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"Autumn in the Old Capital" by Yu Dafu
Autumn, no matter where it is, is always good; but, autumn in the North , but it is especially clear, quiet and desolate. The reason why I traveled thousands of miles to catch up with Qingdao from Hangzhou, and even more so to catch up with Peiping from Qingdao, was just to enjoy the "autumn" and the autumn flavor of my old capital.
Of course there is autumn in the south of the Yangtze River; but the vegetation grows slowly, the air is moist, the color of the sky is light, and it is often rainy and less windy; a person is sandwiched between Suzhou, Shanghai, Hangzhou, or Xiamen and Hong Kong Among the citizens of Guangzhou, passing by in chaos, they can only feel a little bit of coolness, the smell of autumn, the color of autumn, the artistic conception and posture of autumn, but they can never get enough of it, taste it, and enjoy it fully. Autumn is not a famous flower, nor is it a fine wine. The half-open, half-drunk state is inappropriate in the process of appreciating autumn.
It has been nearly ten years since autumn in the Northern Kingdom. Every autumn in the south, I always think of the reed flowers in Taoranting, the willow shadows in Diaoyutai, the singing of insects in Xishan, the moonlight in Yuquan, and the bells in Tanzhe Temple. Even if you don't go out in Peiping, you can rent a shabby house with rafters and live in the middle of the imperial city. When you get up in the morning, make a bowl of strong tea and sit in the courtyard, you can still see how high the sky is. The sky is green, and the sound of pigeons flying under the blue sky can be heard. Look eastward under the locust trees to closely observe the streaks of sunlight filtering through their leaves, or quietly gaze out at the trumpet-shaped blue flowers of morning glories climbing half way up a dilapidated wall, and of course you'll feel the intense feeling of it. Autumn. When it comes to morning glories, I think blue or white ones are the best, followed by purple and black ones, and light red ones are the worst. It is best to have a few sparse, thin and long autumn grasses growing at the bottom of the morning glory as a foil.
The locust trees in the North are also an ornament that reminds people of autumn. The fallen pistils, which look like flowers but are not flowers, will be spread all over the ground in the morning. When you step on it, there is no sound or smell, and you can only feel a tiny and soft touch. After the street sweeper swept under the shadow of the trees for a while, the lines of the broomstick left on the dust looked both delicate and leisurely. Subconsciously, he also felt a little lonely. The ancients said that the phoenix tree leaves only one leaf. The world knows the distant thoughts of autumn, probably in these deep places.
The feeble chirping of the cicadas is especially characteristic of the North. Because there are trees everywhere in Peiping and the houses are low, their cries can be heard no matter where they are. In the south, you have to go to the suburbs or mountains to hear it. Because of their shrill noise, these cicadas in Peiping seem to be living off every household like crickets or mice.
There are also autumn rains. The autumn rains in the north also seem to fall more strangely than those in the south, they are more interesting and more decent.
Under the gray sky, a cool breeze suddenly came, and then it started to rain. After a layer of rain, the clouds gradually rolled to the west, the sky turned blue again, and the sun showed its face again; urban idlers wearing thick green cloth single clothes or jackets, biting their pipes, looked at the scenery after the rain. In the shadow of the slanted bridge, if you stand under the trees at the head of the bridge and meet someone you know, they will reply to each other in a slow and leisurely tone with a slight sigh:
"Oh, the weather is really cold - —" (This word is pronounced very high and long.)
"Isn't it? A layer of autumn rain and a layer of coldness!"
Northerners pronounce the word "zhen". , Zong Lao seems to be a layered character, which is flat and oblique. This mispronounced rhyme is just right.
The fruit trees in the north are also a wonderful sight in autumn. The first is the date tree. They will grow up one by one in the corners of houses, at the top of walls, beside latrines and at the door of kitchens. When these jujubes, which look like olives and dove eggs, show a light green and slightly yellow color among the small oval leaves, it is the peak period of autumn; when the jujube leaves fall and the red dates are finished, the northwest The wind is about to pick up, and the north is a dusty world. Only these dates, persimmons, and grapes are ripe at the turn of July and August. It is the best day of autumn in the north, and it is the best time of the year. There are no GoldenDays either.
Some critics say that Chinese literati, especially poets, have a strong sense of decadence, so there are many words praising autumn in Chinese poetry. But what about foreign poets? Although I don’t read much foreign poetry, and I don’t want to write an account of poems and prose for autumn, but if you look through the collections of English, German, French and Italian poets, or the anthologies of poetry and prose from various countries - thology Come here, you can always see many songs and lamentations about autumn. Long pastoral poems or poems about the four seasons by famous poets always include parts about autumn. Most brilliantly written and interesting. It goes to show that all sentient animals and sensitive humans have the same feelings of depth, remoteness, severity and desolation towards autumn. Not only poets, but also prisoners locked up in prisons, in autumn, I think they will definitely feel a deep affection that cannot be felt by themselves. How does autumn differ from country to person, let alone race and class? However, in China, there is an idiom of "Qiu Shi" in the text, and Ouyang Zi's "Autumn Sound" and Su Dongpo's "Red Cliff Ode" are very common in reading books. I feel that Chinese literati have a particularly deep relationship with autumn. . But the deep flavor of autumn, especially the deep flavor of autumn in China, can only be experienced in the north.
Autumn in the South has its own special features, of course, such as the bright moon at Twenty-four Bridge, the autumn tide at the Qiantang River, the cool mist at Putuo Mountain, the lingering lotuses at Lizhi Bay, etc., but the colors Not strong, the aftertaste is not lasting. Compared with autumn in the North, it is just like the relationship between rice wine and white rice, the relationship between rice porridge and steamed buns, the relationship between sea bass and crabs, and the relationship between yellow dogs and camels.
Autumn, this northern autumn, if I could keep it, I would give two-thirds of my lifespan in exchange for a fraction of one-third.