Chapter 5 Meditation under the stone city

Mountains surround the homeland and surround them, The tide hits the empty city and returns lonely. To the east of the Huai River, the old moon, In the middle of the night, I came over the female wall. ——Stone City? Liu Yuxi Nanjing Stone City Ruins is located at the foot of Qingliang Mountain, next to the Yangtze River, and the city was built against the mountain.In 229 A.D., Sun Quan of Eastern Wu established Jianye as the capital and built a stone city, laying the foundation of modern Nanjing. It has a history of more than 1,700 years.There is a conglomerate under the city wall, which is ocher red in color. Due to the erosion of the river all the year round, it has been weathered and peeled off, and is uneven, forming a huge mask. Nanjing people also call this city "ghost face city".This gigantic grimace hangs coldly on the cliff, with the ebb and flow of the tide, Song, Qi, Liang, and Chen, fully read the rise and fall of ten dynasties.

The Revolution of 1911 was successful, and Mr. Sun Yat-sen became the interim president of the Republic of China, with Nanjing as its capital. However, only 95 days later, the capital was moved to Beijing by the Beiyang warlords.It was not until the National Revolutionary Army fought back to Nanjing in the 16th year of the Republic of China during the Northern Expedition that the capital was returned.However, ten years later, Nanjing was brutally massacred by the Japanese, and 300,000 soldiers and civilians were devastated, so Nanjing was ruled by the enemy and puppets for another eight years.After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, on May 1st in the 35th year of the Republic of China, the capital was returned again. It was really a good day for the whole country to rejoice.The national government’s time in Nanjing was not long, intermittently, only fourteen years before and after, but it also left an indelible mark. The Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum winding down on Zijin Mountain has long been deeply engraved on the map of this thousand-year-old capital. , has become the most stalwart historical symbol of modern Nanjing.Also, I think it is those plane trees.Nanjing's greening is commendable.In fact, on the road leading to the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum, the phoenix trees on both sides had been planted in the Republic of China. Now the trees have embraced each other, with their branches and leaves covering the sky, forming a green corridor stretching for miles.The predecessors planted trees, and the descendants enjoyed the shade. "Worrying about the wind and rain, the tree is like this."

As the ancient cultural capital of the emperor's residence, Nanjing is expensive, Beijing is domineering, Nanjing is reserved, and Beijing is ostentatious.As a modern city, Nanjing is relatively well preserved, where humanity and nature do not invade each other. I left Nanjing in the winter of the thirty-seventh year of the Republic of China. The boat on the Zhongshan Wharf rolled down the Yangtze River, and it was thirty-nine years since I left.Returning to the mainland in 1987, Shanghai, Suzhou and Hangzhou, visiting the old ones, is more of a pleasure.But when he returned to the old capital, his mood was different. As soon as the train entered the station, his eyes were full of desolation.

I found my old residence in Nanjing, and the house at No. 1 Yongyuan, Dabei Lane is still intact. Even the nearby lanes and the adjacent Meiyuan New Village have not changed much.The new owner of Yongyuan No. 1 is a member of the "National People's Congress". I am afraid that he is nearly 80 years old. The old man was very polite. He invited me in for tea and talked about some past events in the Republic of China.The person accompanying me told me that now all the senior officials live in that area, but Zhou Enlai's former residence in Meiyuan New Village has been converted into a memorial hall open to the public.

I specially visited the Jiangdongmen Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall.The Jiangdong Gate in the west was one of the killing fields of the massacre that year.The memorial hall was built in 1985, with an ingenious design, like a huge stone cemetery, gray and white, very sad.The window of the showroom is full of dead bones, the remains of victims excavated from the "mass grave" in Jiangdongmen.Thousands of skeletons still have bullet marks on their heads, and the scene is extremely terrifying. Every skeleton seems to be screaming silently, waiting for justice.With such ironclad evidence, the Japanese government is still trying to falsify history.Don't the Japanese still understand that unless they sincerely repent, their national soul will never be cleansed and redeemed.

Passing through the old Guofu Road, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the public agencies of the national government, were given the title of "the people". Even the former presidential palace was stationed in the People's Political Consultative Conference. The great hall is already here, and the five-star red flag has already been planted on the dome above.I went into the Great Hall and took some photos.In this domed building, in April of the 37th year of the Republic of China, amidst the flames of war, the representatives of the first National Congress elected the president and vice president of the Republic of China.The elections that year were so turbulent that it finally led to an irreparable split in the Central.Now the Great Hall is completely silent, and all 3,000 seats are empty. In an instant, history has turned around for thirty-nine years.

In the year when the Anti-Japanese War was won and the capital was returned to Nanjing, I followed my father to visit the Sun Yat-Sen Mausoleum on Zijin Mountain.Climbing up the more than 300 stone steps is a pilgrimage experience of worship. Even at such a young age, you can still experience the solemn meaning of returning to the tomb.Thirty-nine years later, I re-climbed the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum, and it was late spring again. It was raining heavily that day, and the sky was cloudy. Because of the gout in my right foot, I was bumping and turning, and it was really difficult for me to walk.Climbing to the Mausoleum of the Father of the Nation, I suddenly looked up and saw the four characters "The world is for the public" in the handwriting of the Father of the Nation. I felt a burst of grief, and I couldn't hold it back anymore. I shed tears from wandering overseas for decades.Thinking about the lofty ideals of the founding father of the Republic of China, facing the great rivers and mountains in front of you, how can you not make people cry with sorrow.

However, the Stone City, which has seen its ups and downs, still stands there. The decades of ups and downs in the world, in the long history of this thousand-year-old city, are probably nothing more than a bubble that will die with time.