October 8 - October 16, 2022
The smell of autumn is always a bit sad. The leaves of the climbing tiger have turned red, and the trees on the side of the road, although many are still trying to maintain green, have turned yellow or mottled red, allowing the autumn colors to be expressed with the last enthusiasm. When you see the torch-like trees in the background of the blue sky, the first feeling is that it is intoxicatingly beautiful, the dance of life pouring out is exciting, and then some kind of sadness or sadness suddenly comes out of the heart. Behind the fiery heat, there is another gust of autumn wind, which is withering everywhere. Or even without the autumn breeze, in the silent air, these beautiful leaves will quickly fall silently and cover the ground under your feet. When people's footsteps step on it, the rustle of leaves sounds, you think, this is the last echo of life.
But think about it, there is also an exhilarating side, the brilliance of the autumn trees like fireworks in the night sky, although it disappears in a short time, but it leaves the world with a trembling magnificence. People should be like this, they should not be decadent because of the passage of time, maybe they will rise up, and any age may be brilliant again. The so-called "old should be strong, rather move the heart of the white head", probably such a state of mind.
October 8 was a cold dew, and Dai Cha in the Tang Dynasty had a poem yun: "Xiao dredged on the leaves, the moon white dew first group." The dripping is full of light, and the light is cold. The ancients' grasp of the solar terms is really accurate, as soon as the cold dew, on the night without the sun, the air is immediately filled with cold, and the office during the day is also overcast and cold.
The temperature really dropped, and I sat in my office for two days because the building was not heated, and I wore thick clothes and snot from the cold. However, I like this slightly cold feeling, as long as the clothes are warm enough, there will be a clear comfort in the cold air.
Sleeping at night, I like that the temperature in the room is relatively low, covered with a thick quilt, and there is a warm sense of solidity. Even in winter, I don't like too much heating, hot and wasted energy. On sunny days, if you put the quilt under the sun and cover it at night, the smell of the quilt being sunburned is all around. I think that smell is the smell of the sun.
October 10 is the fifteenth day of the ninth lunar month. The other day, I watched the moon get round day by day, and fifteen years later, I watched the moon go down little by little. When the moon becomes round, dusk climbs into the sky, as if to show the world her increasingly complete face as soon as possible. When it became a loss, it came out later and later, and after the twentieth lunar calendar, it was just emerging from the eastern horizon in the middle of the night, and it was a gesture of "holding the pipa and half covering the face".
What I must do every day is to walk for about half an hour under the clear glow of the moon in the middle of the night, calm my heart in the cold moonlight, and be moistened by a faint sadness in my heart, and experience the kind of "lack of moon hanging dredging, missing people's first quiet." Who sees the ghost alone and the ethereal and lonely shadow" state of mind. There are really a few swans and wild geese in the community, and sometimes the sudden chirping in the middle of the night will bring people a thrilling trembling.
Due to the impact of the epidemic, everyone has a feeling of depression. Autumn nature makes you want to rush out of the office. The white clouds floating by the window and constantly changing shape in the transparent air are like fairies in white beckoning to you, making you flutter out of your mind. Of course, as long as you are at work, most of the time you can only look at the clouds, linger back and forth by the window a few times, and then have to bury your head in front of your desk. I can't go outside alone, otherwise I always feel sorry for my colleagues who are working hard in front of your eyes.
But the weekend is your own, and if you don't go out for a walk, you'll be sorry for the autumn colors in Beijing. So, on Saturday, I made an appointment with a few friends and drove to Gimhae Lake together. Jinhai Lake is located in Pinggu, Beijing, surrounded by mountains, which is one of the earliest suburban landscapes developed in Beijing and a good place for weekend leisure. Originally, when there was no Jingping Expressway, it took more than three hours to drive from the city to Pinggu, but now it can be reached in more than an hour, which is very convenient. Pinggu's agricultural products are mainly peaches, and in August, Oriental Selection once went to Pinggu to sell peaches on site, and in less than ten minutes, 10,000 boxes of peaches were sold out.
The friends made an appointment to meet at 10 a.m. at the Sansenji Temple parking lot on the north side of Gimhae Lake. The relevant departments have built the North Mountain Trail here, climbing to the top of the mountain to overlook the panoramic view of Gimhae Lake. The temperature here is lower than in the city, and the autumn leaves in Beijing's fragrant mountains are not yet red, and the mountains are already full of autumn leaves and forests. Along the way up the mountain, the layers of autumn leaves rush towards you. The mountain is not very high, and you can basically climb it for all ages, making it a good place to watch the autumn leaves in Beijing.
In the past, everyone thought that to see the autumn leaves, they should go to Xiangshan, but in fact, it was because the transportation was inconvenient at that time, and it was not easy for everyone to go to the mountains in the far suburbs to see the autumn leaves. Now convenient, you will find that the autumn leaves on these wild mountains are more wild than the autumn leaves of Xiangshan Mountain, showing an uninhibited autumn wild interest. Looking back from the heights, you can see the beautiful scenery of Gimhae Lake. The weather is not sunny, there is a foggy feeling, just to the lake and the distant mountains, a hazy color, showing the far and near layers of the scenery, like a splashed ink landscape painting. The steps of the trail are well built overall, and visitors can choose different paths and distances according to their physical strength. Naturally, we chose a further trail and circled along the ridge, enjoying the autumn colors between the undulations.
After hiking in the mountains, the next action is naturally to find a place to have lunch. Around Jinhai Lake, there are many farmhouses, and some farmhouses do not see the lake view, so naturally it is not our choice. I wanted to choose a place where I could look at the lake and "bring the wine to the wind, and its joy is overjoyed".
After searching on the road, I finally found a farmhouse called "Wanghu Grilled Fish", the dining table was placed on the open-air platform by the lake, and the entire Jinhai Lake was displayed in front of my eyes, and the blue waves of the lake were rippling under my feet. When we walked into the restaurant, the owner recognized me and specially arranged a table for us under a large walnut tree, away from other bustling crowds of people eating, and enjoying the quiet of facing nature. We rejoice in our hearts, sit down and order food. One of the friends brought a good bottle of wine and we toasted together. In the face of the lake and mountains, everyone is not drunk with alcohol, and between the intertwined strategies, the heart is pleasant, and the humiliation is forgotten.
After dinner, everyone sat quietly for a while, and the next plan was naturally to go boating on the lake. It is said that it is a boating lake, in fact, it is a yacht to go around the lake, and it is absolutely impossible to have a fishing boat that "fishing alone in the cold river". On the other side of Gimhae Lake, there is a small island called Bibo Island, which is a well-developed tourist destination where you can stay, camp and visit the lake. To enter the island to buy tickets, many tourists on the large lawn tents, leisurely play, barbecue, there is a marina on the shore, you can get on the boat to play in the lake, the boat fee has been included in the ticket.
We walked around the island, from the island to see the beautiful scenery of the lake, take a boat around the lake, experience the speed in the blue waves, sit on the top of the hill on the island for an hour, a cup of coffee and a circle of friends, fairy-like feeling. Today's temperature is gentle, and after sitting for a long time, there is a sense of idleness. The owner of Bibo Island heard that I was on the island and came to meet me specifically and introduced us to some of the island facilities. I learned that New Oriental Study Tour Department cooperated with here to organize an international summer camp for teenagers. As the sun slumped to the west, we headed home to the city for a leisurely and comfortable day.
This week, New Oriental participated in the filming of the "Black Hawk Boy" online movie, which is very popular. Last year, I heard about Yi children in the Liangshan mountains who came to Beijing to play basketball. Under the training of a rural youth named Amu, these children became junior basketball players and almost defeated the youth team in Beijing. New Oriental invested in Xinwei Film and Television Company, felt that this was a good subject matter, and maybe it could be made into a movie. We sent a team to understand the cause and effect of the story in depth, and I met with Amu in Beijing and reached a cooperation intention. After the script came out, we decided to ask the children to star in their true colors. In order not to delay the children's learning, New Oriental also sent a special tutor. During the filming process, due to the epidemic, it was delayed for a while.
Because of the cost, we shoot according to the online movie. After the trial broadcast of the movie, it was affirmed by the relevant departments, and this week we broadcast it simultaneously on three major film and television platforms: Tencent Video, iQiyi and Youku, and the anchors of Oriental Selection also promoted it. After the movie was broadcast, it was well received by many netizens. If you are interested, you can go to the platform to see, maybe from these mountain boys, you can get the strength to fight.
In addition to work, the rest of the week is mainly spent reading. In a little more than a week, I read Liu Cixin's "The Three-Body Problem", Jackie Chan's autobiography "I am Jackie Chan", Norwegian writer Erica Fatran's "Travels in Central Asia", this year's Nobel Prize winner Anne Elnor's "The Long Years", and Bi Shumin's "Female Psychologist".
Da Liu's books, except for "The Wandering Earth", I really haven't read other books. I have heard many people talk about "The Three-Body Problem", and I have also seen the golden sentences in "The Three-Body Problem" circulating on the Internet, such as: "Death is not your enemy, eternity is", "Weakness and ignorance are not obstacles to survival, arrogance is", "The city is the forest, every man is a hunter, and every woman is a trap" and so on. But when I saw the thick three books in front of me, I always didn't have the courage to open them and read them.
I have never met Liu Cixin, and Jia Zhangke did a show at the previous stage, and he wanted to pull me and Da Liu to share the stage, although I didn't see it later because of a change in agenda, but I decided to finish reading "The Three-Body Problem". Taking advantage of this relatively free time, I finally finished reading "The Three-Body Problem" this week. The scope of my original reading was mainly in the content of Wen Shizhe, and novels have not been read for many years. In the past six months, I have begun to interview book authors, inevitably having to talk to contemporary Chinese writers, so I began to read all kinds of novels.
After reading The Three-Body Problem, I understood why this science fiction novel was so popular. Although "The Three-Body Problem" shows Da Liu's rich scientific knowledge of physics, astronomy, and computers, it is more in the background of science fiction, grasping and describing human nature. From the boundless universe to the inner changes, Da Liu has a good grasp and layout. The moment of human life and death, the display of the darkness and goodness of human nature, may hint at a certain direction of development of human society. If you haven't read The Three-Body Problem, I suggest you read it.
Jackie Chan's autobiography "I am Jackie Chan" was published in September, Jackie Chan signed a copy for me, and the publishing house sent it to me. Jackie Chan and I also did not officially meet, and there were a few gatherings of friends who could have met, but either he did not arrive or I did not go. I've seen a lot of Jackie Chan's movies, but I don't particularly know what kind of story his life is. Some things circulating about him in society are both positive and negative.
I have always felt that Jackie Chan is a very sincere and down-to-earth person, so I am very willing to read his books and see how he interprets his own life. In "I Am Jackie Chan", Jackie Chan very sincerely told about his childhood life, acting career, struggle, marriage and love, social responsibility, etc., and the words are full of steadfastness and honesty, showing a calm attitude towards life. If you have time, you can read it, a Jackie Chan that is different from the film and television image, a more vivid Jackie Chan, will appear in front of you.
Norwegian writer Erica Fatlan's Travels in Central Asia is a travelogue worth reading. Erika Fatland is a Norwegian journalist, writer and social anthropologist. She is fluent in eight languages, including English, French and Russian, and has written for several media outlets. Published in 2014, Central Asia won the Norwegian Booksellers Nonfiction Award the following year.
On the surface, the book is a travelogue of the author in the five former Soviet republics of Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, but in fact, the words reveal the deep-seated impact of decades of Soviet rule over these regions on the status quo and development of these regions. Although these regions have different humanities and landforms in history, and have a complex history and profound culture long before the Soviet Union, decades of Soviet rule have forced them onto another path of development, and what consequences this road has brought to the local social landscape and the lives of the people.
Erica's penmanship, much like the penmanship of the author Linda we are more familiar with, integrates history and deep thinking about history into the travelogue. Walking is just a line, and the author's thinking is the essence of the text. Maybe you are not necessarily interested in these five countries, but the author's thinking and narration will definitely bring you unexpected comprehension and understanding, so it is worth reading.
This year's Nobel Prize winner in literature, French writer Anne Hernault's "The Long Years" is a book handed to me by the publisher after the author won the award. Previously, I didn't know anything about Anne Elnor. After learning that she had won the award, I quickly read her "The Long Years". The book adopts the method of "unnamed autobiography", which actually prompts others to recall while recalling itself, reflecting the evolution of the times with people's shared experiences, thus arousing strong inner resonance. From international events, to food and clothing, family gatherings, and even personal privacy, reflecting the course of the world through personal experiences actually writes about collective memory.
For us, reading Anne Elnor's book was a bit of an obstacle because we weren't very familiar with the events she recounted. Very similarly, if there are writers in China who make a casual crossover narrative of what has happened in China in the past sixty years, it will not be difficult for you to understand, because we are more or less experiencers of events, but let a French person read the works of Chinese writers, there is a barrier to understanding. Therefore, Westerners reading Anne's works should produce a pleasure that can only be understood and indescribable, and it is difficult for us to produce this pleasure. However, you can still flip through this book, a work that is both non-fiction and nonsensical fiction, in addition to glimpsing the development of French society and daily life over the past sixty years, you can also learn a keen narrative method.
Anne is a female writer, but she doesn't want to be seen as a female writer, she wants her narrative to be gender-free, as she says: "I never thought that I was a female writer." I'm not a female writer, I'm a writer, it's just that I have some women's stories, which are different from men's stories... The difficulty for a woman is to examine her female experiences without gender awareness. But my feeling after reading her text is that she is clearly not living up to the standards she is talking about, because reading "The Long Years", you can obviously feel that this is a woman nagging and making a semi-stream-of-consciousness narrative.
Her Nobel Prize speech was: "Ernaux consistently and from different angles, examines a life marked by strong disparities regarding gender, language and class. Her path to authorship was long and arduous." (Elnold has always examined the disparities of gender, language, and class from different angles, and her writing journey has been long and arduous.) ）
I read Teacher Bi Shumin's "Female Psychologist" because I made an appointment with Teacher Bi to meet for a light lunch on Sunday night. In the past, I have read a lot of Mr. Bi's essays, and I specifically recommended her work "30,000 Leagues in Africa" a few years ago. This time, because of a friend's arrangement, we made an appointment to meet and chat together.
In order to learn more about Ms. Bi's work, I took time to read her "Female Psychologist". This work is Mr. Bi's masterpiece, and the story tells the growth process of female psychologist Horton. Horton's own growth story and the stories of several other characters seeking psychological counseling are alternately blended to form the novel's ups and downs, expressing the diversity of characters and lives, external manifestations and inner dark multifacets.
Mr. Bi himself has been a psychological counselor for a long time, is very familiar with the psychological counseling industry, and has a high degree of insight into the inner world and demands of patients, so he can easily master and express the field of psychological counseling in the form of novels.
On Sunday night, Teacher Bi and a few of my friends chatted together over a light meal. Teacher Bi is ten years older than me, amiable and quick-thinking. During the banquet, she told us vividly about her eleven years in the army in Ali, Tibet, and about her journey into the field of writing in her thirties. We also discussed topics related to growth, happiness and more. At the end, I invited Mr. Bi to participate in my dialogue on a later day, and at the same time went to Oriental Selection to meet with the majority of readers, and she gladly agreed.
After writing this weekly journal, it was already late at night, there were autumn insects chirping intermittently not far away, and the clock on the wall was rhythmically ticking, as if to inform me of the passage of time. For a long time, I had an anxiety about the passage of life, and now this anxiety has turned into a deep inner peace. I know very well that no one can do all the things they have expected in their lives. Many ideals and dream expectations, whether due to internal reasons or external constraints, cannot be realized. Accepting reality and doing your best under realistic conditions is easier to blossom the flower of life than fantasy or sighing.
What is important in life is the effort of little by little progress, not overnight achievements, let alone earth-shattering achievements. Little by little, like daily nectar, water and moisturize our parched minds.
A person's life, the best state, may be like the growth of all things in the four seasons, germinating when it should germinate, blooming when it should bloom, spreading branches when it should spread, withering when it should wither, after a lifetime, stormy and sunny, not sad or happy, not dirty, impure and unclean, gaining eternal life between birth and death, gaining eternity when it flows, rejoicing in those life and death calamities that cannot be avoided, and then smiling at the world.