Chapter 27 Postscript I sincerely thank the land of Yunnan

I sincerely thank Yunnan Dadi (1) My novels do not seem to be conceived from my brain, but grown from the land of Yunnan.I don't choose the subject matter, but the subject matter chooses me.Since 2003, my writing activities have mainly been roaming around this land, using ample time and energy to get to know the stories and characters in this land. During my wanderings, I had to work hard to learn local knowledge and learn about those unique things, such as rivers, mountains, roads, villages, rituals, objects, customs, classics, and everything that contains metaphysical meaning.These things are more anthropological.Of course, these things do not constitute a complete novel, but they are definitely the core part of the novel.Why do you say this way?On the one hand, some scholars believe that today's novels, like academics, are beginning to be intellectual and empirical. Does this mean that the fundamental spirit of contemporary novels is undergoing some subtle changes?

In fact, the villages, ancient cities, and mines in southern Yunnan are the realistic soil for my rich writing resources.I grew up in southern Yunnan, and my literary creation started in this homeland. My past works, no matter novels, prose, or documentary literature, have the deepest background of the history and culture of southern Yunnan.Many years ago, I planned to write a novel about rural craftsmen in southern Yunnan, and interpret the secrets of history, culture, religion, and business in southern Yunnan in the form of stories.Therefore, I went to southern Yunnan with my friends more than ten times to conduct cultural investigations.We walked along the Tonghai Ancient Road, the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway, and the Kunluo Highway.Every step I take, I feel that the earth is the essence, full of all kinds of knowledge and power; every step I take, I seem to be able to find the fascinating elements of human beings, and find the customs and traditions, languages ​​and stories that my novels need , they are precisely the products of the earth.Therefore, every day when we roam in southern Yunnan, it is almost indifferent to reality and unreality. What we are always facing is the most vivid land of Yunnan. A world, this is the most real and most illusory existence in this ancient land.

Generally speaking, regional culture in China is a characteristic culture that is based on minority culture, retains its characteristics and develops with social development.And this kind of culture is more perfect and complete in this rich land in southern Yunnan.The people here, the reasons for their existence and their aspirations are still permeated with the original natural laws and simple ideals of their nation.So many forests and villages here seem to me to have a nightmare-like atmosphere from time to time, and more people here seem to still live in a world of demigods and half-humans.Myths, legends, superstitions, and dreams follow their footprints, clothes bags, baskets, knives and axes, sweat, cattle and sheep, and sprinkle every corner of their existence.It's a full and rich world that hosts some of the best and worst elements of human nature.As writers who grew up on this land, we can just discover, preserve, protect, and interpret the most precious human experience from it.

I was lucky to meet the stories of the talented carpenter Gao Shimei, the story of Yuantai Monk and Sichuan sculpture master Li Guangxiu, the story of tin mine owner Zhao Tianjue, and the story of Ma Caihua in Yisa Town in this land. The background of these real stories It involves the survey and construction of the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway, the mining of the Gejiu tin mine, the struggle against the French, the history of Yisa Town, chieftains, caravans and tobacco gangs, Nuo opera, a major earthquake, etc.Of course, these stories are all related to my hometown "Tonghai", and are inseparable from the people and things in my hometown.When it comes to "connecting the sea", the image of water will appear in people's eyes and minds.Indeed, my hometown is a place that leads to the ocean.It is difficult for ordinary people to imagine that there is such a border town connected to the "sea" on the Yunnan Plateau?In terms of the real shape and image of water, it means that there is an old Qilu Lake in the north of the ancient city of Tonghai. The Sanjiang Estuary in Xizhen meets the Nanpan River, enters the Pearl River, and finally flows to the real sea—the South Pacific Ocean.Therefore, Qilu Lake has become an important lake at the source of the Pearl River.Its clear lake water brings the atmosphere, passion, breath and spirit of the land in southern Yunnan into a wider space for more epic drifting and combination, thus opening the ocean to the land under our feet. Certification history: a border town on the plateau and the spiritual connection of Sea World.

However, this is not the real image or meaning of "Tonghai".It has the most spiritual and historical meaning, and has always been hidden in the historical memory of a road.This road is an ancient post road named "Tonghai City Road". Its prototype first appeared in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Bashu, the traffic artery connecting Myanmar and India in the west, Tonghai is the hub of this traffic artery, so people named this ancient post road after Tonghai.All this has been clearly recorded in "New Book of Tang Geography" and "Man Shu".People in Yunnan are now a little indifferent to this ancient post road. On the one hand, after the opening of the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway in 1910, the transportation advantage of connecting the sea gradually lost; on the other hand, it is due to people’s misunderstanding of it. It is believed that it is only a certain street or a certain road in the ancient city of Tonghai, thus covering up its brilliance as a very important historical and geographical concept in the ancient transportation history of Yunnan.In fact, when our eyes touch this ancient post road again, we will find its charm and power, and this charm and power are enough to change many of our understandings of the history of southern Yunnan.In fact, "Tonghaicheng Road" has been an "official horse avenue" since ancient times. It is not the same as the "tea horse avenue" and "Bonan ancient road" in Northwest Yunnan, that is, it is not only a "business road", but also an important road. The "official way".As early as 111 BC, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty set up "Jiaozhi County" (now Hanoi, Vietnam), "Jiuzhen County" (now Thanh Hoa, Vietnam) and "Rinan County" (now Guangzhi, Vietnam) in northern Vietnam today.At the same time, "Yizhou County" was set up in Yunnan.At that time, the ruling power of the Western Han Dynasty reached "Jiaozhi County" from the coast, then reached "Yizhou County" through "Jiaozhi County", and then realized the rule of Yunnan and Bashu through "Yizhou County".In the early Tang Dynasty, after the Sui Dynasty, the "Annan Protectorate" was still set up in today's Hanoi, Vietnam.The ruling power of the Tang Dynasty passed through "Tonghaicheng Road" from "Annan Duhufu" to "Tuodong City" (now Kunming), thus tightly controlling Yunnan and consolidating the unity of Yunnan.At the same time, through the "Tonghai City Road", the connection between India, Myanmar and the "Annan Protectorate" was also established.In the era of Nanzhao, whether it was the "close" period between the Nanzhao Kingdom and the Tang Dynasty, or the time when the "Tianbao War" broke out in Nanzhao Kingdom in order to get rid of the direct rule of the Tang Dynasty, the "Tonghai City Road" entered Yunnan from Annan Many important connections between the Tang Dynasty and the Nanzhao Kingdom were realized through the "Annan Governor's Mansion" and "Tonghaicheng Road".Especially in the "Tianbao War", the Tang soldiers led by Wang Zhijin also set off from Annan and conquered the Nanzhao Kingdom via the "Tonghaicheng Road".This war ended with the complete defeat of the Tang Dynasty.As a result, the Nanzhao Kingdom rose rapidly. Starting from the Erhai Lake area in Dali, they took advantage of the momentum and expanded eastward, completely controlling the entire southeastern territory to which "Tonghai City Road" belongs.In order to consolidate its ruling power, Nanzhao State established "Tuodong City" and "Tonghai County" on the newly opened territory.These two cities that appeared at the same time entrusted Nanzhao's "great" political ideals. One indicated that it would continue to expand eastward, and the other indicated that it wanted to let its power reach the sea.This political ideal was soon realized. From the 12th year of Tang Dazhong to the 7th year of Tang Xiantong (858-866 A.D.), the ruler of Nanzhao Kingdom led officers and soldiers known as 100,000 people, using "Tonghai" as the frontier stronghold to invade and occupy The "Annan Protectorate" of the Tang Dynasty lasted for eight years. During this period, "Tonghai" rapidly grew into the earliest city in southern Yunnan, and it was also the most remote city in southern China at that time.

Postscript I sincerely thank the land of Yunnan (2) Of course, the "Tonghai City Road" as a golden commercial road has also been glorious in Yunnan history for hundreds of years.During the Dali Kingdom of the Song Dynasty, handicraft industries such as textiles and copperware manufacturing have emerged here.In the Ming Dynasty, Xu soldiers stationed here, and a large number of soldiers and civilians from the south of the Yangtze River brought advanced production tools and technologies, which made breakthroughs in the manual production of textiles, leather, and horse gear.Especially in the late Qing Dynasty, there were more than 2,000 caravans entering and leaving Tonghai every day. Daxi sold in Gejiu to the mainland, foreign goods imported from Vietnam, native products sold from the mainland to foreign countries, etc., all passed through the "Tonghai City Road" , and distributed in Tonghai.Therefore, the business here is prosperous and the culture is prosperous. The sea cloth, soy sauce, iron farm furniture, horse leather goods, saddle frames, horseshoes, horse nails, Chinese herbal medicines in southern Yunnan, and British goods shipped from Guangzhou and Hong Kong are needed in Kunming. Foreign yarn, artillery, paper, opium, and glass utensils must be carried by horses and pass here.Moreover, due to the existence of the "Tonghai City Road" and the "Dianyue Railway", many people have managed each village into a village by "walking the factory", "walking the barbarians", "driving the horse gang" and "walking the smoke gang". A real castle.These villages, ancient towns, mines, and ancient villages have gradually become classic, elegant, foreign and dangerous places.That is to say, during this period, there were countless big and small horse shops in the area of ​​Taihe Street in Tonghai City.You can find all kinds of goods in Kunming here, even things that cannot be bought in Kunming can be bought here.The beautiful scenery of "thousands of miles of hawks singing and green reflecting red, water villages, mountains, Guojiu flags and wind" written by Du Mu, a poet of the Tang Dynasty, also appeared in the border town of "Tonghai".Exploring the history of "Tonghai", we are full of many good conjectures about an ancient border city like Tonghai.It can be said that Tonghai has always been a border town that "officials" and "businessmen" must pass through to connect with Yunnan and reach the sea. It is a veritable "Tonghai". What has it brought to Yunnan, Bashu, and even India and Myanmar?How many legends has it performed?

It can be said that this place is not as closed and backward as people imagine. It is actually an intersection of Yunnan culture, an ancient and fertile fertile soil of national culture, a place where the primitive world and human spirit are united, and the most complex and rich place in Yunnan. One of the classic areas.For us, facing this complex and classic land is equivalent to facing each fascinating story.Therefore, when our eyes re-touch the two ancient roads of "Tonghai City Road" and "Dianyue Railway", how many wonderful legends will it bring us and deduce?The story of Gao Shimei's "Carving the World" is one of them. It happened in the villages, ancient towns, mines, and ancient villages on both sides of the "Tonghai City Road" and the "Yunnan Railway" in southern Yunnan in the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China, and the Vietnam that extended from it. , Laos, Myanmar, France, Hong Kong and other countries and regions.The charm and power of these wonderful stories are enough to change our impression and understanding of some aspects of Yunnan's history and culture.

Before writing "Carving the World", I once again traveled against the river of time to make an expedition-like inquiry about the undisclosed part of the ancient city's history.From the rich research results of Yunnan ethnology and numerous ancient ethnic books, we can clearly see that since ancient times, many northern ethnic groups have been traveling along the mountains and river valleys due to reasons such as plagues, wars, forest fires, and food shortages. Migrate south.Because my hometown is on the verge of Ailao Mountain and the Red River Valley, it has naturally become a natural channel for ethnic migration.Many tribes of Hani and Yi have left precious memories here when they passed through Tonghai.When I collected and read the "Zhi Lu Jing" from various places in southern Yunnan, I felt that the psychological structure of our Yunnan people is very interesting, full of the atmosphere of witchcraft.Everyone is dead, and the living must show him the way, let him return to the place where his ancestors lived.This kind of ritual is so tenaciously grown and followed in our southern Yunnan region.There is no doubt that people walk when they are alive, and walk when they are dead.This kind of imagery eventually became a spiritual support point of my novel.

In writing, I am constantly looking for perspectives or gestures to re-enter its historical memory on this land day by day.The tentacles of my soul also seem to be groping through endless local knowledge day by day, walking from light into darkness, from darkness into light, and finally back to the darkness.This is my basic feeling.I got a little more complicated, and the novel got a little denser.It tells the strange and fantastic life of Gao Shimei as a Yunnan folk woodcarving master and his spiritual journey.The humanistic background of the story involves the customs, folk customs, religion, and the history of modern industry and commerce in southern Yunnan.When I was writing, I always felt that I was on the land of Yunnan, abandoned my obsession with writing skills, repeatedly entangled the cultural meaning of "wooden lattice door" with human love, suffering, life and death, and tried my best to construct a certain part of Yunnan novels. some elements.

Postscript I sincerely thank the land of Yunnan (3) Does this mean that my writing has quietly changed?Do the facts and possibilities of regional writing in Yunnan exist?Of course, I maintain the necessary vigilance about this.Therefore, when writing, I tried my best to get rid of national prejudice and novelty psychology, looked at them with the correct aesthetic vision of a writer, and used the soil, water, sunlight, and air of my hometown to reflect the breath of all life forms under the sky. and soul, and try to express them, trying to prove the metaphysical meaning or local spirit contained in local things.Use this to improve your writing direction, literary concepts and literary practice.

I sincerely thank the land of Yunnan!I sincerely thank the leaders, friends and relatives who have always cared for and supported my writing in this land! author March 6, 2007