If you think about it carefully, maybe the root of this complex lies in two things: First, you have seen many war films about defending the country and defending China against the United States, and you have a deep memory of the pictures of the Soviet Red Army and the volunteers against the United States, especially the picture of Katyusha walking through the birch forest, which is beautiful and clean. The lyrics about the birch forest are all youthful and romantic. You think snow and birch forest are a perfect match; Living alone in the south. Although it feels good to have flowers and birds singing and dancing, if you stay in this environment for too long, you will feel an inexplicable crisis and slack. I hope I can feel a roughness, make your life less smooth and delicate, and grow some sober and textured pains and memories in the birch forest.
In the early winter of 20 14, this wish came true. And because I was on a business trip in Shanghai at that time, I flew from the south to the birch forest around Yanbian with almost no cold warmth. Warm and cold, delicate and rough, glorious and rough suddenly became more distinct. Wu Nong's soft words and the straightforward and loud voice of the Northeast people collided violently in my auditory system, and my life became a container and a surprise gift for two different cultural reactions.
I suddenly have a refusal mentality, such a long dream, walking into the birch forest-but such a sudden opportunity is like meeting someone who has a secret crush for a long time, thinking fast and thinking slowly, and wanting to cherish this beauty. However, I am still looking forward to it. Out of the airport, I turned my head and looked out of the window: where is the birch forest?
Changchun airport is far from the urban area, and the early winter in the northeast is already very cold. It's past noon, drizzling and foggy. Through the bus window, I can see many trees on both sides of the driveway, many of which are loose, and some trees with bare branches. You can tell by the shape that it is not birch. I understand that the figure of birch forest is hidden, and I have to wait and look for it.
I went to the sculpture park. There were many trees, but no birch. Going to the Puppet Manchu Palace in Puyi, there are some messy trees, called nameless trees, with many branches and leaves, which are beautiful, but there is no birch forest. Then I realized that birch forests, even in the northeast, are not everywhere.
Clean and free, tall and handsome, not suitable for staying in the city.
The next day, I took a tour bus out of town to see Changbai Mountain. Linhai Xueyuan and Baishan Blackwater are really not blowing, just like endless roads. We chased and ran desperately in the deep mountains and forests. Many places along the roadside are large fields and forests, but there are still few birch forests.
With the gradual elevation of the highway, the roadside slowly began to see snow, and the posture of birch forest suddenly appeared.
They shyly ran out of the Woods first, poked around, flashed out from time to time and then flashed back under the cover of the high-speed garage and the trees in the Woods. My eyes felt its naughty, so I began to "scan" more clearly. As we get closer and closer to the gate of Changbai Mountain Scenic Area, there are more and more birch forests, which slowly begin to diffuse our vision. The color of the forest gradually changed from dark to cheerful white, and the birch forest began to appear in front of my eyes like a picture in a movie. I began to have a sense of happiness in my heart, and I heard my companion exclaim: Ah! Birch forest!
I have an uncontrollable smile, a feeling of gratitude, excitement and kindness, which shines on the birch forest through my eyes and instantly produces an inexplicable sense of happiness. I told myself quietly in my heart: birch forest, I'm coming! At the same time, I also like to talk about birch forest! The whole white, tall forest, every birch tree is slender and strong! I'm coming!
The forest slowly began to become pure, the color became brighter and whiter, just like columns made of snow, arranged closely, as if there were no rules, but there were scattered rules, dotted in the field of vision and full. Seen from the ground along the white trunk, the white pillars stand upright. Just when I began to wonder why this height lasted for so long, it gradually turned into a black branch that broke the boundary of vision, and became a slightly radial shape, piercing the sky and spreading my thoughts to the blue sky.
In the world of birch forest, the picture seems to have been three colors: white snow, birch forest and blue sky, so pure and persistent.
After getting off the bus, the companions began to take pictures in front of the gate. A sculpture, an inscription and so on all became the background. I looked around, but I saw two birch trees that were lucky enough to stay on the platform of the gate square, and my steps unconsciously walked towards them. Because of years of waiting, I suddenly faced this moment, and my steps became stiff and trembled slightly.
They are so lucky. It's generous to find such a big square in a secluded place in the Woods. It is estimated that many birch trees and their brothers are buried under this reinforced concrete. They were cut off by human axes and covered with reinforced concrete in this land where their ancestors grew up. From then on, there will never be a trace of green life on this land, which is far more tenacious than those rocks-and it is against this background that they actually stayed, expressing their strength like two burning torches in this place occupied by cement, and also silently and persistently shouting to the sky.
I walked up to them and saw the birch tree at zero distance for the first time. My heart beats a little faster. Two birch trees, the white bark is the most typical, and there will be a black scar from time to time, which looks so beautiful on a white background. In fact, birch trees are naturally "black and white". A long trunk, pointing to the sky. My eyes traced back along the trunk and gradually began to retreat. It turns out that the tree is too high, and my head has been tilted to the maximum angle, but I still can't see its tip. Step back, my neck felt less painful, and I began to look at them carefully. It does not have many branches. This season, there are no leaves, only bare trunks and branches, which seems to have a thin but spiritual feeling. The trunks of the two birch trees in front of me are not very thick. My hands are about four times as big as my thumb and middle finger, but the whole height is more than 20 meters. The trunk is white, dotted with some black spots, showing the same characteristics as some works of art. Some black spots, perhaps the bifurcation points of the original branches, look at me quietly on the white canvas like eyes, not knowing whether it is welcome, complaint or an expression of Zen.
I want to remember them. Like many people, I took out my mobile phone to take pictures. However, I find it difficult to make a gesture. If I want to put all their characters in the frame, I have to at least retreat to the edge of the square, but then they will become very small. I suddenly had an inspiration. I crouched down, raised my mobile phones to the sky and photographed them. It's still very high. I almost went from squatting to kneeling on one leg. Slowly, a beautiful picture appeared in my mobile phone: a straight line from top to bottom and an oblique white line intersect in a triangle at the top of the picture. The whole background is a blue sky almost as pure as the sea. The colors set off each other, and the composition is so harmonious, simple, profound and beautiful.
After pressing the key, I found my photo pose and inadvertently completed my attitude towards birch trees. Kneeling on one knee is worship? Is it respect? Is admiration? Are you making out? I was speechless for a moment, but I was glad to get close to it in this way. This is the most exact tribute to natural life, this cold-resistant life and this beautiful life.
I got up and went in again, looking at those black scars like eyes. I reached out and stroked the trunk gently. I spread out my palm and moved my heart in, covered with inexplicable excitement and curiosity. The moment my palm touched the bark, I suddenly had a little doubt in my heart. My sense of touch tells me that the bark of birch is soft, as soft and moist as cloth. I suddenly feel that my palms are wrong. In this cold north, in the ice and snow of Changbai Mountain, the blade of the wind and snow is cutting and forging the bark of birch all the time. How can there be such a gentle and sincere appearance and response? It is as delicate as silk yarn, but it can exist so tenaciously on the birch trees in this snow country. I reached out, touched harder, moved my position, and told me everywhere that it was true! The bark of birch is really soft! I saw a layer of bark blooming in one place, so I pinched it with my fingers and gently began to tear it. I want to see if there is still this softness under the bark. The bark is easy to tear, and it leaves the trunk with your fingers. However, it is only very thin. On the first floor, in my hands, dancing slightly in the wind. When I saw it, it was the torn layer, but it was actually composed of many layers. Layer by layer, very thin, very tight, each layer, but very clear. Soft and thin, like continuous paper for calligraphy, it feels very comfortable and has a feeling of touching satin.
At this time, I felt a shock. I have never seen a birch tree with my own eyes before. I didn't know the bark of a birch tree would be so soft, and I wouldn't believe it had a level with this paper!
Birch trees, I thought the forest composed of thousands of trees was their most beautiful composition, but I didn't expect every birch tree to have such a strange body. Cold, rough, white, black spots, rough and soft, this tree can withstand so many contradictory phenomena and figures! It has become an elusive secret and a huge image of life. Betula platyphylla, Betula platyphylla, I say this name in my mind, like calling, like praying, like chanting.
For a moment, my mind was a little dull. Birch tree, which made me strange and familiar, began to be sacred and kind. I told my friends in the same trade about this discovery. They are all tourists from the south, so they all touched the birch tree with questioning eyes, then put their hands into their cotton-padded clothes and said again and again: Really, really! How can it be soft? As soon as the words were spoken, they turned into fog and disappeared in the wind passing by the birch tree. Life in the south has no superiority in front of birch trees.
Graceful birch trees, long blue sky and slight south wind, who produced this accurate expression?
The birch forest, with birch trees planted on both sides, extends from the foot to the end of the field of vision and to the horizon, forming a beautiful picture together. Elegant, clean and elegant, any composition is a rare scenery.
Birch forest, I was ecstatic, and I finally found the birch forest. That's a long-cherished wish for many years!
Later, we entered the Changbai Mountain Scenic Area. During several transfers, we were lucky enough to walk in the birch forest. Although it is a boardwalk, as long as I am surrounded by tall birch trees, my mood will become so happy. In my sight, there are birch trees everywhere, and my eyes are in a hurry, wandering among birch trees. Every time I find a new tree, I feel excited and happy. I seem to be eager to become a birch tree in this kind of walking, join them, add one more pixel to form the whole birch forest, and become brothers who laugh and watch the ice and snow side by side with them.
I have touched the birch tree on the roadside several times and imagined that it was a hug and tribute from thousands of miles away to commemorate this fate. Birch trees are equally silent, waiting for the wind in the laughter of tourists.
In my later travels, I was always excited about the birch forest I met. In the forest park, on the way to Tianchi, at the junction of China, the DPRK and the Soviet Union, and on the rolling hills, there are always birch trees dotted or covered. Countless treetops passed by the window, forming a wonderful feeling. This birch forest gives me the feeling that I am not afraid of the cold, persistent and beautiful, soft outside and rigid inside, better than people, more relaxed than people, and full of poetry all the way.
The birch forest always fills my imagination with artistic conception, a traditional Chinese painting-like artistic conception and a religious reverence. This birch forest marks the beautiful snowfield and also creates the ecology and culture of Northeast China. Relying on mountains to eat, birch forest has become the life and spiritual hometown of Baishan Blackwater Land. Birch tree, the soul of this black land, represents countless lives and youth submerged in the snow. The beautiful birch forest is actually a group of people who poetize this home. From the heroes in the camera, to the camouflage barracks hidden in the forest, and then to countless villages dotted in the forest, they are all part of the birch forest. Under the ground, the roots are connected and the blood is connected. Betula platyphylla forest, with unyielding soul and backbone, has become an eternal scenery in the snowy field.
I can look for it, but unfortunately, except for the distance I changed in the scenic spot, I haven't had a chance to really walk into the birch forest I yearn for, that is, we officially walked into the birch forest on the road of artificial construction. The driver and tour guide refused my request for various reasons. I just looked at the birch trees flying outside the window like farewell and silence. I had to scan the birch forest greedily with my eyes and store it in my heart.
What moved me was the photo of birch I posted on WeChat. Many people like it and comment on it. I realize that I'm not the only one who loves birch forest.
There are people who have this birch complex like me. In the drowsiness brought by the speeding bus, a familiar melody is swaying in the bumpy carriage: the birch forest is engraved with the names of those two people, waiting for me to come back and come to this birch forest!
When I heard this song, I suddenly regretted it: I didn't carve my name on the birch tree! Although no one is waiting, no one is waiting.
On second thought, wait for me!