Exploring Shen Congwen's Impression of Jinan

-Letter to his wife Zhang Zhaohe (excerpt)

Shen Congwen

( 1)

What impressed Beijingers in Jinan was silence. The street is clean and quiet. There are few people, the bus is never full, and walking in the center of the street is very leisurely. It seems that the houses have been transformed by the Japanese, and the old smell is gone. Small, rows, all made of red bricks, many houses should be called "small houses", but most of them live in China. In this pile of houses, several buildings stand out. One is the cinema, which seems to be trying to ask people to recognize it as a "national form", but we still don't recognize it. Because it is made of red bricks, its shape is similar to that of the labor theater of Huguo Temple, but it is twice as big. There are four red pillars in front, and even architects don't quite understand why these pillars are so red! Secondly, Shandong Theater, which looks like a grand archway in front, looks like such a big round shed in the back, which is dark gray, probably because the architect is not careful to look at it! The third is a huge building complex with green glazed tile roofs and many houses. In front of it, there is a big screen wall 1 and a tall mast 2. In the building behind it, it looks like a pavilion on the fairy mountain painted by Song people. The long walls around are tall and strong, and the roads are stone roads. This is really a national form! Which is that present address of the museum. The appearance is satisfactory. No one can guess who built this house and for whom. I didn't know until I asked that Willing to Come was the organization of the Chinese Character Society, the last building of Taoism in the 20th century. ...

Home in Jinan is really like home, almost as quiet as Suzhou. If you do this, you can be an enemy for two days in one day. Some people's doors are lush, clean without any dust, and the walls are covered with mold and moss. It can be seen that many people's lives must be quite calm, and they have not been shaken by the storm of social change. But a thinking person, obviously this environment is conducive to thinking. It can help people digest all beneficial spiritual nutrition and make a person's life more glorious.

It's dusk now, and the shadows outside the window are gradually blurred. The gray building outside the window is very quiet, and only two or three small windows are illuminated, which makes it even quieter. It is reasonable to expect some young nuns in white hats and black robes, or female nurses in white hats. In a word, it is natural and normal to see these people coming out from the opposite downstairs and saying something lightly in the yard. One in the window is full of uncontrollable love, but repressed. If you can't see anything here and now, you can only hear unpleasant and harsh music in the distance ... what did you say? No way, listen! But it's better to listen to other music or female dialogue. Although the sky is dark, there is still a touch of bright blue. It's a good situation that the shadow of the moon shines through the sparse leaves. If there is a small bell instead of music, I will be more like a monk.

(1956101October 8th)

(2)

Today, I braved the wind and rain to go up the mountain. I don't know what that mountain is, I just walked slowly onto the high platform. New construction projects are going on everywhere. At the new normal university, four teaching assistants accompanied us to see the cultural relics room at two o'clock. Go back to Baotu Spring for lunch in the storm. After dinner, I started to look at the "Shandong Museum" at 2 o'clock, walked around a dozen houses, large and small, and left at 3: 30. I've seen a lot and listened to a lot. I'm going to see it tomorrow. If opportunity permits, we will go to see the warehouse the day after tomorrow. ...

It's already six o'clock when I get back to my residence, and I realize that I'm tired to a certain extent. Music is playing downstairs. Many students in the nearby medical college just dropped out of school, and many girls in white walked in front of me happily. I remember Dante seeing a girl in white walking silently on the bridge with her companion. I guess there must be such a future poet or a first-class doctor near the school, waiting for those young girls to pass by, and these girls don't care about which one. There is another situation. When I arrived at the Teachers College this morning, it was already the afternoon after school. Thousands of students crowded to the canteen. We jostled among these young people, and no one knew them. This is also very interesting. Because even if you "put your name in the newspaper", no one still understands who you are and what you do, just like conveying the concierge. You don't know each other. You asked me what I do, and I said "nothing", but he smiled. When something good happens, ask "Where are the guests from?" I heard it was from Beijing, but I looked up and down with a little curiosity. Perhaps the most striking thing is a pair of student shoes under my feet, which proves that all of them and I are in the same boat, because many people also wear such a pair of cloth shoes. If I heard it was Ba Jin, it spread all over the school in less than half an hour. I think it's better to squeeze among them. Nobody knows what I do, but I know. If everyone knew me, I hardly knew what I was doing. ...

It was already nine o'clock when I came back, about two miles away, and all the way were medical students. Just listening to them talk about literature and novel skills, and talking a lot, it sounds really interesting. These young people are roughly the same as our little dragon and tiger, and so are he and their classmates. I sound as if I am the father of these people. I find it very interesting and enjoyable. I remember seeing young women wearing new cotton-padded jacket in Chengtou more than 30 years ago. How much I loved those women then! These people may all be grandmothers at this time, but I remember their shadows of fifteen or sixteen very clearly.

(1956 65438+ 10/0)

(3)

The weather is sunny, which is the season for sightseeing. There is a temple fair in Qianfo Mountain, and we still work in the museum. Today, we observed another day. Look at the monitor from the warehouse and listen to a comrade in the warehouse (in the morning) and another girl in the explanation group (in the afternoon) explaining the content. I have learned a lot, especially the problems of local chronicles, houses and cultural relics identification, and the problem of improving interpreters …

The night is deep and everything is quiet, but I don't know where the drums are coming from. These drums may be played by some happy people, but there is always a feeling of isolation in this small building. Outside the window, it's just a crescent moon, with drums and full of naive and simple feelings. It's strange that the louder my voice, the farther away I seem to be from it.

I visited another "Grand View Garden" today, which is similar to Dong 'an Market. There are many small streets, with four or five theaters and dozens of restaurants around. What caught our interest and attention was a row of five small shops selling and renting comic books, and dozens of readers, large and small, squatted underground to read comic books. I don't care whether the light is yellow or dim. There are also mothers who take their children to read (the main readers of the library also read such books, so there is another children's reading department). The books on the wall and shelves are dirty. We know how many people have passed by, and many people's cultural knowledge is obtained from these illustrated story books! There are some soldiers watching! Only then can I understand why there is a picture book in front of every seat on the train for passengers to read at will. It turns out that not only children want it, but also many adults want to watch it. Many people also get education from this book and gain the courage and confidence to be a man!

(1956 65438+ 10/2)

(4)

The sound of the piano in the morning is excellent, magnificent and lingering, which I seldom hear. The sound came from the window, which inevitably brought me back to an unrealistic situation. Always yelling at people who are watching, feeling and feeling in front of them: "No, no, it can't go on like this!" It may be a specific event in front of you, it may be just a trend you see, it may be something that belongs to the current business part, or it may not be related to the business. The sound of the piano became more and more urgent, and I was gradually infected by an unspeakable atmosphere or something else, just like 1933 when I took a boat to the middle reaches of the Chen River in winter. Life seems to have become clear. I really envy Fu Cong. How many emotions and wishes in his life can be turned into voices, which flow into the hearts of young people all over the country and become another force for progress! This kind of transmission has never been more direct, pure and convenient than music!

……

In the afternoon we went to the museum again. Later, I heard that there was a temple fair in Qianfo Mountain, so I rushed there. It turns out that thousands of people climb mountains, just like rushing into the street! On both sides of the mountain road, there are all kinds of stalls, and a circus is performing on a flat slope. The horn hissed and blew lazily, the sound was the same as 30 years ago! There are also tricks, grinding time for a trivial matter and grinding the hearts of hundreds of small audiences. There are many liquor sellers. There are also baskets and other daily necessities, so there must be customers. What really has the most customers is a string of persimmons. There are many big baskets at the corner of the mountain road, which smells delicious. At first, they sold roast chicken. Waiting for customers to climb mountains, drink and eat, there must be customers. It's just that there is little fear of writing poetry. There are also many teahouses and cafes along the road. Students also lined up to play trumpets and drums. Generally, it is as tall as a little dragon. It seems that they are still very excited! The road has been built to the cliff at the foot of the mountain. The stone Buddha on the cliff is not very beautiful, but Qian Qian is still very appreciated. More is to climb the cliff from the path to the top of the mountain. People are like little ants on high places. As time is tight, we just need to look at the tourists under the cliff. Only one piece of art was bought back, and only Xiaoman and his son were appreciated most, with five points.

(1956 65438+ 10/3)