What resonates most with the TV series "The World" is the truth of the details. The water tanks, buckets and scoops on the tanks of the Zhou family, all kinds of altar jars and jars should be decorated, especially with a sense of age, which made me touch the scenery and unconsciously recall the water tanks used by my family to store water in that era, as well as wooden buckets and gourd water scoops used to carry water.
In the era of no running water, whether you live in the countryside or in the town, your family is inseparable from the tank. There are water tanks for storing water, rice tanks for hoarding rice, and pickle jars for pickles, each of which has the purpose of each tank, especially the water tank is the largest. Most of the water tanks are stoneware products, half a person tall, the mouth of the cylinder is large enough to be surrounded by hands, most of the appearance is rough, rough, some engraved with simple patterns, the surface of the cylinder is smooth and round, there is a layer of dark brown thin glaze, vaguely see the figure. The water tank is made of a lump of earth and a pool of water, mixed into shapes, placed in a fire and calcined. It originates from the earth, unpretentious, like the common people living by the water tank; It enters ordinary people's homes steadily, combing through the folk fireworks little by little.
My family lives in Baipu Town, Nanshiqiao, with only two houses, a living room and dining room that doubles as a barbershop. In front of the door is Baipu South Street, and behind the house is the city river that runs through Baipu Town, the Yangtze River tributary Yunyan River. In the fifties and sixties, when "many people have great strength", our parents gave birth to seven of our children, a grandmother, and ten people to eat. Although he is poor and poor, he is not as rich as the Zhou family in "The World", but there are two water tanks and a "foreign altar". One water tank is used to hold water, the other is used to pickle pickles, the quality of the "Yangtan" is a little better, and the small mouth and belly are used to hoard rice. My family makes a living from haircuts and uses more water, so the water tank is slightly larger than ordinary people's homes. The water tank was placed on the wall opposite the stove, and my father specially asked the carpenter master to make a two-semi-circular wooden cover, and on the side of the wall semi-round wooden cover was placed two gourds of different sizes to scoop, which was convenient to pick up at any time to get water, and when scooping water, just lift the semi-circular lid in front.
The diameter of the water tank is about one meter, in order to prevent fracturing the cylinder block after filling with water, manufacturers are filling the upper edge of the cylinder with a circle of raised and thickened cylinder edges to reinforce the cylinder block. In order to last for durability, my father wrapped a thick iron wire under the protrusion of the cylinder to further strengthen the cylinder. My tank is so large that I need to pick 6 to 7 loads of water to fill it at a time. The bucket used to carry water was custom-made by a master carpenter from the high-quality fir wood bought by my father, and the barrel was more than 2 feet high and about 1 foot in diameter. In his words, a good horse must be equipped with a saddle, and after the barrel is beaten, the father also uses tung oil oil, and two iron hoops are tied up and down the outside of the bucket to prevent the board from leaking.
Every evening, when the customers gradually dispersed, my father would leave the last customers to my mother, and he would pick up the flat dan and carry water from the salt river behind the house. My father likes me as a "deflated child" (Rugao dialect: the youngest son) I have been my father's "follower" since I was a child, and every time my father carries water, I like to follow my father to the river, and watch my father carry water while playing. I saw that after my father arrived at the river, he stood on the bluestone slab built by his family, put down the bucket, picked up a stretcher hook to hang a bucket, put down the water with his right hand, and when the bucket was close to the surface of the water, his right arm gently swung a few times, pressed to the left, poured water with a "bang", and suddenly put it on the bluestone slab; Beat another bucket of water in the same way. After the bucket is put on the shoulder, the flat stretch forms a curved bow on the father's shoulder, and the father's tall body is still standing, but the father's shoulder is pressed by the water filled with the bucket some high and low. The father tilted his head to the side with difficulty, stepped with heavy steps, hummed the trumpet, hunched his waist and climbed up, "squeaking" and returning home through the back door. I stood aside, watching the water poured from the bucket into the tank, churning out broken jade-like white flowers, and my heart was inexplicably happy, until the water tank was filled by my father, and I was reluctant to leave. Once my overworked father was carrying water in the climb, did not master the balance, the barrel handle was crooked, the bucket water rushed down, and as a child, I began to feel that it was fun to wash the water pouring down at high speed like a waterfall. When I saw my father rest for a while and go to fetch water again, I felt ashamed that I didn't have the strength to help my father carry water. Sometimes my father fetched water early in the morning, and when I was still stretching out, I heard the sound of pouring water in the living room and kitchen, and I knew that my father was pouring water into the water tank again.
Because the salt river often takes "fast machine" (steamer) and fishing boats, although it is living water, but the water contains sediment impurities, turbidity, every time the father picks up the water, the mother will put the alum that has been crushed in advance into the tank, stir it with a clean wooden stick, let the sediment adsorb to the alum and sink to the bottom of the tank, accelerate the precipitation of impurities, and let the muddy water clarify. After a night of precipitation, the water was crystal clear the next day.
A tank of crystal clear water, bright and dangling, illuminates the shadow of people. The thrifty mother is not only the master of the father's haircut, but also the protagonist of the kitchen. As a woman, I also know the truth that "women are those who please themselves". Every morning, I was busy before and after, but I never forgot to look at the "mirror" in the water tank, probe to freshen up or tidy up my clothes. Often looking at the scoop of water dangling on the surface of the tank, measuring the depth of the day, my mother always poured a clear prayer into the tank, hoping that the business would become more and more and better.
Sometimes my mother chopped vegetables and found that the kitchen knife was not fast, so she sharpened the kitchen knife on the edge of the cylinder and used it again. The first time I saw my mother sharpening a knife on the rim of the cylinder, I was amazed. Later, I found that the rim of the cylinder was unglazed, and the exposed rim of the cylinder was like a whetstone, which is probably another great use of the water tank.
About a week or so, my father also cleans the water tank. At that time, there was no cleaning ball, so I could only use a broom to wipe the dirt at the bottom of the cylinder and around it over and over again, scoop out the turbid water at the bottom of the cylinder one by one, and then rinse and scrape it with clean water. Every summer, the bucket is also exposed to the sun, and the inside and outside of the bucket are soaked with tung oil and dried before use.
The Yanhe River saved a pool of water for the whole town of Baipu, and the water tank saved a pool of water for the whole family. Customers who come to my house for a haircut ask for hot water to wash their hair and shave, they need water for rice and vegetables at home, they need water for cleaning and sweeping, and they need water when they are thirsty and hungry. In the morning, I would scoop water from the tank into the basin with a gourd scoop, and my mother would always say, "Scoop less", and I would pour some water from the scoop back into the tank. In the summer, whenever I come back from crazy play outside, my mouth is dry, lift the wooden lid of the black rays, a tank of clear water, bright and bright, shining my face, scooping a spoonful of water and drinking it in one breath, the refreshing coolness, how refreshing it is. New and old customers, whether they come to my house for a haircut or not, when they are thirsty, they are the same as me, walk to the water tank, lift the wooden cover, pick up the water scoop and drink it, and say while drinking: "Wu Tongjia's barbershop helped us quench our thirst, cool and refreshing, it's really refreshing!" "At that time, I didn't know what a drink was, but now I always feel that the water in the tank is faster than the drink.
On the eve of the Spring Festival, it is the busiest day in the water tank, because to celebrate the New Year, "rich and not rich, not called long hair for the New Year" This is a folk custom, people must shave their heads and cut their hair years ago, the water in the tank is often not enough, always bottoming. My mother had her own method, she filled the large and small buckets that could store water in the house with clean water and placed it next to the water tank to relieve the pressure on the water tank. "February two dragons raise their heads, there is a spiritual head in the year", this folk proverb has been circulating for thousands of years, legend has it that if you shave your head and cut your hair on this day, you will be able to bless the stars and shine high, and red luck will be the head! All families send their children for haircuts, parents have washed the children's heads twice after cutting their heads, the children are comfortable, and they especially like to come to my house for haircuts, but this way there is more water, and parents are prepared a few days in advance.
In the cold winter months, the water tank will freeze every day, and before I wake up in the morning, I hear my mother clanging the ice cubes on the upper layer of the water tank with a kitchen knife in the kitchen, the sound is loud and small, and occasionally a "whoosh" sound comes, which is the sound of ice cubes being broken. At this time, I would smell cooking smoke under the covers, and perhaps my mother was finally relieved, she was worried that the water tank had not been broken. Water tanks in winter are prone to freeze and crack. The broken water tank naturally needs to be replaced with a new one, and the cracked water tank needs to be repaired, which is a rush job, waiting for the people who can not repair the tank, everyone is the first to use a corner of soap dipped in water to make soap mud to repair it, temporarily maintain its role.
At that time, the large water tank was thick and heavy, and it would not be broken for no reason, but it was prone to some cracks over time, and it needed to be reinforced in time. Therefore, in that era, the craftsmen who specialized in "curing pots, bowls and bowls" were very popular. My neighbor's big tank leaks, I have seen the master curium big cylinder, it looks simple, but there is a lot of learning inside, the saw (a kind of two-legged nail) has copper and iron, like staples, when the hammer is alive, the master will put the saw into the punched hole, leave a proper margin, cut off the extra part, and then use a small hammer to smash the remaining part to the surface of the cylinder, and then apply plaster to ensure that the water tank does not leak. Later, with the improvement of living conditions and the gradual withdrawal of some counties from the historical stage, craftsmen such as curium craftsmen gradually disappeared from the sight of people in the streets and alleys.
Chinese pays attention to "collecting wind and gathering wealth, getting water as the top", and the water tank is known as the feng shui tank. On the morning of the Chinese New Year's Eve, my father must carry a full tank of water, a habit that has been passed down from his ancestors to herald the end of the old and welcome the new, the joy is complete, and the year is more than enough, and then he goes to post the Spring Festival to welcome the New Year with joy and joy, and look forward to a good year in the coming year.
My house diagonally opposite the door is the public housing area under the jurisdiction of the housing management office, in the public housing area lives the Ming Hailin family who makes scales, the money leather craftsman who makes shoes, the Baipu printing factory worker Zhang Tongjia, etc., there is a patio in the middle of the courtyard, and I don't know who installed a large water tank in the patio, specifically to collect the rain from the eaves tile sewer pipe, the rainwater is extremely sweet after clarification, and each family uses it to burn "Tianshui" tea. The "Tianshui" in the dust-clean and de-de-dusted patio tank reflects the sun, moon and stars all year round. When we were young, we loved to lie on the edge of the tank and look at the sky in the water. The clear blue sky and snow-white clouds clearly appeared in the water tank. On summer nights, the moon and stars slipped silently into the tank, and we held our breath, stretched out our little hands to grab them, and when we grabbed them, they trembled crisply and ran into the sky again.
Every time I see the water tank, I will think of the story of "Sima Guang smashing the tank", although I am not as smart as Sima Guang, but I also found an interesting story: when I bent over and pedaled at the bottom of the tank to help my father scoop up sewage, my ears "buzzed", I spoke inside, the voice would immediately be amplified, I happily sang a few voices, there was a deafening feeling, very fun, really enjoyable. Later, I gradually understood that this is a "sound resonance" phenomenon.
In addition to holding water and pickles, large vats will also be used by people to hold food, both moisture-proof and rat-proof. There is also a magical role - to act as a "weather forecaster". The old people told me: "Observing the water tank can judge whether it will rain in the near future, and it will rain when you see a layer of water droplets on the underwater part outside the water tank." "At that time, I didn't understand any principles, but later I learned physics and knew that it was because the water vapor content in the air increased when it was about to rain, and the temperature of the part of the water tank with water was relatively low, and the water vapor was easy to condense into small water droplets.
The large tank containing the water of the Baipu River (Yunyan River) was like a family member who could not speak, accompanying me through a difficult but happy childhood. When the Tongyang Canal was dredged in 1969, the Shihe River was filled in, and the Yunyan River became the main street of Baipu Town today. Later, I cut the queue and went to the countryside to work as a railway soldier in the Hulunbuir steppe, making ice water and drinking snow water, and ice water and snow water are our water sources. After the veterans settled in Deng Yuan Township, the development zone, to build the first bungalow with a double-roofed roof, the first living element to solve was to dig a well and solve the draft problem.
I remember the day I dug the well, and my home was like the New Year. After living in my house, my father-in-law's whole family came to help. My wife's sister-in-law is responsible for Zhang Luo's meals, good cigarettes, good wine and good dishes are waiting for the well digging master, my brother-in-law helps to find this and that, I also give the masters a hand, and my childhood daughter still comes from time to time to probe her head to see how deep she has dug. After the well was laid, I saw that the well water was slowly rising, and after hurriedly cleaning up the sanitation around the well, I lit a firecracker that I had prepared in advance, and hugged the well driller to the table to drink and eat amid the crackling sound. From then on, a lead bucket can be fetched at any time, washing vegetables and rice, washing washing brushes, etc. can be completed by the well. Even if there is no water in the tank, it is too late for the wife to go and pick it up alone. After the reform and opening up, tap water was also installed on the outskirts of our cities, and the water storage function of the water tank was gradually weakened.
Time flies, and the years are like edges. In order to commemorate the water tank and well, I specially brought the lead bucket of water into the city, looking at the lead barrel and the long hanging rope, when I opened the water faucet and used the fast and convenient tap water, I drank water and thought of the source, grateful for the Yangtze River water in the water tank at home to nourish me, grateful to my parents for educating me as an adult with diligent and simple words and deeds, grateful to the great railway soldier spirit for inspiring me to grow, and grateful for the reform and opening up under the leadership of the Party that made it difficult for ordinary people to drink water to drink sweet. We must "never forget the well-diggers when drafting, and always miss the Communist Party"!
Nowadays, in addition to the production of wine, soy sauce, vinegar and other special enterprises need to use tanks, every household has disappeared the shadow of the water tank, tap water quickly and conveniently sent you what you need, but I still miss the water tank of my childhood hometown.
I read Jiang Xun's "Young Taiwan", read a paragraph about making a tank, remembered my childhood, and couldn't help but secretly rub my teeth and sigh.
Although her granddaughter, who was born in Shencheng and grew up in Shencheng in the second grade, studied the text "Don't forget to dig wells" in the second semester of the first grade, she had never seen the water tank, never seen the ice cubes in the water tank, and had never heard the resonance in the water tank, and she naturally could not understand the suffering and joy of her ancestors who carried the shoulders since childhood. It's not all the sufferings and joys of the ancestors, the descendants have to try, and now that there is no water tank, their modern life is getting better and better!
Writer Su Tong has an essay "Literature in a Water Tank", which says: "A miraculous profession needs miracle support, and my childhood yearning for miracles is maintained on a water tank, and time passes, taking away the water tank and taking away part of the miracle." I never like to over-glorify my childhood, but I can't bear to throw away the memories of that water tank from my childhood. "I don't know if it's because of the water tank that made the writer Su Tong.
The water tank, which once carried the difficult years, has become a cultural symbol of history. They record and write the imprint of an era and witness the vicissitudes of urban and rural areas. Now the water tank has completed its mission and gradually faded out of people's lives, but the stories in the water tank and the years in the water tank have always been full of my memories, long and long...
EDIT: Have fun