(October 19), the Pingyao Film Festival closed.
Jia Zhangke, who is good at shooting hometown themes, has pushed Shanxi to the world through the Pingyao Film Festival. Few filmmakers have such a deep connection with their hometown as Jia Zhangke. No wonder he said, "Shanxi is my world." ”
Some time ago, during the release of his movie "Swim Until the Sea Turns Blue" (yes, this is another hometown theme work), in an interview with the media, Jia Dao exported a golden sentence: "People who have hometowns are lucky." ”
Is it true that as Jia Zhangke said, people with hometowns are lucky? Why?
I talked to the following 5 people about my hometown, and they gave detailed answers.
1
Su Feng, Linyi, Shandong
Eat and live in your hometown and feel the "portable life"
My hometown is in Linyi, Shandong, and its deepest influence on me is not only my life and eating habits, but also my personality. Shandong people pay attention to the middle way, and most people pursue ordinary, so I am also particularly ordinary. Shandong people do not like to express, ashamed to express, the attitude is internalized in the heart, whether rich or poor, everyone looks the same.
When I left my hometown for the first time at the age of 18, I was overjoyed and seemed to have nothing to give up. Now that I think about it, it's a bit of a lack of heart. Nowadays, every time I go home on a business trip, I come out of the huge high-speed rail station, see the empty streets and sparse crowds, fresh air, and then go to a small restaurant, which is particularly satisfying.
The most distinctive feature of Linyi is the breakfast, followed by super delicious fried chicken and lamb soup, as well as large pancakes and seafood. Because our small town is between the mountains and the sea, only one and a half hours away from the sea and the mountain, so the mountain treasures and seafood can be eaten fresh.
When you return to your hometown after you become an adult, the biggest change is the new city, and the old city has not changed much. I live in the new district, usually like living in any third-tier city in the motherland, with towering buildings, many residential areas, convenient takeaways, and affordable shopping malls. For example, there are only four Starbucks in Linyi, but Luckin coffee is very large, basically every street. The city's favorite brand to wear is Uniqlo.
I agree that "people who have a hometown are lucky". Living in the hometown, completely self-sufficient, tasteful, well-clothed and well-fed. On weekend nights, when the whole family visits the mall, they can always meet one or two acquaintances, and everyone will greet them warmly and chat without a word.
Now it is popular to say "rebuild nearby life", I look at the life of Linyi people, they are very "nearby". In Linyi, it is rare to meet the flamboyant handsome men and women that haunt beijing's Guomao, and instead it is a loose and free pace, which I have observed, and it is particularly kind.
Another phenomenon is very interesting: I often walk to the community canteen to eat at noon after the morning work is completed, and the most commonly met during this time is the elementary school student of the nearby elementary school. Because the city is small, most of the primary school students in Linyi walk to and from school on their own, and rarely see parents pick up and drop off. The meal friend who often shares the table with me is a boy in the first grade of primary school, every day after noon he walks to the canteen to order food, probably because he is too young or his father is too picky, he has no pocket money, every day after he arrives at the canteen at noon, the big mother who eats will quickly voice his father on WeChat: Your son came, ordered cauliflower, braised pork, rice, a total of 12. Then his father would quickly send red envelopes to the canteen aunt. The little boy will go home by himself after eating, and at 1 o'clock he will go to the school 200 meters away from home.
Writer Yan Hong has written a book "My Portable Life", her view is: people want to be happy, need to reduce their desires, but spend money casually, want to buy. Linyi is really a good place to practice this view.
2
JJ, Hubei Wufeng
Where the mountains rise and fall, there is my "roots"
My hometown is located in Wufeng Tujia Autonomous County in the southwest of Hubei Province, and the paintbrush of nature gives it rich colors, and it is surrounded by mountains and rivers, famous tea towns and natural tourist attractions.
The first time I really left my hometown was in October 2018, with the yearning for Beijing since I was a child, I began to drift north alone. Golden autumn October is the best season of the year in Beijing, when standing next to the "Bird's Nest", I feel a little incredible, this ancient capital that has always been covered with a layer of mystery in my heart, is finally in front of me at this moment, there is a feeling of being with someone who has been in love for a long time. But once I get back to a rented house with no temperature after work, I think of my hometown — familiar friends and family in the rolling mountains, delicious meals, and warm lights that linger in my mind.
As a pure Tujia family, there is nothing more refreshing than the bowl of rice wine that Grandma brought out of the refrigerator in the summer; the mother's stewed pork trotters on the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner table are more delicious, "gold and silver" mixed with two spoons of tempeh, you can gain five pounds a month; a bowl of "Kang potatoes" in the early morning with "Heszao soup", a perfect match!
The number of times I went home after work was countless, and it gradually changed from twice a year to only reunite with my family during the Spring Festival. The most common thing to do when I go home is to stay with my family, they don't talk much, but they are gentle and calm, and the warm feeling cannot be replaced.
The hometown I remember is that I lay on the roof of my grandmother's house and counted the stars with her; after dinner, I sat in the courtyard with my grandmother to cool off, listening to her tell the story of the revolutionary struggle of Marshal He Long who led the Red Army to fight in the Five Peaks; and in the winter when it was snowing with goose feathers, my grandfather sat outside and made a small basket with bamboo strips, and he couldn't call the back of the house; the road in the countryside was not very good, and my father always had to go through a few bumpy, roller coaster-like paths when I picked me up from school on weekends.
Over the years, when I was wandering outside and returning to my hometown once in a while, those bumpy hill roads became wide roads. Grandma learned to use smart phones to keep up with the trend, and she often laughed at night alone. Grandma's house is also getting higher and higher, and the roof should not go up. Our hometown is developing rapidly, our lives have also undergone earth-shaking changes, bamboo weaving has become a national intangible cultural heritage, but my grandfather was seriously ill in the past few years, but he, like his hometown, will always live in my heart.
After the Spring Festival in 2020, the epidemic blocked my way back to Beijing and lived with my family for several months. Regaining the fond memories of my childhood, I even wanted to stay in my hometown and work. However, as soon as the epidemic was unsealed, the ghost sent God to buy a return ticket immediately.
I agree that "people who have a hometown are lucky", but I have always felt that "hometown" is a very abstract word, hometown represents a person's "root", and what is a "root"? It is the land that nurtures us, the parents who nurture us, and everything that carries our good memories. Therefore, rather than saying, "People who have a hometown are lucky," I prefer that "people who have a family are lucky."
3
Li Shijiang, Ningde, Fujian
My hometown is my fertile soil for creation
When I was young, my theme for my hometown was to leave. Especially when I was in college and after I worked, I felt that if I stayed in my hometown for two weeks, I would die. There is no cultural atmosphere, only human sophistication, less familiar parents are short, you can't blend in, especially embarrassing.
The first time I looked back at my hometown was in 2006. At that time, I worked as a company in Guangzhou for a year, and I was exhausted. At that time, for me, my hometown was an embrace, and I could rest quietly for a while and escape the hustle and bustle of the city. At that time, I felt that the countryside was a good place for the first time. I began to calmly examine the decline of the countryside, the beauty of human feelings, and when I went home and wrote a long novel "Fu Shou Chun", it was both an escape and a rest of the soul.
After writing, I returned to Beijing, worked intermittently for a few more years, and in 2010, I looked back at my hometown again. At that time, after several hesitations, I decided to live a life of freelance writing. At this time, it doesn't matter where I live anymore, the quieter the better. Also, my writing resources were quite depleted at the time. After writing a period of life in the North Drift, I found that I had no subject matter to write about.
Writers of each era have different sources of writing. My writing mode is dependent on life experience, and from experience, I must find a starting point for imagination. A friend who wrote poetry told me, "Li Shijiang, in fact, you write about the life by the sea in your hometown, how good." A word awakened the dreamer. Where there is creative material, it is the center of my world.
The original information of the homeland is hidden in everyone's blood, and once it is understood, this information can be resurrected and grown. In particular, when you have mastered the experience of writing, this information is combined with experience to produce incredible results, and what is written at this time has a root. This is why other places in the creation are never as good as the material of the hometown.
Here I must introduce my hometown of Eastern Fujian, the intersection of mountains and seas, the coastline is the most tortuous, known as "eight mountains, one water and one field". In other words, the mountains are extremely close to the seaside, with both mountain life and coastal labor. It's not magical, but it's not without character. When I got home, I lived a life of idleness. I often drive around with friends, stop by a village, and chat with the old man under the tree. Over time, I felt that the secrets of this land were slowly opening up to me.
After returning to my hometown for many years, my creation has entered a new period.
I have created a series of social suspense novels set in the county seat, such as "Chinese Knot" and "Pet Love". My hometown has restored my youthful perceptual nerves, and my childhood experience sometimes unknowingly attacked, coupled with the strong elements of folk beliefs here, I have created warm novels with supernatural shells such as "Grandpa's Ghost", "White General", "Slanted Beach Ghost House" and so on.
Many years ago, when I was collecting wind, I suddenly realized that the beach was a land that had not been written, and this land was a happy land for nurturing coastal families. So, I was born with six hundred thousand words of Gold Coast.
People who have a hometown are lucky. I wondered, if I wasn't a creator, would I have returned to my hometown, would I have devoted myself so much to understanding? I think probably not. My present home is an energy grab. For everyone, every profession, hometown has a different meaning. Some people flee for a lifetime, and some people just don't want to walk at night. For me, the best in this small city with a rapid economic growth and rapid change will remain on paper.
4
Muzi, Datong, Shanxi
After 16 years of leaving home, the hometown has become blue and clear
My hometown Datong is an ancient city in Northern Yanbei, the northernmost city in Shanxi, and Datong was Xijing during the Liao Dynasty, known as the "Key to the North". There are four distinct seasons, relatively dry, and the temperature difference between day and night is large. Datong's places of interest include Yungang Grottoes, Huayan Temple, Shanhua Temple, Hengshan Hanging Temple, Nine Dragon Wall and so on.
The deepest influence of my hometown on me is the climate and diet.
When I went to college in Changsha, I felt that Changsha was too hot, and there was a rainy season, and when it rained every day in the rainy season, the clothes were not easy to dry. It's the opposite of Datong. At that time, I missed my hometown the most. In the field, if you haven't eaten pasta for a while, you will feel that something is missing and you must find some pasta.
The first time he left his hometown was in 2005, and he transferred to a foreign country to study. At that time, the mood was very happy, after all, it was a big city: high-rise buildings, neon lights flashing, bustling and fresh.
Recently back is the Mid-Autumn Festival, now there is a high-speed train from Beijing to Datong, two hours can get to Datong, very convenient, back to Datong is to talk to the mother, find relatives and sisters of the same age to shop, chat.
Datong has many delicacies, such as HunYuan cold powder, knife-cut noodles, haggis, haggis powder, lamb roast wheat, and noodles. It can be made into many forms, including fish and fish, and noodles. There are also delicacies made of yellow cakes, my parents prefer, but I think the yellow cakes are not delicate, not easy to digest, yellow cakes wrapped with bean paste filling, vegetable filling, fried, is the Datong festival, marriage and other festivals of the essential dishes. My favorite HunYuan's little daughter-in-law cold powder, now there is a packaged Hun Yuan cold powder, take it out and cut it yourself, plus their own spice package (dried tofu, special chili oil, vinegar, seasoning brine), well, it is the taste of memory.
Datong was originally a resource-based city, the urban greening rate is low, and sometimes the sky is not blue, a little gray. In recent years, Datong has no longer taken the old road of resource-based cities and transformed into a tourist city. Although it is not as old-school tourist cities as Guilin and Hangzhou, but now Datong, the sky is blue, the water of Wenying Lake is very clear, the environment is well managed, and there is a lot of greenery. After going back, I feel that the living environment of Datong people has improved a lot, the environment has changed a lot, from a gray sky to a blue sky, less pollution, air quality has become better, the city also attaches great importance to greening, and there are more trees. It can be said that the makeover is very suitable for the elderly.
I agree that "people who have a hometown are lucky", and even Master Ji Xianlin once said in his prose: "The moon is the hometown of Ming." "It shows that hometown is very important in everyone's heart, as the place where we were born and grew up, the memory left by hometown to people cannot be erased."
5
Zhao Zhao, Baotou, Inner Mongolia
Hometown is my soul shelter
When I didn't leave my hometown, my feeling of my hometown was that it was windy all year round and the wind and sand were very large. Baotou is a city of immigrants, the climate is very dry, so when I first came to Beijing to study, I was not used to the stickiness of the summer, and later married to Hangzhou and was not used to the wet and cold here.
The biggest influence of my hometown on me is that people are more bold and open to see problems. As a child, I lived in a bungalow, had a close relationship with my neighbors, had a lot of small hair, and I would feel more secure. Even later, when I was emotionally unstable when I was alone, I thought that they would feel a sense of belonging. Although the place where I lived when I was a child was demolished, it is estimated that even if I get Alzheimer in the future, I should remember it. In the final analysis, for the hometown, the most difficult thing to give up is people and feelings.
I came out to college at the age of 18, very happy, and when I was a teenager, I wanted to leave home and felt that the outside world was wonderful. There was nothing to give up at that time. Slowly, the nostalgia for the hometown began like a chain: after marriage, I always wanted to go back, at that time my parents had not retired, only I could meet when I went back; later my parents went to Hangzhou to help bring the baby, and the most missed were my childhood classmates and friends; now that I am older, I will miss my aunt, aunt, uncle and other relatives.
The most recent time to go back is the 2020 epidemic before going back to the Spring Festival, I took the child to take a train for nearly 40 hours, very tired and happy, bought snow boots, down pants, as a result, I went downstairs to step on the snow, and had a meal with my classmates, the epidemic was serious, and then on the third day of the New Year, we returned to Hangzhou, and we have not gone back so far.
Originally, I was going to go back on National Day this year, but because my family had been to Harbin, where there was an epidemic, the plan to go home was in vain again.
Every time I go back to my hometown, the most common thing to do is to eat with my classmates. But never dare to send a circle of friends, because I can't see it all, there are too many fields. We also go to the surrounding desert to play, we have the grasslands in the city of Saihan Tara, there are horses and sika deer.
In Inner Mongolia people ask me where my hometown is, I will answer Tianjin, but in Hangzhou my hometown has become Inner Mongolia again. The last thing I want to say to my hometown is: You have to wait for me there.
I agree that "people who have a hometown are lucky", the first 18 years of life were spent there, the foundation of a lifetime was laid there, and finally as I grew older, the memory was slowly dissolved, and that place must be the last to be forgotten. My student days were very happy, but after middle age, I had a chicken feather, and there was a chance to have a few seconds of memories in the cracks, basically unforgettable hometown time, carefree. So my hometown is my soul shelter.
Image source: Su Feng, JJ, Li Shijiang, Muzi, Zhao Zhao courtesy of the picture