Text/Zhao Lixin
For so many years, the hawthorn tree was completely foreign to me, it only existed in my poetic and romantic imagination.
Even though I have traveled to most of China, and even to Africa, I have never seen them swaying in the wind or the golden autumn when the branches are full of fruits. Maybe I saw it, but I may not know each other, just as Su Shi wrote in the poem "Title Xilinbi": "I don't know the true face of Lushan, only because I am in this mountain." ”
Actually, I saw them here a few years ago, but I didn't know it. If it weren't for the occasional casual conversation with Master Wang, who manages this green space, when he was setting up an open-air temporary camp under the trees not long ago, and he accidentally mentioned that these trees were hawthorn trees, I am afraid that I would still be in the blind spot of "not knowing the king on the other side". After listening to Master Wang's words, I was quite surprised and surprised. My previous knowledge of the hawthorn tree was limited to the appetizing hawthorn slices, the rock sugar gourd sold on the streets, and the long-standing classic song "Hawthorn Tree" in the former Soviet Union.
For outdoor camping, our tent was set up under a tree and the hammock was hung between two trees. It's just that I was ignorant at the time, and I didn't know that these trees were hawthorn trees. Master Wang asked us quite puzzled, "Don't you know the hawthorn tree?" Our answer was surprisingly unanimous: "I don't know." ”
In the past few years, passing through here in the late spring every year, I have seen clusters of dense white flowers blooming all over the branches of these trees, exuding a faint fragrance, and the hard-working bees haunt them all day long, buzzing their wings into a sound, but I don't know what kind of tree this is? It was Master Wang's seemingly light and breezy conversation with us, which made my eyes, which were somewhat blind, suddenly brighten, and I knew that the flowers of this tree and tree were the hawthorn flowers that were looking for her thousands of times.
This meeting is set up outdoors, and the people invited are peers, who can also be said to be like-minded people, people with temperament - they have similar life experiences and life experiences, common conversations and topics, and common interests and hobbies. As children, we all lived in the countryside in the backwoods, and we were familiar with the apricot trees, peach trees, mulberry trees, plum trees, grape trees, and date palm trees planted in front of and behind the houses. Later, it was learned that there were pear, apple and cherry trees that could be transplanted on this land, but the knowledge of hawthorn trees was always blank.
Under the tide of the changing times, many new fruit tree species have been added to the land of my hometown, which not only enriches the seasonal fruits of the four seasons, but also enriches the beautiful scenery of spring. These new atmospheres of praise are inseparable from the Corps members from all over the world - they have made great contributions. It was they who bid farewell to their hometown, trekked through mountains and rivers to come here, slept in the open air, and at the same time guarded the frontier on the border of Tun, they not only brought advanced farming skills to the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains, but also brought new fruits and vegetables from the interior, benefiting the dining tables of tens of millions of people of all ethnic groups. The hawthorn tree is a typical example – it was first introduced by them, and then radiated, spread and planted from the group to the surrounding towns. These hawthorn trees have not only become a scenery in the street or garden, but also have a certain economic value, bringing personal benefits to the cultivators......
I have eaten hawthorn processed food, and I have listened to different versions of the former Soviet song translated into Chinese at different ages, "Hawthorn Tree".
The delicious taste that glides through the taste buds and esophagus still lingers on my mouth after many years, leaving me with an endless aftertaste and cherishing it in the depths of my memory. When I think about it, I still talk about it.
The melody with a strong Russian style, lingering, has been lingering in my ears for a long time, echoing like wisps, as if it has been around the beam for three days. It was a clear stream from a foreign land. At that time, both the music and literature and art of the former Soviet Union had a subtle influence on our generation......
I have heard Guan Mucun sing, the Black Duck singing group, and the theme song sung by Chang Shilei for the movie "Love of the Hawthorn Tree" directed by Zhang Yimou...... Their singing voices are beautiful, melodious, beautiful, and have their own characteristics. Especially "Hawthorn Tree" sung by Chang Shilei, the timbre is clean and warm, restrained and infectious, not only singing pure love, but also singing the memories of the past. There is beauty, sweetness, sadness, and melancholy in the song......
During the days of outdoor camping, staying in the tent at night, listening to the croaking of frogs from time to time, and the sound of falling flowers tapping on the tent cloth when the hawthorn flowers withered and drifted, I could not sleep for a long time. I hummed the familiar "Hawthorn Tree" in my heart over and over again.
I know that this song has comforted how many soldiers of the Corps who live in the nest of the Gobi Desert to cultivate the wasteland, how many educated youths who go to the mountains and go to the countryside, and how many wanderers who have gone away and wandered the world. Like a clear and sweet spring, like a trickle, it also moistened my hungry and thirsty heart when I was young......
I know that on the land where hawthorn trees are planted today, there are thousands of miles of ancient roads, and they used to look at each other. The soldiers who walked through the golden iron horse and the glacier and fell into a dream, the monk who traveled west to seek the law and had a determined expression, and the caravan that returned thousands of miles with wind and dust in the folds of his clothes, also echoed the loneliness of the desert and the sound of the desolate sunset.
I also know that on the land where hawthorn trees are planted today, there are thousands of miles of purple mo, thousands of lights, and pieces of oases. This is an ancient and magical land where swords are cast for ploughs and melons and fruits are fragrant, which has carried a heavy history and long years, and under the dome, the song of "Hawthorn Tree" has echoed again and again......