There is a village called Xiaoweng Village in the north of the island city, and she remembers it as a village in the city, and she is very famous. Although she is in the combination of urban and rural areas, her surroundings are still very urban, as if the northern mountains of the village are a yellow land, and the most vivid memory is that several bus stops are named after her.
With the continuous development of the city, this urban village has attracted the attention of many literature and history lovers as well as ordinary citizens. There are various versions of her life legend, the main ones being the origin of the village and the origin of the village name. My memories are also hazy. Generally speaking, Xiaoweng Village comes from a brick kiln or tile kiln at the east end of the village, called "Xiaoweng Kiln Head", and later people called it "Xiaoweng Head", and then slowly became the name of the village Xiaoweng Village, which has been passed down for more than a hundred years.
Today's Xiaoweng Village, walking around from west to east, you will find that there are many hutongs in the village, relatively wide from north to south, and closer to east and west, and in some places even people can't walk through. With the continuous migration of ancient and modern villagers, the four hutongs of Cui, Wang, Liu and Jiang were formed today, forming the backbone of Xiaoweng Village. Among them, the legendary surnames Cui and Wang are said to be related to the great migration of the population of the Ming Dynasty that year, and it is also said that they came from under the big locust tree in Shanxi; One surname Cui is from Yunnan, and one surname Wang is from Henan, and it is the surname Wang who first settled in Dongying in Laoshan and then migrated here. But today it is difficult to meet the indigenous residents in the village, and the distribution of the four major surnames is even more unknown, and most of the people occasionally encountered in the hutongs are accents from southwestern Lu, Henan and the three eastern provinces.
I got off the subway, walked into the village from the west of the village, walked through the confusion of the dotted alleys, and found that the old houses in the village were generally relatively low, and some even the lintels were less than two meters high, and they might touch their foreheads when they entered. The house is also a hard mountain building, with a round ridge and a roof, the bottom of the bluestone gable, and the flower wall, black, blue, and white are pleasing to the eye, and it is not obvious that it inherits the charm of the landscape. The most impressive thing is that each street is very neat and clean, I don't know if it is a tradition or today's effort.
In the village, the largest house number I saw was more than 500 households, and I estimated that in the past it was at least 500 to 600 households, and it is said that many of the inhabitants no longer had their faces facing the loess many years ago, and many of them became workers in textile factories or Sifang Machine Factories. If it was the planned economy years, their incomes were still higher, as evidenced by a 95-year-old textile man I occasionally met during my visits. However, it is difficult to see people in the village today, and some young people with foreign accents are also wary of you, but there are a few old ladies who are very willing to talk to me. I understand them, because they came to see their children, they are uncomfortable at home, and they will never miss the opportunity when they meet people who are willing to talk, so I know their difficulties and patience. They said that it is still good in our hometown, big yard, good air, fresh food, and there are young people in the village who have settled in the countryside of Qingdao who are unwilling to return... Saying that, but they still have smiles on their faces, I don't think it's done for me, it's happy to be with my children. As an old man, I share their aspirations.
Xiaoweng Village is happy, the subway station has been built on the edge of the village, and inside the village, there are still many well-preserved houses, although the walls are mottled, they still reveal the ancient charm of history, culture and context. We should also thank the brothers and sisters of those migrant workers, although the houses are dilapidated and the price of rent is not very high, they still rent here, and some have made new renovations, they are contributing to the GDP of the city while living here in oil, salt, sauce and vinegar, and the incense that continues the history of the city, just like the cigarettes of the Mingzhen Palace or the West Temple not far away.
As the sun set, I walked the streets and alleys alone and silently, talking to the long-established Xiaoweng Village in my heart, although she was silent and did not answer my greetings, but I sincerely hoped in my heart that I could preserve this historical precipitation for us, and no longer have a beginning and an end like the Laoshan compound.
【Author's authorized article】
Originally published in the "Red Reef" supplement of Qingdao Financial Daily
2023.5.31 Version A8
Editor: Zhou Xiaofang