I didn't know that Zhang Ailing had lived in Tianjin, but since I knew that she came to Tianjin from Shanghai with her father when she was three years old, and spent six years of her childhood here (1923-1928), that is to say, there is a house where she lived for six years, we can call it the former residence or the old residence more accurately, so I have the idea of going.
Zhang Ailing's former residence is located at No. 83 Chifeng Road, which is somewhat surprising and intimate, and I only knew that there was a Chifeng Road in Shanghai. The crowd of people in front of the old residence can be regarded as crowded, and the heat is so high that people didn't expect it. Of course, most of the people in this crowd are girls dressed in cheongsams and with beautiful postures. They came partly to visit this famous strange woman, but also to provide a lot of old-fashioned Shanghai cheongsams for people to rent and take pictures. So in this two-story residence, I saw women trying on cheongsam in the mirror in almost every room, and even men wearing top hats and pretending to be boys. So when I told the story of Eileen Chang and literature to the two young people around me, one of them sighed: Maybe you are the only person here who is doing something related to culture. The mood can't help but be a little sour.
Should there be an admission fee for the former residence of celebrities? I don't know what the basis is, and I have checked the book when I took the tour guide certificate in the past, but it is not conclusive. But to enter Zhang Ailing's former residence, you need a ticket, the ticket is a 35 yuan sweet cold drink, and the only connection between the cold drink and Zhang Ailing is that the cup is printed with Zhang Ailing's head. When the gatekeeper sees the visitor holding a cup in his hand, he knows that he has been given a pass. Of course, compared with Zhang Xueliang's former residence across the street, which is marked with an 80 yuan ticket, the price here is moderate. But looking at two girls in their 20s, laughing in front of the computer to collect money and hand over cups, I am still a little vague, where do they belong to, and who gave them such rights.
Walking into the old residence, the interior is crowded with people and objects, as if people want to "restore" the imagination of this legendary woman, but unfortunately those vase frames are not marked without any marking, and it is not sure whether it is the original utensils of the owner or added later. The walls are full of photographs, including Eileen Chang herself, as well as her family and friends, and I looked at one of the photos of Eileen Chang at the age of 6 for a long time, in which the little girl in a short blue skirt with a chubby and round face is far from the image of Eileen Chang who is thin and sad in adulthood, so it is almost impossible to find the shadow of Eileen Chang from the eyebrows and eyes of the photo in front of me. However, it is easy to understand that at this time, little Ailing is enjoying fine clothes and food, his father has not yet swallowed the clouds and spit out the opium, and her mother has not completely married and left home, or, even if there are already signs of suffering, her young heart has not yet fully realized it. So the short six-year childhood time in Tianjin should be a rare short-term happiness in her turbulent life.
Of course, when Xiao Ailing was playing to her heart's content, she shouldn't have thought that just diagonally opposite the road away, there lived another Zhang celebrity Zhang Xueliang. Zhang Xueliang, who lived opposite each other on the same road at about the same time, should not have noticed or expected that in the two-story building opposite, a woman who shocked the literary world would come out in the future, because Zhang Shaoshuai at that time was immersed in Miss Zhao Si's Yingying Yanyan, and the intersection and miss of history were so subtle. I paused in front of a photograph of Eileen Chang in her later years. Zhang Ailing's last days were when she left alone on the other side of the ocean, and she was only found in her apartment a week after her death. It happened to be the Mid-Autumn Festival reunion day in China. She has had three relationships in her life, but she has no children and no relatives around her. This woman who has written countless books, but the last stroke is so restrained. At a certain sunrise or sunset, in silence, her "this furnace of agarwood crumbs is finished", and her story is over.
On this afternoon, 30 years after Eileen Chang's departure, I suddenly realized that in 1995, the year of her departure, I was just three years out of college, and we had actually breathed air and listened to birdsong in this world at the same time, and I might have been reading one of her books when she was sitting at her desk on the other side of the ocean. For a famous person, especially the content and expression of Zhang Ailing's works, I feel a little far away from us, so the author himself seems to be an ancient person who is farther away from us. But when you know that there has been an overlap in the passage of time, this feeling is extremely wonderful, just like when we know that Zhang Xueliang, who has lived for 101 years, is actually a fan of Jay Chou, we are also surprised.
Standing in the small courtyard surrounded by red roses and white roses, looking up, from the eaves of the second floor of the western-style building, hanging down a series of unique design transparent signs, on which are written the names of some of Zhang Ailing's representative works: "Eighteen Spring", "Little Reunion", "Half Life", "Flower Withering", "Agarwood Crumbs. The First Incense", through these words full of classical heritage and modern brushwork, people seem to touch her arrogant heart struggling with the world. Among them, what is surprising is to find that there is also "Nightmare of Red Mansions". Speaking of Zhang Ailing's literary achievements, the world is well known, but her academic research has raised her talent to another level. Compared with the period when literary creation entered a period of depression, "Nightmare of the Red Chamber" can be described as the greatest achievement of Zhang Ailing during her time in the United States, for the sake of "Dream of Red Mansions", her beloved literary masterpiece, she did not hesitate to spend 10 years of careful research, every detail is detailed and profound. Happily, three months after her death, this scholarly work was published, and it was a shocking thing when it came out. Zhou Ruchang, a master of red studies, commented that this book has reached the realm of "unattainable by the common stream" in the history of red studies, and said that among all red scholars, "only Zhang Ailing can be called Xueqin's confidant." This is Zhang Ailing's last precious cultural gift to the world, and it should be the best consolation for her lonely soul.
Before leaving, he left a photo in front of the portrait of Zhang Ailing with the words "I don't want to be an embroidered bird on the screen". The swaying water in the cup reflects her head, like her floating life. This delicate woman has been tossing and turning all her life, but after all, she has not been allowed to live a quiet life and be stable in this world. For this reason, I wish she could have an afterlife.
Walking out of the congested flow of people in Zhang Ailing's former residence, I did not continue to visit the former residence of Zhang Xueliang, which was also "turbulent", but I glanced at it from a distance when I walked by, and through the carved railing, the bronze statues of the young marshal and Miss Zhao Si in the courtyard were clearly visible. I also did not walk into the porcelain museum "Porcelain House", which is more densely populated, and the dense flow of people in front of the house is comparable to the dense porcelain on the porcelain house, and it is even more crowded.
But during a short vacation, people choose to go into a cultural place to spend their precious time, which is always a happy thing - no matter what mood and posture they are in, come~
—— Written on June 9, 2024
About author:Sun Limei was born in Linxi County, Chifeng City, Inner Mongolia. Graduated from the Chinese Department of Chifeng Teachers College. He used to be a teacher and journalist, and worked in the Propaganda Department for many years. In his spare time, he loves literature and photography, and is a member of the Inner Mongolia Writers Association, a member of the writers' class of the Lu Xun Academy of Literature, and a member of the Chinese Photographers Association. Many of his works have been published in national, provincial and municipal publications such as "Speech and Eloquence", "People's Daily", "China Youth Daily", "Prairie" and "Sunshine". He has published a collection of essays "Dance of the Sunshine" and a collection of prose photography "Understatement".