There is a professor of history at Southwest Associated University,—— I heard that it was Mr. Lei Haizong, and he had memorized a course he had taught for many years, so he did not need to prepare before class. Every time you go to class, you have to ask your students, "Where was the last time I spoke?" And then he went on and on. There was a female classmate in the class, who remembered the most detailed notes and did not leave a word, and Mr. Lei once asked her, "What did I say at the end of my last lesson?" The female student opened the note, looked at it, and said, "You said last time: 'Now there is an air raid siren, let's get out of class.'" ’”
This story illustrates the number of alarms in Kunming. In the first two years of my arrival in Kunming, in 1939 and 1940, there were two alarms at both ends of the day. Sometimes every day, even twice a day. At that time, Kunming could hardly say that there was an air defense force, and Japanese planes could come whenever they wanted. Sometimes it was even broadcast on the first day: Twenty-seven planes will come to Kunming tomorrow to bomb it. The command of the Japanese Air Force really believed in its word, and it was time to come!
As soon as there is an alarm, there is no other way, everyone runs to the suburbs, which is called "running the alarm". "Run" and "alarm" are linked together to form a word, which is somewhat peculiar when you think about it, because it is not an alarm that is running. It's not as smooth as "running a horse" or "running a business". But that's what everyone calls it, everyone understands it, and they think it's appropriate. There are also those called "running the alarm" or "avoiding the alarm", which are not as accurate as "running the alarm". "Hide" is too passive, and "escape" is too embarrassing. Only the word "run" reveals calmness in tension, is the most graceful, and can best express rich and vivid content.
There is a classmate surnamed Ma who is the best at running the alarm. He got up early to look at the sky, as long as it was cloudless, regardless of whether there was an alarm or not, he would carry a pot of water, bring something to eat, and carry a roll of poems by Wen Feiqing or Li Shangyin, and walk to the suburbs. It wasn't until the sun was in the west that it was estimated that the Japanese planes would not come, so they slowly returned. There are not many such people.
There are three types of alerts. If there were several kinds of alerts that were introduced to people more than forty years ago, they would be considered "neurotic", and everyone knows this. However, it is a new topic for today's youth. One is called "pre-line warning".
There is a student surnamed Hou in the United Nations University, who was originally a student of the aviation school, but because of his slow response, he was eliminated and studied in the Department of Philosophy and Psychology of the United Nations University. This person has never forgotten his old feelings for aviation, and once used yellow "slogan paper" to post a huge "advertisement" and hold an academic report entitled "Common Sense of Air Defense." He didn't know why he was particularly sensitive to the "alarm". He was listening to the class, and suddenly ran out, stood on the north-south passage of the "new school building", and shouted loudly: "There is a pre-warning now, and there are three red balls hanging on Wuhua Mountain!" Looking up at the south, Wuhua Mountain really had three big red balls hanging up. Wuhua Mountain is the commanding heights of Kunming, the red ball hangs out, and the whole city sees it. We have always wondered: he is in the classroom, listening to the lecture, how can he "feel" that Wuhua Mountain has a red ball?—— the doors and windows of the classroom are not all facing Wuhua Mountain.
As soon as there was a pre-warning, people in the city began to move to the outskirts. Those who live in the north of Cuihu Lake are most likely to go out of the north gate or the big west gate, and there seem to be many people who go out of the big west gate. Outside the West Gate, across the road in front of the new gate of the United Nations University, there is a small road from south to north that is paved with round stones, which can be five or six feet wide. This road is said to be a post road, which can lead all the way to western Yunnan. The road is in a ravine. There are not many people who usually walk. It is common to see caravans carrying salt, sugar, or other goods. The horse-driven horse-head sits sideways on the saddle and whistles sizzly from between his teeth (the horse-pot head whistles in this way, without pursing his lips), or sings the Chenggong "tune" in a low voice:
Brother, the one in the highest mountain, the one that herds the cattle,
Sister, that comb that comb in the garden, comb that hair.
Brother, that beckons in the highest mountain,
The sister nodded in the garden.
These long-distance pot heads have their own special attire. They wore white sheepskin vests over their short coats, lacquered hats hanging from the back of their heads, and a pair of straw sandal-like sandals with thick cowhide soles, most of which were embroidered on the uppers and nailed with shiny "ghost wink" sequins. - This kind of shoe seems to be worn only by the head of the horse, and I have not seen anyone in other industries wear them. The horse pot head is holding the horse gang, walking from this ancient road of the slanting sun, the horse bell rings rattlingly, which is very romantic, and sometimes causes a little nostalgia of the wanderer of the distant guest......
With the pre-travel alarm, this ancient post road is lively. People from different directions flocked here, forming a river of people. After walking out of the city, they scattered to the mountains on both sides of the ancient road, each looking for a suitable place to stay, and waited calmly - waiting for the air raid siren.
When the students of the United Nations University saw the pre-warning siren, they generally did not run, and they had to wait until they heard the air raid siren: the whistle was short and the whistle was long, before they left. There is a back door on the north wall of the new school building, and when you go out, you cross the railway (this railway does not know where it starts and ends, and no train has ever passed), and it is the mountains. To go, it's completely too late. - That's why Mr. Ray said, "There are already air raid sirens." "There is only a pre-warning warning, and the teachers and students of the United Nations generally attend classes as usual.
Most of the alarms are not in the right place, and they are all over the mountains. But people also have habits, where they are used to running, where they are willing to go. Most of them are looking for a grave, so that they can be relied on. There are many steles in the tombs of Kunming, in addition to carving the name of the tomb owner on the stele, it also carves out "the × direction of the × mountain", and opens the "four to" of the tomb. I haven't seen this custom anywhere else. This is probably also an archaic style.
It is said that it is all over the mountains, but there are also a few relatively concentrated "points". On one side of the ancient post road, not far from the library of the Institute of Linguistics, there is a masson pine forest, which is a point. In addition to being close to the school, there is a turquoise Masson pine, a thick layer of dried pine hair under the tree, very soft, the air is good,—— the Masson pine volatile has a heavy smell of pine resin, basking in the sunlight leaking from between the pine branches, or looking up at the blue sky above the pine trees, which is very comfortable, because you can also buy all kinds of snacks here. Kunming, who is engaged in small business, has an alarm, so he carries the burden to the suburbs. All tastes, everything. The most common is "buty-butin". "Ding Ding Sugar" is maltose, that is, the Kanto sugar used by the Beijing people's sacrificial stove, but made into a diameter of more than one foot, a big sugar cake with a thickness of one inch, placed on the wooden plate of the square, someone pays for it, the sugar seller wedges the sugar edge with a planing blade-shaped iron sheet, and then uses a small iron hammer to hit the iron piece, and the sound of Ding, a piece of sugar is cracked,—— so it is called "Ding Ding Sugar". The second is fried pine nuts. There are a lot of pine nuts in Kunming, a big skin and thin kernels, very fragrant, and very cheap. Sometimes we can pick up a large, ripe raw pine ball under the pine tree, break the scales, and eat them one by one. - At that time, our teeth were very good, and the pine nut shells were so hard that they opened as soon as we took a sip!
Another concentration point is far away, you have to go out four or five miles along the ancient post road, there is a cross-cut ravine on the higher earth hill on the right side of the post road (probably caused by the earthquake in which year), the ditch is about three zhang deep, the mouth of the ditch is more than two zhang wide, and the bottom of the ditch is also six or seven feet wide. This is a very good natural air defense ditch, if a Japanese plane drops a bomb, as long as it does not hit it directly and falls in the ditch, even if it explodes on the top of the ditch, it is not easy for shrapnel to jump in. It doesn't matter if the machine gun fires, the two walls of the ditch are dead ends. This ditch can hold hundreds of people. Some people often come here, so they take advantage of the free time to build some private air-raid shelters on the ditch wall, which are of different sizes and forms. These bomb shelters not only have a smooth surface, but some also use crushed stones or broken porcelain pieces to create patterns and decorate them into couplets. There are new ideas for the General Assembly. I still remember two pairs, one is:
The geometry of life
Love triangle
One is:
Do it at the right time
Push up the daisies
The casual elegance of the embellished couplet is very admirable. The first one may have been inspired by feelings, but the latter one was a fact.
There are three types of alerts. The pre-warning presumably indicates that the Japanese plane has taken off. The air raid siren probably indicates that Japanese planes have entered Yunnan Province, but they may not necessarily come to Kunming when they enter Yunnan Province. Wait until the whistle blows the emergency alarm: a continuous short tone, and then it is certain that it is coming towards Kunming. Sometimes there is a long interval between the air raid alarm and the emergency alarm, so the people who arrive here are not busy going down the ditch,—— there is no sun in the ditch, and it is also boring to sit in the cave like the Yungang Stone Buddha too early,—— most of them first read books, chat, and play bridge in the ditch. Many people do not move when they hear the emergency alarm, because after the emergency alarm, Japanese planes are not allowed to come, and they often turn around and fly elsewhere. I had to wait until I saw the shadow of the plane, and then I stood up, went down the ditch, and entered the hole. The students of the United Nations University, as well as those who live in Kunming, are too experienced to run alarms and never rush to panic.
The previous couplet may be a general emotion, but it is also of practical significance. Running the alarm is an opportunity to fall in love. When the students of the United Nations University ran the alarm, there were many pairs of them. As soon as the air raid sirens sounded, the men waited on the side of the road in the new school building, sometimes carrying a bag of snacks to eat, such as pears and peanuts...... The female classmate he was waiting for came, "Hey!" So they happily walked out the back door of the new school building side by side. Running the alarm is not the same life and death, but there is a faint sense of danger, which is different from watching movies and walking the green lake. This danger has brought the two sides closer together. The female students are happy to be served, and the male students also happen to take care of them diligently, showing a little chivalrous demeanor. As Sun Wukong said in Gao Laozhuang: "First, I came to heal my eyes, and secondly, I took care of Langzhong, which is a four-in-six deal." "From that point of view, running the alarm is quite romantic. There is love, there is a triangle, and there is a broken love. The "pair" of running the alarm is not always fixed, sometimes one party is "dumped" by the other, and the two "blow", and the "pair" has to be regrouped. The person who wrote (let's call it "writing") the couplet was probably a male classmate who was "dumped". Not necessarily, though.
The alarm time is sometimes very long, up to two or three hours, and it is also very "crooked". After the emergency alarm, the Japanese planes had finished bombing, and people were relieved. After a while, the "alarm was lifted" sounded: the whistle was long, and everyone got up to pat the dust and returned to the city in an endless stream. Sometimes, without waiting for the alarm to be lifted, many people go back: dark clouds have risen in the sky, and it is going to rain. As soon as it rains, Japanese planes will not come. When it rains, one of our classmates must be the first to run back, and that is the one surnamed Hou who reported the pre-warning mentioned earlier. He ran back to the new school building, went to the dormitories to collect a lot of umbrellas, put them outside the back door of the new school building, and handed them over when he saw a female classmate coming. He was afraid that these female classmates would be showered. This classmate Hou is five big and three thick, but he has Jia Baoyu's heart. I probably took a class in Mr. Wu Yuseng's "Dream of Red Mansions" and was affected. Brother Hou sending umbrellas has become a rule. The alarm rains, not once. Famous in the whole school, the most important thing is to be constant. - These umbrellas, after the rain lives, he will go to the girls' dormitory of the South Courtyard to collect them back, and then return them to their owners.
When you run the alarm, you have to bring a little valuable thing with you. The most convenient are gold ,—— gold rings. A graduate student in the Department of Philosophy once made this logical reasoning: If someone brings gold, someone will lose it, and if someone loses gold, someone will pick up gold, and I am a human being, so I can pick up gold. Therefore, when running the alarm, especially after the alarm is cleared, he is very careful to patrol the road every time. He really picked up the gold ring twice! Logical reasoning has such a wonderful use, which is probably not expected by Mr. Jin Yuelin, who teaches logic.
Teachers and students have nothing to take with them when they run the alarm, because they have nothing to do, and most of them usually bring drafts of two books or one paper. There was a gentleman who studied Indian philosophy, Mr. Kim, who always carried a small suitcase every time he ran the alarm. The box was nothing else, it was a letter from his girlfriend to him - love letters. He regarded these love letters as if they were his life, and sometimes he would take out one or two to show others. There's nothing you can't read, because there's nothing like a smart woman's feelings about life, the writing is very playful, full of British wit, it's some very beautiful essays, and the words are also very delicate. These letters could have been published. Mr. Kim has worked hard to preserve it for many years, and now he probably doesn't know where to go, but it's a pity. I've seen pictures of this woman, and she looks like the letters she wrote.
There are also students at the United Nations University who do not run the alarm, and as far as I know, there are two of them. One is a female classmate, surnamed Luo, who washes her hair whenever there is an alarm. Everyone else is gone, and no one uses the hot water in the boiler room, so she can open it up and wash it, and she can wash as much water as she wants! The other is a Guangdong classmate surnamed Zheng. He loves to eat lotus seeds. As soon as there was an alarm, he used a large gargling jar to go to the boiler fire to cook lotus seeds. The alarm was lifted, and his lotus seeds were rotten. Once, when a Japanese plane bombed the United Nations General Assembly, the North and South Courtyards of Kunzhong were bombed, and this old man listened to the bomb ping pong exploding not far away, and still stirred his rock sugar lotus seeds on the boiler next to the big library of the new school building.
During the Anti-Japanese War, it is impossible to count how many alarms there were in Kunming and how many Japanese planes came. Naturally, some people died and some houses were destroyed. As far as I can remember, outside the Great East Gate, there was a Japanese plane's machine-gun fire, and many people died in the fields. Several horses carrying firewood were killed in the grove outside the Great West Gate. In addition, there do not appear to be major casualties. The sirens and bombings did not give people the impression that flesh and blood were flying and that it was a scorched earth.
In fact, the Japanese sent planes to bomb Kunming, but in fact they had no practical military significance, and their intention was only to frighten and frighten the people of Kunming, to exert threats, and to induce fear among people. They don't know that the psychology of Chinese is very elastic and not so easily frightened. Our nation, for a long time, has been born in adversity, and it has been very "solid", and we have treated any sudden disaster with a spirit of "Confucianism and Taoism complementing each other." The essence of this "Confucianism and Taoism complementarity" is "not caring". This spirit of "not caring" will never be accepted.
In order to reflect "don't care", "Running Alarm" was made.
6 December 1984