Down the Yangtze River, the starting point of the Three Gorges is Baidi City. This head is so beautifully opened.
For Chinese people with a little knowledge, most people who know the Three Gorges also start with Baidi City. Li Bai's famous poem can be read in primary school textbooks.
When I actually passed Baidi City by boat, I still raised my head piously, looking for the silver robe and colorful clouds. The announcer on the ship was reciting the poem, introduced a few lines excitedly, and played the music of "Baidi Tuogu". Suddenly, landscapes, history, childhood fantasies, and hidden life all swarmed into one mass, shocking people.
"The White Emperor Tuogu" is a Peking Opera. It tells the story of the defeated Liu Bei who retreated to Baidi City and died of depression, entrusting his son and political affairs to Zhuge Liang. The melodious voice floats on the swirling river surface and hits the wet rocks, sad, angry and desolate.
I think Baidi City has two voices and two looks: Li Bai and Liu Bei, poetry and war, heroism and depression, pilgrimage to natural beauty and struggle for dominance of mountains and rivers. Chase. It stands high above the mountains, and at its feet is the surging river that debates these two themes day and night.
Chinese rivers and mountains can be battlefields littered with corpses, or they can be a paradise for cars and boats; they can light and extinguish the fire of life at the discretion of feudal powerful men, or they can protect the lives of poets. Powerful power gallops freely and horizontally. Poor Baidi City is so tired. In the morning, Li Bai's boat has just been sent away, and at night, it has to welcome Liu Bei's horse hooves. However, as time went by, the protection power of the mountains and rivers on the poets gradually weakened. Their boats often ran aground, their clothes and belts were often scorched, and they went from being tall to chanting, and from chanting to being silent. How many poets are left in China?
Fortunately, some poems and memories have been preserved. Fortunately, so many Chinese people still remember that one morning, there was such a poet who quietly boarded a boat under Baidi City. I can’t tell how big the reason was, and no farewell ceremony was held, but I have finally been remembered for thousands of years, and will be remembered until the end of the world. Here lies the hunger of a nation that deserves more such peaceful mornings.
In Li Bai's time, the Chinese nation was not too dull. It was not as strange as it is today that so many poets came and went in this land. They don't have any knowledge of government affairs or business. They only have a pair of sharp eyes and a poetic sentiment, wandering around the mountains and rivers, and getting married to the earth. I wrote rows of poems with no practical value, and I was content to pass them on and sing them among my friends. They regard this kind of behavior as a serious matter, and are not afraid of sleeping in the open air or traveling long distances for it. As a result, it was not the emperors, concubines, or generals who stood at the center of the prosperous Tang Dynasty, but these poets. Yu Guangzhong's poem "Looking for Li Bai" goes:
The wine went into the intestines, and seven parts turned into moonlight
The remaining three parts roared into sword energy
Embroidery Half of the prosperous Tang Dynasty can be achieved with just one utterance
I have always regarded these lines as a rare swan song in contemporary Chinese poetry.
The poets of Li Bai's era were deeply in love with the local customs and cultural relics of Sichuan, and they also yearned for the open civilization of Xiajiang. The Yangtze River thus became a thoroughfare in their lives, and they did not need to make too much determination to leave the river. paddle. Wherever the feet are, the hometown is there; where the water is, the road is there. They know that the most dangerous place on the Yangtze River trip is undoubtedly the Three Gorges, but they also know that there is the most turbulent and poetic riverbed. Their boat was too small to travel from time to time. As soon as they arrived at Baidi City, they cheered up and prepared for a powerful collision between life and nature. We can only ask those people who are scratching their heads and chanting under the yellow scrolls and green lights to stop writing poems. That kind of appearance does not belong to poets. The poet was on a small wooden boat in the Three Gorges and had just said goodbye to Baidi City.
Two
After saying goodbye to Baidi City, we entered the Three Gorges, which is about 200 kilometers long. On waterways, 200 kilometers is not a short distance. However, you will never feel that the Creator is writing an overly lengthy essay. The strength and beauty gathered here will not make people bored even after traveling for 2,000 kilometers.
Zhaitang Gorge, Wu Gorge, Xiling Gorge, each canyon is condensed into dense layers, and no matter how slow the speed is, it cannot be resolved. Even the sun and moon, which shine thousands of miles away, can't be squeezed here. In this regard, Li Daoyuan said it best 1,500 years ago:
The two sides of the Taiwan Strait are connected by mountains, with no gaps at all. The mountains are stacked on top of each other, hiding the sky and blocking out the sun. At midnight, there is no bright moon in the pavilion.
("Shui Jing Zhu")
He also used the most frugal words to describe the "clear glory and majestic beauty" of the Three Gorges in spring and winter, and the clear and frosty days. "Lin Hanjian is solemn" makes it difficult for future generations to use descriptive words.
Crossing the Three Gorges is a difficult time searching for words. I can only be honest, let the soaring wind blow, let the surging river splash, let the confused eyes stay blank, and let the voice that wants to scream again and again be dumb. Don't think about anything, don't say anything, let your life be truly frightened. Don't wake up from the shock, no one who is sober can bear the Three Gorges.
Suddenly there were some "Eoh" sounds around me. It was the arrival of Wushan's Goddess Peak. The goddess stood sideways among the mountains, bringing a little relief to the frightened humans. It seems that when God was planning this ceremony, he suddenly thought of adding a representative, so that the tiny creatures crawling among the mountains and rivers could occupy a corner to watch the ceremony. Of course, the chosen ones are women, who are in their prime of life and graceful. They can only be the real masterpieces of mankind.
People poured the most magnificent legends into her, as if they were determined to let her absorb the most beautiful things in the world so as to compete with the natural elves. It was said that she helped Dayu to control the flood, that she had trysts with King Xiang of Chu every night, that her ring made a sound when she walked, and that she had a strange fragrance when she returned from the rain. However, legends are legends. After all, she is just a pillar of rock and a dangerous peak. She is just a humorous comfort given to human beings by the force of nature.
When Li Bai and others had already gone down the river, the people left behind could only hand over their weak hopes for life to her. The term "goddess" has finally moved from beauty to obscenity. Either way is far from a healthy individual life. The warm body, the unrestrained laughter, and the fragrance of love are all carved into an ancient shape and remain among these mountains. A nation with a population of over 100 million has long enjoyed a few complete myths.
Three
Finally, people were tired of watching and went back to the cabin to rest.
There was a group of people who had foresight gathered in the cabin. They had never left the cabin door from the beginning. They were sitting quietly, self-sufficient and peaceful. Let the mountains and rivers show their teeth outside, here there are four walls, a cabin roof, and a bed. It is said that it is best to build a reservoir in the Three Gorges to avoid the noise. Turn off the radio and don't let Li Bai make noise again.
History ends here, mountains and rivers retreat here, and poets wither. Soon, only a few foreign tourists were left on the ship's side, still screaming in surprise.
Outside the boat, Wang Zhaojun’s hometown passed by. Perhaps it was the torrent here that opened this woman's heart. She looked at the wind and was extremely beautiful, but she left the palace maid alone and was willing to marry the Xiongnu in the grassland and die in a foreign land. Her astonishing actions opened up a dangerous passage like the Three Gorges in Chinese history.
Outside the boat, Qu Yuan’s hometown passed by. Perhaps the strange peaks here gave him a sense of pride. This mad poet, who was older than Li Bai, was too restless. He wore a long sword at his waist and was full of fantasy. He traveled across the Central Plains, asked questions about the sky and the earth, and finally threw himself into the Miluo River. The river water also stirred up the waves of the Three Gorges.
It seems that people who set out from the Three Gorges, whether they are men or women, are weird. They will all roll up a little vortex and initiate some collisions. They are both a bit rebellious, and both are rebellious in a magnificent and amazing way. None of them end with their hometown, just like the water of the Three Gorges flowing in all directions with all its strength.
The Three Gorges is destined to be a restless abyss. With its strength, who knows what shape it will turn into the land that holds it?
Foreign tourists screaming on the ship's side, and foreign friends asking me about China's number one tourist attraction, you will not truly understand the Three Gorges after all.
Do we understand? Our ship was sailing smoothly, there was talk and laughter in the cabin, and smoke filled the air.
Tomorrow morning, it will arrive at a pier and then slowly set sail. No farewells, no excitement, no chants.
Leaving a tranquility for the Three Gorges, Li Bai went far away.
Yu Qiuyu, born on August 23, 1946 in Yuyao County, Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province, is a famous Chinese contemporary cultural scholar, theorist, cultural historian, writer, and essayist.
Graduated from the Department of Drama Literature of Shanghai Theater Academy in 1966. In 1980, he successively published "History of Drama Theory", "History of Chinese Drama Culture" and "Aesthetic Psychology of Drama". In 1985, he became the youngest liberal arts professor in mainland China. In 1986, he was awarded the top ten academic elites in Shanghai. In 1987, he was awarded the honorary title of National Expert with Outstanding Contributions.
Yu Qiuyu is famous for writing historical and cultural prose. His collection of essays "Cultural Journey" became very popular after its publication. In addition, he has also written prose works such as "Notes on a Mountain Dwelling", "Frost-Cold River", and "A Thousand Years Sigh".
Creative features:
First, before writing prose, Mr. Yu Qiuyu was already a great scholar with extensive knowledge of Chinese and Western studies and numerous works. All concepts that can be expressed clearly in academic ways have already been clearly stated in his millions of words of academic writings.
Therefore, when he wrote prose, he wanted to present a style that could not be presented in academic works, which was what Mr. Bai Xianyong praised him as: "Thinking about the world poetically." The "poetic" soul contained in his writings "provides a beautiful ritual for a series of spiritual paradoxes."
Second, Mr. Yu Qiuyu had profound life experience before writing prose. He was born in a rural area with profound cultural heritage. He experienced ten years of catastrophe and his family was destroyed. After the disaster, he was elected as the head of a department-level university. He also experienced the confused state of mind before and after his resignation. He even traveled all over China and the world to tell this story. Putting it all together, he knew exactly where the acupuncture points in China were.
Therefore, the writing topics he chooses can always shock the hearts of millions of readers in the first place. Even if we talk about history and knowledge, there is no psychological barrier. This is very different from the general "celebrity prose", "salon prose", "petty bourgeoisie prose", "literary prose" and "angry youth prose".
Thirdly, Mr. Yu Qiuyu’s creations in novels and dramas are based on the aesthetics of “Popular Symbolism”, which was the most accomplished in Europe in the 20th century. As he said in the "Preface" to "Glacier": "Cover the philosophy of life with the cloak of popular plot; design a game that looks like history to reconstruct history."
In April 2005, he was invited to go on a lecture tour in the United States:
1. Lecture on "The Dilemma and Solution of Chinese Culture" on April 9 (at Hunter College of New York University);
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2. Lecture on "The Problems of Chinese Intellectuals" on April 10th (at the North American Chinese Writers Association);
3. Lecture on "Chinese Culture in a Spatial Sense" on the morning of April 12th ” (at the University of Maryland);
4. Lecture on “The Steps of a Gentleman” in the afternoon of April 12 (at the Library of Congress in Washington);
5. Lecture on “The Steps of a Gentleman” on the afternoon of April 13 "Chinese Culture in the Time Sense" (at Yale University);
6) Lecture on "The Collective Personality Pursued by Chinese Culture" (at Harvard University) on April 15th.
6, 4 Lecture on "Three Major Advantages and Four Major Quagmires of Chinese Culture" on September 17th (at the South American Chinese Writing Association in Houston).
Personal life:
My wife, Ma Lan, is a generation of Huangmei Opera performing artist. She is the only person in China to win all the highest awards for stage plays and TV series; she has won awards from the Lincoln Center for the Arts and the New York City Cultural Affairs Bureau. , and the "Lifetime Achievement Award for Asia's Best Artist" jointly issued by the Chinese-American Association.
Most of Ma Lan's major stage plays were written by Yu Qiuyu himself. The couple currently lives mainly in Shanghai.
Reference materials:
Yu Qiuyu_Baidu Encyclopedia