Chapter 16 1. Strangers in foreign lands are "excessive people"

Guangzhou is a very strange city to outsiders.In Yi Zhongtian's words, the feeling will be very "strong".You may feel dazzled, disoriented, pointless and out of place.This city, "its buildings are strange, its trees are rare, its signs are incomprehensible, and its language is even more inexplicable. Even the wind is different from the mainland: damp, wet, hot, blowing I can’t tell what it’s like to be on your body. If you don’t have acquaintances to guide the way, and relatives and friends to pick you up at the stop, you may not be able to find where you’re going. Because you can’t understand maps and stop signs, and you obviously can’t understand the conductor. The name of the station that is called. Maybe you can stop a Guangzhou person who is walking in a hurry to ask for directions, but he will probably answer "muji", which makes you dumbfounded, and you don't understand why Guangzhou people use "hen" to answer .Even if he answers for you, you may not be able to hear clearly or understand.”

Even though the streets of Shenzhen are very modern, there is still a sense of insecurity in it. Paradoxically, it is the trees on both sides of the street that cause this insecurity.Especially at night, the whirling shadows of the trees make people nervous, for fear that a masked robber will suddenly appear from behind the lush trees.Generally speaking, it is fortunate that such a modern city can "tolerate" the growth of plants in the "reinforced concrete" jungle.But it's just hard to get the nerve to "romanticize" these innocent trees. The reason is that there is indeed no historical story to trace back.Especially after walking through Hengshan Road in Shanghai and Nanshan Road in Hangzhou, the difference is obvious.

Known as "Shanghai's No. 1 Street of Ancient and Famous Trees", Hengshan Road is lined with more than 460 thick French-style sycamores, quietly exuding an aloe of history.Walking under the tree, you will unconsciously think of the song "Night Shanghai" in the 1930s, and those historical celebrities walked across Wutong Street this month as lightly as a cutscene, leaving long humanistic anecdotes. thing. However, in Shenzhen, these "narrations" are difficult to add.The biggest feature of Shenzhen lies in the dream it bestows on people - the "gold rush dream".Once these spiritual creatures are associated with money and utilitarianism, they will always feel different.Just like a media person who has lived in Shenzhen for 7 years said: "This city has no details. Here, you don't want to say 'go out for a walk'. After a long time, you feel that you still have a lot to do with it. distance, and nothing to recall."

Compared with Italy, which took 5 centuries to build the Milan Cathedral, the modernization of the entire city of Shenzhen took only 30 years. Therefore, the so-called carved beams and painted buildings, the so-called intriguing, the so-called historical accumulation, and the so-called complete relationship between people and the city have been ignored. .The most serious consequence of this neglect is that there is no container to ferment the spirit of the city.Therefore, now, people who come to Shenzhen or leave Shenzhen will sigh: "There is no sense of belonging here, and the interpersonal relationship is too alienated. We are like migratory birds, staying for a short time, or flying away."

In Shenzhen, people who meet for the first time often start with such a pleasant dialogue: "Where are you from?" followed by "When did you come to Shenzhen?"In this city, when people ask you this question, you don’t need to feel “regional discrimination”, because more than 95% of the 14 million people working and living in Shenzhen are new immigrants who entered after the establishment of the special zone.Today's "Shenzhen people" include new immigrants from 31 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions across the country, becoming the second city after Beijing to gather 56 ethnic groups across the country.In the words of "New Weekly", it is Shenzhen's stranger index, it recognizes the second, and no one dares to recognize the first.

In Shenzhen, outsiders are also divided into two groups: "new immigrants" and "transnationals".It is difficult for new immigrants to be regarded as "Shenzhen people" in the sense of belonging; but in a practical sense, they must not be regarded as "Shenzhen people".Because there are so many of them and the team is so huge, no one can ignore their existence.Among them are scientific and technological elites, cultural celebrities, artistic geniuses, and high-tech talents. They are often powerful figures on the Shenzhen stage. After integrating with Shenzhen, they often "just take their hometown as their hometown."However, people who are called "Guomin" (Wang Zengjin's "Guomin" Culture in Shenzhen) are different.For them, Shenzhen is just a big stage, and they just make a hasty appearance on this stage, get acquainted with each other, and go through the motions.They don't plan to put their roots here, they just want to go for a few years and leave after enjoying themselves.

Every year when the Spring Festival comes, you can see the mighty army returning home from Luohu Railway Station and Shenzhen Baoan Airport.When the "foreigners" returned to their hometowns, Shenzhen became a deserted "empty city". Guo Haihong wrote about the scene of the Spring Festival in Shenzhen in 2009 in his blog "Peeling Collection": Today, a cold wave hits the never-winter Shenzhen, the north wind howls, and the outdoor temperature rarely drops to 6 degrees. This is the "last shift" before the festival. Don't dare to neglect, get up early and go out to drive to work as usual.The bus and subway, which were still crowded yesterday, suddenly became deserted, like a pond that had been drained of water, and the carriages were empty.

Half of the people in Shenzhen have gone back to their hometowns.The streets that used to be congested and congested are now unimpeded, the platforms are empty, and pedestrians are gradually thinning out. Chinese New Year, every year is similar, this year is unusual. As early as a few days ago, the tide of returning home in Shenzhen began to surge. Those migrant workers who had closed their factories and had an early holiday returned home early to avoid the peak of the Spring Festival travel season. According to official figures, Shenzhen currently has a population of 13 million, of which 70% are "temporary residents", that is, floating population.Among the household registration population, there are probably no more than a million local residents in Shenzhen. In other words, Shenzhen is not the "hometown" of the vast majority of people, and their roots are not here.

As a new immigrant city, its bustle is hard-won during festivals. Anyone who stayed in Shenzhen in the early 1990s must have a deep memory of the scene of the Chinese New Year.At that time, when the Chinese New Year came, it was almost impossible to find a restaurant to eat on the streets of Shenzhen—the owner of the restaurant also returned to his hometown. Later, in order to increase the taste of the new year, for several years, the government tried its best to advocate "Shenzhen will keep you for the new year". Through governments at all levels, community organizations, trade unions and women's federations, it has been implemented layer by layer, organizing party tours, eating free New Year's Eve dinners, and subsidizing enterprises There are all kinds of methods for the New Year’s expenses for those staying in Shenzhen, New Year’s greetings for leaders and migrant workers at all levels in the urban and street areas, etc. There are all kinds of methods, and the purpose is to let “outsiders” stay and add some popularity to Shenzhen’s Spring Festival.

In the past two years, the slogan is no longer "Shenzhen will keep you for the New Year", and it has probably become "Shenzhen will send you home for the New Year". The purpose is to let everyone feel the human touch of Shenzhen. I hope you will come back next year and come sooner. Come—During last year's "migrant worker shortage", "will you come again next year" became a pain in Shenzhen.During the Spring Festival travel season, the municipal government organized a free return home bus, and the mayor of the municipal party committee personally went to the station to send the migrant workers back to their hometowns on the bus, and sent an affectionate message: Welcome back to Shenzhen again.

This year is different. It seems that "keeping you for the New Year" and "whether or not" are difficult to express the mood of the city-this is not only Shenzhen, but also most major cities across the country. In a city that is used to being lively, suddenly half of the city's people are gone, the situation is somewhat sad. For those who go out, this year's Spring Festival may not have a special taste. "If you have money or not, go home for the New Year" implies too much taste. Many people around me who have not been home for the New Year in five or eight years are preparing early this year and returning home in full force. My parents and brothers returned to their hometown in Meizhou a week ago, and my wife's brothers and sisters all went back. The two families handed over the keys to our house and entrusted us with watering the flowers and feeding the fish.And the other three neighbors on the same floor as me also "leaved collectively" for the first time, went home for the New Year, and told us to "check the door". I have all gone back, so I will stay and watch the year in Shenzhen. Only during Chinese New Year, the concept of "home" is particularly obvious in Shenzhen.Many people who have lived in Shenzhen for several years think that Shenzhen is just a "transit station" who come in a hurry and leave silently in the end. A person named "Shuanghuo" in Xici Hutong gave an example of the people around him: some colleagues I am familiar with went to Shenzhen to work in order to make their first pot of gold.This is not a colleague who has worked hard in Shenzhen for 4-5 years, said to me "It's time to go back to my hometown and get married", and then set foot on the train going north without nostalgia; a colleague who has worked in advertising business in Shenzhen for 6 years A native of Nanjing in his 40s said earnestly to his friend, "It's time for me to go back to my home in Nanjing. That's a place I'm familiar with." structural phenomenon.Expensive housing (rented houses) and high living consumption also restrict the belief of "settling down" of migrant workers, and batches of them fly back and forth like migratory birds. Everyone in Shenzhen is independent, as mentioned in a novel about Shenzhen, Shenzhen people think "my life has nothing to do with you", that is to say, the relationship between people in Shenzhen is very indifferent and there is no intersection . Shenzhen does not have such a tradition, and the reason is just like what Yi Zhongtian analyzed in his book, “Shenzhen, a city, was originally a city of its own. Do things. At this time, indeed at this time, you must have a little awareness of 'my life has nothing to do with you', so as to avoid many unnecessary arguments. The so-called "no argument" not only means "let's talk after doing it", It also means "each doing its own thing". In fact, for a long time, Shenzhen and the mainland were indeed "separately doing their own thing". Shenzhen is trying a market economy, and the mainland is still engaged in a planned economy. Of course, it has nothing to do with it. Similarly, those who break into Shenzhen are almost all self-righteous people, otherwise they would not come. Therefore, most of them have a strong sense of self and competition, and they are not easy to be influenced by others. Moreover, they are not afraid of hardships and dangers The purpose of breaking into Shenzhen is to seek personal development, not to meddle in other people's business. I don't want to meddle in others, and at the same time, I can't meddle in others. The final conclusion is, 'My life has nothing to do with you'." This is different from Beijing and Shanghai.In Beijing there are "Small Mothers" and "Little Feet Scouts", and in Shanghai there are common people who talk about "what's the matter with you" but love to spy on private matters.This is a kind of "curiosity" that people who live together in agricultural societies often have. Neighbors watch each other like clans or folks.However, in Shenzhen, the company, work unit, and colleagues come from all corners of the country. They are strangers, neither relatives nor relatives. Therefore, they are not interested in other people's lives, which also creates a sense of distance. Moreover, Shenzhen is a city with great mobility of people.In the office building, there are new faces almost every day, and people leave without saying goodbye almost every day.Those who are still working together today may say goodbye tomorrow.Either fired by the boss, or fired from the boss?Human relations are indifferent, and there is too much uncertainty in managing relationships for Shenzhen people.No one knows how long we can get along, so there is no need to know so much. As long as we can cooperate with each other in work, we are good colleagues. Why do we have too many overlaps? Shenzhen has been full of competition since its development.Shenzhen has many opportunities, but they are all obtained by people's unyielding grasp.People who have just come to Shenzhen will hear a saying, "If you love someone, send him to Shenzhen, because this is heaven; if you hate someone, send him to Shenzhen, because this is hell." Everyone who ventures into Shenzhen must be prepared for the suffering of "Beijingers in New York" before traveling, because almost every "Shenzhen person" can say "full of absurd words and tears of bitterness" : In the mainland, they are young and full of youthful dreams and passion for reform. They came to Shenzhen with great enthusiasm, but were surprised to find that there were no flowers and red carpets in front of them.So, they had to pack up their simple bags (which contained a few thin clothes and a thick stack of certificates), and ran from one unit to another, from one company to another, and came in a hurry , Going in a hurry, just like this.When you are thirsty, drink tap water; when you are hungry, eat a piece of instant noodles; when you are tired, rest your feet on the street. Looking at the ever-changing Shenzhen, the high-spirited Shenzhen people feel infinite emotion in their hearts, and it is inevitable to feel a little melancholy.When the lights first came on, the restaurants and restaurants in Shenzhen were feasting and feasting, but I was so hungry that I couldn't keep the tears from coming to my heart even if "men don't flick their tears easily".The living room of a relative's house or the floor of a friend's company is too embarrassing to sleep, so I go to the lawn of the park to count the stars.That taste is no better than "lying in mother's arms and counting the stars".Because there is no warm embrace and no mother's comfort, you have to think about "where is tomorrow's breakfast" by yourself. Therefore, mainlanders believe that those who work hard in Shenzhen have a "wolf nature" and a "ruthless spirit".In Shenzhen, "heroes don't ask where they come from", so people's backgrounds may vary widely, but the goal is the same, that is to get as much wealth and opportunities as possible.As the saying goes, "The one who comes is not good, the one who is kind does not come." Under such a "law of the jungle", in the game of masters, "the winner is the king, and the loser is the bandit."Therefore, Shenzhen will only judge heroes by success or failure.There is naturally more wariness and suspicion between people, instead of the pity of "the same people who have fallen into the world". Yi Zhongtian said: "People who have stayed in Shenzhen for a long time often feel lonely and lost, and feel at a loss as to where they belong. It is no wonder that during holidays and after work, the restaurants and entertainment venues in Shenzhen are full of business. It is not entirely about business entertainment, but also psychological needs. Indeed, Shenzhen people value entertainment very much, so that there is a saying "happy in Shenzhen" (the first three sentences are "play in Beijing, wear in Shanghai , eat in Guangzhou'). There are many reasons for this: first, Shenzhen is a young city, and young people always love to play more than old men; second, the pace of life in Shenzhen is too fast, work is too stressful, and there is a great need to relax ;Thirdly, "work hard and enjoy yourself" is a modern life concept and modern way of life, and Shenzhen people are the most modern conscious. But it is also very important, that is, many people have not yet formed a homeland for Shenzhen For them, Shenzhen is just an arena for survival and development, so once you have your own time, you should leave it and go as far as you can. People with cars will drive on weekends I go fishing in Dongguan, and if I have more than three days of vacation, I will leave Shenzhen for travel. No matter how bad it is, I can also go to the dance hall and tea art house. Compared with the arena (company or unit), there is "a hole in the sky". Anyway, at this time, Not many people will stay 'at home', and some people will even go out all night. Because in this city that does not belong to us psychologically and emotionally, we are already homeless." In Shenzhen, people do not feel the feeling of "home", and there is always a distance from the city. In Guangzhou, there is also a barrier between people and the city. This barrier is "Cantonese", a language that is originally used for daily communication. It became a kind of identity label, a distinguishing mark of "natives" and "Yankees".