Hong Kong is beautiful.
Hong Kong has famous building forests, there is no shortage of countryside, the green of the mountains, the green of the grass, the red and purple of the flowers, the blue of the water... The grass, trees, insects, fish, birds and beasts that people can see and get close to on a daily basis are also beautiful, but they are sometimes ignored and ignored as nothing.
Ye Lingfeng was not such a person. As a "Shanghainese" who has lived in Hong Kong for a long time, he knows more about the history and history of Hong Kong, grass, trees and insects and fish than the vast majority of Hong Kong natives and Cantonese people, and can tell the story like a few treasures, attracting people around him.
He will tell you the truth that you would never have imagined: "The butterfly of Hong Kong may occupy a more important place in the history of the world's natural sciences than the place that Hong Kong business occupies in the history of world commerce." "For there are as many as one hundred and forty-two species of butterflies in Hong Kong, and England is three hundred times larger than Hong Kong, but only sixty-eight species. However, this figure is a statistic from more than thirty years ago, and what changes are not known now. But it was not expected. What has changed greatly is the development of Hong Kong's financial and trade industries, which has made this city leap to the forefront of the world, wearing one "international center" level after another, whether it is Hong Kong's butterfly or Hong Kong's business occupying a more important position in the world, it is difficult to say now.
But that doesn't change the beautiful fact that butterflies are one of Hong Kong's famous products. However, the vicissitudes of the decades have changed the beauty of the Butterfly Valley on the Kowloon Peninsula. "Once upon a time, the forest in this valley was very dense, especially small pine trees, and a dwarf tree called the 'duck's foot tree', which was the favorite plant of the butterfly pupae, so once hatched, it constituted a wonder of thousands of butterflies flying around the forest. Most of these butterflies are yellow-winged pink butterflies, so they look golden, making butterfly valley famous. Unfortunately, in recent years, the expansion of the suburbs and the indiscriminate felling of trees have made the Butterfly Valley exist in name only, and it is difficult to restore the old view. "But although butterfly valley is dead, more than 140 kinds of butterflies in Hong Kong are still there, which still makes Hong Kong retain this beauty."
There are about 20,000 species of butterflies recorded worldwide. China accounts for about 2,100 species, and Hong Kong has about 240 species. Some butterfly species can be found in hong Kong's urban parks.
According to lcsd.gov.hk (May 2021)
The best butterfly viewing season in Hong Kong is from April to June and from October to November. At Boat Bay Country Park's Oojoteng and Lychee Nest, you can see more than half of the butterfly species that inhabit Hong Kong. In the downtown area, Hong Kong Parks can be seen the most, with 48 species. The picture shows the map butterfly.
scmp.com/yp
Hong Kong has many butterflies, there are also many orchids, and there are at least seventy-five kinds of orchids in the wild, so Ye Lingfeng said that this is also very proud. Hong Kong's wild orchids climb and grow on tree roots or rock platforms, and the common one is the bamboo orchid with pink flowers.
The common cuckoos and kapok are, of course, Ye Lingfeng's pen. When he wrote that when the kapok bloomed, it reflected the sunlight, and the big red flowers of the trees stood high for half a day, as Qu Dajun's "Guangdong New Language" at the end of the Ming Dynasty said: "Looking forward to the wanhua lantern, burning the empty red." And when he writes about the kapok falling, it is more vivid: "When it blooms on the tree, the petals are upward, and the flower holder and the flower bud are heavier than the petals, so when it falls from the tree, it remains in its original state in the air, and then the six petals become a propeller, spinning all the way down, and then falling to the ground with a clap." Standing by the tree and watching the big red falling flowers swirl down from mid-air is also a pleasure to stand by the tree and watch the big red flowers swirl down from mid-air. ”
From the descriptions of butterflies, wild orchids to kapok, it is entirely clear how this writer who has lived in Hong Kong for many years has learned a lot of interesting things around him from both books and realistic observations, and then wrote this only "Hong Kong Fangwuzhi" so far.
Woodlands account for about 25% of Hong Kong's total area, with lowland and montane forests providing a moist cliff and rocky environment for orchids. Grassland and bushes are also suitable for some orchids to grow. Clockwise direction: ground orchid (goose feather jade phoenix), epiphytic orchid (Guangdong spacer orchid), saprophytic orchid.
According to hkwildorchidaceae.com Wild orchids in Hong Kong
Bauhinia bauhinia, alias Hong Kong orchid (legume, shaped like an orchid)
He used the knowledge of natural science and history, applied the perspective of folklore, and even used literary and artistic brushwork to write about these. Open the catalog of "Hong Kong Fangwuzhi" and see "Wildflowers in January", "Trees in March", "Flowers and Birds in April", "Blue Magpie - The Most Beautiful Wild Bird in Hong Kong", "Spring Leeks Cut in the Night Rain", and "The First Sound of New Cicadas". ...... You can't help but be drawn to read it.
In "The Tree of March", the author writes very carefully about the Fallen Leaves of the Hong Kong style. In March, it is called "Raising Flowers Day" in Jiangnan, and in Hong Kong, Ip Ling Feng said it can be called "Raising Leaves Heaven". Hong Kong's trees do not fall leaves in autumn, and they do not turn yellow in winter, "but when spring arrives, in the late February and early March, often a tree will fade all its leaves overnight." And "a big tree that has just faded its leaves a few days ago, you just haven't paid attention to it for three or four days, after a drizzle at night and a sun in the morning, the bare branches are already full of new leaves and shoots", "it is already a new green". Reflecting the sun, these young leaves are transparent and lovely. "They can be said not to be leaf fallen but to change leaves. Because of this change, but because of the internal demands, spring has arrived, and the new leaf has prepared everything, eager to drill out, so that the old leaf of the next year, which has fulfilled its responsibility, does not hesitate to cede its position to the new generation."
These articles remind people of the essays written by Zhou Zuoren in his early years, "Wild Vegetables in the Hometown", and ye Lingfeng's "Natural History of Serpen" and Ji Xin's "Essays on The Four Seasons", which Ye Lingfeng loved to read.
From herons, ghost birds... To foxes, tigers... To pig fish, manta rays... To spiders, centipedes and all kinds of snakes... To the grass worms, lychee cicadas... To the old banyan tree, hanging bell flowers... They all appeared one by one in the "Hong Kong FangWu Zhi".
Since Hong Kong is a part of China and is located in the south, the Hong Kong square is often the grass, trees, insects, fish, birds and animals in the south, so reading it is also like facing the scenery of the southern country.
When articles or novels that talk about or describe Hong Kong society are published one after another, it is impossible to see a book like "Hong Kong Fangwuzhi" and make people feel a fresh joy.
Excerpt from Rover's "On the Hong Kong FangwuZhi" (1986)
The Hong Kong FangwuZhi was written in 1953, first published in 1958, and reprinted in 1970. It was published by Beijing Sanlian Bookstore in 1985. The picture shows the 20th anniversary edition of the Commercial Press in 2017.
Author: Rover
Editor: Junichi Lee
Editor-in-Charge: Yang Yiqi