Chapter 16 West Lake Nostalgia

I accepted the invitation of Zhejiang University and flew directly from Kaohsiung to Hangzhou six days before the Ching Ming Festival to start a week-long visit.The contact person is Professor Jiang Ruoshui from the School of Media and International Culture, Zhejiang University.As early as the late 1980s, Ruoshui corresponded with me as a student of Mr. Bian Zhilin, and later I participated in the review of his doctoral dissertation.He writes poems, and is also good at poetics. He has two books, "Modernity of Classical Poetry" and "Synchronization and Displacement of China and the West", which can prove his extensive experience and comprehensive understanding.Not only that, but his short essays are also written wittily and vividly.In May last year, he came to Taiwan for an academic visit for two months. Afterwards, he published a collection of essays "Lu Ke Taiwan". The world situation and characters he saw during his trip, as well as the positive narrative profile, are all impressive.

I quickly accepted the invitation from Zhejiang University for multiple reasons.First of all, the contact person is Ruoshui. This trip will definitely be properly arranged. Of course, I can rest assured of his taste.Secondly, the last time I went back to Hangzhou was in May 2004. I gave lectures at Tongji and Fudan universities, and then Professor Yu Daxiang accompanied us to Hangzhou as a couple, and Ruoshui also received me there.But earlier than all this, I lived in Nanjing when I was a child, and I came to this elegant ancient capital of Qiantang with my parents.I don't remember exactly how old I was at that time, but I often heard it mentioned by my parents later on. In short, this incident has become a scene I admire for a long time.

But when I went to Hangzhou, I had another motive, which was to fulfill my wife and I Cun’s journey of seeking roots.My father, Mr. Fan Lai, the father-in-law whom I have never met, died of lung disease in Leshan, Sichuan in the spring of the third year after the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War.It was March 28, 1939, and he was only thirty-nine years old, leaving behind three sad and helpless women, my grandmother, my mother, and eight-year-old Wo Cun, to face what they didn't know what to do. How to respond to the collapse of the country and the death of the family.What happened later can only be pieced together from the sporadic memories I kept with her mother and the only photo album left in those days: her father was originally from Wujin, Jiangsu, graduated from Southeast University in Nanjing, studied in France, and taught at Zhejiang University after returning home. In the early days, he took his family to escape all the way to the rear area, but eventually he was stranded in Leshan due to the deterioration of lung disease.

In November 1996, I went to Sichuan University for a visit, and I made a special trip south to Leshan with me afterwards. With the two maps left after the burial that year, I wanted to go to the tomb according to the map.After all, more than half a century has passed. "Looking back, it's been a hundred years." Are things right and people wrong? The vicissitudes are hard to recognize, where can I find that lonely grave? But looking back, Zhejiang University is fortunately still there, not only is it still there, but its reputation is even better, and it ranks among the top in the country.When I go to visit, I will definitely find valuable information that can help the puzzle.This intention was raised to Ruoshui, and he said it was of course.

On the evening of March 30th, Ruoshui picked us up at Xiaoshan Airport and placed us in the "Xinxin Hotel" on the North Mountain Road in Xixi.We also stayed here seven years ago, but this time we lived in the "Qiu Shui Villa" in the other building, that is, the villa built by the famous journalist Shi Liangcai for his beloved wife Shen Qiushui in the 1930s.The night is dark, and on the large balcony, there is only a long embankment separated from the water, the willow shadows are endless, and the lights are like practice.We are indeed in Hangzhou. The next morning Ruoshui and his wife Yangling came to take us to swim in the lake.Only then did I realize that the willow embankment I saw last night turned out to be the Baidi embankment, and the misty water separated by it was only Beili Lake, not the main lake of West Lake.The four of them walked eastward along Beishan Road, facing the lake with Ruoshui on their backs, pointing us to the Baochu Pagoda standing on the mountain.Finally, I went to the remnant snow on the broken bridge at the east end of Baidi. Ruoshui said that it is said that Xu Xian met the white lady here in "Legend of the White Snake".There is a wooden pavilion on the bridge, and the plaque reads "in the clouds, water and light". More than ten years ago, when Jian Jinsong visited the lake, he saw my name in the inscription and took a photo as a gift.There were a lot of tourists that day, and more citizens who had a morning exercise embraced and danced in front of the pavilion, creating a scene of peace and prosperity.I don't know if my parents brought me to swim in those days, whether it was also such a beautiful scenery.Hangzhou people are blessed with unique traditions and specialties. I am really envious of how many stories there are on a dike and how many rises and falls in a single scull.Last summer, I visited Florence with my family, and I couldn’t be more disappointed, but the romantic and elegant Hangzhou seems to fascinate me even more.Su Causeway and Bai Causeway, Yue Fei's Tomb and Qiu Jin's Tomb, Lingyin Temple and Xiangji Temple, Leifeng Pagoda and Liuhe Pagoda, all these fascinating landmarks, and even sleepwalking coordinates, are not inferior to Florence with Venice?

Just after the vernal equinox, Qingming is coming, willows willow green smoke, peach blossoms crimson glow, people can't help but think of Yuan Hongdao's admiration, "The area between the Broken Bridge and Su Gongdi is filled with green smoke and red mist for more than 20 miles. Song blowing Because of the wind, the pink sweat is like rain, the Luo Wan is flourishing, more than the grass beside the embankment, it is extremely gorgeous"!That day the spring was sunny and the sun was thin. Although there were many tourists on the Baidi, there were no songs to sing, and it was quite sweaty at noon.Eagles can be seen hovering in the sky from time to time, but tourists don't pay much attention to it. Later, as they fly lower and lower, they realize that someone is reeling up the line on the embankment, which turns out to be a kite.So the colorful butterflies will also land on the girl's hands. I also received one, which is only the size of a palm, and it can dance the wind and clouds on the lake.The wind in the West Lake this season is just right for kites to fly, otherwise it would be impossible to fly them so freely.

Ruoshui said: "You're tired from walking, why not get on a boat." The four of them boarded a pleasure boat covered with a white canvas shed, sat opposite each other, and started swimming in the lake.The boatman is in good spirits, and his Mandarin with a local accent is gentle and friendly.I remember that he just rode the punt instead of paddle, passed Zhang Dai's Huxin Pavilion, passed the poetic and Zen-like Three Pools Reflecting the Moon, and put us in Xiaoyingzhouhu.When the boat came to pick up the ferry again, it pushed us back to the embankment. This is my trip to Hangzhou at the end of March: Although the edge of the West Lake can be continued, it can only be tasted and stopped.The wind and waves on the lake are calm, and the years on the shore are long, but my heart is not at peace.So long-term memories, national, family, childhood, tragic, suave, lingering, how can the square-inch heart be accommodated and cleared up?For a night by the lake, not to mention Hangzhou Tongjuan's "Shuiguang shimmering and sunny is good", even the sentence of "Autumn wind and autumn rain worrying about people" by Jianhu Heroine made me restless.

In the evening, I gave a speech at the Meng Minwei International Conference Center on the Zijingang Campus of Zhejiang University.I used many projections to prove it, and I talked for more than an hour.The opening remarks start with my relationship with Hangzhou and Zhejiang University, explaining that I came to this city with my parents when I was a child, and that not only Hangzhou is my birthplace, but also that Zhejiang University is the university where my father-in-law teaches.More than 600 teachers and students responded with warm applause.Due to the crowded audience, Xiangyu's more than 100 people had to set aside another room to listen to the show through a screen.So I went to another room to pay my respects in advance.

My lecture was held in the name of "Oriental Forum", hosted by Vice President Luo Weidong and introduced by Professor Hu Zhiyi.There was a brief ceremony before the lecture, and the letter of appointment as a visiting professor was presented to me.In this way, am I not fortunate to be a colleague of my father-in-law, Professor Fan Lai? What was even more gratifying was that Zhejiang University had already searched for information about my father-in-law and presented it as a gift on that occasion.The trip I saved to find my roots was worthwhile.According to those letters and histories, my father-in-law's short life has the following outline:

Fan Lai, courtesy name Xiao Yan, was born in Wujin, Jiangsu Province in 1900.Graduated from Southeast University, studied in France, and graduated from the Department of Botany of the University of Paris.Since 1928, he has been teaching at Zhejiang University as an associate professor of horticulture in the Agricultural College. His monthly salary has been adjusted from 160 to 240.From 1929 to 1931, he served as the director of the Department of Horticulture.The eldest daughter, Wo Cun, was born in Daomao Lane, Hangzhou in 1931.At that time, Zhejiang University's agricultural farms, horticultural farms, forest farms, and botanical gardens covered an area of ​​more than 7,000 mu.Professor Fan took students to practice biology on the spot, and once went as far as Shengshan, a small island at the northeast end of Zhoushan Islands.