I always yearn for it
Zhang Ailing's Shanghai
The Sahara in Sanmao's pen
Li Juan's Altay
In 2022, I want to change my life. Pack your bags and feel free to look for ancient Turk rock paintings, the characteristic town of Chong Hur; walk in the snowy Hemu Village, walk alone on the road you came to.
In the evening, sit around the fireplace in the snow cabin. Warm up a pot of wine, gently open the book in your hand, slowly discover the secrets you wrote in it, and enjoy the warm winter of Altay.
This home stretches for thousands of miles, these most hidden and tiny folds of the earth, this place where every place is the most narrow and fragile...
Youth, wealth, love, all silent. - "Winter Ranch"
In the winter of 2010-2011, Li Juan followed a herdsman into the Gurbantunggut Desert in the southern Altay region for three months in order to create "Winter Pasture", recording the life of Kazakh nomads in winter. She uses natural and simple writing to truly show the winter of Altay.
"When the sun is not yet out, the whole world is like a dream, and only the moon is real; when the sun comes out, the whole world is real, and only the moon is like a dream."
Li Juan is a natural writer, and she uses her affectionate writing to present many touching stories. Her independent stories express the transition life of the herders to the fullest;
Those hard lives, those harsh environments, are full of surprises in her pen; her seemingly bland descriptions reveal the reverence for nature, the yearning for life, and the thinking about life.
The cold wind blew my bones, and the frost cut my muscles
The latitude of Altay is similar to that of the Mohe River in the northeast, and the winters are long and cold, with the coldest month being January, with an average temperature of -16 °C. Altay's extreme climate also gives Altay the ultimate winter beauty. The Cocoto Sea in the warm winter sun, the quiet and beautiful Village of Baihaba, the silver-clad Urungu Lake, and the smart snow mushrooms and rime...
And the harsh winter of Altay in Li Juan's memory did not appear friendly:
"Finally understand why the ancients would say 'acid wind shoots eyes' - it is really sour! Sure enough, it was 'shooting'! Looking into the distance, within a few seconds, tears welled up and his eyes ached. ”
Before entering the winter pasture, Li Juan made all the preparations. Regardless of the eyes of others, layers of clothing are superimposed, so that the mobility is impossible to withstand the cold of Altay's winter. In the face of such extreme weather, she wrote:
"In any case, a cold day always means that the cold 'is passing'. We live in the normal state of the four seasons – this cold is not a thunderbolt on a sunny day, not an inexplicable natural disaster, not an endless darkness.
It is the fate of the planet, the accepted rules of all things. Birds fly far and high, and bug pupae sleep deep on the earth. Everything else left on the earth is covered with thick fur and fat.
Didn't I even wrap myself up in a lot of things? The cold is painful, but the cold is deserved, and the cold can be resisted. ”
In the face of extreme cold, Li Juan often complains, but more is the reverence for nature. She is a wise person, always curious about everything in the world. In her pen, everything she writes has a spirit.
It is this mentality that makes her eyes full of poetry, although life is a chicken feather, but as long as she walks with nature, she will feel happy.
To be precise, most people do not see the beauty of nature, and can even say that they have not really appreciated it. See but turn a blind eye, perceive but do not feel. If the moon doesn't appear again, will anyone find out?
It should be the Heavenly Immortals who are drunk and crush the white clouds
Altay's seven-month-long winter can satisfy all people's fantasies about winter. Entering the long winter, the ice and snow freeze everything, fade away the splendor, and become a pure and ethereal paradise. The snow of Altay always comes handsomely without a hint of hesitation:
"The snow is so overwhelming that it doesn't fall, it shoots like a bullet." Especially the two first snows, a clump of snowflakes, as big as a pigeon's egg, wet and heavy, and it hurts to hit the face. ”
As the Winter Olympics approach, The Snow Capital Altay is often mentioned. Altay is undoubtedly a skiing holy land that Xinjiang people are proud of, and it is also the "origin of human skiing".
In the middle of winter, riding a wooden ice climbing plow is a childhood memory of many Xinjiang people. Skating and spinning on the surface of Lake Kanas in the quiet and tranquility of Kanas... Above the snow, looking at everything in the snow, it is as if dreaming back to childhood and forgetting fatigue.
Winter is always romantic, and the first snow that flies is like a love letter from nature to the world. Wander through the snow, listen to the sound of stepping on the snow, and look forward to meeting who you will meet. Snow abandons the colors, but it can amaze all directions.
The thick snow, glittering in the sun, was like sugar sprinkled on the ground by heaven. Snow is a gentle being that buries the past of three seasons, envelops all things, and engulfs the stars.
"I'll just write letters in the snow and write down everything you want to know. Come on, or it's too late, the letter will melt. --Gu Cheng
Late to no desire snow, can drink a cup of nothing
The most healing memories of winter are food. Are you also on a snowy night, even if you are frozen, you have to eat a bite of roasted sweet potato at the side of the grill? Do you often stop by sugar-fried chestnuts? Or sipping milk tea on the lively streets?
Lin Haiyin once wrote in "Beiping Manbi":
"Holding a bag of hot chestnuts and some fruits, I walked from Xidan toward Xuanwu Gate, thinking of returning home, on the square table in front of the window, there was a little light in the twilight, and the family sat around and peeled the happiness of these delicious things, and the pace could not help but speed up."
The fireworks in the world are the most soothing to the hearts of mortals. Winter Altay always has a taste that lingers in memory, and the greatest sense of security often comes from the most simple food.
Li Juan said that even if Kazakh herders live in such a cramped pit, their lives must not be sloppy. So for food, they have an innate sense of ritual.
"Food appears in the mouth, just as love appears in youth!" It couldn't have been more reasonable, it couldn't have been more beautiful. ”
In the snow-white, vast and monotonous winter pastures of Altay, all that satisfies Li Juan is a bowl of salty milk tea and a handful of stir-fried crushed wheat, and even the moon often becomes golden and crispy in her eyes.
When you slaughter in winter, a full meal of boiled lamb, accompanied by a little smoked horse sausage, balsak, milk lumps and a bowl of wheat porridge, it is definitely a taste bud enjoyment.
Herders will carry out "winter slaughter" after the transition is settled to prepare for the long winter. The Kazakh writer Yelkesi once said, "You do not die of sin, we do not live for starvation." ”
Li Juan witnessed the end of the life of a two-year-old mare, and she lamented that the horses that were still galloping in the wilderness in the early morning had become a pile of flesh and bones at noon.
"Right now this big plate is filled with only food, the last strength left to us by the horses, the power to help us through the long winter." Living for the sake of survival makes life more precious and makes the lives of herders more real.
Put the book in your hand together and reminisce for a long time. Time has passed, the lives written in "Winter Pasture" have become a thing of the past, the unconscious groaning of herders in the night due to illness, the faint sound of old television sets, the boiling sound of salted milk tea on the stove... It's all echoes of that pasture ten years ago.
Seeing this, do you also want to pick up Li Juan's book and feel the altay of winter?
-END-
This article is originally written by "I came from Xinjiang", welcome to pay attention to, take you to understand the familiar and unfamiliar Xinjiang!
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