Nai's personal life

From "Prince Butterfly" to "Fables of China" (I)

● North and South

His first butterfly specimen was made at the age of 6.

I can't wait to take off my raincoat and check my photographic equipment. Fortunately, the camera and film are well protected. This is my fifth day waiting for Papilio on the top of Jianfengling, the highest peak in the south of Hainan Island. Papilio is a first-class protected animal in China. Four days later, this world-famous rare butterfly species, praised by experts as "the butterfly in the dream", still has not appeared. Only a few Japanese people saw it here a few years ago, and they tried their best to exaggerate it after returning home, because it was one of the few discoveries about Papilio in the world.

-Nye's Butterfly Following Dreams

This is a passage I read in Zhao Li's "China Insect Graphic". Let's have a rest between Nye and the magical Papilio. Let's start with how I met him.

One day in September last year, a group of scholars in Chengdu met for tea at Daci Temple. The tea party gave me the impression that it was not the usual gossip of Chengdu people, but an "informal business meeting". Zhuang Yong, the editor of China Youth Society from Beijing to Chengdu, obviously has a mission, so he keeps talking with the audience about books and publishing. At that time, my impression of Nai was that when a friend introduced him as "Prince Butterfly of China", two shy red clouds of big boys appeared on his face, wearing close-up glasses. He brought several volumes of butterfly monographs published in Taiwan Province Province and business cards distributed to people in the venue, but I was a little surprised: "Curator of Chengdu Butterfly Museum" and "Butterfly Expert". I didn't expect there to be such a fascinating butterfly museum in Chengdu, but this "shy big boy" turned out to be the curator of this museum.

Then one day, I read a magazine called Nature Exploration, and an article about insects made me an amateur insect lover feel very cordial. Look at the author. It's Nai. It seems that Prince Butterfly is not completely devoted to butterflies, but is actually surrounded by an entire insect world.

Nye has been an insect fan since he was a child. When he was very young, he liked to catch beetles, cicadas, dragonflies and other insects. The colorful and beautiful butterflies inspired his infinite infatuation. It is said that his first butterfly specimen was made at the age of 6. This is not an official specimen, just a butterfly pinned to a carton. But it was this humble butterfly specimen that foretold the fate of his life. By the time he was a freshman, he was already a real expert in making insect specimens, and he had made more than 1000 specimens of various animals and plants by himself. His mother said, "These specimens filled a small attic where he lived."

There is one detail that particularly moved me. At that time, when Nye's father discovered his son's fascination with insects, he didn't think it would delay his studies like ordinary parents, but said to his family, "He likes insects, so let him play." So, in their home, there are often all kinds of insects he brought back crawling on the ground and flying in the air. When he was in primary school, his parents squeezed money out of his meager salary to buy him extracurricular popular science books, and took him to a distant relative's house in Ya 'an mountain area every holiday, because all kinds of insects could be collected there.

Besides, Nye has a beautiful sister, Zhao Xi, who volunteered to be his assistant. Zhao Xi is an art student, because he and his brother have been playing with insects and catching butterflies in the mountains since childhood, so they have the same curiosity and love for the insect world. Now, she simply left her art major and became a full-time assistant of Nye.

In Nye's macro lens.

According to the literature, there are less than 20 existing specimens of this butterfly in the world, and the British first collected 3 butterflies in Lianping County, Guangdong Province in April of 1922. After being published as a new species, the type specimens are kept in the Natural Museum in London, England. More than 60 years have passed, and it has only been seen again in some primitive mountainous areas such as Wuyishan in Fujian, Dinghu Mountain in Guangdong and Jianfengling in Hainan. Butterfly researchers and collectors all over the world are eager for it, and animal specimen makers are even willing to pay a big price for it. The bid has reached tens of thousands of dollars, which is the most expensive butterfly species in the world. China's List of National Key Protected Wild Animals lists it as a protected animal at the same level as the giant panda. This is the only one of more than 1400 butterflies known in China.

People know almost nothing about the living conditions of Papilio in the wild. Only a few foreign explorers used telephoto lenses to capture unclear photos of it flying in the treetops, while no one in China has taken a "beautiful picture" of it.

-Nye's Butterfly Following Dreams

That's the way things are in the world. When you are interested in someone or something, the opportunity for contact naturally comes. This is the case with Nai and the insects he photographed, as well as with me and my interviewee Nai.

I can imagine Nye falling into the insect world alone. For more than ten years, insects have always attracted his eyes and cameras with their wordless beauty, whether in distant Shan Ye or in the city around him. In addition to traveling in a planned way and exploring the rare insects hidden in the deserted mountains, on weekends, as long as the weather is fine, he will drive to the suburbs, or even simply look for the insect world neglected by us city people in parks, green spaces and gardens in the city. In Nye's macro lens, the faces of small creatures that we always thought were very familiar with showed all kinds of amazing looks.

Morning and evening are good times for Nye to observe and photograph insects. Because of the low temperature, insects that people can't get close to at ordinary times often stay there honestly, waiting for your arrival. "As long as you understand their activities, you can appreciate their different side from usual. Butterflies that fly around during the day will quietly land on the back of a leaf or petal at night. " For general photography, early morning and dusk are golden moments. For insect photography, although the dim light in the morning and evening will affect the clarity of those little things, for Nai, they can get extra compensation. "Not only can they make you approach without refusing, but the soft natural light will give you a very warm effect-there is an insect with a wet wing on the dewdrop-hanging plant. Against the backdrop of the newborn red sun or the sunset glow in the sky, the contrasting backlight will clearly outline the outlines of various insects. If you can let the protagonist block the brightest part of the background, you will get a silhouette of an insect, and the background happens to be a gorgeous sky. " This morning light made him harvest many unexpected and exquisite works. From those photos, we can even see that under the care of light, the wings of owls or the legs of forest spiders shine with crystal luster under strong light, just like crystal gem crafts!

His sensitivity and obsession with insects is almost to the extreme. Even in the city, at every moment of daily life, as long as any kind of insect appears beside him, he will consider how to observe its behavior and shoot its angle without exception. Nye said that between 10 am and 4 pm, it is the prime time to shoot insects. "Sunlight means that insects can get more heat and become more active. For these small animals that can't keep their body temperature, once the temperature drops, they will immediately become lazy and look lifeless. " In Nai's lens, many photos of insects flying at high speed were also taken, such as butterflies and bees coming and going over the flower beds; Big dragonflies like jet fighters cruise along the current; Beautiful and delicate damselflies are hooked together in pairs; Syrphids shuttle between grass stems. ...

One night not long ago, I had just traveled from the virtual world of the Internet for half a day and returned to the real bedside, when I received the task of interviewing Nye. I was very happy. Although I didn't major in biology or do special insect research, I have a childlike interest in everything in nature and usually write articles related to animals and plants. Perhaps because I often write such articles related to nature, the editor specially asked me to interview this "Prince Butterfly".

It was raining that day. When we met, Nai was the same as the gentle big boy I saw last year. I recognized him easily when he came to me with an umbrella. His home is a common single-family villa building in Chengdu. In the white wooden fence door, you can only see all kinds of plants in the garden in the night. When I entered the room, Nai put me on the sofa in the living room and he sat down next to me. Nye's parents and parents are here. There is a landscape oil painting hanging above the living room. Zhao's mother said it was painted.

That night was an interview, but actually a chat, just like Chengdu people said. Zhao Fu doesn't talk much, Zhao Xi doesn't talk much, and even Nai doesn't talk much. The dialogue is mainly between me and mother Zhao. She described it to me in detail.

That night was an interview, but actually a chat, just like Chengdu people said. Zhao Fu doesn't talk much, Zhao Xi doesn't talk much, and even Nai doesn't talk much. The dialogue is mainly between me and mother Zhao. She described to me in detail how Nye was obsessed with butterflies and bugs. Their family sometimes go out to collect insect specimens and take photos together, like a field collection team.

Keep an insect as a pet

The sun soon became vicious, the water droplets on the leaves were quickly evaporated, and a fog rose in the valley not far away; All kinds of butterflies began to become active ... several colorful white-banded saw butterflies flew to the stream beside me and stopped on a rock not far away to suck something. This immediately caught my attention. There is no vegetation on that rock. It probably just collapsed from the top of the mountain not long ago. The surface was washed away by rain and became very clean. So what attracts butterflies to suck it?

..... I think many herbivores in the forest like salty soil or rocks, and butterflies may also have this hobby. More than once in the wild, I have seen bold butterflies fall directly on me to absorb sweat, and the main component of sweat is salt. Curiosity finally made me try this rock with the tip of my tongue, and a trace of bitterness and saltiness immediately stimulated my taste nerve. Sure enough, this rock is rich in mineral salts! My guess was confirmed.

-Nye's Butterfly Following Dreams

Almost every boy has the experience of catching cicadas, chafers, crickets, slugs and other insects at home. Apart from Nye, I haven't found another person to keep this hobby into adulthood.

Nye said that besides the familiar owls and crickets, there are many beautiful or interesting insects to keep. "Young leaves of Rutaceae and Aristolochiaceae often attract beautiful butterflies of Papilionidae to lay eggs. Plant a few pots of this plant on your balcony, and you will have a chance to observe the whole process of how a gorgeous little carnivorous insect becomes an elegant butterfly. If you put a big pot of aquatic plants, maybe dragonflies will come to visit. Sometimes the lost water beetle will use it as a temporary hotel. " According to Nai's experience, scarabs or spades can generally be caught in places where roadside trees are bleeding. When you take these curious little guys home, the remaining fruit skins are their delicious meals, and the citizens in the insect world also like to taste all kinds of jellies that city people usually like to eat. Besides, if you build a nest with wet sawdust, watch, they will breed an amazing number of next generation for you in your transparent glass jar!

Every time he comes back from a trip in the mountains, Nye will bring some interesting insects to accompany him. It is said that keeping insects as pets has long been a part of the life of European housewives. Europeans generally keep all kinds of brightly colored crustaceans. These fast-moving beetles hide in tree holes, fallen leaves and rocky piles during the day and come out to feed at night. You must use some skills to invite them to your home. Nye is undoubtedly an expert in this field. He said: "You can set a small trap with a glass bottle buried in the ground and pour a little sweet liquid fermented with sugar, vinegar and beer. Unable to resist the temptation of sweetness, they will climb to the bottle mouth and poke around with their heads, and then accidentally fall down. But be careful, the bottom of the bottle must be padded with a few leaves, otherwise these guys who can't swim will be flooded. "

The food problem of these beetles has been greatly solved. In addition to the food that lures them to fall for it, the "bread bugs" bought in the bird market or various bugs caught by themselves are all good feed for them.

In the newly published Illustrated Tales of Insects in China, he also told us many skills to get along with beautiful insects, whether in the wild, in the city or at home. This is a mysterious world that we are both familiar with and unfamiliar with. For China readers who like insects like me, the publication of this book is undoubtedly good news. The wonderful details in it also make me fondle admiringly. Those seemingly insignificant but mysterious little creatures, through his eyes and hands, keep reaching our gentle hearts eager to know everything in nature.

Find a home for these beautiful butterflies.

Suddenly, a dark green butterfly passed in front, and its brilliant golden reflection on its back wing stood out in the green jungle. My heart "plops": the golden butterfly that has been waiting for five days finally appears! I saw this butterfly make a big circle in the distance, then turned back, flew to a boulder in the middle of the stream, landed firmly on a bunch of fern leaves, and fluttered its wings peacefully. I ran after it, and before I could see it clearly, it jumped up and soared into the sky. My heart suddenly turned cold. Did the long-awaited Papilio pass me like this? ……

..... I developed the film and the effect was very good. Close-up shooting makes this butterfly's characteristics appear in the photo, which should be one of the most successful field photos of this butterfly in the world.

-Nye's Butterfly Following Dreams

Butterfly is really a warm and pure dream of Nai. After returning from the high mountains and dense forests, what he wants to do now is to publicly display his butterfly insect specimens and photos, find a home for these beautiful butterflies in the city, and let more people care about and understand these beautiful lives that are becoming less and less in our world.

Nye said that humans don't know much about insects. Sometimes, human behavior is often worse than flies. In 1960s, in order to destroy our economy, a neighboring country once concentrated a large number of horses suffering from equine infectious anemia on our border. The disease was transmitted to healthy horses by various blood-sucking flies, resulting in a large number of deaths of horses in the border areas of China. During World War II, the infamous 73 1 unit also used flies to spread cholera. It seems that except for a few rare species, most flies do bad things not out of intention, but because of their living habits. On the contrary, people who use living habits are more evil. Killing mosquitoes was once one of our most legitimate activities. I don't know that there are only a few species of mosquitoes that really suck blood, and a large number of innocent "vegetarian" mosquitoes have been eliminated.

China Youth Publishing House printed a line on the cover of Entomology in China-"Fabres's Entomology in China and China's Entomology". Nye's research scope has been extended to other insects. Nai told me that the project of "Huaxi Insect Museum" organized by him in his own name has just been approved. This is the first officially approved private butterfly and insect museum in China, and there is still a long way to go before it is completed and put into operation. Because it is not easy to build an insect museum of considerable scale. Although Nai himself worked very hard, his sister and parents fully supported and devoted themselves to this grand goal, and the amount of specimens and data of butterflies and other insects was also very rich, many basic tasks were still quite arduous.

Land acquisition and site construction need at least tens of millions of yuan. Although I am worried about where Nye needs this huge sum of money, he is still full of great confidence. He said: "This kind of investment is worthwhile. People of insight will know at a glance that the establishment of the Butterfly Insect Museum will not only produce many social effects such as biological research, ecological protection, life science popularization, but also bring economic effects such as tourism development and insect derivative industries. "

It is reported that Nye still lives with his parents and sister. What this family of four with common career interests lacks most at present is a housewife who studies both inside and outside. Nai, the "Prince Butterfly" in China, has been single because his parents are old. I don't know where his "insect princess" is now. It seems that he wants to find a home not only for insects, but also for himself with feelings. When I asked him about his attitude towards love and marriage, he simply said that both love and marriage depend on feelings and fate. He hasn't met his destiny takes a hand, that's all.