Chapter 37 Ten days in Zhanjiang

At the end of 1961, I spent an unforgettable ten days in Zhanjiang. After returning, I had the task of going abroad, and I slipped over the "Zhanjiang" I wanted to write.In the past ten months, I have picked up my pen several times, but I always feel that it is not easy to write.Zhanjiang is the same as other places in the motherland. You have been there once, and when you come back, everything has been renewed. The seeds that were sown at that time have now blossomed everywhere, and the flower hearts that were blooming at that time have now borne fruit.Looking back to the past is worse than looking to the future.However, precisely because of the past experience, some characters and some landscapes are more vivid and vivid against the background of the mysterious pound.They are like sparkling sail shadows, constantly flickering in my mind!This memory often puts me back in a particularly strong color, aroma, and taste, which makes my heart feel warm and excited again. It is this wonderful feeling that compels me to pick up my pen again today. .

Zhanjiang is not like Beijing and Nanjing, nor is it like Suzhou and Hangzhou. It does not have places of interest everywhere, let alone magnificent and elegant palace gardens.It was a land of savage wind and rain in ancient times. When the Song Dynasty lost its northern frontier, people who offended the court were relegated to this place.The famous poet Su Dongpo is one of them.In the fifty years before liberation, it was the "Guangzhou Bay" occupied by the French imperialists. Except for a French-inhabited street, there were only low-lying, smelly, narrow shacks and thatched huts.Except for the imperialists and reactionaries riding on the people's heads, it is the hungry and impoverished people.However, these hungry and impoverished people persisted in the struggle against the French, Japanese and liberation for fifty years. Finally, on December 19, 1949, this pearl of the South China Sea of ​​the motherland was washed clean and made it In the hands of the happy and brave people, shine brightly!

At the end of 1961, we came from the harsh winter of Beijing to the dense green city of Zhanjiang. A warm and novel feeling immediately enveloped us.This wide and flat avenue, the dense shade of trees on both sides of the avenue, the neat and tall buildings outside the shade of the trees, the brocade of red flowers under the shade of the trees, the lush grass, and the seaside park that is several miles long, are continuous. The tall and tall coconut grove stands behind it, the blue waves shimmering outside the forest, and the breeze blows the sound of the sea tide. How charming is the scenery in this emerging coastal city!

Here, the roads are opened by the people, the buildings are built by the people, the flowers and trees are planted by the people... Hundreds of thousands of hardworking hands have built a brand new modern city in twelve years.When I see this city, my joy and pride are not inferior to seeing the palaces and gardens created by the ancient Chinese people in Beijing, Ningxia, Suzhou and Hangzhou.On the contrary, I feel that the working people in ancient my country tried their best to build those palaces and gardens, but they could not enjoy the fruits of their labor to their heart's content. Today, after liberation, the people's blood and sweat can be used on themselves. The miraculously beautiful city was born under such incomparable enthusiasm and drive.

Here, the most dazzling things are the trees and flowers.Among the trees are phoenix trees, acacia trees, acacia trees, coconut trees, and casuarinas.This casuarina tree is really worthy of special mention!I have never seen this kind of tree, and I only came across the name when I was translating Indian Tagore's novels.I only know that it is a tropical tree, and I can't see its characteristics from that novel, so I just threw it away after translation.Unexpectedly, this time in the south of the motherland, I saw its heroic qualities! Its image is like pine and cypress and willow.There are vigorous pines and cypresses and graceful willows, with straight trunks and thin leaves. Seen from a distance, they always look like a cloud of mist.

It is not afraid of typhoons and loves sea water the most. The closer it is to the sea, the faster it will grow.After liberation, the people of Zhanjiang, who had turned their backs, wanted to build a beautiful home on this piece of barren sand. They took advantage of the advantages of this tree and planted three layers of casuarina trees on the sandy shore.These small trees took root row by row, gathered sand, and grew thriving amidst the sound of sea waves, competing for land between the camp and the sea step by step.Up to now, this green Great Wall has been winding for hundreds of miles, encircling this garden city.When our cars are speeding along the Great Wall, we will always think of the People's Liberation Army team that marched in front of the viewing platform on National Day in the past.In spirit and character, they are exactly the same as the casuarina tree.

When it comes to flowers and plants, they are really beautiful. It can be said that all flowers are red, and no grass is not fragrant. The flowers here, no matter they are big or small, single petals, double petals, threaded, clustered... Almost none of them are not red.Against the background of dense green leaves, it is so bright that it is impossible to stare at it.People who came from the severe winter in the north suddenly see the red light in their eyes, they are really dazzled, and the impression is so deep that even their sleep is surrounded by a red cloud!Some of these flower names are known by us, such as poinsettia, peony, oleander... But most of them are heard for the first time, such as firecracker flower, dragon spit bead, a bunch of red, hairy red, etc. Even our hosts who accompanied us didn’t know their flower names, so they just smiled and replied, “It’s the big red flower anyway!” Their usual indifference made people envious and jealous.When it comes to grass, the so-called "within ten steps, there must be fragrant grass" and "there is no fragrant grass anywhere in the world", are the realism here.We lean down at any time, pick up a leaf, and twist it between our fingers, and it will emit a tangy aroma.Even a single leaf, such as lemon eucalyptus, smells delicious.After picking the leaves, turn to the book again, and the next day you will find that there is still a lingering fragrance on the pages of the book!

The owner said, it's a pity that we don't have much time to plant trees, and there are not many birds flying here. But there are really many butterflies, and there are many kinds.We often see clusters of butterflies flying on the acacia tree.In a place with brilliant literature, even the butterflies are not pink, white or light yellow!The color of these butterfly wings is like tiger skin, yellow and black. They don't fly in pairs, but dance up and down in groups, as lively and magnificent as milk tigers.In addition, there are butterflies like peacock feathers in emerald blue, velvety in red and green, which are not seen in the north.

In fact, whether it is flowers, trees, grass or insects, they are just a foil for the characters in my paintings.In the past ten months, I have never forgotten the host who entertained us in Zhanjiang.They are a group of the cutest people. During the War of Resistance Against Japan and the War of Liberation, they fought victoriously from Changbai Mountain, Dabie Mountain, and Taihang Mountain to Hainan Island one after another. Finally, they "disarmed and returned to farming."They overcame thorns and thorns here to open up hundreds of thousands of acres of vast and flat fields. They used casuarinas and other tall trees to plant chessboard-like windbreak belts, enclosing agricultural and forestry crops, improving the environment, and regulating the climate.They ran socialist agricultural enterprises in these standard forests and gardens, produced a lot of material wealth for the motherland, and accelerated the socialist construction of the motherland.They are the bravest fighters in the war against the enemy, the hardest laborers in the construction period, and the most enthusiastic hosts in entertaining guests.They enthusiastically treated us as distant relatives, led us to visit the homes they created, and introduced us to everything in the past and present in the surrounding environment.They accompanied us to visit during the day and chatted with us at night. Up to now, I still hear an excited narrative and a warm greeting from time to time... Behind these voices, there are familiar people: middle-aged, Young, unrestrained, restrained, pungent, shy... These images and the vigorous and rich paintings behind them are constantly unfolding to me one by one... They flock us from the airport to Chixia Mountain Beach Guest House.This is a fairytale beautiful place.We were so excited the first night that we couldn't sleep well. We got up quickly as soon as we opened our eyes in the morning, walked to the window, and looked out: a dozen buildings were scattered among the flowers and trees.Nearby, beside a clump of green bamboo stands a poinsettia higher than the eaves. The flowers are as large as a plate, as smooth as cut red velvet.Further away, the short one is the red mulberry tree with big leaves, the taller one is the magnolia tree with tender green leaves, and the last one is the acacia tree with small yellow flowers piled on the top of the tree.These layers of dark and light colors are blended together, and the nose smells the fragrance of michelia and roses, and the ear hears the sound of the tide swaying outside the shadow of the tree.In this light and pleasant atmosphere, we started a happy ten days!

We first visited the Institute of Tropical Plants in their farm.In the reception room, they feasted on the peanuts and bananas they grew, drank the coffee they grew themselves, and then toured the plantation.This is really a treasure land of the motherland. Cash crops such as oil palm and coffee, which were introduced from all over East Asia, grow very luxuriantly. Under our surprise and appreciation, the owners not only loaded our car with many new crops picked from the trees. papayas, bananas, and sugar cane; we also stuffed many rare flowers and fruits in our hands and pockets, such as mulberry, magnolia, roselle, curd eggplant, tomato lychee, etc. We walked along the way, taking more and more, pressing It made our arms ache.The second visit was part of their Lakeside Farm.In the chessboard-like tall windbreak forest, we saw endless young saplings standing steadily and neatly in a low-warm place, thriving and thriving.We visited three bird farms and a livestock farm.The goose herder, the milkmaid, the old man who raises pigs… work nervously and leisurely by the clear water pond and in the tidy stables.In the chicken pen, we saw a group of turkeys, with their splendid wings hanging down, sailing steadily towards us like colorful boats.There are Japanese pigs and guinea pigs in the pigsty, but the most beautiful ones are the local pigs, with large black spots along the light gray side on the snow-white back. This kind of pigs is something I have never seen elsewhere. .

We visited the Leizhou Youth Canal Project and the newly built Hedi Reservoir. Growing up in the north, I never thought that the Leizhou Peninsula in the extreme south of my motherland would be a place short of water!The hosts smiled and introduced to me: Leizhou area has many plains and few forests and grasses. The Jiuzhou River passing through this area has a narrow and shallow riverbed, which floods when it rains, and cannot be used for irrigation.In 1958, under the leadership of the Party, 100,000 people in Leizhou, especially young people, spent 14 months building the 174-kilometer-long Youth Canal.They cut off the Jiuzhou River and built a reservoir.On the road where the canal passes, the protruding places were dug deeper, and the concave places were built with channels, leading to a gurgling and clear river to irrigate the 2.5 million mu of land in the Leizhou Peninsula.Standing on the edge of the Hedi Reservoir embankment, we only felt that it was sparkling, surrounded by distant mountains, similar to Miyun Reservoir and Ming Tombs Reservoir, just like sisters.But before arriving at the reservoir, the tall and tall trough seen on the road, viewed from the ground, is like looking up at the Yangtze River Bridge from the river, very majestic and beautiful.In the future, there will be cars on the bridge and boats under the bridge. This kind of spectacle will not be found in Miyun Reservoir and Ming Tombs Reservoir.On the way to the reservoir, in the Chikan area, we passed a very short "Cunjin Bridge", but the significance of this bridge is not small. It commemorates the local people's resistance against The heroic deeds of the French imperialists.They cherish every inch of the motherland's land like an inch of gold, and they fought hard to reduce the land seized by the French imperialists from a hundred miles to a dozen miles!We got out of the car, read the inscription on the bridge, and wandered for a long time by the narrow river under a big Burmese acacia tree. The trip to the South Triple Islands is also something that people will never forget.The weather was fine that day, and we arrived at the pier, where a landing craft was parked——the railing on the bow of the landing craft is the gangway when it is lowered, and the railing when it is hoisted up.When I went out, I faced the fresh sea breeze, and when I came back, I looked at the hazy sunset. During the voyage back and forth, I never took a step away from the railing!Indeed, since I left the beach life, it has been a long, long time since I have sailed on a small boat to ride the wind and waves. The South Sanlian Islands were originally ten isolated islands. Before liberation, more than 30,000 farmers and fishermen lived here.These people have to fight desperately against the four natural enemies of tide, sand, wind and drought all year round.Coupled with the criminal rule of the imperialists and reactionaries, there are not many people who have died or fled famine.After liberation, the party led the residents on the island to eliminate bandits and bullies, and solved urgent problems such as drinking water and firewood step by step.Originally, the people on these islands had to cross the sea at least seven times to go to Zhanjiang. Since the project to unite the islands began in 1950, the living standards of the people have greatly improved.They not only filled the sea, but also planted trees, circled the fields, built dikes, connected these small islands together like a chain, and built them into a water forest with verdant trees and crops everywhere... We stood on the boat Overhead, listening to this mythical miracle of transforming nature, forty minutes later, the South Tri-Island will be green in sight.We disembarked from Hucunwan, Dongdiao Island, and there was already a cart waiting at the beach.Along a flat avenue, passing several fish ponds, salt fields, rice fields and scattered newly built residential buildings, you will reach the guest house on Dongtou Lighthouse Island.The row of buildings in this guest house is shaded by thousands of trees. We got off the road and walked a few miles on the sandy ground. We felt a little hot, but when we entered the deep forest of casuarina trees, we suddenly felt chilled. , In the fresh air, looking up at each other, it is really "everyone's face is green".It turns out that the island has been afforested since 1949, and dense casuarina trees have been planted on the beach seven or eight steps away from the sea.The forest belt here is sixty miles long and five to ten miles wide, with a total area of ​​100,000 mu. In the past twelve years, the casuarina trees have become lush and lush, and the sea has receded by 100 meters. This wooden guest house building is also made of casuarina wood.Casuarina is hard and bitter, and ants dare not eat it or chew it. It is the most ideal building wood. Upstairs we listened to the extremely vivid report of Secretary Wu of the commune, and ate the peanuts and rice they grew themselves, the fish they caught, and the chickens they raised.The life of the people on this formerly deserted island, like the people in every corner of our country, has begun to prosper. Finally, I would like to talk about the docks in Zhanjiang.The French imperialists occupied Zhanjiang Dagang in order to grab an export of materials looted from China, but they only built a small trestle and wharf here.In the more than ten years after liberation, the brand-new Zhanjiang Port built by the people has modern lifting, transportation and loading and unloading equipment, and a wide wharf where all kinds of goods can be directly loaded onto trains. In this clear seaport, dozens of merchant ships from socialist countries, nationalist countries and capitalist countries pass in and out every day.In the port area, there is also a modern seamen's club, which cordially receives seamen from various countries who come to Zhanjiang as guests.We visited the department store, reading room, restaurant, dance hall and various entertainment facilities inside.The sailors on the merchant ships of the capitalist countries lived a happy and healthy life during their stay in Zhanjiang Dagang in New China, and the dark and dirty traces of the imperialist rule have long since been washed away. We boarded a merchant ship named "Shaoyao" parked there by the pier. The ship sails between Guangzhou and Zhanjiang.The captain, surnamed Ma, is a navigator who returned from overseas, and he talked with us about his life at sea before and after his return to China.This section of "Hai Ke Tan Ying" started with resentment and ended with pride.The captain, like the sea staff I am familiar with, is very forthright and enthusiastic.He insisted on keeping us on board for dinner, but we knew that the short time the sailors had on shore was very precious, so we were only invited to take a few photos with them, and then we said goodbye affectionately. After that, I hurriedly flew back to the capital of the motherland alone on New Year's Eve in 1961.It was a cold snap those few days, and when I got off the plane, the wind was bitter.All the way into the city, there are pale yellow fields and rows of naked trees to the west.Reminiscing about the crowd seeing off at Zhanjiang Airport, and the lush background that set off these characters, I have an indescribable feeling in my heart!The full moon of more than ten degrees has passed, and now it is the season for the phoenix trees on Chixia Mountain to bloom, and the curtains of red flowers are also opened on all the avenues in Zhanjiang. It should be time for me to keep my promise and travel south.I also once promised my friends who were "disarmed and returned to farming" that I would return to the old nest under the eaves of Chixia Mountain once a year like a swallow flying south.However, whether it is spring or autumn, whether I can go or not, as the people of the whole country, under the call of the party to "take agriculture as the foundation and industry as the leading factor", we will work hard to complete this task with one heart and one mind in our own posts. When facing a great and arduous task, I think of my Zhanjiang friends who are at the forefront of this front, fighting tenaciously and optimistically.Let my memories of Zhanjiang inspire and push me from time to time, so that I can be a tough and optimistic worker like them in my own forest garden! April 19, 1963. (This article was originally published in the May 1963 issue of "People's Literature".)