Spring in Tuanpo Lake

Author: Wang Song Yang Boliang

Illustration: Guo Hongsong

The autumn wind is like a flexible comb, combing through the quiet tuanbowa;

The autumn light is like a shining bead of sweat, fluttering on the flat beach.

Sorghum is like a team of "red scarves", quietly observing the surrounding roads;

Sunflower shook her head and smiled, looking at the red sky where the sun rose.

Short, tall weeping willows, caressing fast-ripening crops with pale green leaves;

Dense reeds, carefully guarding the wildflowers that secretly open under their feet...

On an autumn morning 45 years ago, sheep were quietly grazing in the depression, and a middle-aged man with thin but angular cheeks was holding a sheep whip and leaning on a low weeping willow smoking. He slowly raised his head and looked into the distance, and this verse flowed from the bottom of his heart. He was the poet Guo Xiaochuan, and this poem, which was later widely circulated, was "The Autumn of Tuanbowa".

Tagore said: "The world speaks to me with pictures, and my heart responds with music." "The music that flows from the heart of the poet is a romantic verse. So at that time, in the eyes of our poets, what was the picture of Tuanbowa?

In addition to weeds and reeds, weeds and reeds.

It is a vast wasteland, and historical records once covered an area of 410 square kilometers. Because it is located in the lower reaches of Baiyangdian, every time there is a flood disaster, the passenger water falls into a swamp. During the Kangxi Dynasty of the Qing Dynasty, some people surnamed Li moved here to make a living from fishing. Subsequently, the surnames of Cheng and Zhao settled here one after another, and gradually formed villages. The village is an earthen platform high above the water, and fishing boats often moor around it, which is the origin of "tuan mooring". This area is only two or three meters above sea level, and it is an ancient retreat to Haiti, low-lying and waterlogged, barren and alkaline, and can only grow reeds, weeds and wild vegetables. There was a crude but vivid folk song circulating in the local area: "Old Dongxiang, eat vegetable chaff, drink bitter water, pee on the crotch." "The so-called old Dongxiang refers to this depression.

This was the Tuanbowa in Guo Xiaochuan's eyes at that time. It is hard to imagine that he could write such a beautiful and romantic poem when he looked at such a desolate and desolate wasteland, which shows that this is the feeling of a true poet. At that time, the site of the "May Seventh Cadre School" was the hatchery of the Xinsheng Farm in Hebei Province. Along with Guo Xiaochuan were a number of writers such as Zhang Guangnian, Qin Zhaoyang, and Tu An, as well as some well-known artists from various associations of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles at that time. At that time, Guo Xiaochuan often drove the sheep to the wadian, holding the sheep whip, smoking while looking at the Duliu River in the north and the villages in the distance. The mud huts of the village were like a low mound of barren grass. What was he thinking? No one knows. But one thing is for sure, our poet would never have imagined that 45 years later, the Tuanbowa in his eyes and in his pen would become what it is today.

Tuanbowa, no one in Tuanbo anymore uses this name. In its depths, it is already a wide and charming water surface, which has become a famous scenic spot, and its name today is "Tuanpo Lake". The water surface is 61 square kilometers, equivalent to 11 Hangzhou West Lakes. On the shore of the lake, a modern new city has been built, which is called "Tuanbo New Town". Guo Xiaochuan would not have thought that this once barren "old Dongxiang" has been lined with high-rise buildings and flowers today...

one

This brings us to the Tuanbo people.

Tuanbo people are generous. The experience of eating vegetable chaff and drinking bitter water made them full of longing for a better life. At the beginning of the planning of this new city on the shore of Tuanbo Lake, its eastern district covered almost all the land of all 8 villages in Tuanbo Town. At that time, according to the relevant national land policies, overall consideration had been made. But for the Tuanbo people, they are faced with two choices, whether to stick here, or to dedicate themselves to the new city and leave the land where their ancestors lived?

The Tuanbo people chose the latter.

Of course, objectively speaking, this is also a rare opportunity for tuanbo people. But dedication is said because once such a decision is made, people here will have to completely change their lives, or rather, face a new and completely foreign way of life. No matter how difficult the days are, after all, it is the homeland, and no matter how broken the home is, it is also "worth ten thousand". The Tuanbo people who live here have been accustomed to the smell of dirt for generations, and they have also heard the rustle of reeds and weeds rubbing in the middle of the night. Now, getting them to give it all up is obviously not an easy task. However, the tuanbo town government still decided to relocate all 8 villages in the town for the development of the new city. Zhang Qiang, the mayor of Tuanbo Town, is a person who does not talk much and is also very low-key, but it can be seen that his heart is very determined. He said that although in the final analysis, it is something that benefits all villagers, it is also necessary to do the work of persuasion and mobilization patiently and meticulously and even painstakingly.

It should be said that only those who have specifically done this kind of work will appreciate the weight of these words. It goes without saying that in today's rapid economic development, among many work related to adaptive development, such work is the most commonly encountered, the most complex, the most onerous, and the most difficult. During that time, everyone hardly slept a whole night. His eyes were red, his mouth was blistering, his throat was so hoarse that he could no longer speak, no matter how strong the wind was, no matter how much rain it rained, he had to go to the village to do mobilization work from house to house with one foot of water and one foot of mud. Everyone understands in their hearts that while dedicating themselves to the new city, it is actually a big step for the villagers to take a well-off life. But the reason is this truth, some people still can't understand it for a while, not to mention the complete change of lifestyle, that is, daily life, many people, especially the elderly people, there are many places that cannot adapt. There was once an incident in mengjia house village that made people cry and laugh. After the villagers moved into the building, there will often be some feces around the community, and later learned that many villagers have become accustomed to the "squat pit" of the toilet in the farm yard, moving into the building, sitting on the toilet in the bathroom always feel awkward, so they prefer to go downstairs and run to the field outside the community to squat for convenience.

Obviously, there must always be a process for everyone to adapt to the new way of life. But everyone understands that no matter what, since the planning of the eastern part of the new city is in Tuanbo Town, they must do their best to cooperate and must not drag their feet.

There is an old proverb that gives people roses and leaves a lingering fragrance in your hands. The dedication of the Tuanbo people has also been rewarded. Just when they started the overall relocation for the development of the new city, Tuanbo Town was also included in the second batch of demonstration small towns by the Tianjin Municipal Government. This has played a key and decisive role in completely getting rid of poverty and the old way of life and moving toward a well-off life in the new era.

two

When Guo Xiaochuan was herding sheep in Wadian, the village he often overlooked was called Tuanbo Village.

Tuanbo Village is in the west of the ganzheng, 8 miles away. It is also known as "lower depression". The old man Zhao Fuxi in the village recalled that in the past, the people in the village drank the water in the pit, not only the smell of grass roots, but also bitter and astringent, not to mention the low earthen houses. Speaking of his current life, the old man sighed one after another, compared with when Guo Xiaochuan was there, it was really a day and a place!

The elderly Zhao Fuxi had been in contact with Guo Xiaochuan in that year. At that time, he was a young man in his 20s, and once a leader came to visit these writers and artists and asked him to accompany them. That was the time he met Guo Xiaochuan. The old man recalled that Guo Xiaochuan was a less noticeable person, relatively silent, but also a little stuttering, when everyone came around to talk, only he, quietly on the side, only occasionally interjected a sentence or two. Of course, Zhao Fuxi would not have thought that it was this taciturn poet who later wrote a poem called "The Autumn of Tuanbowa", which actually made this place famous throughout the country.

Tuanbo Village is the largest of the 8 villages in Tuanbo Town. There are more than 2,400 households in the town, and Tuanbo Village accounts for nearly half of them. In this overall relocation, Tuanbo Village is the top priority. Tuanbo village has a good tradition and village style. To this day, there are still three tall tombs on the edge of the village, which the locals call "three good men's graves". The owners of the tomb are Cheng Tianxiao, Cheng Youming and Cheng Zongfa. Cheng Tianxiao was a famous dart master during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, who defeated the famous Hercules Barovsky abroad and boosted the morale of the people. In the twenty-fourth year of Qianlong, when a tidal disaster occurred in Taiwan and the sea level rose, Cheng Tianxiao escorted him to Taiwan, all the way to the danger, and went through all the hardships to send disaster relief materials to the other side of the strait. Cheng Youming was the brother of Cheng Tianxiao, and Cheng Zongfa was his nephew and a righteous soldier. This Cheng Clan Sanjie has set an example for the descendants of the village to be just, upright, and put the overall situation first in everything. These "Three Good Men's Graves" have been included in the local cultural heritage list by the local government.

In Tuanbo Village, there was also a martyr named Zhao Deen. Zhao Deen was the militia leader of Tuanbo Village, and around 1946, the militia organization in Tuanbo Village, under the leadership of Zhao Deen, was brave and good at war, cooperated with the liberation of Tianjin, and participated in several large-scale battles. Later, Zhao De'en was unfortunately arrested, and the enemy forced him to tell him about the basic cadre militia in the village, but under torture, he preferred to die unyieldingly, and finally heroically took revenge on the field north of the village. The people of Tuanbo Village still speak of the martyr Zhao De'en and are still proud.

It is precisely because of this tradition that Tuanbo Village has generally been very smooth in this relocation. The construction of demonstration small towns is first of all voluntary, specifically ninety-five percent of the villagers support it, and five percent of the villagers do not oppose it. As you can imagine, this undoubtedly adds more difficulty to the work. However, the Tuanbo people did it. At present, the farmers in the 8 villages of the town have basically moved into the new community. The community is divided into two parts, north and south, separated by one road, and in the shady green space, the buildings are scattered. There are various sports venues and fitness facilities in the building complex, the sound of reading in the school, the colorful kindergarten, the children play happily in the sun... At a glance, it looks like a modern residential area in the city.

The community is planned according to the high standards and high quality of the "demonstration small town", and the residential building is fully equipped with energy-saving, low-carbon and environmental protection technologies. Heating geothermal, the daily use of hot water for households using solar energy, the entire community has also established a complete set of rainwater collection systems, the introduction of smart grids, the establishment of electric vehicle charging stations. Taking into account the actual situation of different villagers and the needs of people of different ages, several unique room types have also been specially designed. The elderly Shang Xuchen is a villager in Mengjia house village, and the community where he lives has a beautiful name, called "Mengjia Xinyuan". He said that when he was in the village, the first thing he lived in was three billet houses, which were called "one light and two dark" in the local area, and later improved, it was only a brick house. At first, I heard that I was going to relocate, but I also couldn't think straight, and I was always worried that I wouldn't adapt. After moving in, I truly appreciate the comfort and convenience of this modern new life. The house is ground heating, not only clean, but also warm, cooking with natural gas, bathroom with flush toilet. The old man said contentedly, I really did not expect that I could live such a life in this life. Then, he smiled and said, this should be the well-off life!

Cheng Shusheng of Tuanbo Village lives in a community called "Fujin Xinyuan". In this new community where people live in this concentrated community, each village is a community, and each community has a name full of poetry and good blessings. Cheng Shusheng is in his early 60s, but he still looks very strong, like a 40-year-old middle-aged man. He's still working. After the villagers moved here, in addition to the change of lifestyle and environment, a considerable number of people are also worried about employment pressure. But that's no longer a problem. In recent years, the highways around Tuanbo Town have been accessible in all directions, and today's Tuanbo Town is only 25 kilometers away from the central urban area of Tianjin, coupled with the development and construction of Tuanbo New Town, which not only provides convenience for employment, but also provides more opportunities. But as the saying goes, relying on mountains to eat mountains, relying on water to draft water. Tuanbo is rich in water resources, so some villagers are still engaged in rice cultivation, while others adhere to the tradition of fish farming. Cheng Shusheng is a good fish farmer, and now he still contracts 180 acres of fish ponds and raises grass carp, crucian carp and shrimp. When I was busy, I had to take care of the fish pond, so I lived with my wife at the edge of the pond and came back when I was resting. Years of labor by the water's edge, the wind and the sun, made his face black and red. He said happily, every time he came back from the fish pond, as soon as he entered the door, he felt not only convenient, but also much more comfortable, not burning the stove in winter without coal, clean, but also warmer, in the past in the village, dirty water had to be pulled out uniformly, and now there is a sewer at home, too convenient! His wife also laughed and said, yes, we always say, this living conditions are good, the life is more energetic, what to do!

Today's Tuanbo people not only have a heart, but also have more taste. The elderly Zhao Fuxi, who had seen Guo Xiaochuan at the beginning, also lived in the "Fujin Xinyuan". The old man's home is very bright, 130 square meters of house, and a spacious study. Over the years, in addition to liking to write and write, the old man also has a hobby, which is to make newspaper clippings. Next to the bookcase, neatly stacked newspaper clippings. The old man proudly said that one day in the future, he would donate them to the town's library! Such a study, Mengjia House Village Shi Jianlin also has a room. This is a very strong middle-aged man, dark complexion, very bright eyes, and he looks like a man who has been beaten out of the farmland. But he wrote well. In Shi Jianlin's study, above and below the case, there were newly written Lishu works everywhere...

three

Tuanbo is no longer the "Tuanbowa" of that year.

45 years ago, our poet would never have imagined that he wrote "Autumn in Tuanbowa", which also left a precious cultural heritage for this land. But today, few people know that the poem also had a tortuous experience. At that time, Guo Xiaochuan wrote this poem and sent it to a friend named Liu Xiaoshan. Liu Xiaoshan was working in the China Writers Association at that time, and was rotated to the Tuanbowa "May Seventh Cadre School" on duty, where she worked for more than a month. At the end of September 1975, Liu Xiaoshan, who had already returned to Beijing, suddenly received a letter from Guo Xiaochuan, which was the poem "Autumn of Tuanbowa". Liu Xiaoshan recalled that the poem was written on several ordinary pieces of paper, and there was no other additional text, and the poet only wrote a sentence at the end: "The first draft of the first draft, which still needs to be revised many times, belongs to the category of 'reference news', and should not be passed on." Liu Xiaoshan read this poem and was immediately moved by the poet's romantic feelings and stirring thoughts. Later, Guo Xiaochuan met Liu Xiaoshan again in Beijing and asked her to take out the draft poem, but in a hurry, he only changed the sentence "the geese have not yet come north" to "the geese have not yet gone south." This is also the only change That Guo later made to the poem. Later, for various reasons, Guo Xiaochuan's letters were not preserved, but this poem manuscript, Liu Xiaoshan has been carefully treasured. To be on the safe side, she folded the three pieces of paper, sealed them in plastic film, and nailed them to the bottom of a large rosewood wardrobe with four pushpins. It was not until after 1976 that Liu Xiaoshan took out this poem and handed it to Feng Mu, who immediately decided to publish it in the Poetry Journal. Then, at a large-scale literary and art evening in Beijing, the famous actor Qu Xianhe recited this poem, which caused a sensation in the audience, and the applause of more than 10,000 people was endless. Since then, it has been recited at various poetry recitals and has been widely circulated ever since. Later, it was also compiled into the Beijing Secondary School Chinese Textbook...

The Tuanbowa of that year, today's Tuanbo Lake, because of this famous poem, is well known to the world.

Where the poet lived, today, the door is covered with wild grass more than half a person high, and the two closed iron doors are rusted. Not far away, the Duliu River is still flowing in a hurry, running day and night to the "red end of the world where the sun rises" - Bohai Bay. Under the levee, there was a large and deep "water nest", which was the place where the water pump was pumped by the water station at that time. At that time, Guo Xiaochuan, Tu An, Hua Junwu, Wu Zuguang and others worked for a day, and in the evening, they often came here to take a bath and play to relieve the fatigue of the day. Now this water nest has been covered by dense shade, only not far away, where Guo Xiaochuan herded sheep is still faintly recognizable. Standing here, looking west, you can no longer see the low-rise mud houses in Tuanbo Village, replaced by a row of high-rise buildings. Among those high-rise buildings, there is a unique architectural complex that stands out, namely the Tuanbo Sports Center, the Tuanbo Football Stadium, the Tuanpo International Tennis Center and the Samaranch Memorial Hall. Looking southwest and due south, a thick shade of buildings is hidden, where the newly built "Guanghe Valley Ecological culture industrial park" in Tuanbo Town, Ren'ai University and Petroleum Institute...

Today's Tuanbo Lake is already a beautiful scenic area.

The wide water surface meets the skyline, and the water is dotted like a few reed-covered islands, and the beautiful lake water is always colorful. It is also a bird nature reserve, which has been listed in the "List of Wetland Nature Reserves in China" by the state and is an important station for the migration of migratory birds in the world. The rare birds inhabiting the lake include swans, egrets, mandarin ducks, etc., as many as 160 kinds of 38 families. There are also a variety of fish in the lake, and there are abundant geothermal resources. Mayor Zhang Qiang said emotionally that this is the second hometown of our poet Guo Xiaochuan, if he is still alive, I will tell him that we are already here as the famous "land of fish and reeds" and "the land of fish and rice", and there are stories when you are here, and in the future, it will certainly be more prosperous...

(Author: Wang Song, Vice Chairman of Tianjin Writers Association; Yang Boliang, Chairman of Tianjin Jinghai District Writers Association)

Source: Guangming Daily