melon, a rare specialty fruit which was once common in the area, was in danger of becoming extinct if not properly cultivated (种植). Wu spent years visiting over 300 production teams, picking out 44 melon varieties. She overcame a variety of difficulties to produce particularly delicious melons in a scientific way, winning over the local farmers accustomed (习惯的) to folk cultivation methods. Then the promotion area covered most of Xinjiang's main commodity (商品) areas, and a group of melon-rich villages appeared.

For more than 60 years, Wu Mingzhu and her team have cultivated more than 30 varieties, brought the sweetness of melons to people, and promoted the melon series with Chinese characteristics and a complete breeding innovation system to the world. When first hearing her nickname of "a pearl in the Turpan Basin", Wu said, "In Xinjiang, there are thousands of science and technology workers like me. They have worked hard for decades on the frontline of agriculture. I'm just one of the ordinary ones."