1977, the national college entrance examination was resumed. In order to get a pass to a better future, I made up the geography exam. Although my passport passed me by, I thought of historical cities such as Beijing and Changsha when I was making up my geography. At that time, Beijing was just a concept to me, an empty concept. When my teenage mother took me to Changsha, I used Changsha to fill in the concept of a famous historical city. Beijing has become an expanded version of Changsha, and the historic city near Dongting Lake, which is about to be connected with my destiny, has become a full version of Beijing and Changsha.
This is Yueyang in teenagers' imagination. Yueyang in the dream.
19781On the evening of October 26th, I walked out of the narrow railway station, and the fishy smell of fish and shrimp in the air choked my nostrils. The first time I was bombarded by fish and shrimp, I almost couldn't breathe. I have to say before that my concept of the land of fish and rice only stays in books. However, when I set foot on Yueyang, I had a personal feeling about the land of fish and rice. Later, when I really integrated into this historic city, I realized that this is a unique taste of a city, just like a person's body odor.
Yueyang welcomes me as a new citizen with her unique breath.
Twenty educated youths from Ningxiang, led by recruiting cadres, boarded a bus in Dongting Nitrogen Fertilizer Plant (now Baling Petrochemical Fertilizer Division). At that time, there was no Baling Bridge. The car passed the railway and a pole stood in front of them. After the train whined, the telephone poles rose, with a series of long carriages on both sides, raising a fog on the railway. The car crossed the railway, and the recruiting cadres told us that this was Dongmaoling. At that time, my only impression of Dongmaoling was that the road was wide and empty, wider than the endless plain in the movie. The car crossed the railway, sped to Wulipai, and ran lonely all the way. On the roadside of Dongmaoling, there is a half-dug hill, which is mixed with sparse buildings. There are only a few dim street lamps on the street. From Dongmaoling to Wulipai, there are no tall buildings on both sides of the wide asphalt road. Except for the hills and shadowy shrubs in the night, there seems to be no breath of life along the road.
This is the legendary historical city Yueyang? Is it Yueyang of Yueyang Tower, which has been told from generation to generation? Is it Yueyang, which is called a famous historical city in geography books? My imagination is almost completely shattered. In fact, Yueyang could not be called a city at that time, but was just a county organizational system. Less than ten minutes' drive, I felt the smallness of Yueyang. When the bus arrives at Wulipai, it arrives at the suburb of the suburb. Further on, it's like entering a mountainous area. As soon as the car crosses the Beijing-Guangzhou railway overpass, it is a steep slope. Under the steep slope, a road where only two cars can meet extends along the side of the mountain.
Now, following the memory of 1978, I go back to Yueyang on the first day, but I can't get into the suburbs of that year, and I can't find the feeling of country roads. Even the hills in those days seemed to turn into air. From Dongmaoling to the original Dongting Nitrogen Fertilizer Plant, there is only the feeling of going from east to west. In the evening, the brilliant lights of Baling Bridge have illuminated the original Dongting Nitrogen Fertilizer Plant, with shops on both sides. From the Beijing-Guangzhou railway overpass bridge to Dongting Nitrogen Fertilizer Plant, a four-lane street is like walking in an endless plain city.
1984, I was seconded to Dongting Lake magazine. At that time, it was called Yueyang District Federation of Literary and Art Circles, and it worked on the fourth floor of the regional cultural center. I work and sleep in the house on the fourth floor. Next to the landmark theater, there is also a guest house called the actor's house. I usually eat in the restaurant of the actor's house. At that time, he often ate at the actor's house. Li Huimo, a calligrapher of the Municipal People's Art Museum, met him several times in recent years and laughed and called him a dinner friend. Now that house has been demolished and a beautiful building has been built, which is Parkson of the Cultural Bureau. Now there is the only cinema in the city, which is quite high-end. I don't smoke, and I didn't drink much at that time. The canteen was short of oil and water, so I ate some snacks. One night, after reading for a while, I wanted to eat snacks. I saw that there were no cookies in the drawer, so I went downstairs to buy them. Dongmaoling has been everywhere, and no shop is open. I looked at the watch on my wrist. It was 2 1 p.m. Beijing time. In fact, that time is now, and nightlife has just begun.
Yueyang in the 1980s was a simple and clear town, so it wouldn't get lost or take the wrong bus. A friend who was born and raised in Yueyang recently laughed and said that he was old because he took the wrong bus several times. I talked about some new place names such as Bazimen and Sun Bridge, and asked him which bus to take, but he couldn't answer anything. I laughed that he was an old Yueyang native, not as good as an immigrant like me. He said that he was also an immigrant outside Dongmaoling. My friend's hometown in Yueyang is from Jiuhuashan to Nanzheng Street, and then through the railway to Dongmaoling. Wulipai is a suburb. No wonder he laughed and said that Dongmaoling was an immigrant.
I once heard an old man say that in the 1970s, there was a May 7th farm in Nanhu, which was a place where the "capitalist roaders" and the "black five classes" exercised. If you go to the farm to see a friend, just like going to a county town now, you will start planning and arranging one day in advance, as if you are going to take a long trip. If you want to go to South Lake now, and you are still planning like a world apart, it is whispering, which makes people laugh. South Lake is already the center of the city.
Once friends from metropolis came to Yueyang, and they sincerely praised Yueyang as a livable city. I didn't think they were praising Yueyang before. Once I went to a big city and took a friend's car. Cars stop and stop in the street, just like flocks of snails marching in the city. A friend said that if you invite friends to dinner in their city, you should say hello one day in advance, otherwise the restaurant will be closed and the invited friends will still be on their way. Only then did I understand why they had such a sigh. The city is the carrier of civilization, and the growth of the city is the growth history of civilization. I haven't studied how cities were born. But I firmly believe that the city serves people, and the modern civilization of the city is based on the survival of human beings. All civilizations cannot be separated from people being king, and civilization is the basic principle of ministers. Once divorced from this principle, civilization will become the enemy of mankind.
The growth of a city is not only a volume, but also a big fool. A fool will never grow up. The beauty of Jiangnan girls is because of the moisture of water. Yueyang grew up not only with a city, but also with a river called Wang Jiahe. Wangjia starts from Nanhu Lake, which is connected with Dongting Lake in the north, and reaches Bajiao Lake in the north, which has the potential to swallow Dongting Lake with the Yangtze River. Wang Jiahe passes through the city like a light ribbon, which makes a city with high benzene content light and elegant. If crossing the ocean is a painting, Wang Jiahe is the pen that adds color to it. One day, I was standing by the Wang Jiahe River, and the workers were digging the river with excavators. Dredging Wang Jiahe has existed since ancient times. I don't know when or why. South Lake and Bajiao Lake are far apart, and Wang Jiahe is dying. An official government document revealed that it would spend a huge sum of money to dig the blocked Wang Jiahe River again. The excavator I saw by the river is digging the ongoing plan.
Yueyang is growing. Not only has she grown up, but she is also exquisite and beautiful. If there is no beautiful Yueyang beside Dongting Lake, then we will be ashamed of Dongting Lake and waste the beautiful scenery in the south of the Yangtze River.