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With the Mid-Autumn Festival approaching, Yuan Juzheng, a professor at the Department of Philosophy at National Taiwan University, released a video to extend festive greetings to compatriots across the country. He said that this was the first time in his life that he had spent the Mid-Autumn Festival on the mainland, and during these days on the mainland, he felt that "this place is indeed my home." (03:51)
On September 9, on the eve of the Mid-Autumn Festival, Yuan Ju, a professor in the Department of Philosophy of National Taiwan University, was posting a video of his homecoming visit on social media, which triggered heated discussion among netizens. This video mainly shows the touching scene when he reunited with his cousin Yuan Jucheng and niece Yuan Sujun, the last time they met was 33 years ago, which caused many netizens to sigh.
"This is the first time I have spent the Mid-Autumn Festival in Shandong, and I am very happy in my heart." Yuan Juzheng told The Paper (www.thepaper.cn).
His parents are both from Shandong, and his family moved to Taiwan more than 70 years ago, but they have always maintained the living habits of Shandong people.
Alone in a foreign land for strangers, every festive season to think of relatives. Father Yuan Juefei often said to him, "We have to go home later." ”
"I'm going home this year." Yuan Juzheng said that in recent years, he has traveled back and forth between the mainland and Taiwan and found that the traditional festival atmosphere on the mainland has become more and more intense.
"It's a reflection of cultural self-confidence." Yuan Juzheng said that during the Mid-Autumn Festival, he will be invited to participate in the "2022 Linziqi Cultural Festival", which is a grand event for local inheritance and promotion of Qi culture, when guests gather, and tourists from home and abroad will trace their roots here.
"I think there will be a lot of people to accompany me through the Mid-Autumn Festival." Yuan Juzheng joked.
Professor Yuan Juzheng of the Department of Philosophy, National Taiwan University. Courtesy of respondents
Mid-Autumn Festival Memories
Yuan Ju is growing up in a village in Taiwan. His father, Yuan Juefei, taught at the Department of Chinese at National Chengchi University in Taiwan. When the two brothers Yuan Juzheng and Yuan Jumin were young, they first moved with their father to the newly built Daonan New Village, and after living for nearly 20 years, the Daonan New Village was partially remodeled, at which time the Yuan family moved into Huanan New Village.
Built in the 1960s, Huanan New Village is usually a double-walled two-storey building, which is different from other military villages and belongs to Taiwan's rare literati villages, inhabited by dependents from mainland provinces who migrated to Taiwan, as well as some teachers from Taiwan province. Here presents a rich scene of life in the village, in all directions, the south and the north, everyone from the hometown with a variety of life customs and dishes, in this village to take root.
"There are many Shandong people in our village, as long as we hear what academic achievements Shandong people have achieved, what good people and good deeds they have done, we are all happy together." Yuan Juzheng recalled.
Because they are in a village of culture and education, families attach more importance to education.
Yuan Juzheng recalled that because the staff dormitory is near the school, students of Chengchi University can go directly to the teacher's home for help, and the children of the staff's family can only stay at home most of the time to study, but every New Year's Festival, the home will also be full of strong "Shandong flavor".
The Mid-Autumn Festival is a traditional festival in China, and it is also the cultural memory of countless people.
In Yuan Juzheng's childhood, Taiwan also paid great attention to traditional festivals. During the Mid-Autumn Festival, radio dramas will play the story of Chang'e Running to the Moon in a timely manner, and mooncake advertisements can be seen everywhere in the pastry stores in the streets, and the fruits sold by fruit shops are also changed from watermelons and pineapples to grapefruit, persimmons and longan, and many families buy ghee, colorful fruit shreds, sesame seeds, red beans and sugar to make mooncakes by themselves.
"On the eve of the festival, my father's students and relatives and friends will give away mooncake gift boxes, which contain Su-style mooncakes and Cantonese-style mooncakes, and after the Mid-Autumn Festival, relatives and friends will come to our house as guests, and everyone will find a place to enjoy the moon together." Yuan Juzheng said that the inheritance of the food in the village has brought from all over the mainland to form a variety of flavors of Taiwan's mooncake "Hundred Schools of Thought". There is also the fashion of eating barbecue during the Mid-Autumn Festival, the so-called "one roast meat ten thousand fragrant", every household in Taiwan has the aroma of barbecue.
The Yuan family is also affected by this, whenever someone comes to the home during the Mid-Autumn Festival, everyone meets on the roof, eats in the autumn high, grills and barbecues, which is also a happy time for children, playing and making trouble together, especially happy.
"When we were young, Taiwan was not rich in materials, but the happiness index was very high, we just liked the festive atmosphere, and the Mid-Autumn Festival moon viewing, eating barbecue and chatting about home became the standard." Yuan Juzheng said.
Traditional Chinese festivals can best reflect the human touch of the village, the fathers sit together, chat and talk, the most talked about is to reminisce about life in the mainland of the motherland.
"In my father's chat, what impressed me the most was that he talked about drinking, and he said that Shandong people are hospitable and hospitable, and no wine is no etiquette." Yuan Juzheng said that he accompanied his father back to Shandong to visit relatives in 1989, and his old father inquired about a local liquor brand called "Xujiaqiao" every time he was interviewed.
"The depths of nostalgia are wine." Yuan Juzheng said.
Near nostalgia
As a scholar living in a foreign land, when his father Yuan Juefei chatted with his family, the topic was always inseparable from the feelings of home and country, the turmoil of the times and personal suffering, in the torrent of history, he deeply felt the baptism of the times to personal destiny, and "home" became the most symbolic emotional sustenance at this moment.
"They have experienced so much suffering, but they can't stop missing their hometown." Yuan Juzheng said that his father's persistent willingness to go home planted "seeds" for his inner world.
This year, Yuan Juzheng deliberately took a long vacation from National Taiwan University to begin a six-month academic exchange and travel in the mainland. With a video camera, he walked among the scenic spots in Shandong's cities and villages, truly recording his thoughts, thoughts, realizations and deeds in Shandong.
This trip to Shandong made him very moved. When he was young, his overall impression of Shandong was "both vague and clear", and now a real Shandong is in front of his eyes, which makes him "close to homesickness".
"Here I experienced the original Shandong flavor that has not been discounted at all." Yuan Juzheng said that all the people he met in Shandong, when they heard that he was a professor, usually respected him and gave him affirmation.
"They treat me like my own family." Yuan Juzheng said that when he traveled and walked in the streets and alleys of various cities in Shandong, he had an unspeakable joy in his heart, for the simple reason that "the matter of recognizing the ancestors and returning to the ancestors was successfully achieved." ”
This is not only a return of culture and psychology, but also a journey to re-understand the world.
In the late 1980s, Yuan Juzheng accompanied his father to Shandong for the first time, when he was carrying a copy of Liu Hu's "Travels of the Old Remnant" in Jinan to find the historical memory of "spring water in every family and weeping in every household", but the city of Jinan in front of him was not the case.
Yuan Juzheng said that when he revisited, he found that Jinan's urban appearance has changed dramatically, with high-rise buildings, clean streets, smooth traffic, and modern urban civilization.
"Seeing my hometown so prosperous and civilized, for a Shandong person living in Taiwan, I am also honored." Yuan Juzheng said.