Prose Appreciation • Sightseeing

Xianshan Lou Guan Tu Lu Guang Vertical Axis Silk Set Color Length 137. 5 cm horizontal 95. 4 cm Collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, China.

Watch the light

——Liang Shiqiu

A foreign professor traveled on vacation, said Taiwan, and wrote to me in advance to ask me to take care of it, and the tour guide was not my side job, but I could not help it. It turned out that "road translation" was not easy, because the old couple asked me to take them to a place called Hagglers Glley for a sightseeing tour, and I hesitated, wondering which street could have the glory of such a name. The so-called haggler is the "bargainer". They had never seen such a scene, and it was human to want to see it. In the Han Dynasty, there was a Han Kang who sold medicine in Chang'an, and his words were not worth the same price, which was listed in the history of Qing and was rumored to be a beautiful talk. If he talks to me about this story, of course, I will feel that there is light on my face, and I think again, Han Kang is a gentleman, which is rare in history, and it is of course more difficult to find now. Don't mention him. The name of one street as "bargaining" is enough to prove that there is no bargaining on other streets, which is still quite a decent thing. Well, take them for a walk around town. The visitor saw that I was a little hesitant, so he found a guide booklet from the box and pointed out to me that one of the eight scenic spots in Taipei, "Bargaining Street", was impressive. Fortunately, it does not say Chinese street name, nor does it indicate where it is. An exciting experience of haggling on almost any street.

According to the guide booklet, they also watched the mountain compatriots dance. When it comes to dancing, we have it in ancient times, but unfortunately, the situation of "dancing and returning to the song" can only be vaguely experienced in the picture scroll, that is, what kind of neon feather sword weapon is detached, and we only have its name. What tourists want to see is the more ancient and original remnants! The more rudimentary the better! "Wishing for a tattoo on the wrong arm" is all interesting. I told them that this kind of mountain dancing needed to go to the mountains to see it, which made them very disappointed. (I knew in my heart that even though they didn't say it, they must have wanted to see the "grass out" pomp and circumstance.) Who wouldn't want to visit Formosa's "A Low-Key Suggestion" about The Custom of Eating Live Human Flesh in Formosa? Later, they saw the pocket-sized "National Opera Face" in the place where the "handicrafts" were sold, and they were overjoyed, thinking that this must be a legacy of ancient customs thousands of years ago. Although I tried my best to explain that this was just the "face" of the "national drama", different from the model of the natives they saw on the islands in the african inland or the South China Sea, they were still very stubborn to express their heartfelt joy, and the so-called a serendipic smill (such as a precious smile) appeared on the corners of their mouths, generously donated money, bought a few copies, and prepared to return to China to give to relatives and friends, indicating that they saw something worth seeing.

I have a friend who once entertained a lady tourist in his house, and after feasting on our world-famous cuisine, she suddenly wanted to repay the favor on a whim and insisted on going down to the kitchen to cook a meal of their own country to entertain the host. And said that it is necessary to personally go to the market to procure. Go sightseeing at our wet market! Our market is full of goods, which can indicate the abundance of our lives, the need for rations, and everyone can return with a full load. Every vegetable basket can be "green out of the basket", and the chickens and fish are slaughtered on the spot, and there is no additional charge for the wonderful performance. Although customers in the market rub shoulders, they can still hold umbrellas, let the rain drip on other people's heads, still push bicycles to rampage through the crowds, and rub muddy water on others, because of mutual reciprocity, they can also be at peace. A lady with a thin grease powder conveniently stuffed an extra strip of flesh into her bamboo basket, and the quick-eyed butcher quickly pulled out the meat again, at first looking at each other angrily, and then somehow looking at each other and laughing, just in time, not hurting. The variety of things in the market is really impressive, and our tourists are not only stunned, but also happy. The host was naïve and asked her afterwards what was the difference between our vegetable market and their country's vegetable market, and she replied very succinctly: "There is no muddy water on the ground of our country's vegetable market." ”

The tourist was again entertained to Sun Moon Lake, staying in the VIP room of a recently completed mansion, everything went smoothly, even the boatman and the nail photographer did not frighten her, but in the middle of the night a large cockroach with a bright thief danced two long whiskers to climb on the sheets, and she shouted to alarm the passengers of the whole building. After the matter was clarified, the sympathy seemed to be on the cockroach side. Cockroaches are all over the world, its history is longer than that of humans, this nasty thing loves peace, beats it and kills it, never resists, its only weapon is against birth control efforts. Foreign women will faint when they see a mouse, and why should they lose their voices and scream when they see cockroaches? The dragon and lion dance can entertain the guests, and a small cockroach is not respectful.

If you come to Taiwan for sightseeing and not to see the antiquities of the old officials, is it not equivalent to exploring the jaw of the dragon and leaving the beads behind? But I really hope that tourists do not encounter the long line of primary school students carrying kettles and bean paste bread, otherwise they will misunderstand that our primary school students have made up for the effects enough to appreciate Zhou Yi Handing. No matter how beautiful and magnificent the country is, it is a "heavenly opening picture" and has nothing to do with people. When it comes to culture, it's all artificial. We in Chinese culture can find empirical evidence in the antiquities of the Forbidden City. It can also be said that Chinese culture has almost been exhausted. Such a cultural relics exhibition, of course, is proud of the world, the only regret is that the glory of the ancestors does not help the filial piety and the grandchildren of the fluttering stem! And even if we know how to work hard, we can no longer make "Wu Ding Zhen" to cook rice, and we still have to beg for the electric pot.