Her scholarship and creation concentrate on many cultural factors in Guangzhou;
She is a rare multi-habitat and cross-border writer, scholar and cultural promoter in Guangzhou's cultural circle;
Her Lingnan culture and Guangzhou spirit are deeply rooted and swaying;
Her Guangzhou characters are open and inclusive, dare to be the first;
She described Guangzhou in this way, "I love Guangzhou" such a topic, as long as it is touched, like a stone thrown into the lake, it will scatter ripples in a circle...
She is Liang Fenglian, a native of Miss Xiguan. She said: "Guangzhou is the most grounded and romantic city, and Guangzhou allows us to inhabit poetically."
Its person:
Born and raised in Sichuan, she wrote books and lectures on the local culture of Guangzhou
The reporter and Liang Fenglian first met, and they were hired by the municipal party committee as the first Guangzhou Reading Promotion Ambassador. When I saw the author of "Miss Xiguan", my first impression was: Qing's face, with the thick accumulation of scholars, and diffuse the unique elegance and vigilance of female writers.
For more than ten years, almost every year and a half, this reporter will interview Dr. Liang Fenglian, from "Miss Xiguan" published in 2005, "Dongshan Dashao" published in 2009, to "Yangcheng Smoke and Rain" and "Hundred Years of Urban Change" published in 2017 and 2018, to the recent "Hometown of Culture", "The Road to Innovation" and "Sailong Wins the Championship"...
But this character interview, the reporter thought that he already knew more about this "Miss Xiguan", but after a deep conversation, he found that he did not understand her Cantonese feelings.
The topic began to understand the topic of Guangzhou, the reporter said: "Guangzhou is really like 'Miss Xiguan', beautiful and low-key, can not be understood." Guangzhou is a famous historical and cultural city of more than 2,000 years, as well as a famous thousand-year-old commercial capital, the birthplace of the Maritime Silk Road, the birthplace of modern revolution, the cultural center of Lingnan and the frontier of reform and opening up. However, it is worth pondering that when it comes to the impression of Guangzhou, many people feel that the local cultural characteristics of Guangzhou are difficult to explain, why are there two impressions with such a big contrast? ”
In this regard, Liang Fenglian pointed out: "'Guangzhou that can be said clearly' is the support of Guangzhou people for the city, many people do not have a good understanding of Guangzhou, first of all, Guangzhou has a clear historical context; secondly, she has the local characteristics of various cultural integration and transformation, and has its own cultural charm." Our folk festivals can be preserved to this day, and this flexible and strong inheritance force has been continuously strengthened and improved by Guangzhou in the process of development and change. ”
Talking about the Spring Festival of Guangzhou people, Liang Fenglian said: "When the New Year is approaching, my mother will definitely take us to the flower market, and along the way, people are surging and everywhere is full of joy. When I was a child, I visited the West Lake Road Flower Market, and after I started a family, I still had to go to the flower market, even if it was just to buy a little flower. ”
Over the years, Liang Fenglian has written books and lectures for Guangzhou's local culture with 35 works, conveying to us a firm voice: Guangzhou is a city that can be spoken clearly and understood. She told reporters: "In order to understand Guangzhou, we must understand the spirit of Guangzhou, this understanding, can not only stay in the materials and numbers, or flashing light, but really have to come up with a judgment, identification and new cognition." ”
Pictured: Scenery of Xiguan
His words:
In each monograph, she tries her best to interpret Guangzhou in depth
Guangzhou Daily: I am under your impression that for more than 30 years, you have been focusing on the study of Cantonese culture and Lingnan culture and creation, what makes you so persistent and persistent?
Liang Fenglian: Culture is alive, and the life of culture is as long as history. I have always wondered why the vitality of Lingnan culture and Cantonese culture is so strong. Academic research and literary creation are the two paths I have taken to tradition and reverence for my ancestors. Among them, academic research is the life code for me to explore culture, what is the core gene of Lingnan culture and Cantonese culture? How does Guangzhou inherit the charm and characteristics of Lingnan culture and Cantonese culture? Literary creation is that I use my imagination to restore the historical appearance of culture, and to trace the living environment of my ancestors in the long river of history and the living conditions in the environment at that time.
Photo: Canton Arcade
Guangzhou Daily: Over the years, you have used 35 monographs to let the world understand the development law of Lingnan culture and rebuild people's cultural memory of Guangzhou. What is the cultural background of Guangzhou?
Liang Fenglian: The living life characteristics of Guangzhou culture are also reflected in the internal constancy and external changes. After the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games, Guangzhou has undergone great changes, seeing the video of Guangzhou's new central axis filmed by young people, I will be sincerely proud that we are fortunate to live and work in Guangzhou. But there are also many characteristics that are constant: the spatial pattern of Shancheng Tianhai has not changed, the ecological pattern of Shanshui City has not changed, the inclusive open pattern has not changed, and the living pattern of life has not changed. The city is the "container" of culture, and Lingnan culture and Guangfu culture are brewing fragrances in such a vibrant and interesting "container", and then the fragrance floats in the four seasons and the world.
Guangzhou Daily: From "Miss Xiguan" published in 2005, "Dongshan Dashao" published in 2009, to "Yangcheng Smoke and Rain" and "A Hundred Years of Urban Change" published in 2017 and 2018, to the recent "Hometown of Culture", "The Road to Innovation" and "Sailong Wins the Championship"... The review argues that you are looking at the context of the city of Guangzhou in a retrospective way, can you summarize the relationship between the books you have written in recent years?
Liang Fenglian: Over the years, young people's attitude towards history has undergone great changes, their respect for the history of the city, their pride in Guangzhou's "appearance", "classic" is the word we often see, the ruthlessness of the years lies in the big waves, and what remains is indeed a classic that deserves our careful protection. To understand Guangzhou, there must be a text that leads to understanding, and I try my best to deeply interpret Guangzhou in each monograph, such as "The Origin of Culture" is to explore the sense of place of Liwan as a hometown, the novel "SaiLong Wins the Gold" is to restore the century-old history of Panyu Guangdong music, and "A Hundred Years of City Change" is to sort out the cultural formation and urban evolution of Guangzhou since the nineteenth century.
Guangzhou Daily: Remember you said that lingnan culture centered on Cantonese culture can completely give Guangzhou enough confidence to talk to the world in the sequence of world famous cities, why?
Liang Fenglian: After the 16th Asian Games in 2010, Guangzhou demonstrated our confidence in standing on the world stage and dialogue with international metropolises through a series of appearances such as the Fortune Forum. Cultural self-confidence comes from cultural strength, cultural identity comes from cultural cognition, the bottom line of understanding Guangzhou is to put Guangzhou in the long river of time, objectively look at what Guangzhou has missed in the history of five thousand years of Chinese civilization, and what has it contributed? 2021 is the 100th anniversary of the founding of Guangzhou, which is the first modern sense of the city in China's history, 100 years, innovation has been a prominent feature of Guangzhou culture, we can always find opportunities in the tide of the times, give ourselves a new mission, establish a new positioning, Guangzhou is not only a famous historical and cultural city in China, but also an international metropolis with economic prosperity and vitality.
Its text:
Use research and writing to explore the context of the thousand-year-old Cantonese province
Liang Fenglian said she has made Guangzhou her timeless creative theme.
Young Master Dongshan and Miss Xiguan are the symbols of the most beautiful man and the most beautiful woman, and Liang Fenglian has captured the cultural symbols of the Guangzhou people, and depicted them consistently. Because of his academic and creative achievements, he has won many honors: special allowance expert of the State Council, outstanding expert of Guangzhou. He was awarded the National March 8th Red Flag Bearer, the National Outstanding Social Science Popularization Expert, and the Advanced Worker of Guangzhou City. She looked at these very lightly, and the most talked to reporters was her work.
Young Master Dongshan, Miss Xiguan... Liang Fenglian captured the cultural symbols of the Guangzhou people and depicted them in heavy color. In "Alley", "Miss Xiguan", "Dongshan Dashao", and "Yangcheng Smoke and Rain", Liang Fenglian strives to "establish a localized discourse for the regional literature of Guangzhou and even Lingnan". In his works, there are reproductions of the century-old history of Yangcheng, as well as depictions of the unique Lingnan style of Guangzhou city life, it can be said that the writer's image of Guangzhou is not single, it is literary, but also historical, behind which hides a deep face of traditional China.
It is worth mentioning that she has written about the food culture of Guangzhou in several works, first of all, the "drinking" culture in the Lingnan cultural style, the old Guangzhou people will go to "sigh tea", a cup of hot tea with a long taste, coupled with exquisite Cantonese dim sum, in the Guangzhou custom "one cup two pieces" to savor the fun of fireworks life. There is also the world-famous Guangzhou "food" culture, and there are many wonderful descriptions and detailed explanations of the "Cantonese cuisine" with a unique southern flavor and the culture behind it.
In recent years, Liang Fenglian has presided over the completion of projects such as "Guangzhou's Urban Evolution and Cultural Formation since the 19th Century" social science planning project "Guangzhou's Urban Evolution and Cultural Formation since the 19th Century", and Guangzhou's "13th Five-Year Plan" social science planning project "Building a World Cultural City and Building a Hub-type Network Cultural System". The large-scale project "Research on Brand Culture in Various Districts of Guangzhou" lasted for four years, with a total of 12 sub-projects with about 500,000 words.
In order to promote and disseminate Lingnan culture, Liang Fenglian has planned and held a series of large-scale cultural forums for more than ten years. From its launch in 2010 to 2014, the "Lingnan Cultural City Forum" held 14 forums in the city. The "Guangzhou Youth Literary and Art Criticism Forum", which is held in cooperation with the literary federations of various districts, has been held for seven sessions since 2010. In cooperation with Guangzhou Library, the "Guangzhou Humanities Salon" series of lectures has been held for more than 20 times.
Interview Notes:
Rubbing the cultural background of Canton, inheriting the taste of Canton
How do we deal with our own culture? How to use literary means to restore and present the memory and changes of the city of Guangzhou? Liang Fenglian has been thinking about these issues and has struggled for decades.
This interview, unlike previous interviews on individual works, is a very difficult thing to tell about Liang Fenglian. What moved the reporter the most was her persistent research on the cultural layer of Guangzhou and her feelings for The culture of Guangfu. As she said, "There are some things that will always be placed in a person's heart, always hidden there, and accompany them for a lifetime." Throughout our lives, we have been looking for the best way to store it and cherish it, not to mention that this is the feeling of the old garden, the memory of the city of Guangzhou that grew up and changed with it. So, I finally understood, because I am a native of Guangzhou, because I love the city where I was born and grew. My heart and state are nurtured and blessed by this city, and I spend my years here. Guangzhou has become a feeling that I no longer let go, so my writing is full of emotions. ”
Liang Fenglian integrates her attention to Guangzhou with thinking and ordinary life experience, frankly looks at the time and space of Guangzhou in her eyes, sincerely pays attention to the culture and history contained in it, broadens her horizons, goes to the world, explores the unique charm and charm of the city, and uses her good literary expression to sing the praises of her beloved homeland, sing the praises of life and life.
The long scrolls of Lingnan City, the simple and solemn Xiguan House, the Dongshan Western-style Building and the life in the long streets and alleys... Thank her for letting the world appreciate the longevity and beauty of Guangzhou's culture. If we say that Cantonese culture is like a cultural bonfire burning for a thousand years, and history is constantly involved in generations of firewood-adders, it is a group of firewood-bearers like Liang Fenglian who have printed the background of Cantonese culture, inherited the taste of Canton, and let the cultural bonfire that illuminates Guangzhou burn fiercely and never extinguish!
This is the source of Lingnan culture's prosperity.
Text/Guangzhou Daily, New Flower City Reporter: Wu Bo
Photo/ Guangzhou Daily, Xinhuacheng reporter: Wu Bo
Video/Guangzhou Daily Xinhuacheng Reporter: Wu Bo
Guangzhou Daily New Flower City Editor: Li Yani