The cold winter in Jiangnan makes people look forward to spring, but this expectation is missing in Hainan, which is like summer all year round.
In fact, there is spring in Hainan, but you need to be extra careful to find the steps of spring. Taking the Hainan East Line Expressway from Sanya to Haikou, you have to pass through Niuling, and you can see the sign of Boundary Island. It is said that Hainan Island is divided into north and south based on this, with the south being tropical and the north being subtropical. When you come to Hainan during the Spring Festival, you can clearly feel the difference in climate between the north and the south. Wear single clothes in the south and a coat in the north. The sun is shining brightly in the south, while it becomes cloudy and rainy in the north.
There is spring in subtropical areas. Spring in China probably starts from Niuling in Hainan. Just like Xu Zhimo's poem "Goodbye Cambridge": I left quietly, just as I came quietly; I waved my sleeves and didn't take away a single cloud. The spring in Hainan also goes quietly, without even waving the sleeves, so that the local people ignore the existence of spring.
Various fruit trees bloom and fall before and after the Spring Festival, and all bear small fruits in a hurry. The frogs have never stopped chirping all year round... These typical signs of spring are not the same as spring in Hainan. coherent. However, I still found signs of spring. Some of the rare deciduous trees in Hainan have sprouted new buds. The red kapok branches are full of flowers before the leaves grow. Perhaps I am worried that the trees are too tall to be harvested. The cotton fell completely to the ground, waiting for those who know the sense of humor to pick it up and take it home to keep it in a basin. The buds that had just sprouted from the tree grew into big leaves within two days. Spring in Hainan seems too casual and hasty.
I deliberately kept a low profile when setting off in Hainan in the spring because the road ahead was difficult and dangerous, and I didn’t want to waste a moment amidst people’s cheers. The unprovoked wind and rain will never take away the remaining cold. Spring and winter start a tug-of-war in the south of the Yangtze River. The weather changes back and forth between the two forces every year during the spring and winter competition. Sometimes the spring breeze blows, the spring scenery is warm, and the cowherd boys fight. Sometimes the cold rain and wind blow, and the old man plowing the fields shivers with cold.
Because of this fight, spring was able to stay for a long time, and spring also had time to dress up Jiangnan carefully; because of this fight, spring in Jiangnan came a little implicitly, and the signs of spring had to be Only when you use your heart can you discover things. Even if you don’t pay attention, you can find surprises everywhere. A weeping willow branch was caught in the wind, and it had quietly sprouted. He broke off a branch and twisted out a complete section of bark to make a willow flute, which he blew loudly.
The wolfberry buds sprouted out from the bamboo fence. I pinched them and stuffed them in my pockets, and cooked a delicious dish for my mother. At night, I put my feet out of the quilt to feel the warmth of spring, but I clearly heard the croaking of frogs looking for mates in early spring. I went to the pond early in the morning, only to find that the frogs' babies were all born. The tadpoles gathered in groups into a black ball, floating in the water. Swimming happily.
Spring in Jiangnan is a little difficult to come. The alternation of sunshine and rain, and the alternation of cold and warm, lengthen the spring in Jiangnan, allowing rapeseed flowers to bloom from the Spring Festival to April. Until the morning light mist wraps around the village like fine yarn, and the lingering mist covers the purple milkvetch flowers in the fields, that is the graceful farewell of spring.
There is no right time to come to Beijing in spring. The Peach Blossom Festival in Pinggu is held on April 17 every year. In some years, the peach blossoms have not yet bloomed, while in other years they have bloomed. In the past ten years, it has never caught up with the grand scene of Pinggu peach blossoms blooming together. Maybe I stayed in Jiangnan for too long, or maybe I was tired from fighting the winter, so the spring in Beijing was indeed a bit hasty and rough.
I went to Jinan for a few days in April of that year. When I left, the trees were just sprouting, but when I returned, they were already covered with greenery. In Beijing, the temperature often rises suddenly in May, and summer begins immediately. In such a short time, it is difficult to be precise, no matter how clever you are. I went to Datong during the Qingming Festival in 2012. Although it was only 400 kilometers away from Beijing, the ice in the pond in front of the Yungang Grottoes began to melt. Spring arrives later in the Northeast, and the heating is still burning when I go there in mid-April.
Summer begins at about the same time in the north and south. Spring comes late, which means that spring is short. Everything revives at the same time as if it were rushing, and grows up suddenly. This kind of spring is not interesting at all.
Spring is still the best in Jiangnan. Neither Hainan nor Beijing can compare with it. "The spring breeze turns green on the south bank of the river." Hainanese and northerners may have a hard time understanding that artistic conception. When I was a boy, I took a boat to worship my ancestors. The green grass on the shore of Poyang Lake was so green that it seemed to flow into the river. This beauty made me stand on the bow of the boat until it docked.
The spring scenery in the south of the Yangtze River has left many beautiful words and phrases to the literati, and some people chanted: "Spring is here to stay... there is no way back for the fragrant grass at the end of the world." It is too greedy to want to keep spring in the south of the Yangtze River. , causing "the spring breeze does not pass through Yumen Pass", and there is no time to go to the remote Yumen Pass in spring.
Painted in Haikou in March 2014