Source: People's Daily Original manuscript
Editor's note: Since the Eighteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era. In the past ten years, there have been endless magnificent pictures and wonderful stories that cannot be told. Culture is the spiritual lifeblood of the nation, and literature and art are the clarion call of the times. In order to fully display the historic achievements and historic changes made by the party and the country, and jointly welcome the victory of the 20th National Congress of the Party, the People's Network and the China Writers Association jointly held the "Dream Of the New Era" theme essay collection activity, collecting works from all walks of life and telling the stories of the new era in literary form. At present, the event has received a large number of submissions, and this website will continue to publish its excellent works.
Winter frost came, the cold wind was fierce, the people in the small town of Changting in Fujian province were stirred by strange fanatical emotions, and the two beautiful phrases of "Maotian" and "brown sugar" were repeatedly mentioned, and with an uncontrollable "tut" admiration, for a while, almost formed an air, a temptation, stirring up the beautiful imagination.
Let's go! Out of the southeast corner of the small town, the car traveled for more than twenty minutes, the air was fresh, the shadows of birds and finches skimmed by from time to time, and occasionally flashed the yellow laurel, as if the field could not suppress the cheers. The scales of the Tingjiang River are floating in layers, and the fragrance of grass and trees is mixed with water vapor. Suddenly, a large piece of condensed blue dreamlike floated softly over - closer, closer! This sea of sugar cane in your heart!
Sugar cane is more than two meters high, the leaves are narrow and long like rice dumpling leaves, the tendons are clear, the stalks are purple-red, thinner than the average sugar cane, and it is clear that the rows of "green waist" beautiful women standing in the mountains and smiling. It is early winter, the pieces of rape flowers are bright yellow and dazzling, the distant mountains are green, and the blue sky is as clear and innocent as the eyes of a baby. This vast expanse of sugar cane that grows freely, like a spring rain, like a tidal wave, merges into a sweet ocean, covering almost every inch of field, every ditch, even every look, every breath. In the middle of it, I have long been wrapped in layers of sweetness and overwhelmed by layers of dense turns... Winter, for the first time, has left a gorgeous mark on the life of every viewer, so bright, so vigorous!
After the first autumn frost fell, sugar cane was also draped in white "fruit frost", and the neighbors carried machetes to the field. Sugar cane never lived up to everyone's sweat, and the high-density harvest filled the entire field ridge. The villagers brandished machetes, aimed at the roots with a swing of the knife can cut down a stick, blah, blah, blah, like a diligent silkworm greedily devouring mulberry leaves, often half a day can cut a large piece. Tired and thirsty, he arched his knees and broke a sugar cane and put it in his mouth to chew it up, and the sweet juice filled the hungry stomach sac. Looking up at the high sky, the sun at this time is slightly shy, the wind is refreshing, the insects and birds are singing happily before hibernation, and then squinting at the vast cane fields, calculating this year's harvest, can't stop smiling, and the heart also gently hums the song of gratitude to the heavens and the earth.
The juicer in the village mouth workshop was rumbling at this time, and large bundles of sugar cane were pushed into the mouth one after another, and the snow-white bagasse was twisted out at one end and sent to the paper workshop to make paper, and the green juice flowed quietly from the other end to the barrel, filtering out the residue, clear and clear.
Start "catching water"! The high stove surface is paved with four large iron stoves in the shape of "Tian", and the burning flame of firewood ignites the passion that lies in the eyes of the neighbors. The man who "chased the water" was as strong as a cow, and when the sugar water of the first iron pot began to jubilant, he quickly scooped the sugar water to the next pot with a long handle spoon, boiled it again, and scooped it out, and the whole process continued continuously. The heat wave rolled, the smoke was swirling, the man who "rushed the water" was sweating, the sugar water evaporated at an accelerated rate, and gradually became viscous to only lazily bubble up, like the quiet appearance of a married woman. How much sugar water can produce good sugar and more sugar? When is it time to "catch the water" just right and not scorched? It is all determined by the experience and gestures of the "catch the water" man. Therefore, when a man can stand on the pot platform to "catch water", it not only means that he has excellent physical strength and endurance, but also has a skillful "one trick fresh", which is naturally like standing on the stage, so that many admiring eyes focus on him.
When the sugar water changes from green to reddish brown syrup, the thick syrup must be poured into a large wooden barrel while it is hot, and the syrup is stirred evenly with the stick to create a deep whirlpool. As the passage of time precipitates a gentle temperament, the syrup gradually filters out the rough and oozes delicate and smooth, which is the "sand fighting" stage that tests physical strength and endurance. Under the illumination of the warm winter sun, the syrup of "beating the sand" is like a golden sand, comparable to silk smoothness.
The children gathered around, folded a piece of sugar cane, reached into the barrel and stirred it, and ran around with loud laughter all over the streets. The sugar cane with syrup on its head resembles an old-fashioned candle, which has a memorable name "sugar candle". One bite down, a "click", only to feel the sweetness of the syrup and the sweetness of the sugar cane entangled, swirling around the tongue, like a nursery rhyme swirling between heaven and earth. The cloth lady who beat her hand blamed the children for chewing on the "big flower face", and when she turned back, she couldn't help but make two "sugar candles", eat one at home, and hand the other to the tired man. Love crackles in the eyes, and the "sweet on top" ah, let the whole village in the sweet happiness.
After the sand syrup flows to the rectangular mold with straw paper when it is not cooling, lying quietly in the sun, waiting for the sun to kiss, waiting for the wind to blow, and the pieces of Maunda brown sugar can be counted as falling water spirit Peugeot. Authentic Maunda brown sugar "red heart ecliptic", the skin is bright red, seemingly hard as stone, gently broken into fine sand, which blooms with a golden small sugar flower, which melts when it meets water, the entrance is delicate and slag-free, and it is particularly sweet and mellow.
Brown sugar is warm, has the effect of reducing stasis, dispersing cold and invigorating blood, warming the stomach and spleen, and relieving pain. Maotian Town has been growing sugarcane since the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, and Maotian brown sugar has perfectly retained the original flavor and nutrients of sugar cane, and accompanied the neighbors of Fujian all the way: sugar ginger made of brown sugar, local yellow ginger powder, red dates, goji berries, black beans, and sugar ginger eggs boiled from fried "rice bones" and omelette eggs nourish the peach blossom color of Hakka girls; "Catch the water" when the foam sugar juice on the surface of the sugar cane water is skimmed, after natural fermentation, distillation made of "sugar bubble wine", is the local people's new year's festival hospitality of the traditional wine, authentic home cooking, with the old spicy liquor, "wrapped up drunk", the water is transparent, smooth and thick, taste once, unforgettable; Occasionally gastrointestinal discomfort, piping hot brown sugar water smoothly down, people's appetite is suddenly opened, eat Ma Ma fragrant. It is no exaggeration to say that since the day Maunda brown sugar was born in the world, surrounded by bluestone paved streets and alleys, rewarded with hoes that rose and fell, and even the poorest days were also a flower of laughter.
When I set foot in Maunda again, when it was warm and cold, the village mouth erected a bright red Chinese knot, and wrote four large characters like a dragon, "Flowing Honey Blessed Land". In this small mountain village with flat terrain and high mountains and dense forests, the water of the Haohao River gradually deposits the soil into "sandy loam", the land is fertile, and the temperature difference of more than 20 degrees day and night makes it a natural blessing for sugarcane cultivation. The dazzling red couplets and the word "Fu" in the village are reflected in the happy smiling faces of the neighbors, and the air is like the smell of flowers and honey.
Before the Lantern Festival, the neighbors began the new season of sweet labor in a lively way, and the warm and loud greeting resounded throughout the fields, which was rendered particularly soft. They adopted a new double membrane technology of one layer of mulch film and one layer of small arch film, and planted verdant sugarcane seedlings on the slightly moist dark field ridge. It is reported that Maotian Town plans to plant sugarcane on a scale of 10,000 acres in three years, using the electric mode of boiling sugar to greatly accelerate the speed of sugar pressing, introducing third-party enterprises to build brown sugar processing plants, carrying out fine processing of brown sugar, and also designing the Maomei people trademark, expanding the maotian brown sugar sales channel, and striving to make the brown sugar industry become a rural revitalization industry that increases income and becomes rich, adding new impetus to the maotian people's strides on the road of moderate prosperity!
The grass and trees are hairy, and the spring mountains can be seen. Under the moist color of sugar cane, Maotian Town classified and developed the agricultural industry dominated by cane, rice, fruit and chicken. At the same time, we will develop pollution-free agriculture such as millet pepper, betel nut taro, and out-of-season vegetables. There are patches of bamboo forests, oil tea, grass corals on the mountain, passion fruit and early crisp pears in the orchard, and Chinese herbs such as trilobace green are planted under the forest, and characteristic industries such as river chicken, mahogany black rabbit, and bees are developed. In the vegetable and fruit greenhouse, the kale greens are lush, the eggplant is purple and swollen, the passion fruit is as big as a duck egg, the loofah is green and strong, the fish in the fish pond are like clouds and scales, the golden citrus in the orchard is like pearls, and the thick and solid harvest is painted in a good maundy field!
Therefore, you and I are pleasantly surprised to see that the people of Maotian have written the word "Fu" with their hard work and sweat on the rich land -- the barren land of the past is now full of cane and fish, and the chickens and geese are full of vitality. In the past, the "mountain is inaccessible", and now the crowds are flowing, to observe the experience, to buy leisure, "sugar cane tourism" to promote ecological tourism, red tourism is booming. The rural revitalization of the "Red Army Long March Ferry" has developed rapidly, the poor households in Lika have successfully achieved poverty alleviation, the rural appearance has been renewed, and the wrinkled faces of fathers and fellow villagers have unfolded comfortably, like a bronze ancient chrysanthemum facing the sun.
"Flow honey blessed land phenology new". The vicissitudes of the past century, generations of Maotian people have braved the wind and rain, forged ahead, witnessed the rise of this village, from desolation to prosperity, from poverty to wealth, from confusion to self-confidence... The cane fields are quiet and green, the earth is grassy and green, the village is full of vitality, and the small maunda is a microcosm of today's rapid development of China! The long history has given her a deep foundation, the magnificent revolutionary years have added glory to her, and the united endeavor has brought endless strength. "There are active creations everywhere, and rapid progress everywhere", bless China, the Chinese giant ship will surely sail high, break the waves, and create a great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation!