According to the memories of old alumni, it was the current site of East China Normal University, but it was called Daxia University at that time. Earlier, it was probably a missionary school.
It can be traced back to the early 1920s, a man named Jose Mario. Fernandez, a Spanish expatriate, bought the land here at an extremely low price and built the first rural resort since the opening of Shanghai. Most of the people coming and going are wealthy European and American expatriates. This garden soon became the private garden of a Belarusian nobleman who fled to Shanghai after the October Revolution. The nobleman had a beautiful daughter named Riva. Riva fell in love with a Chinese young man, a poor scholar, but was strongly opposed by her father Petrovich. Finally, one rainy spring night, she jumped into the river. Hence the name of the creek. The Riva River is known as the love river of Normal University. It is said that the water in the creek has become clear since then.
The Belarusian nobleman Petrovich suddenly realized that the atmosphere in this garden was not suitable for boys and girls to live. It was too poetic, too romantic, too irrational, and prone to accidents. In order to be responsible for his other children, he resolutely moved away from the garden.
This is a little-known poignant story. When Lu Yue, who knew this story, was still studying on the campus of China Normal University, he insisted that "the Belarusian nobleman was shirking responsibility for his daughter's death, or looking for an excuse to comfort his guilty heart." If If he can stay there forever and never leave, maybe his point of view is correct. But when he finally left, he recalled: "Many years later, I finally understood the words of the Belarusian nobleman Petrovich. For this, I paid a lot of price." It was a garden that could hallucinate countless young people. It is a small river that creates illusions for countless young people. Who would have thought that many years later, she would be trapped in the university campus. Time does not flow in the Riva River. Many boys and girls met here at an age when they exuded immeasurable energy. Fresh lips, foggy eyes. Not one step too early, not one step too late.
There was a time when love was still in a very mysterious restricted area. At that time, they had reached the age of love, but they still could not love openly. Under the cover of calm, wait wholeheartedly. Zhang Jie's "Love Can't Be Forgotten" published at that time caused excitement in the Liva River. So the students rushed to circulate the story about love, and spontaneously and endlessly discussed what love is, and what the true meaning and rules of love are in the lecture theater.
So, Livahe smiled, watching the thin and passionate figure riding a broken bicycle through her arms in the middle of the night, secretly dropping inferior poems into the girl's mailbox. Livahe smiled, listening to the lonely girl whispering "Lian's Thoughts" in her ear: "I have stood tall, neither worried nor afraid, - you who are not destined, either you came too early, or you are too late Late. "But in this era, love in college is as vigorous, lush and public as grass. It is said that this river once swallowed up the body of a female student who was heartbroken because of a broken love. However, no matter how many tragedies happened in this river, boys and girls still ran to the river to kiss and caress passionately and affectionately. We feel each other's pulse, express our sincere feelings to each other, hold hands and look into each other's tearful eyes. Someone bet that if the water in the Riva River was drained, countless pieces of paper would be found with "I love you" written on them. The Liva River divides into two tributaries in the middle of the garden, and the two tributaries surround a Xiayu Island. This small island was once covered with flowers, willows and bamboos. It is small in area but extremely complex in layout, just like Huang Rong's Peach Blossom Island. That fascinating yet fatal miasma is love.
What the wise White Russian nobleman worried about many years ago is happening here. It belongs to the night and to lovers. Many loves originate there and may end there. Whenever the rainy season in the south of the Yangtze River comes, the misty Liva River, the weeping willows on the bank, Xiayu Island, small stone bridges, and the sound of flutes in the distance are like a dream.
More and more people come to the Liva River with dreams of Qinhuai River. People who have experienced this kind of travel mostly express two opinions: First, there are too many police officers, and there is a campus policeman hidden behind almost every tree; it is even said that there was a time when lovers would be fined if they openly held hands. Second, the river water is too bewitching, and young lovers are indeed becoming more and more unrestrained. For your health, it's best to ride a bicycle to speed through this high-risk zone.
So, on an ordinary day last year, when the campus lovers woke up overnight, they suddenly discovered that the flowers, willows and bamboos entwining on Xiayu Island surrounded by the Liva River had disappeared overnight. The Garden of Eden is no more.
Like the Belarusian aristocrat Petrovich many years ago, the school finally realized at a certain moment: it was the Liva River and Xiayu Island that were so romantic and entangled that they led to so many disturbing love affairs.
Now I see the island clearly, going into its deepest part. Along the pavilion by the Riva River, on a row of reddish-brown stone bricks on the inconspicuous side, I made a surprising discovery. On each brick wall above, two people's names are written in correction fluid, one is a girl, the other is a boy, and there is a heart in the middle. The names are so densely packed that every two of them are nestled together, filling the entire brick wall. One of them is: I'm here waiting for you. lifetime. This is a declaration of love that is revealed yet hidden.
What I discovered by the Riva River is something that is difficult for people to encounter again after leaving the campus: passion, creativity, individuality, freedom, romance, and even beauty, which now seem like a world apart. Why are words as natural as breathing here? When did the confrontation between beauty, love and the truth of existence begin?
When the streets start to flow with desire, you still can’t find this river on the map, I mean, the Riva River...