Xiao Wan's notes on "The Plants and Trees of the World"

Let us read together and feel the beauty of life in books. ——Xiaowan Reading Series

About the Author

Wang Zengqi (1920-1997), a native of Gaoyou, Jiangsu Province, is a famous contemporary writer, essayist, and representative of the Beijing School of novel creation. He is known as "Lyric Humanist" and "China's Last Scholar". He has made great achievements in short stories and essays. He is good at starting from the trivial matters of life. His writing is plain and simple, deeply capturing the wonder of nature, and inadvertently infiltrating wise and calm life wisdom.

When I saw this book on the used bookshelf in the big study room in Banna, it was during the hottest days of the month. It’s the annual Water-Splashing Festival of the local Dai people. During the holiday, the study room was not closed. There were only a few customers in the afternoon, and the hot weather made the store clerk a little drowsy. I picked this book from the shelf, sat down, drank a glass of iced drink, and turned the pages.

I have not systematically read many of Mr. Wang Zengqi’s books before. I just know that they were students of Southwest Associated University and spent seven spring and autumn years in Kunming during the war years. I only know this because I studied at Yunnan Normal University for a period of time, visited the former site of Southwest Associated University next door, and looked up some information. I have no real feelings about what happened in those years, but the Kunming described by Mr. Wang is a little distant to me but very familiar.

1. "Fruits of Kunming"

Mr. Wang is truly a recognized "foodie" in the literary world. Kunming in his works is in the midst of war, but full of fireworks. I have traveled between Kunming and Xishuangbanna since I was a child. I am extremely familiar with Kunming. I know everything about Kunming’s food, products, customs, and streets.

Among the Kunming fruits introduced in this article are Baozhu pears, pomegranates, peaches, bayberries, papayas, sweet potatoes, carrots, walnut candies, and candied chestnuts. Among them, I am most fond of Baozhu pears and sugar-fried chestnuts. Why do you say this? Baozhu pears were one of the gifts from my grandfather to my family in Kunming when I was young. My concept of hometown, apart from the famous places in my grandfather’s stories, is probably these sweet gifts that can be eaten in my mouth. Baozhu pear is different from the local pears in Banna. The skin is smooth and green, it tastes sweet and has no residue, and the taste is moist and sweet. In that period when transportation was not very developed, the shuttle bus from Kunming to Xishuangbanna took about three days, so it was always rare to get fresh Baozhu pears from Kunming. When I was young, I would share this kind of food with the whole family. Although I couldn’t eat too much, I was filled with joy every time I ate it. In the article, Mr. Wang wrote: "The pear shape of Baozhu is perfectly round, which is probably why Baozhu got its name. The skin is dark green, the meat is tender and without residue, and the taste is sweet and juicy. It is the top grade of pears." "Just because of its appearance. Yunnan is not easy to transport, and not many people from other provinces know about it. "After studying in Kunming, Baozhu pear is no longer a rare thing. Whenever they are on the market, I would go to the market to buy a few, and eat them while reading or drawing on campus. Or I would just borrow the fruit knife from the pear vendor after buying them, peel them off and eat them sitting on the street.

The roasted chestnuts in Wenhua Lane are one of the best in Kunming. When I was in school, on weekends, I would first go out from the main entrance of the university, cross the overpass and enter the Cultural Alley, and then pass by the side entrance of Yunda University and I could smell the aroma of roasted chestnuts. The store that sells roasted chestnuts with sugar does not have any special signboard. It just has the four characters "roasted chestnuts with sugar" written on the simple door, and then there are two big pots of roasted chestnuts set up at the door of the store. Chestnuts were being stir-fried in the pot, and there was an endless stream of people coming to the store, each of whom must buy a pack. Every time I choose the cheapest small chestnuts, buy them for about ten yuan, buy a bottle of water, and then go to the Yunda campus to sit under the ginkgo tree and eat them while watching the little squirrels. Occasionally feed them a few chestnuts, but sometimes they are too hot and the chestnuts will fall from the hands of these squirrels. It looks funny and fun, and you can just sit there all afternoon reading, eating chestnuts, basking in the sun. In the article, Mr. Wang praised: "Kunming's sugar-roasted chestnuts are the best in the world." I raised my hands in agreement.

2. "Bacteria Spectrum"

In this article, Mr. Wang mentioned mushrooms, mushrooms, and oyster mushrooms. Compared with these, for me, an authentic Yunnanese, I am naturally more familiar with the Yunnan wild mushrooms mentioned in the article! Every year during the rainy season, people throughout Yunnan risk their lives by eating fungi. Poisoning from fungi has become a topic of conversation and ridicule after dinner. Yunnan is rich in wild fungi, the most common of which are porcini (see hand green), chicken fir, rhodopsin, matsutake, truffle, etc. The Ganba mushroom mentioned in the article has a unique taste, but it is regarded as a delicacy by Kunming people. My favorite is spicy marinated mushrooms. A small plate can serve as a bowl of white rice! (p.s: suddenly exposed his uncle taste). Mr. Wang described Ganba fungus in the article: "This thing is like a trampled hornet's nest, the color is like semi-dried cow dung, it is a mess, and there are also many pine hairs and grass stems mixed in. It is very troublesome to select." I think it is very troublesome to choose. Here I can fully use my seniority to make fun of this old gentleman for being so strange! Everyone in Yunnan knows that Ganba fungus looks ugly but tastes delicious. It takes a lot of effort to make, but it tastes particularly delicious.

3. "Rain in Kunming"

The article writes: "The rainy season in Kunming is bright, full and emotional. The vegetation in the city is deep in spring and the vegetation in Mengxia is long. The rainy season in Kunming is dark green. The branches and leaves of the vegetation are saturated with moisture, showing an excessive, almost exaggerated exuberance.

"Perhaps for Mr. Wang, a foreigner, the rainy season in Kunming is so beautiful and tender. But for me, the Banna people, the rain in Kunming is cold, long, pattering, and biting. Many people just We know that "Kunming is like spring all year round" and is called the Spring City. In fact, Kunming people forget to tell them the second half of this sentence - "when it rains, it becomes winter". When it rains in Kunming, the weather will turn cold immediately. If it rains continuously, it will become cold in summer. You also need to wear an autumn coat when going out, otherwise you will be shivering when the cold wind blows.

The rainy season in Kunming is the season for bayberries. The bayberries are big, plump, sweet and cheap, and you can eat them in one sitting. One pound is not a problem. The rainy season also belongs to Burmese osmanthus. I like this flower the most. White Burmese osmanthus is fresh and natural. During the rainy season, there will be old ladies who put the Burmese osmanthus picked at home into strings and sell it on the street. On the street, I saw old ladies selling Burmese osmanthus, so I bought a few bunches from them and wore them on my body. The fragrance was elegant.

After reading this book, I felt a lot. Southwest Associated University was indeed a cultural highland back then. The professors and teachers are all from the same generation. The students may be diverse, but under the influence of the entire cultural environment, the names of familiar and unfamiliar places in Kunming appear in the article, which makes me a Yunnan native. Jue Rongguang. Through historical changes, the city of Kunming has retained countless place names with a literati temperament. For example, Mr. Wang complained in the article: "Fengzhu" and "Longxiang". I don't know which literati who is good at rhetoric created the city. The grand street name is actually just two small T-shaped horizontal and vertical streets. "Indeed, to this day I still feel that street names such as "Fengzhu", "Wenlin" and "Nanping" are extremely unique and elegant. Fengzhu Street used to be full of snacks. Although it is not necessarily as lively as before, there are also delicious places. Quite a few. There are many small shops, including Douxiangyuan and Wenya Tissues.

The braised noodles are a must-try at Douxiangyuan, and a cup of soy milk before you finish your meal is really satisfying!