In today's China, there are few people who don't want to write about Shaoxing, even if they have never been to Shaoxing; For those of you who have anything to do with writing, there are probably not a few people who have never written about Shaoxing, even if you haven't even written the word "Shaoxing" in your article. The reason is not complicated, since modern literature, this is the source of Chinese literature, because of Lu Xun. Who dares to say that his writing is not carried out in the afterglow of "Diary of a Madman", "The True Story of Ah Q", "The Scream", "Hesitation", "Wild Grass", "Essays on the Pavilion of the Pavilion" and "The Continuation of the Huagai Collection"? Who dares to say that the characters in our works have not flashed the shadows of Ah Q, Runtu, Kong Yiji, Xianglin's sister-in-law, Jiujin Old Lady, Lu Weifu and Wei Lianzhen?
And the scenes we write, who dares to conclude that they will never echo and form an intertextuality with the Baicao Garden, the Sanwei Book House, the Xianheng Hotel, and the river drifting in the canopy boats? I'm afraid not. Those chapters, those characters, and those scenes have long since become flesh and blood, and have grown into the bodies of our thoughts and literature. Everything related to Lu Xun lives in our hearts and will live in our words. Lu Xun became the banner and benchmark of Chinese literature, and Shaoxing naturally became the holy land of Chinese literature. Mr. Lu Xun's hometown is also the hometown of modern and contemporary Chinese literature.
However, it is different if you have never been to Shaoxing. Shaoxing in Lu Xun's article is certainly a rich and real Shaoxing, but why does Shaoxing not only exist in Lu Xun's writing? Here Zhong Lingyu is beautiful, outstanding people, cultural and martial arts, all aspects are sages, celebrities gathered. Only the ideological and literary circles that we pay attention to, throughout the ages, can be used to present a pantheon: Wang Chong of "On Balance", Wang Shouren of Yangming Psychology, and university scholars Liu Zongzhou, Huang Zongxi, Zhang Xuecheng, and Ma Yifu; Wang Xizhi, Yu Shinan, Chen Hongshou, Wang Mian, Ren Bonian, Zhao Zhiqian in the art circle; There are also Cai Yuanpei, Zhu Kezhen, Chen Heqin, and Ma Yinchu in the field of education and science; There are also revolutionary aspirants Qiu Jin, Xu Xilin and others. The list could go on and on, and each name was enough to stir the tongue. Shaoxing may not need the courage of this luxurious lineup of relatives and friends, I list it just to illustrate that Lu Xun is far from being limited to Shaoxing to understand, and Shaoxing is far from being able to be described in Lu Xun's broad and profound words.
I've been to Shaoxing seven or eight times. First for pilgrimage, then for work to Shaoxing on a business trip, and then as the first resident writer of Shaoxing, he became half of Shaoxing. In fact, no matter what happened to the previous trips to Shaoxing, in the final analysis, there is one goal that has not changed: pilgrimage. Repeated pilgrimages. Just like to understand Mr. Lu Xun's works, it is not enough to read them once, you must read them again and again, and learn them from time to time. To understand the city of Shaoxing, it is not enough to walk once, we must walk again and again, go deep into the streets and alleys, go deep into daily life, and go deep into the hearts of city residents. Only in this way can we understand the city more accurately.
My running has always been blind, walking, following my heart, walking thousands of miles is like reading thousands of books, and reading which page the wind blows. In the city of Shaoxing, I usually follow the river; Occasionally, I walk along the alleys, from one bluestone slab to another, from one road to another. Once on a whim, I followed the bridge, and when I crossed this bridge, I saw another bridge, and the next bridge was my goal; Then run to another bridge, and so on. It must be admitted that only from the perspective of the cityscape and architectural style, Shaoxing is the same as most of the prosperous cities in Jiangsu and Zhejiang water towns, with a reserved and demure classical place, delicate and graceful, white walls and white walls, and a thin waist in the house; The small bridge and flowing water, the posture of the housewives on the small pier are the same; The stone road has been polished out of time by countless feet over the years, and every stone is as smooth as a treasure, especially a few ancient stone bridges, the original stones are paved down, hundreds of thousands of years have not been moved, every step on a step, every time a stone is stepped on, there is a sense of vastness in history. I read a report that there is an artist in Shaoxing who has been photographing the large and small stone bridges on the canal for decades, and he said that the ancient bridges in Shaoxing have been photographed less and less in the past few decades. When I read this article, I was about to write a novel "Going North", and the river and bridge were also the focus of my attention, so I searched for the photographer's creation and the ancient bridge information in Shaoxing.
Beyond the classical is the modern. In the urban area, Shaoxing City actually shows a more modern side, even those deliberately operated classical, but also classical in the modern sense. There is nothing wrong with this, a modern city, of course, must do its best to express the power of technology, ideas and civilization in the details of the city. Not all aesthetic classics can be completely integrated with modern life. Because the classics are wrapped in modernity, and at the same time are protected and cherished by modernity, so when you walk in the city of Shaoxing, you can not only see the long and rich history, but also feel the prosperity of modern times and all the conveniences that may be needed for life. In this sense, I think that Shaoxing is a model for combining classical and modern, history and the present in a relatively harmonious way in urban construction. A person who lived in the 20s of the 21st century, even if he has infinite reverence for Lu Xun and is willing to return to the era in which he lived, once you really enter that "classical" time and space, you will definitely feel extremely uncomfortable. Of course, history cannot be re-entered, and history must be something that you do not want to re-enter. So, in and out of Shaoxing, where classical and modern are blended, will the Lu Xun that we have tasted and understood become tasteless?
I thought it wasn't. What we need to understand and realize is not a rigid Lu Xun who is closed in that specific time and space, but a Lu Xun who is constantly developing, a Lu Xun who keeps pace with the times. The reason why we want to respect the word "big" before "Mr." today, and why we still regard him as the torch and lighthouse of the nation, is precisely because he has gone through that era and walked into this era, and in the context of this era, we still have a great understanding, and it is still the source of our art and thought. It is only when his spirit is suitable for the present era and guides the present era that we respect him as the guide of thought and culture. Therefore, with the passage of time, Mr. Shiyi's spirit has not been diminished, on the contrary, it is growing and expanding. The so-called dualism between classical and modern, time and space and the present era is purely mediocre.
So, walking in Shaoxing, a 21st century where classical and modern are blended, and "other eras" and "modern eras" coexist, what kind of Lu Xun do I feel? One thing to say, it's really hard to say, at least for me, it's not just that I've been to Shaoxing a few times to make it clear.
Read Lu Xun's works too. I've been reading Chinese textbooks for 30 years. When I learned to write in middle school, I deliberately imitated Lu Xun's tone, suppressed my voice to make myself depressed, and occasionally bent my teeth. Of course, at that time, the mood was also suitable for imitating Lu Xun, with a nervous breakdown, he was lonely every day, stretched his long face, and was outnumbered. The deep sorrow of the world, not holding Lu Xun's works to recite can not be enjoyable, just like learning calligraphy, you must write on the Wei tablet to feel vigorous and powerful, and people are old. When I arrived at university, I really decided to be a writer, and finally admitted that Lu Xun's tone was not exactly suitable for me, or rather, I realized that I should find my true voice. It gradually came out of the aftermath of Lu Xun's tone, but things other than Lu Xun's words and tone entered my heart more and more.
This influence is not only in the literary sense, but also on the intellectual and spiritual level. What has more and more influence is also more and more things on the periphery of literature, and it is not even some specific text, or the logic and exact judgment of a certain thought, but a symbol and spiritual guidance that is more and more chaotic, both figurative and abstract. I'm sure I can't say how much I've learned, or how much I've really changed, but despite my dull qualifications, I'm really longing for it. Many people must have similar feelings to me, just like the torch, which has a high fever day and night, and can see it if you look up inadvertently, and you don't even have to see it, because you also know that it is there, it has been, it must be there; As a result, I am more determined and willing to continue to work hard.
Shaoxing's contribution to the writing of "Going North" was indeed an unexpected gain during the pilgrimage to Xunlu. Because "Going North" is written about the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, the route from Beijing to Hangzhou must be walked repeatedly, because of the focus, it ignores the in-depth study and reference of the Sui-Tang Canal and the Zhedong Canal. In Shaoxing, I saw the remains of the Zhedong Canal and the ancient Zhedong Canal, which reminded me to pay attention. Friends who are familiar with the canal know that the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal ends in Hangzhou, but the canal does not end, from Hangzhou through Shaoxing to Ningbo estuary, this section of the Zhedong Canal has played a huge role in history, especially in international trade. How can the water in the world skip this section of the Zhedong Canal?
Since Shaoxing, I have paid close attention to all parts of the Zhedong Canal, and found a lot of valuable information and inspiration in my fieldwork and desk reading. For example, if there was no on-site experience of the Slender Road Bridge in Ruan She, this ancient long bridge of nearly 400 meters used for fiber pulling, I probably would not have given so much ink to the hard-working slender men in "Going North". The imagination inspired by the Fiber Road Bridge made me deeply feel the hardships of boating and the difficulties of people's livelihood.
Accumulating materials and opening up new writing in Shaoxing, is it the right way to make a pilgrimage? I think that Mr. Lu Xun will definitely agree with it, or even assert that only when there are new developments and gains can it be truly meaningful and close to history. It is precisely for this reason that in Shaoxing, I am ashamed to say to my friends that "Going North" benefits from Mr. Lu Xun and this great land.