Chapter 58 Go to Beihai to eat Fangshan

The most eye-catching symbol of Beihai Park is an ancient Buddhist pagoda on the island in the middle of the lake.The island is called Qiongdao, and the tower is commonly known as the White Tower.When the weather is fine, you can see its figure hidden in the lake and mountains from a distance outside the park wall. Passers-by can admire the aura without buying tickets.The White Pagoda in Beihai is very famous.Not to mention, in the popular songs of the 1950s, the "White Tower" appeared in it, that is, the White Tower of Beihai.When I was in elementary school in the south, I taught this song in music class, and its melody has been engraved in my memory ever since.Later, I heard the composer Liu Chi say: I just found out that this song was born in Beihai Park: At that time, a large group of young pioneers accompanied him to row a boat on the lake, and suddenly he got inspiration, so he abandoned the boat and went ashore, lying on a rockery in Qiongdao Recorded on the stone.When I heard him say this, I had already come to Beijing and became a neighbor of Beihai—living in Jingshan Back Street, which is only one stop away.And the composer who appeared in front of my eyes has changed from a talented young man to a gray-haired old man.These are things I couldn't have imagined when I first learned to sing this song.The sculls of singing have long been divorced from reality, and what they paddle are the waves of time—my early sense of hearing has become a reflection of reflections.

In addition to mountains, water, cruise ships, towers, green trees, red walls, winding paths and corridors, the scenery of Beihai also has the famous "Fangshan" - which can be called the scenery of the scenery.In this way, eating, drinking and entertainment are all taken up - a tradition left over from the emperor's era.Although Empress Dowager Cixi favored the Summer Palace in the western suburbs the most, Beihai is closer to the Forbidden City after all, and it only takes five minutes to walk.There are many restaurants in Beijing that imitate palace banquets, but no one dares to deny that Beihai's "Fangshan" is the most authentic.It is said that most of its first-generation chefs retired from the imperial dining room in the palace.

All over the country, there are few restaurants in parks that satisfy customers: the prices are too expensive, and the food is poorly prepared-it sells scenery instead of cooking skills, and it also includes scenery in the cost.But Fangshan Restaurant in Beihai is a big exception.It adds a lot to today's Beihai Park.When I visited Beihai before, I was always hesitant to walk along the promenade painted with palace colored paintings to this ancient building complex with carved beams and jade pillars.It wasn't until recently that I participated in a high-level banquet that I learned the taste of "Fangshan".

There is no need to describe the palace-style dishes that were served at that banquet one by one in the text.Or find a vulgar excuse; forget it after eating, at least can't remember those unfamiliar cuisines and awkward dish names that are far away from our daily life.Every time a waiter in a Manchu cheongsam serves a dish, he recites an allusion related to it. For example, a plate of chestnut flour, mixed with sweet-scented osmanthus, and a small yellow cornbread smaller than a thumb. Invasion, the favorite food of the Empress Dowager Cixi when she fled, is as delicate as gold. It is not the same as the cornmeal steamed bread of ordinary people in the impression, but the roughness of the latter may be closer to life itself.Ashamed, I only remembered this dish of dim sum after eating the whole banquet.

While listening to the waiter's explanation and eating the dishes, what I chewed was all the taste of allusions, the taste of the decline of a dynasty.I was afraid that an incisive and cold epigram would come out accidentally, and it would hurt my teeth like sand.This is more tiring than talking about business while eating.So eating at the "Fangshan" in Beihai is simply eating history, or eating culture.Allusions with warning flavors are appetizers, ancestral prescriptions that need to be taken with boiling water, and ancient fables worth chewing repeatedly.There is nothing left of a once invincible and magnificent dynasty, only a deserted banquet table—eating "Fangshan" in the old palace with painted pillars and carved beams, and cigarettes curling up, the solemn atmosphere always makes me feel A little depressed, and subconsciously maintain an expression of vigilance about the past events of the nation.

Walking out of this newly renovated and time-honored restaurant that smelled like paint, the waves of the Beihai River appeared in front of me like a mural, and I finally breathed a sigh of relief.This meal was hosted by a certain entrepreneur. I saw him take out a thick wad of colorful banknotes to pay the waiter. I turned my eyes politely, browsing the ancient and youthful scenery, and suddenly thought of a poem by Li Bai or Su Dongpo : "The breeze and bright moon don't need a penny to buy."Throughout the ages, there is still a breeze and a bright moon that don't cost a penny to buy.They are truly priceless.

Most of the guests who are full of wine and food are lazily leaning on the railing and looking into the distance, using the scenery to digest the greasy food.A local poet next to me looked at the lake where cruise ships came and went, and said to himself: "I really want to rent a boat. But why is there no such small wooden boat for paddling?" I can clearly hear a certain kind of time. The amazement comes.It reminds me.Looking around, it was only then that I realized that there were motorboats shuttling in the distance on the lake, and nearby were a lot of couple boats with animal (like geese) shapes on the prow and round bumper boats played by children—all of them were foot boats. There is no such old-fashioned wooden boat for paddling in the huge North Sea.I explained: "I'm afraid it has been eliminated. After all, paddling with hands is too tiring. Modern people pay more attention to comfort and style in leisure. They want to enjoy themselves rather than work." The poet who was a little drunk blushed and insisted : "Only rowing with oars is interesting. Otherwise, what is it called rowing. I don't play anymore." I didn't think it was drunk.It just so happened that a mandarin duck boat passed by our noses in the wind and waves. A man and a woman who looked like college students sat side by side under the sunshade canopy, holding canned drinks and chatting with each other, while pedaling leisurely (like riding a bicycle) ).I stared at their smiling faces: how different their youth and ideas are from our generation.Beihai is the witness of two generations.Even future tourists may not know what an old-fashioned wooden boat that is paddled by hand is, and may not know the real concept of "boating".

I visit the North Sea every year, always coming and going in a hurry, and never noticed that the paddle boats have been replaced—I don’t know when it started.This time I discovered the changes of the years - even in the most overlooked aspects.I don't know if this should be regarded as my gain or loss from my visit to Beihai today.So at the end of this article, I think of the old song again: .The white tower testifies, and the lake water testifies: the sailors and audiences of the past are old, and even the sculls described in it have disappeared (it has been displayed in the museum of the years), but the song still moves me.

In the North Sea, I really want to rent a boat for rowing, I really want to follow the teachings of the singing, and use the sculls, the sculls that no longer exist...