Photo by Ruyan Zhang Yiliang
In the early morning of August, I was running on the white embankment of the West Lake, and there was no reflection of the water on the surface of the lake. Around the sarsa, the shadow shows a little of the outline of the island in the middle of the lake and the outline of the tree. The white embankment is white, not as white as the white yarn on the lake; The willow silk on both sides of the embankment hangs down to the lake, as if to fish for brocade scales in the water under the white veil...... As the dawn broke, the surface of the lake gradually became clearer, and the white veil seemed to be melted by the water.
The time was about five o'clock in the morning, and the lake and embankment were surprisingly quiet. What I want to say is not that there is no noise and noise in the morning of West Lake, or even the sound of appealing to the sense of hearing, but the quiet impression left on my heart by the lake, the fog, and the ethereal pavilions in the distance. The fog dissipated slightly, as if carefully lifting the veil covering the surface of the lake, the lake water was like dark glass, which was exceptionally smooth. The fog above the water that has not yet dissipated, and the opanine sky of the same hue as the fog, are like the shell that envelops the lake - the white rough stone skin of the outer layer of black jade. The sky is getting brighter, and the area of the jade-like lake is getting bigger and bigger, like a large agate inner tank, only a quiet light, and no ripples - the West Lake appears in front of people like this. At this time, I realized that the ink-like photographs created by photographer Lang Jingshan were indeed from creation rather than darkroom technology. This beauty cannot simply be attributed to fog, where is there no fog? In the morning of the Great Plain of North China, it is foggy every day, and the sky is low and there is only a fog. West Lake is a perfect example of the unity of nature and man, the crystallization of Chinese wisdom, the combination of humanity and artificiality, making nature more quintile, more rhythmic, and more conducive to breathing.
White Causeway in the Rainy Season Courtesy of New Vision of the North Evening
Lingering on the White Causeway, the scenery before you is like music, like a violin playing an endless long note on its weakest note, with the tiny accompaniment of a harp in the background. The human ear can't hear it, just because the human ear can't pick up the wavelength of this frequency, in fact, the music has always been endless. The tranquility is not limited to the white mist dissipating, the lake is becoming distinct, and the birds are jumping among the willow branches. Every morning, the birds give a "tirade", or monologue or dialogue. The birds and birds of the white causeway are just called "willow waves and warblers" in this scenery, exquisitely turning, the notes jump between the branches, but there is no bird figure, only the branches swaying. In this way, birds and trees make the West Lake more tranquil. Birdsong—I guess they are also lyrical according to the scene, and the white causeway is not suitable for the quacking of magpies and crows, and the sound of quacking should be from the sauerkraut blood sausage and the border land of two people; If you don't "quack", you can't set off the vastness there. The willow branches of the white embankment go down vertically, the branches do not move, and the willow leaves move occasionally; The quiet fog covers the surface of the lake, there must be no wind, and the willow branches divide the straight line of the causeway and the emptiness of the lake with vertical green lines, so as not to make people feel at a loss when facing the lake.
Courtesy of Quyuan Wind Lotus North Evening New Vision
At that time, I lived in the courtyard of the West Lake's "Quyuan Fenghe", and went for a morning run on the white embankment every day. One day I was running, in the fog, on the West Lake, which was about to wake up, I saw a small boat coming through the fog. One of the captains stood at the bow of the boat, and there was not even water to be seen under the boat, only fog, and there was also fog on the shoulders of the captain. I was not only surprised, but I was really moved, thinking that I had met an immortal. This man came in a boat on the fog rather than in the water, which has not been heard of since ancient times. I briefly pondered: Do you want to bow down? This is not an opportunity that everyone can see; If you don't bow down, will you lose a huge benefit? After all, in folk tales, encounters with immortals are often associated with good deeds. As my knees were about to kneel involuntarily like Ah Q's, I saw the immortal holding a long stick with a net tied to its head. And he wore a green vest (the horse armor originated in the Qing Dynasty, and it was a casual dress for the reform of the armor of the soldiers, and the immortals also wore it?). ), the vest is printed with "West Lake Cleaning" instead of "Becoming an Immortal". If he hadn't copied the net and didn't wear a vest, I really thought that he had met an immortal and would have become an immortal earlier than the cultivators I had seen in Wudang Mountain, Maoshan Mountain, and Geling. When running to the end of the white causeway and returning, the fog on the lake dissipated, the sky was full of golden light, and the "West Lake Cleaning" began to use the net to open the bow left and right, picking up the fallen leaves and garbage on the lake, and the boat had a red diesel engine. He is less and less like an immortal, showing the ordinary nature of working people.
Overlooking the West Lake, courtesy of the North Evening New Vision
In recent years, I have been to Hangzhou three times in a row, the first time I lived next to the "Oriole in the Willow Waves", the second time I lived next to Hu Xueyan's former residence, and the third time I lived in the "Quyuan Wind Lotus", not far from the West Lake. Every time I come to see the West Lake, there is no other task. My friends Shao Xiaofeng and Li Jian took care of my food, housing and transportation, and let me have deep contact with West Lake. Both of them turned out to be police officers, Shao Xiaofeng was originally a hero in the Hangzhou police circle, solved a number of major cases, won the title of "National Excellent People's Police", and is now an executive of Alibaba. It stands to reason that Guanxi Lake should not run, even running masters such as Usain Bolt and Liu Xiang should honestly walk and watch, stand and sit while walking, and should watch and think. But my habit is to run and see when I see a good scene, and I am anxious when I walk, just like I am anxious if I don't let a bird fly. And the good thing about running is that people get up early - if every day is a lifetime, the morning is the person's youth, the verdant stage of beauty. Looking at the West Lake, there are few tourists in the morning, you can see the stretching and empty West Lake like the ancients, and its waterfront flowers and trees will not be disturbed by the shadows of people. Most of the people wandering by the West Lake are locals who practice in the morning, singing, strolling and boxing, "yellow hair hangs down, and enjoys themselves" (Tao Yuanming), so it is said that "the morning of the West Lake belongs to the people of Hangzhou". Outsiders must have been too tired to get out of bed after the first day's travel, and they gathered at 90 o'clock from the big and small hotels in Hangzhou to the West Lake. At this time until seven or eight o'clock in the evening, the West Lake belongs to the people of the whole country. At night, the West Lake is the world of young people or the goddess of love, and the young men and women of the gang and other cities talk freely by the lake, and the lakeside night is more romantic than the movie theater. I also ran across the White Causeway at night, and it was after eleven o'clock in the evening, and most of the tourists dispersed. Running at night on the White Causeway is like going to another place, the road, the trees, the pavilion, after the lighting outline, the West Lake is like a national treasure illuminated by the lights, exuding the quiet beauty of Yue kiln porcelain. However, there is something wrong with running at night, who is still running on the white embankment on such a good night? I don't seem to be very sensible. People snuggle up, endless closeness, endless words, how can anyone run alone? This is what I think for others, in fact, others don't have the heart to think about anything else, their minds are on the West Lake, in love.
Night view of West Lake Courtesy of North Evening New Vision
Living in the "Quyuan Wind Lotus" has a unique style. I was first attracted by the name – in the Song Dynasty it was called "Luyuan Fenghe", a place to make wine for the emperor – such a name is as intoxicating as "Oriole in the Willow Waves" evokes reverie. If you live here, you can see the lotus flowers in the lake as you walk through the shady cedar forest and the tulips under the trees (the golden tulips contrast with the sandalwood cedar trees). At the end of July and the beginning of August, the big and red lotus flowers bloomed just right, and only then did they hold the railing to watch, and the poem "The lotus flowers are different red in the sun" rushed to my mind and even my mouth. At this time, I couldn't help but complain that Yang Wanli was eventful, he summarized such a beautiful scenery in advance, and people couldn't help but chew the leftover buns he chewed - the poems were too good and not good, hindering the aesthetics of future generations. The lotus flowers on the lake scrambled to raise their faces, as if they knew that the wall-like tourists were holding up their mobile phones to take pictures; Except for children, no one does not hold up a mobile phone in their hands, which can also be called a big sight.
There is one more little thing to note down by the way. That year, I ran two round trips along the White Causeway every day, and after the run, I pressed my legs on the stone fence on the east side of the White Causeway. One day, I saw some women pointing at the lotus flowers, and when I looked over, there was a little yellow cat lying on the lotus leaf on the surface of the water shivering, apparently thrown on it. The lotus leaf where the little yellow cat lives is ten meters away from the shore, and the painting boat behind it is also seven or eight meters away. The women looked at me as they pointed and said, "Poor cat! "Meaning let me rescue it. I took off my shoes, walked over to the big iron chain that tied the painting boat (grasping the chain to prevent it from falling into the mud), approached the cat's side, grabbed it with my hands, and did not expect to be bitten by it desperately, its teeth were deeper than I imagined, and it almost bit through my Hegu point, and did not let go. I hurriedly threw the cat onto the boat, and while stopping the bleeding, I thought that it would starve to death if it was left on an unoccupied boat. You went over and boarded the boat and caught it behind the air-conditioning compressor. This time, it bit me again, and I felt its teeth bite into the bone of my thumb, and I threw it to the shore in severe pain. The women took full view of it, praised me verbally, and dispersed, while the little yellow cat burrowed into the bushes. After returning to the "Quyuan Wind Lotus", I was worried about being bitten by a wild cat and causing inflammation, so I asked a friend to drive me to the epidemic prevention station to get the tetanus and rabies vaccines. The next day, I went to the place where the cat was rescued again, and stuffed the medicine bill into the bushes where the little yellow cat was drilling—I had to let him know how much I had spent, a total of more than 1,700 yuan, and it didn't hurt much. I'm still quite proud of saving the life of the little yellow cat.
People swim in the painting, photo by Zhang Yiliang
I still have a lot of feelings about West Lake, but I can't express the feeling of beauty. Sigh the beauty of West Lake, it's best to keep your eyes open and close your mouth, we can't tell how beautiful it is. And to use words to describe the West Lake, it is even more helpless, if you have to comment, it must be the simplest word: "Good!" "It's just a matter of "that's nice". Language is not (and never will) correspond to the vastness and subtlety of nature.
Chatting with Shao Xiaofeng, he said that he was too busy, and his biggest wish was to go around the West Lake after retirement. A Hangzhou person has no time to enjoy the West Lake, which is really pitiful; You have a beautiful view, I don't have time, peanuts and teeth can't have both. I said that my greatest wish is to be a West Lake cleaner wearing a vest, with the left net and the right rudder, although "it is not easy to be the king of the south". Li Jian laughed when he heard this, and said what kind of wish is this. She doesn't know how happy she should be to be a cleaner in West Lake, she can go around the West Lake every day, go wherever she wants, and become an immortal anytime and anywhere. I guess that as the West Lake becomes more and more beautiful, the threshold for working as a cleaner will become higher and higher, and the senior professional title is not enough, and it is necessary to have a doctoral degree from Peking University, or even a doctoral degree from Cambridge. It wouldn't be surprising if one day the newspaper said that 10,000 people were vying for a position as a cleaner in West Lake.
Lotus flowers in full bloom Courtesy of Beiwan New Vision
This article was published in the Beijing Evening News on August 17, 2019