Chapter 6 2. "Wandering" in the city

The other millet is Lili, the seedling of the other millet. Walking is extravagant, the center is shaking. Those who know me say I am worried, those who don't know me say what I want. Long sky, who is this! The other millet is lili, the ear of the other millet. Walking is extravagant, the center is drunk. Those who know me say I am worried, those who don't know me say what I want. Long sky, who is this! He is separated from the millet, the reality of the other millet. Walking is extravagant, and the center is like choking. Those who know me say I am worried, those who don't know me say what I want.

Long sky, who is this! —— "The Book of Songs Mili" This is the famous novel "Shu Li", and Mr. Yu Guanying's interpretation of it is "a wanderer tells his worries".The poem describes a homeless man who came to Luoyi, the capital, but the cost of living in the city was too high for him to afford, so he wandered in the fields in the suburbs.He has always wanted to make a good living, but he never got a good opportunity from "seedling" to "ear" to "fruit", and the ideal in his heart was almost shattered due to repeated setbacks.In fact, he may not even know what he wants, so he can only ask God, what kind of person is he?

If you have been "drifting" in Beijing, you can understand the emotion of this poem and understand the reason for putting it here.We don't talk about poetry, we only talk about the city, and talk about the right and wrong of Beijing. As mentioned earlier, "There are no small things in Beijing", but there are small people. By the end of 2009, the permanent resident population of Beijing had reached 17.55 million, which was the official figure released by the Beijing Municipal Government in early 2010.The Beijing CPPCC also conducted a special survey on "Coordinated Development of Population, Resources and Environment" and found that by the end of 2009, the actual permanent resident population in Beijing had reached 19.72 million, of which 12.46 million were registered residents, and the number of migrants who lived for more than half a year reached 7.26 million; and the rapid growth of the floating population is the main reason for the increase in the resident population.In fact, due to the difficulty of obtaining residence permits in Beijing and the weakening of the concept of temporary residence permits, Beijing has become increasingly unclear about the "details" of the floating population in the city, so it is believed that the actual number of floating population will be far greater on the official figures.

Beijing is undoubtedly a city with a high degree of immigration.She attracts foreign talents and absorbs foreign cultures.But Beijing's admission is selective, and it implements a "preferred system"-whether you can be accepted depends on whether you can enter the city. In this regard, Yi Zhongtian made a simple summary: "Before the Revolution of 1911, Beijing's immigrants mainly came to the emperor. They were new scholars and promoted officials, as well as eunuchs, court ladies and servants serving the emperor and officials. The National Government After Nanjing was established as the capital, the immigrants from Peiping mainly came to universities. At that time, the most famous institutions of higher learning in the country gathered in Beiping, attracting many students from all over the world. After the founding of New China, there were mainly two types of people who joined the ranks of Beijingers: The cadres transferred to Beijing (mostly middle and high-level) and the university graduates transferred to Beijing (mostly excellent). In short, Beijing immigrants always revolve around the center of 'politics' or the sub-level of 'academic'. center; while Beijing's absorption is always based on whether it is 'excellent' or 'elite'."

The result of immigration is that Beijing has grown stronger and richer.However, when talking about Beijingers, you still don't have a clear idea.Unlike Shanghainese, who have already formed a fixed and unified impression in the minds of the people of the whole country, such as: shrewd, philistine, fastidious, and so on.In short, the immigrants have integrated into Shanghai and formed an integrated Shanghai-style culture with it, all of whom are "Allah Shanghainese".However, Beijing is not the case. “Beijing does not have such an integrated culture, but only the cultures of different 'circles' (royal official culture, literati culture, common people culture, etc.). Immigrants just entered different 'circles' and communicated with their own The "circle" agrees."

Everyone says Shanghai is xenophobic, but few people point out Beijing's snobbery.In fact, Beijing's snobbery, to put it bluntly, is the concept of hierarchy, and to put it bluntly, it is the consciousness of circles.With circles, there are sizes and categories.Big and small categories, that is, respectful and humble, distant and close. As one of the symbols of Beijing, the courtyard house completely embodies this "orderly" view of hierarchy. In Beijing's regular courtyard, the gate is opened at the "Xun" position in the southeast corner of the house.In the middle of the courtyard is the courtyard, which is spacious, planted with trees and flowers, and some prepare tanks for raising goldfish, which is the center of the layout of the courtyard.Entering the gate in the regular courtyard, there are hanging flower gates, moon gates and so on.The vertical flower door is the most gorgeous decorative door in the courtyard. Its function is to separate the inner and outer courtyards. ".The person living in the main room (north room) in the courtyard must be the head of the family, and the east wing room is lived by the eldest son because the left side is the most expensive.The upside-down room is usually occupied by servants. "Order and order" is fully reflected in the courtyard.In such a small self-contained world, the family forms a whole.

This is true for everything from small residential buildings to the layout and construction of the entire city. "As the capital of the imperial capital, Beijing's urban planning embodies the thoughts of traditional Chinese culture in the most concentrated way: orderly respect and inferiority, and strict hierarchy. Beijing in the Ming and Qing Dynasties was a circle of three cities, the center of which was the palace. The city is the Forbidden City, which is the residence of the emperor; the second is the imperial city, where the government is located; the outermost is the capital, which is close to the root of the imperial city, and the outer periphery is a well-planned market. In the Qing Dynasty, the capital also had an inner city. The difference between the outer city. The inner city is a restricted area for the Manchus, while the outer city is the site of the Han people. Standing on Jingshan overlooking the whole city, the resplendent palaces and pavilions are in stark contrast to the small and dark houses. The so-called "the east is rich and the west is rich, the south is poor." It is clear at a glance that people of different identities and status live in their houses and keep their duties in this planned urban area. It can be said that Beijing has done a good job of filling people in the circle. Beijing Of course, it is impossible for people not to have 'circle consciousness'".

Under this premise, even if a famous person like Mo Yan has lived in Beijing for nearly 30 years, this Shandong man still regards himself as a foreigner in Beijing. "Walk more on Chang'an Street and less in alleys" is Mo Yan's life experience summed up.Chang'an Avenue is the stage of Beijing, used to show the elegant demeanor of the capital, naturally everyone is welcome to visit, it is a "living room". Hutong is not the case, it is a more private "bedroom", and this circle belongs to "old Beijingers" - Hutong is the city life in Beijing, "It is very close to the downtown area, soy sauce, about two catties of eggs, etc. It is convenient, but it seems far away. There is no heavy traffic here, and it is always quiet. Occasionally, there are "calling heads" (like a big tweezers, rubbed with an iron rod through them, and there will be a squeak), grinding Scissors sharpening the knives (a dozen iron pieces threaded into a string, the sound of shaking), and the sound of the piccolo played by the fortune-telling blind man (now long gone). These sounds are not only not noisy, but also more lively in the alley. Quiet”; hutongs represent a closed culture, “most of the residents living in hutongs have resettled and are reluctant to move. Some have lived in one hutong for decades, and some have even lived for several lifetimes. Yes. Most of the houses in the hutong are very old, and the houses in "Digener" are not so good, with old purlins and broken brick walls. When it rains, it often rains heavily outside and lightly in the house. When it rains heavily, you can always Hearing the sound of houses collapsing, it was a house in an alley. But they were reluctant to 'move their nests'——'a broken house is worth ten thousand yuan'" ("Hutong Culture").

Therefore, for this circle, if you are not an "authentic" Beijinger, it may be difficult to integrate.In his new work, Mo Yan describes a scene where the protagonist who has lived in Beijing for many years is "bullied" by locals in an alley, and admits that this is a real experience that happened to him.He said that this is the imperial culture of Beijing for more than a thousand years, and outsiders are like Mrs. Ah Qing in "Shajiabang", who need to borrow a piece of precious land from your side to make a living. The opposite of the civilian circle in the market is the royal official circle.How likely is it that an outsider can enter this circle?There is only one way: becoming an official.To put it bluntly, it is the examination of civil servants.You can’t count where you catch with your head covered, you have to go to Beijing.What's so good about Beijing?As far as this is concerned, they are "central", and other than that they are all "local" and have different natures.

But how difficult is it for a foreigner to enter Beijing's officialdom?There are no specific statistics given by experts.However, there are two news items for reference. First, in 2009, the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Human Resources and Social Security announced eight requirements for civil servants to apply for the examination, the fifth of which has aroused strong attention from all walks of life: "having permanent residence in Beijing."The Beijing government places special emphasis on restrictions on household registration in the recruitment of civil servants. Candidates without Beijing household registration are rejected.This is a fact.

Second, at the end of April 2010, the Standing Committee of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee discussed and passed the "Opinions on the Public Selection of Leading Cadres in Beijing in 2010", announcing that 241 leading cadres at the bureau and division level would be publicly elected.Among the four types of eligible applicants, civil servants in other provinces and cities, as well as managers of enterprises and institutions, are not included in the scope of selection.In this regard, Wang Yukai, a professor of the Public Administration Department of the National School of Administration, gave this explanation - "This move does not mean that Beijing is 'self-enclosed', 'Beijing is different from other cities, domestic high-end talents are gathered, and talent advantages are outstanding, so it is unnecessary Cast the net over the whole country'".What a "no need"!But this is also a fact that you have to face. So, what about the other circle of literati and scholars? In fact, not every literati can host a youth song competition like Master Yu Qiuyu to earn some extra money in Beijing.Most "cultural people" may have to hide in a small house of seven or eight square meters to tinker with art, but there is only one Yu Hua who can tinker with such a legendary work.It became popular, and the subsequent "Brothers" became even more popular, with sales of 1 million copies.As a result, Yu Hua, who was booming, withdrew from Beijing and settled in Hangzhou. Even the "Chen Guanzhong" who are determined to live in Beijing can't help but complain. In 2002, Mr. Chen Guanzhong published an article titled "There Are One Hundred Reasons You Shouldn't Live in Beijing": "There are even some reasons that make you want to evacuate immediately, such as desertification, sandstorms, dirty, bad air, dry enough to get an electric shock, dry skin, lack of water, traffic jams, traffic jams, drivers who don't have the concept of the right of way for small roads to big roads, taxis The driver does not know the way but will take a detour, the taxi is very narrow and dirty (why do I keep talking about taxis), the streets are dark at night-even the Chaoyang District, which claims to be the central business district, is dark, there are sap bandits, and there are few overnight convenience stores , things are rough, they are being demolished everywhere, even if they shouldn’t be demolished, the whole Beijing is like a big land, the house price is more expensive than Shanghai, the deed tax is high, the house buying policy makes it difficult for foreigners, the buildings are boring, there are no decent old houses, and the old private houses are very dilapidated In the 1990s, they were still wearing old-fashioned hats, and the newly completed landmark buildings were earthy and large. I really don’t know how to get the floor area ratio down—this is why Beijing is not as good as Shanghai, and even worse than Pengcheng and Sui in recent years.” Will Beijingers be angry when so many "bad things" about Beijing are said?Judging from Mr. Chen Guanzhong's listening experience, the Beijinger standing next to you "talks more fiercely than anyone else" about Beijing.Why? "A very high possibility is that that person does not recognize himself as a Beijinger, but just lives in Beijing, even if he has lived for five or fifty years." "Foreigners in Beijing come here for a long time, live well and live poorly, and have three certificates but not three certificates. They don't consider themselves Beijingers, and they will emphasize that they are from other places and where they are from." This passage reveals a real fact: Beijing welcomes you, but just because you "come" does not mean that you have "come in". It is very likely that the city will be "wandering"; more outsiders will have to chant over and over at the foot of the imperial city: "Yuyou heaven! Who is this?"