Just after the rain in the valley, the Lintong pomegranate at the foot of Li Mountain, the red silk-like petals have jumped out of the buds.
"In the past, only pomegranates were ripe before the pomegranate festival was held, you see this September 11, 1991 "Shaanxi Daily", with the title of "Lintong Pomegranate Festival Opening" reported the opening of the first five-day Lintong Pomegranate Festival. Holding the yellowed newspaper and looking at the pomegranate flowers that are about to bloom outside the window, Liu Weizhang is full of thoughts.
Stacks of yellowed and obsolete newspapers, turbulent histories, and reports on the changes of the times...... This year, 50-year-old Liu Weizhang's family in the Wenhua Road community of Lishan Street, Lintong District, Xi'an City, has been collecting tourist tickets, tickets, newspapers and other materials related to his hometown of Lintong since 1989.
"As long as I have newspapers related to my hometown, I try to collect them. The earliest newspapers in my collection are Xinhua Daily of March 14, 1951 and Mass Daily of February 23, 1954. Liu Weizhang said that for more than 30 years, he has collected more than 1,200 newspapers and more than 800 tickets related to Lintong, and more than 4,000 national tourist tickets.
"In the beginning, I was reading newspapers, and I often went to various reading places and thrift markets to find opportunities to flip through all kinds of newspapers. In Liu Weizhang's view, through these newspapers, he can feel the pulse of the times. "It makes me feel fulfilled to know the world without going out. He said.
For many people, the lifespan of a newspaper is only one day, but in Liu Weizhang's heart, the vitality of a newspaper is far more than that, it is a proof of witnessing historical changes.
"Peasant poet Wang Laojiu", "Shaanxi Lintong is a statue of Bian Que", "Lintong County Chronicles" was published", "Borrowing the scenery of Lishan Mountain, the villagers run tourism"...... Looking through the newspapers collected by Liu Weizhang, the contents of different periods have been well preserved. In order to facilitate later reading, he also divided the newspaper into major categories such as cultural tourism, agricultural production, current affairs and politics, and then stored them in books.
Reading newspapers, collecting newspapers, and classifying them takes Liu Weizhang a lot of time every day, but he enjoys it. "Everyone has their own way of building a framework of knowledge, and newspapers are to me the school, the teachers, and the treasure of the wider world. Liu Weizhang said that his love of reading has made him familiar with the humanistic history of Lintong and witnessed the earth-shaking changes in his hometown.
"On July 11, 1975, the second page of the Beijing Daily published an article titled 'A large number of precious cultural relics unearthed on the east side of the Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang', which was a newspaper collection reported by many media across the country after the discovery of the Terracotta Warriors and Horses. On July 18, 1979, the People's Daily published the "Terracotta Warriors and Horses Museum is under construction", on October 2, 1979, the "Shaanxi Daily" published the "Qin Shi Huang Terracotta Warriors and Horses Museum Officially Opened", on October 5, 1979, the "Guangming Daily" published the "Qin Shi Huang Terracotta Warriors and Horses Museum Tour" and on October 27, 1984, the "Xi'an Evening News" published Experts gathered in Lintong to study that the Qin Warriors Pit belonged to the Qin Emperor", etc., recording the brilliant achievements of the archaeological excavation and scientific and technological protection of the Qin Warriors in the past 50 years.
"On October 23, 2023, the Mausoleum Museum of the First Qin Emperor welcomed its 10 million visitors that year, the highest number of visitors since the establishment of the museum. Behind the 'museum fever' is the public's recognition and confidence in traditional Chinese culture. Liu Weizhang took the newspaper and said, "On December 29, 1982, the Shaanxi Daily published "The Qin Warriors Pit Receives Three Million Visitors", introducing that the Terracotta Warriors and Horses have received more than 3.7 million visitors in three years since the National Day was built and opened to the public in 1979, including more than 170,000 visitors from 72 countries and regions on five continents. ”
"In the past, the only way to travel to the Terracotta Warriors was a bus and a bus. Nowadays, not only Metro Line 9 has been repaired to Qinling West, Xi'an North Railway Station to the Terracotta Warriors and Horses passenger line has been officially opened, and the Terracotta Warriors and Horses special line highway reconstruction and expansion project is in full swing, which greatly facilitates the travel of tourists. Liu Weizhang remembers the changes in his hometown of Lintong clearly: on April 18, 2024, after three years of meticulous maintenance work, the Mausoleum Museum of the First Emperor of Qin relocated the Qinling No. 1 Bronze Chariot and Horse to the Qinling Bronze Chariot and Horse Museum and placed it in the exhibition cabinet.
It is better to be happy alone than to be happy in all. In order to let more people understand their hometown and feel the changes in their hometown, Liu Weizhang opened the WeChat public account of "Lintong Memory" in 2017, aiming to collect Lintong cultural and historical materials, witness the progress and development of the city, and remember the changes in historical images.
"I found out the things I had collected before, and under the maintenance of my lover, from January 19, 2017 to the present, 'Lintong Memory' has compiled and distributed more than 400 manuscripts (pieces) for more than 7 years, systematically and in detail the development process of various fields in Lintong. In 2012 and August 2016, Liu Weizhang was seriously ill twice, and he and his wife Liu Huizhu decided to display what they had collected before, so that more people could explore Lintong culture by reading texts or historical materials, retain Lintong memories, reminisce about the growth process, and protect the beautiful homeland.
Liu Weizhang and Liu Huizhu compiled the elements of Lintong in the old newspapers, sorted out the memories that belong to the exclusive city of Lintong, from the beginning of the founding of New China to the great achievements made since the reform and opening up, and the news reports on Lintong have witnessed the history of entrepreneurship and struggle written by generations of Lintong people.
Since Liu Weizhang's Tibetan newspaper was exhibited in the circle of friends, it has attracted many reading enthusiasts to look for the "old days of Lintong".
"Every day, I learn about the stories of my hometown from the old newspapers published in 'Lintong Memory', including newspaper news, historical pictures, various tickets, commemorative medals, etc. Wang Ke, vice chairman of the Shaanxi Provincial Sports Culture and Art Association, said that these newspapers are a priceless wealth, which truly witnesses and records the achievements of Lintong's economic development, cultural prosperity and urban construction.
"Today's news is tomorrow's history, and the collection of reports about Lintong in old newspapers is not only a history of Lintong's development, but also a chronicle of Lintong. Zhang Xiaojuan, deputy director of the Lintong District Archives, said that old newspapers are an important part of local literature, "We are looking for bits and pieces of recording the development and changes of Lintong from old newspapers, and have played a role in preserving history, information and educating people." ”
Reading history can be wise, and knowing the past can learn from the present.
"Don't look at the newspaper is just a thin piece of paper, in fact, it is 'living history', it records the present, inherits the history, is the most vivid and intuitive form for future generations to understand the past, reading and collecting newspapers is to feel the collection of history. Liu Weizhang said that these newspapers and periodicals recorded the changes of the times, and he collected the newspapers and showed them to future generations, educating everyone around him to cherish the hard-won good life and understand the development and changes of his hometown. (Reporter: Wang Sanhe)