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An United States who once served as an executive of a multinational company, gave up everything and lived in Mutianyu Village at the foot of the Great Wall with his wife and daughter for nearly 20 years;
He did not come from an architectural background, and he transformed the glazed tile factory at the foot of the Great Wall into a hotel, and even Mrs. Obama came to experience this special cultural scenery.
Recently, the protagonist of these stories, Sa Yang, compiled a book about his residence at the foot of the Great Wall, and invited Mr. Wang Meng, a famous mainland writer and former minister of culture, to write a preface.
——This book called "Living in the Great Wall" is like a "love letter" he wrote to the Great Wall, and it took 20 years to write it.
01
In China there is "unspeakable" love
Turning the title page of "Living in the Great Wall", a sentence appeared: dedicated to Tang Kai, the first person to call me an architect.
The "Tang Kai" in the book is none other than Sayang's father-in-law, and the one who made him determined to take root at the foot of the Great Wall.
In Sayang's own account, his wife Tang Liang went to the United States in 1979, was introduced, and became his Chinese teacher in 1980.
"The first time we met, she laughed at me as soon as I said the first thing I said because my Chinese was very bad, and from that second I was very interested in her......"
Later, Sayang repeatedly invited the young Chinese teacher to dinner with him, but was repeatedly refused.
"I have a characteristic, I can persevere!" Today's Sa Yang and Tang Liang recall this past, which has become a sweet love between husband and wife.
Finally one day, Tang Liang agreed to Sayang's invitation, and he made her a specialty dish with wine.
"Then I asked, 'Tang Liang, can I kiss you?' Then she laughed: 'Not now, but probably in the future.' ’”
The story after that is that the sky is as you wish, and now their eldest daughters are almost 40 years old.
But when it comes to fully integrating into a traditional Chinese family, it's a long process for Sayang.
After Sa Yang returned to China with his wife in 1986, although he was also accepted by his father-in-law's family, he always felt that this father-in-law, who had a bit of an "old revolutionary" style, was very serious.
"According to Chinese custom, I should call my father-in-law 'Dad' after marriage, but I don't dare, I have been calling him 'Tang Kai's father for a long time......"
It wasn't until 16 years after Sa Yang and Tang Liang got married, as he lived in China for longer and longer, that by chance, his father-in-law opened up to him and thought he was a good son-in-law and husband.
"I was moved to tears, and I called him Daddy from then on, until he was gone."
Even today, many years later, when it comes to this story, Sayang is very emotional, "Maybe he recognized me a long time ago, but he didn't say it." ”
"I found that there is a little difference between Chinese and Americans, in United States, relatives and friends say 'love' every day, but Tang Liang told me -
The Chinese do not have this habit, and the Chinese have to look at the action. ”
02
Resignation fulfilled the "dream of the Great Wall"
After nearly 20 years of ups and downs, the Sayang couple has taken their rural life to the next level.
But at the very beginning of this life, Tang Liang did not fully understand his United States husband's decision about "country life".
On the one hand, in order to achieve such a lifestyle, Sayang decided to quit his job as the vice president of a multinational company at that time, "If we don't have enough income, how can we provide for our old age?" How do I pay for my child's college education? ”
On the other hand, for Tang Liang, who grew up in Beijing, moving to the foot of the Great Wall to become a farmer is simply inconceivable.
In response to this problem, Sayang still has his own insistence: "I often think that meeting him and living here may be something that is destined to happen. ”
He smiled and said that Li Fengquan, the villager who helped him find a house, happened to be the same age as himself, and according to the Chinese zodiac, they are both sheep.
70-year-old Sa Yang has spent most of his life in China, and speaking of these, Sa Yang's cultural attributes seem to be very "Chinese".
In fact, since he visited the Great Wall for the first time in the 80s of the last century, he fell in love with the majestic scenery of the Great Wall at first sight.
After that, as long as he had time, he would always go around, "As a foreigner, it is my dream to live at the foot of the Great Wall." "But I never thought that this dream would come true." ”
If you don't forget, there will be an echo. A chance encounter in 1996 brought Sayang's dream to light.
On that day, Sa Yang, who was accompanying a friend on a tour of the Mutianyu Great Wall, met a local villager who sold commemorative T-shirts. Sayang said to him: "I don't want to buy your clothes, but I really envy you to live at the foot of the Great Wall." ”
With just such a sentence, the villager named Li Fengquan immediately promised to help him find a house.
Who knew that a week later, Sa Yang really received a call from Li Fengquan: "There is an empty house in the village, which can be rented out for a long time." ”
In this way, Sayang rented an idle house in Mutianyu Village, which was initially only used as a weekend vacation. Later, he felt that he could not live more and more without the country life here.
So, in 2005, Sayang, who was about to turn 50, decided to retire early and move to a small village at the foot of the Great Wall.
One day after they had moved to the foot of the Great Wall, Sa Yang suddenly heard the local village secretary shouting over the loudspeaker: "Sa Yang, Sa Yang, report to the village committee!" ”
"I immediately lifted my pants, and went to the village committee." Sa Yang, who was suddenly named by the "flipping brand", rushed to the village committee without knowing anything.
When he got there, the village party secretary told him that the village he lived in was 500 years old, but because there were no good job opportunities, the young people had left, and only many old people and women remained......
In the end, the secretary changed his words and asked Sayang, "You live in our village, don't you feel responsible to contribute?" ”
Sayang said that the moment he heard this question, he first thought of his father-in-law, who had passed away.
"He has been a member of the Communist Party all his life, and when he was dying, he said that he hoped that we would not forget the Chinese people, which was his life's work."
03
Decided to die of old age at the foot of the Great Wall
Having lived in China for half his life, Sayang has long understood the Chinese philosophy of "love" – and he decided to take action and do something for the village he loves and the people here:
Starting from his and his wife's home at the foot of the Great Wall, Sayang, a "halfway monk" architect, later helped many friends living in Beijing transform the original simple "peasant house" into a comfortable small villa for weekend family vacation.
After getting the unanimous approval of his friends, Sayang "opened all the way" and carried out a "plastic surgery" explosion of 40 village houses.
Among them is the "Hundred Miles of Cottage", which won the Architizer A+ (Hotel & Resort) International Design Award that year.
Together with architect Zhong Wenkai, Sa Yang not only converted more than 20 abandoned houses in the remote mountainous area of Yanqing, Beijing, into guest rooms, but also converted an old school building built in 1977 into a book bar.
In 2018, Sayang transformed an abandoned glazed tile factory into a "brickyard" hotel, and was selected as one of the first batch of "Rural Heritage Hotel" demonstration projects in China, becoming the filming location of many variety shows.
Most of the staff in the hotel rooms are local women, many of whom have their first jobs.
And the income can even be higher than that of their husbands, which not only drives the employment rate of local residents, but also enhances the voice of local women in the family.
In addition to taking on new design challenges, Sa Yang and Tang Liang are also actively involved in a series of cultural and artistic projects to revitalize the countryside.
"China is my true homeland. Being able to participate in China's rural construction is the best thing I have done in my life. ”
"Architect" is the proudest identity in the second half of Sa Yang's life.
The principle of Sayang's design is to keep the structure of the old house intact, and the new space should match the old one, and try to renovate the interior.
Therefore, in his own residence, he demolished the former interior ceiling, completely exposed the wooden beams and mounds, which were very open, and he also painted the interior roof black.
Because he likes small-scale windows, Sayang also opened two small circular windows on the high wall facing west of his house, and he can see the Great Wall when he looks up.
On the north side, a 1-meter-long earthen kang is erected, and you can also see the Great Wall while lying on the kang.
Sayang is also very fond of laurel trees and cloves, and in his yard, more than 20 lilacs are planted, and when the breeze blows, the air is full of fragrance......
Now many people will ask Sayang if he regretted giving up his high-paying position to join the countryside, and Sayang replied like this-
"There is no regret about how one should live. My path from chaos to clarity is partly because I am very lucky, and on the other hand, because the people around me have helped me a lot, so that I have slowly found a clear path. ”
Sayang said that he came to China like a wayward child, and it was only after coming to China that he really grew up.
"I'll be 70 next year, and I'm going to live a lot of my life here, and in my heart, this is my hometown. I wish I had lived a long time and died here when I finally left. ”
Sa Yang once wrote emotionally in "Living in the Great Wall":
"Autumn is my favorite season to enjoy the view through my study window. Under the clear blue sky, the Great Wall on the mountain glows white......"
(Excerpted from the WeChat public account of the City of Ingenuity)