There is a very famous papaya tree in Rugao, Jiangsu Province

Regarding Dong Xiaowan's crossing of the river, the "Yingmei An Memoirs" records as follows: In the spring of the fifteenth year of Chongzhen (1642), He xiang crossed the south because of the incident, and met with Dong Xiaowan who was ill in Bantang, and the two talked with each other, and when they resigned, Dong Xiaowan boarded a boat to send them, from Huguan to Liangxi, Biling, Yangxian and Chengjiang, arriving in Beigu. At the top of the Golden Mountain, Dong Xiaowan swore to Jiang Liu: "Concubines are like rivers flowing east, and they will never return to Wumen." However, because the conditions for redemption at that time had not yet been met, he had to cry goodbye and return to Wu. In the autumn and winter of that year, Qian Qianyi, a former attendant of the ceremonial department who was idle in his home in Changshu, collected three thousand gold and went to Suzhou Bantang to redeem Dong Xiaowan's family, and bought a boat to send someone to escort Xiaowan to Rugao MaoFu, which made the strange relationship between Mao and Dong.

The Water Painting Garden is located at the east gate of Rugao, where Dong Xiaowan, one of the "Eight Yans of Qinhuai", and caizi of the late Ming Dynasty ventured to break through the frontier.

Rugao is an ancient city of Jianghai. Such as, go also; Gao, the highlands of the sea. Go to the highlands by the sea, and when you go there, you will see a garden of literati, a garden of love, and a garden of cloth. The style of the house is very low-key, there is no luxury, only simplicity, close to the authenticity of the living life.

A garden that stands out from the rest of the people who once lived here and the plants in the garden.

There is an ancient papaya tree in the water painting garden that is more than 800 years old, and in the north of the Yangtze River, such a tree is rarely seen.

Papaya is originally a thing of the Southland. In the Book of Poetry, Wei Feng, it is said: "Throw me a papaya, and repay it with Qiongju." Bandits also, always think good also. ”

Look at it from some classics, ancient papaya, beautiful tree shape, beautiful flowers. The Song Dynasty King Ordered a poem "Papaya Flower" with "clusters of red leaves between green leaves, yang and leisure do not need to be urged." Tianjiao Eryan is amazing, not with the peach second opening" describes the beauty of papaya flowers.

It is not known whether the tree existed before or was later transplanted here. If it is the former, then it is older than the 400-year-old garden, a rare antiquity, and witnesses that the things in the world are human.

In the old house between Jianghuai and Huaihuai, plants and trees are luxuriant, including boxwood, wolfbone, wax plum, pomegranate, magnolia, loquat, osmanthus flower... Papaya trees are rarely seen. This kind of rose tree, the only one in the water painting garden, people who have not been here, most of them will not know.

The tree is higher than the roof ridge, and the wood is in the garden. The middle of the trunk has cracked, dark gray mottled bark, and the shape of the tree is vigorous. Think of it in spring blossoming, full of red and pink trees, flying colors and flowers; autumn fruits ripe, branches are numerous, dozens of green, oval papaya fruits cover the leaves, full and lovely.

This reminds people of the deep courtyard of Suzhou garden, there are also some papaya trees, such as the Humble Administrator's Garden, the Master of Nets Garden, they stand in the mountains, dotted with green fruits.

The papaya tree quietly went north, perhaps there was some kind of secret coincidence with Dong Xiaowan's crossing of the river at that time, and perhaps it had nothing to do with it. Thinking of the year when a flat boat was lying on the big river, I suddenly saw a beautiful person sitting on it, starting from the half pond outside Gusu City, the sound of the water was in an uproar, and crossed the river to the north.

How did a tree grow in the past? How do people and trees depend on each other? Reading and writing, chanting poems, enjoying the moon and playing the piano... The scenery is still faint.

There are papaya trees in the Jiangbei courtyard, and the sky is like a silk, and you can sit under the tree to rest or look up at the sky. The shadow of the tree is reflected on the wooden lattice window. When it rains, people stand along the corridor and see a garden of smoke trees, and the ordinary days become vivid.

Relocated like a human being, my heart is at peace with my hometown. The trees are leafy and take root in this place.

The tree that "crossed the river" was planted in the plain courtyard surrounded by green bricks and tiles, it has adapted to the wind and snow in the winter of Jianghuai, and it has grown here for so many years, perhaps even the people who planted it did not think of it, just try it, plant a camellia tree from the south.

Tang Dynasty Du Zhenyan poem: "Yunxia out of the sea dawn, Mei Liu crossed the river spring." "Clouds rise from the sea, a red sun rises, a dawn, spring breeze crosses the river, plum blossoms bloom, willow leaves sprout, and spring melts." Plum willow " is to say that the flowers and trees of the first month of early spring, the same plum willow tree, the same belongs to the early spring first month, in the north is the snow to find plums, look at the willow color, the residual winter has not disappeared, and in Jiangnan has been plum blossoms, willow leaves, spring, plum willow across the river, Jiangnan is completely the spring of flowers and trees.

A tree, when it leaves its hometown and grows in a strange place, has a great influence on its climate, soil, and moisture. Look around, the shadow is lonely, it has no companion, it cannot become a forest, and it grows silently in the space that belongs to it.

It is beautiful in the drizzle, the wind fiddles with its posture, grinding with the ears of the tree in its peculiar way, the rain wets the tree, and the leaves are full of water; in the moonlight it is feminine, like a cloud of ink, and like a person bowing his head and meditating, the shadows of the trees are dappled, and the clear light of the moonlight sprinkles on the trees, dancing to clarify the shadows. One person stands on the bank of the river, like a tree, and the papaya has crossed the river.

That ancient papaya tree, is it okay in winter? Is it building up strength for the next spring?'