Chapter 6 Autumn in the old capital

Autumn, no matter where it is, is always good; but, autumn in the northern country is particularly clear, quiet and sad.My reason for traveling thousands of miles from Hangzhou to Qingdao, and even more so from Qingdao to Peiping, is that I want to have a full taste of this "autumn", the autumn flavor of the old capital. In the south of the Yangtze River, of course, there is autumn; but the vegetation is slow to carve, the air is moist, the color of the sky is pale, and there is often rain and little wind; a person is sandwiched among the citizens of Suzhou, Shanghai, Hangzhou, or Xiamen, Hong Kong, and Guangzhou. In the chaotic past, I can only feel a little bit of coolness, the taste of autumn, the color of autumn, the artistic conception and posture of autumn, I can't get enough to see, taste, and enjoy.Autumn is not famous flowers, nor is it fine wine, that kind of half-blooming, half-drunk state is inappropriate in the process of appreciating autumn.

It has been nearly ten years since there was no autumn in the Northern Kingdom.Every autumn in the south, I always think of the reed flowers in Taoranting, the willow shadows in Diaoyutai, the insects singing in Xishan, the night moon in Yuquan, and the bells in Tanzhe Temple.In Beiping, even if you don’t go out, you can even rent a poor house among the crowds of people in the imperial city. When you get up in the morning, make a bowl of strong tea and sit in the yard, you can still see the heights. In the green sky, the sound of pigeons flying against the blue sky can be heard.From the bottom of the locust tree leaves, count the streaks of sunlight leaking eastward, or quietly look at the trumpet-like blue morning glory (Chaorong) flowers in the waist of the dilapidated wall, and you can naturally feel very happy. autumn.As for morning glories, I think blue or white ones are the best, dark purple ones second best, and pink ones the last.It is best to have a few thin and long autumn grasses growing here and there at the bottom of the morning glories as a foil.

Locust trees in the North are also a kind of embellishment that reminds people of autumn.The pistils that look like flowers but are not flowers will spread all over the ground when you wake up in the morning.Step on it, there is no sound, no smell, only a little bit of very fine and soft touch.After the street sweeper sweeps under the shadow of the trees, the silk lines of the broom left on the dust look both delicate and leisurely. Subconsciously, they also feel a little lonely. The world knows autumn's distant thoughts, probably in these deep places. The feeble residual voice of Ticicada is a specialty of the North. As trees grow everywhere in Beiping and the houses are low, their singing can be heard no matter where you are.In the south, you have to go to the suburbs or mountains to hear it.The neighing of these cicadas in Peiping is like crickets and mice, they are like house insects that are kept in every household.

As for autumn rains, the autumn rains in the north also seem to be more unusual, more flavorful, and more presentable than those in the south. Under the gray sky, there was a sudden gust of cool wind, and it began to rain slowly.After a layer of rain, the clouds gradually rolled to the west, the sky turned blue again, and the sun showed its face again; urban idlers in thick green cloth single clothes or jackets, chewing on their pipes, In the shadow of the slanted bridge, go up to the bridge head and stand under the tree. When you meet acquaintances, you will use a slow and leisurely tone, sighing and answering each other:

"Oh, it's really cold—" (This is pronounced very high and dragged on for a long time.) "Isn't it? One layer of autumn rain and one layer of coldness!" When northerners read array characters, they always seem to be layered characters, which are flat and flat, and this mispronounced rhyme is just right. Fruit trees in the north are also a wonderful sight in autumn.The first is the jujube tree; it will grow up one by one in the corner of the house, on the top of the wall, beside the hut, and at the door of the kitchen.When the jujubes, which look like olives or pigeon eggs, show light green and yellowish colors among the small oval leaves, it is the heyday of autumn; The wind is about to rise, and the north is a world of dust and dust. Only the jujubes, persimmons, and grapes are eight or nine percent mature at the turn of July and August. There are no golden days either.

Some critics say that Chinese literati, especially poets, are mostly disposed to be decadent, which is why Chinese works sing the praises of autumn.But what about foreign poets?Although I don't read much foreign poetry and prose, and I don't want to write an account for poetry and prose in autumn, but if you go to the anthology of poets such as English, German, French and Italian, or the anthology of poetry and prose from various countries , You can always see many praises and wailings about autumn.Long pastoral poems or songs about the four seasons byrenowned poets always contain autumn lines.The best and most interestingly written.This shows that animals with sentient beings and human beings with sense of taste all the same can elicit the feeling of depth, remoteness, severity and bleakness to autumn.Not only poets, but also prisoners who are locked up in prisons, I think in autumn, they will also feel a kind of affection that cannot be controlled by themselves; autumn is different for people, is there any difference between nationality, let alone race and class?However, in China, there is an idiom of "autumn scholar" in the text, and Ouyang Zi's "Autumn Sound" and Su Dongpo's "Red Cliff Fu" are very common in textbooks. I feel that Chinese literati have a particularly deep relationship with autumn. .But, to feel the deep flavor of autumn, especially China’s autumn, one has to be in the North.

Autumn in the South, of course, has its unique features, such as the bright moon at the Ershisi Bridge, the autumn tide at the Qiantang River, the cool mist at Putuo Mountain, and the residual lotus at Litchi Bay, etc., but the colors are not strong and the aftertaste is not long.Compared with autumn in the northern country, it is like rice wine and white dry rice, rice porridge and steamed buns, perch and crabs, yellow dogs and camels. Autumn, this northern autumn, if I can keep it alive, I am willing to lose two-thirds of my lifespan and exchange it for a fraction of one-third. In August 1934, in Peking