Seeking the full text of Zhou Guoping's "Impressions of Southern Journey"

Impressions of the South Tour

Zhou Guoping

Along the Spring Festival, Ling Yu and I were invited to travel south. Within a month, we visited many places in Fujian, Guangdong and Hainan provinces. After returning to Beijing, I sorted out my impressions and got several short essays, which were put together into a bundle to commemorate. As for thanking Aliang for this, how dare you. Ah Liang is a brother-in-law, so how can he say thank you so much? There was only one joke to give him before parting, saying: "Entrepreneurs contract cultural people." There is nothing in the world that cannot be contracted, but to contract this cultural person who has all kinds of diseases and no benefits, Aliang is stupid! His stupidity has a long history, and Gai Aliang himself is also a cultured person who loves culture and still never forgets culture.

Chongwu Beach

Before arriving in Fujian, some friends from Fujian repeatedly warned: "You must go to Chongwu!" After seeing it there, it was really good.

Chongwu is a seaside town in Hui'an County, famous for its uniquely dressed Hui'an women. As soon as we got off the bus, we looked at the Hui'an women, walking in twos and threes among the crowd. Their attire is unique, mainly on their heads. They wear floral cloth headbands and accessories that hang down from their breasts. They also add a bamboo hat to the headband, which seems cumbersome to me. However, some young Hui'an girls are really graceful and graceful, wearing short shirts, tight pants, and high heels, carrying a heavy load lightly.

It’s time to go to the village to see Huifa Nu. There are only a few people in town who come to the streets. In fact, Beniannv is also Han nationality, but she is dressed in a special way. The women in the town do not dress like this. What surprised me is that most of the girls are fashionably dressed and have good figures, while the old women are all naked and black trousers, but wrapped in a bright red scarf, walking in groups on the street. Not to mention a small town scene.

A local scholar who writes novels and opens a bookstore gave us a map of Chongwu that he printed himself, and proudly suggested that we go to the city wall to take a look. It is said that this granite city wall with a circumference of 2,600 meters is a relic of the Ming Dynasty and is still well preserved. We followed the instructions and entered the west gate, crossed the winding and narrow stone road in the old city, and walked towards the south gate. Stalls selling fresh meat, vegetables and fruits can be seen everywhere along the way. Residents carrying full net bags are busy coming and going, and the life is very lively. When you arrive at the south gate, climb the steps to the top of the city wall, and the sea will appear in front of you.

The most unforgettable thing about Chongwu is not the Hui’an women or the ancient wall, but the sea. But what can I write about the sea? Before going to the beach, I asked the hotel attendant if the beach was good. He replied in a philosophical tone: "It would be better if we didn't go, but it would be bad if we went."

Lingyu and I arrived at Chongwu at noon and left at noon the next day. That afternoon, we sat on the rocks by the sea and watched the sea, and we didn't leave until dusk. Accompanying us are only the endless waves of the sea in front of us and the eternally silent bone altars in the grass behind us. The next morning, we crossed the reef area and came to a vast half-moon-shaped bay, lying quietly on the beach. The sand here is filled with white crystals that sparkle underneath. In the distance, some fishermen were towing a boat to the shore. Several children walked along the shore, came to our side, laughed and shouted something, and then walked forward leisurely. We lay quietly with our eyes closed, all thoughts gone, for a morning and a century.

Isn’t this enough? Lingyu and I stayed at Chongwu Beach for a whole day. During this day, except for the two of us, there were no other tourists on the beach. There are many famous coastal cities in the world, but the few are beaches without tourists, but we accidentally get them. Isn’t it wonderful?

Visiting the flower market

On New Year’s Eve, visiting the Guangzhou Central Flower Market is really lively. The streets are miles long, with scaffoldings stretching along them and bright lights. The flower farmers squatted on the stands, their faces dark due to the backlight, just like spiders squatting in their webs. Tourists crowded around each other, and the stream flowed in front of the shelf like a tide. There were reeds emerging from the water and roses floating in the air.

It turns out that there are two types of flowers sold in flower markets, either loose branches or potted plants. Most of the loose branches are roses and reeds, and many people buy them. Women often buy a rose, and men or children buy a reed, and hold them in their hands happily. Some also brought back potted flowers and bonsais. As a group of us, Aliang gave away a pot of tulips, golden lilies and Belgian azaleas. What I was most proud of was the pot of tulips. The two newly bloomed buds were sparkling with gold. You could tell they were expensive at first glance, but they only cost eight yuan. Later, the flowers bloomed extremely well.

Most people don’t buy flowers. Regardless of whether you want to buy flowers or not, being pushed by the tide past the flower stand seems to be a necessary part of the New Year's Eve celebration for Guangzhou people. I was pushed along by the crowd in this way, and suddenly I remembered Zhang Dai's "West Lake Half July". After a slight change, it became "Guangzhou Flower Market, there is nothing to see, you can only look at the people strolling around." I walked around the flower market. , I just wanted to see people visiting the flower market and experience the folk customs. But then I think about it, why aren’t others like this? Most folk festivals are just for people watching and for fun. Watching the moon and admiring flowers is just about looking at things from the beginning, and elegance comes from the beginning. However, human nature is vulgar, and what they like most is the excitement.

I heard that after twelve o'clock at night, the tourists dispersed, and the flower farmers discarded the unsold flowers and went home. I didn't look at it again because I didn't know if I could understand it. But I think that Guangzhou people would rather crowd around and spend money to buy flowers than wait until after twelve o'clock to pick flowers discarded by flower farmers. This shows that they love the excitement very sincerely.

Songbird Valley

A large net hung in the air, covering a long section of the valley. There is water, trees, pavilions and roads in the valley.

The most important thing is that there are many birds flying around and many tourists walking in and out.

When I stepped into this huge birdcage, I felt very fresh. People and birds are happy, this design is wonderful.

There are many kinds of birds, collected from different skies and woods, and now they all make their home here. They are either in groups, or alone, or resting, or flying, appearing to be free and at ease.

So I thought, in fact, the bird’s requirements are not high, but the cage is bigger.

Then I thought, why aren’t people like this?

I was pacing and thinking in this birdcage. I wandered around for several times and gradually got tired of it. This cage is big enough for the bird, but still too small for me. After all, I am the spirit of all things who love freedom more than the bird.

Is this really the case? It suddenly occurred to me that all cages in the world were made by humans.

When I walked out of this huge birdcage, I didn’t have much sense of freshness in my heart.

Rich District

We drove to Shenzhen and our friend took us to a nice apartment to settle down.

"This is for the rich man's servants." He said with a smile.

I understand very well that he is not joking. The apartment is located in a large villa complex and is undoubtedly designed to be as intended as a friend said.

At night, my friend took me for a walk along the sidewalk. Along the way, he enthusiastically showed me the small buildings in the fence, the courtyard shaded by flowers and trees, the pavilions, lawns, and swimming pools in the courtyard. Under the dim light of the street lamp, the scenery was hazy, and there was silence all around. I suddenly discovered that most of these villas have dark lights, and house prices will only rise, so this is a kind of business. I couldn't help but feel pity after hearing this. I thought that if we were allowed to write in such a quiet place, we wouldn't be making the best use of it. My friend is also a writer, so I feel the same way. We began to dream about buying a house by ourselves. However, we estimated that based on the current royalties, we would have to write at least 100 books of 200,000 words before we could barely afford to buy a small building. So our dream was immediately shattered and we laughed at each other.

While talking and laughing, I suddenly saw bright lights in front of me. When I got closer, I saw that it was a villa inhabited by people. There were about a dozen cars parked outside the door. There were four gold characters on the door with a scarlet background of "luck in wealth and treasures", and the words came from the brightly lit window of the small building. It’s the sound of playing mahjong.

My friend and I walked over silently. The lights and shouts were far away, and the surroundings were hazy and silent.

“You don’t have to have these villas.” I said reluctantly.

"Yes, I can still write without a villa!" my friend said cheerfully with a knowing smile.

When I returned to my residence, I closed my eyes and thought quietly, I couldn’t get rid of the feeling that I had just returned from the slums.

Travel sketch

Xiamen. It has the prosperity of the special zone without losing the tranquility of the seaside. The competition is becoming increasingly fierce, but the folk customs are still simple. People have money and time and live quite comfortably.

However, please do not step into the homes of Xiamen University teachers. Scholars in the world are generally shabby.

Gulangyu Island. A paradise on the sea, the island has huge rocks, beautiful trees, and no civilized machinery including bicycles. When you walk along the clean gravel road to find a poet, you will feel how natural it is. The strange thing is that Tao Yuanming went to the city for a meeting.

Stone lion. Motorcycles were a disaster. People come here to buy cheap fakes and are willing to be fooled because they don't suffer any loss.

Quanzhou. It is a famous city for Buddhism, Taoism and Islam. Unfortunately, we only had time to visit Kaiyuan Temple. I thought to myself, there are so many historical sites here, I will make a special trip to enjoy them in the future. The good scenery of life often comes to naught in this grand delay.

Foshan. There is an ancestral temple and the support of tourists in the temple is not impressive. I saw people frantically throwing coins at statues of gods, incense burners, altar tables, cornices, reliefs, pools, in short, at all concave, convex and flat surfaces. It is said that they can test their luck and seek good fortune, so that they are forced to pile up countless coins everywhere. It's almost a "wonder" sight, but it's even less impressive.

Zhuhai. Leaving the city and walking along the seaside towards Gongbei, you will find that the scenery is beautiful. The sea is blue, edged with a white edge of stone railings. On the sea ahead, Macau rises from the sea like a mirage on the sea. Then I understood why the exquisite little pavilions on the shore here had to hang "No Entry" signs, but I still found a pair of young people talking about love inside.

Coconut grove in the eastern suburbs. In Shaonan Wenchang County. The drizzle is drizzling, and a beach separates the coconut grove and the sea. The beach is dotted with brightly colored wooden pavilions and wooden houses, all of which are individual restaurants specializing in seafood. The little girls raised their childish faces and sold the nylon hammocks in their hands to tourists.

Sanya. Take off your sweater, no. Taking off your shirt again won't work. Jumping into the sea is cool. It's truly tropical.

Swim in the sea, follow the waves, and enjoy the melody of the sea with your body. However, you must retreat in time, otherwise you will be caught in the last wave and knocked down, and what you will enjoy is the powerful playing of the sea.

Sanya's scenery is most famous for two places: a group of ordinary garden buildings on the top of Luhuitou Zao Mountain; and a few large stones with inscriptions on the shore of Zaohai Sea in Tianya Haijiao. People flocked there one after another, leaving the secluded beach of Yalong Bay for me and Lingyu to enjoy for two whole days. Thank you for your cooperation.

Season

Ten days in Hainan, thanks to the host’s diligence, I enjoyed the feast to my eyes and my mouth. For the first time, I saw red corals in the sea, tracts of coconut palms, and many tropical crops that I had heard and never heard of.

For the first time, I tasted blue-coated fish, red-spotted crab, a six-pound king cobra and a giant mountain turtle that is more than a hundred years old. When leaving, the host invites you to come again. I thought to myself, yes, Hainan is worth visiting again and again.

However, when I returned to Beijing and drove from the airport to the city, what a joyful voice sounded in my heart -

I’m home, I’m finally home !

My home is in Beijing after all.

It is late winter, and the suburbs of Beijing are still covered with bleak trees and no green at all. Just three hours ago, I was in the lush tropics. But now, looking at the clusters of dead branches passing by outside the car window, I feel warm and beautiful.

What's going on?

The sunshine is very good, shining on the running cars, the wide and straight highway, and the dead branches beside the road that moved me. The weather was getting a little warm, so the down jacket I put on when I got off the plane was already too hot, so I took it off again. In a few days, spring will come, and the dead branches will sprout new shoots...

I suddenly understood that it was the coming spring that moved me, and spring was heading towards these dead branches, No, it was walking towards me among these dead branches. At the same time, I suddenly thought of a shortcoming in Hainan: there are no dead branches, no sprouts, and no spring.

When I traveled around Hainan by car, I couldn't help but marvel at the extremely lush plants and the extremely rich green on both sides of the road. The climate is too warm and humid, and the seeds will survive once they fall out. Once they are unearthed, they will grow wildly, flooding the entire island into a sea of ??life. Now that Hainan is being developed, heroes from all walks of life have flocked to this island from the mainland to try their luck, and the social environment has become as steamy as the natural environment. In such an exciting atmosphere, people just want to grow and develop, and no longer have the patience to nurture and wait.

Although Hainan is good, it is not my home.

My home cannot have only summer and no winter. Because without winter, there would be no spring and autumn. There must be spring in my life, with the joy of budding; there must also be autumn in my life, with the melancholy of fallen leaves. Whenever the seasons change, I have a strange feeling in my heart. I can't lose such a delicate state of mind. There must be seasonal changes in my life, which allow me to hear the rhythm of the flow of time. I cannot let my life slip away silently.

My home cannot absorb heat and tranquility. This is not why, my nature is to prefer tranquility to passion.

However, as long as I have the opportunity, I will definitely go to Hainan as a guest. I miss the sea, seafood and tropical plants there so much, as well as the warm and hospitable hosts.

1992.3-4

Just take a walk

Traveling in Guangzhou for five days, the most satisfying one was the last day.

Guangzhou is a paradise for women because there are many luxurious shopping malls there. My wife is afraid of walking, but she never feels tired when she goes shopping. Her eyes are bright, her breathing is smooth, her gait is light and leisurely, as if Eve had returned to the Garden of Eden. No, with the luxury shopping mall, Eve will never return to the Garden of Eden.

I am just the opposite, most afraid of shopping malls. Surrounded by the colorful products, I just felt dizzy, as if I was in hell. Because I don't understand the merchandise at all, for example, the fashions displayed on the shelves and in the windows. If they are not worn by a beautiful girl, I really can't see how they are beautiful.

But I am a person who likes to walk very much. When I go to a new place, I like to walk aimlessly. It does not have to be a busy city or a scenic spot, just walk on ordinary streets. I can never get used to that kind of extravagant way of traveling, with car transfers and frequent "taxi rides". If I don't have to use my own legs to walk around in a place, I will feel as if I have never been there.

On this day, my wife went to the mall with a friend, and other friends also went to do their own things. I really felt as relaxed and free as a primary school student on vacation. It was drizzling. I held an umbrella and a map and wandered the unfamiliar streets of Guangzhou. I walked on my own initiative and walked towards the Pearl River without realizing it. In my mind, the center of Guangzhou is on the Pearl River, not on the bustling Zhongshan Road. Crossing the narrow bridge with dirty iron bars, I entered Shamian, the former concession area. Sha Mian faces the Pearl River to the south, but the river surface is often obscured by empty roads or houses. I walked as close to the river as possible, sometimes crossing alleys, sometimes passing by the pier, and sometimes walking into a small park by the river. Standing in front of the railing in the park, you can overlook Baietan, which is where the Pearl River is located and the river is very open. I stood there for a long time, watching the river slowly flowing by and the ships sailing slowly. I felt that nearly a hundred years of Chinese history were slowly passing by before my eyes.

Then I continued walking, walking slowly, sometimes getting lost, but not in a hurry because I had no place I had to go. Suddenly I found myself back in the city. A bus stopped on the side of the road, and I jumped on. The final stop is Sun Yat-sen University. I have never been there before so I decided to check it out. The school is on winter vacation, the drizzle is drizzling, and the campus with red walls and green pine trees is extremely quiet. I strolled from the south end of the campus to the north end, where there was a small door. When I walked out of the door, I met the Pearl River unexpectedly. There was a small pier by the river. I asked the old man guarding the school gate and found out that there was a scheduled ferry, and the next one would be in ten minutes. I couldn't help but be overjoyed. Perhaps because of the holiday and rain, when the boat left the dock, there were only three or four passengers including me.

The ferry crossed the river diagonally and sailed towards the Beijing Road Pier. I felt as if I was riding on my own chartered ferry, walking calmly in the spacious cabin and looking around at the river scenery in the rain. After getting off the boat, I walked along the river for a long time before returning home happily.

That night, I left Guangzhou with a happy mood. Sitting on the phone, I thought to myself, in fact, I didn't visit any famous scenery, I just walked around casually. But thanks to today's casual walk, I realized the loveliness of Guangzhou, and the irritability in my chest from the hustle and bustle of the city was swept away.

1992.3