Thoughts on Reading Liang Shiqiu's Memories of Qingdao

I once dreamed that if I could retire safely one day, I would always find a more comfortable place to live. It's not that I don't know the carefree truth

A volume of poetry under the tree,

A pot of wine, a loaf of bread—

You're still singing with me in the desert-

Ah, the desert is heaven!

This is just talk. The desert can't be a paradise for long. I have no illusions. I just want to find a place where I can live for a long time. I am from Beiping, and I have never regarded Beiping as an ideal place. Beiping has experienced many vicissitudes from prosperity to decline, from elegance to vulgarity, and there is no concept of revival. Although my footprint is not wide, I have traveled through more than a dozen provinces from Liaodong in the north to Baiyue in the south. I think Qingdao should be a real place to linger.

After living in Qingdao for four years, the past is like smoke. Now, after half a century, the personnel are completely different, and the mountains and rivers are different. A place that can live for a long time has become an ethereal place! Hey!

I accidentally saw a fragment of Liang Shiqiu's "Recalling Qingdao" on a postcard, so I dug out this short article and read it carefully. In a short space, the history, geographical location, four seasons, mountains and rivers, beaches, sea and food (including vegetables, fruits and seafood) of Qingdao were written, which condensed the love and human feelings of a generation of literary masters for this land.

In Liang Shiqiu's view, Qingdao has good mountains, good water, good meals, good houses and good people. "From the perspective of weather, geography, people and so on, it is decided that this place is suitable for settlement."

His article also successfully reminded me of Qingdao. Qingdao is the first city I left my hometown and walked into. During the four and a half years I lived there, I had the best college time and a period when I first entered the society.

The first group activity organized by the class was to go to Badaguan. A classmate in Qingdao said that there was a scenic spot called Huashi Mountain Villa. When I first entered the city, I was actually like Grandma Liu who went to the Grand View Garden, and I couldn't understand the architectural style at all. Along the quiet and long road, everyone walked to the seaside with laughter. Those immature faces emerge one by one at the moment, and the laughter of youth seems to be still ringing in my ears.

On the beach in the evening, there are probably bitter tears we shed. In those romantic nights when we count the stars on the beach, our hesitation and confusion are also flowing, which is related to our studies, feelings and illusory future.

On the campus by the sea, I have the figure of running in the morning and the sound of reading in the morning, leaving those who pretend to work hard. But now that I think about it, I have always been playing with tickets. I have never really studied hard, but I have always been superficial and satisfied with that narcissism. In fact, I wasted my best years. For the first time, these words like confessions flowed from the pen, which was quite a helpless but sad feeling of "young people don't work hard and old disciples are sad".

It's almost twenty years since I left Qingdao, and now every time I go back, I look for the pancake we had for breakfast. Put a little radish or cabbage stuffing in the middle of the pie, and it tastes delicious when you think of it. In college, I used to get up early to buy breakfast for my classmates in the dormitory. There is also the Qingdao wonton that was treasured in those days. Money was limited at that time. Eating a big bowl of wonton, putting a little seasoning and buying a kebab is a rare ritual feeling of having a toothache sacrifice, which can only be enjoyed at an extraordinary moment.

Qingdao, which is thousands of miles away for twenty years, is like a flame, like a warm sun, containing me, whether it is joy or desolation, joy or loneliness, as always.