"Former financial journalist Song Xiangbo wandered the streets" caused heated discussion. Recently, short video blogger Chen uploaded a video on social platforms, showing a middle-aged man sitting on the ground, saying that he had been wandering for more than a year and "enjoyed this freedom." ”
The man in the video, named Song Xiangbo, graduated from Chongqing Technology and Business University and worked for Chongqing Times, Chongqing Business Daily and other media. In the video, Song Xiangbo said, "I have interviewed at least 20 of the top 100 in China's rich list." "At present, I make a living by picking up bottles and so on. As soon as the video came out, the sentient beings were in an uproar. Some people think that it is "hype", some people think it is "untrue", and some people think that Song Xiangbo's choice to live a lifestyle that is loyal to his heart is worthy of admiration.
Meng Mou, then the leader of a department of the Chongqing Times, told the Red Star News reporter that Song Xiangbo was indeed a former employee of the newspaper and "the writing was very good."
Song Xiangbo Photography Zhao Minyu
On October 20, Song Xiangbo met with Red Star News in Chengdu, wearing a black coat and carrying a backpack, like an ordinary young man who came to travel, and no longer had the appearance of wandering in the video. Song Xiangbo said that wandering was his active choice, not forced by life. However, after the video caused a hot discussion, in order to take into account the feelings of his family, he decided not to wander in the future.
Why Wandering: Is the active choice
Red Star News: You were a former reporter for Chongqing Times and Chongqing Business Daily, and you embarked on the road of wandering, did you choose it on your own initiative, or did you have to do it for some reason?
Song Xiangbo: Strictly speaking, I have two wandering experiences. First, after I left Shangbao in 2012, I wandered around Guangzhou. In the four years from 2012 to 2016, I did dozens of jobs in Guangzhou, doing all kinds of work, so I think it is called "professional wandering".
The second time is after 2019, wandering in the same way as living on the streets.
Why am I doing this? This morning I saw a passage that was very interesting: "While you are staring at the city, the city is staring at you." "I feel that any soul deserves attention, and any profession has its story. In my eyes, whether it is a reporter or a general manager later, I do not think that there will be a richer story than the assembly line workers. So when I first went to the career wandering, the most important thing was to feel the story of each profession, which I took the initiative to choose.
Most importantly, I am different from others that many people may just observe and visit the sanitation workers, but they may not be able to do sanitation workers. But I don't think the visit is enough, and since I want to know this state of life, I have to do it, so that's why I do every job very short, but do a lot of work.
Red Star News: Have you hesitated to give up the profession of a journalist not only to pay, but also to the corresponding social context, social evaluation and welfare protection?
Song Xiangbo: This is not in my consideration at all, I don't care about these things at all, I don't care what others say about me. I think more than 80% of people think that vagrancy is a sign of failure, and it seems that there is no contribution to society and should not be vagrancy, in fact, I don't think so. Our imagination is too poor to define the word wandering too narrowly. The wandering I understand is not the wandering street that everyone understands, it should be three meanings, the first is to drift around, the second is unrestrained, and the third is to wander the world.
Response to questions: Not false hype
Red Star News: What do you think of the "hype" that netizens question?
Song Xiangbo: I didn't look up the dictionary. In my understanding, hype should be divided into malicious hype or false hype, normal hype, normal hype may be a neutral word. The principle of my previous journalism was truthful, but readers will react differently to the same thing, some people think it is a positive energy, some people think it is negative energy, some people think it is hype. You can't convince the world, I don't want to convince, argue, I can only say that when I was doing news reports before, every detail was true.
Red Star News: Chen Mou, who shot the video of your popularity, how did he find you in the first place?
Song Xiangbo: He actually looked for me for a long time, because he was constantly looking for wanderers, and his purpose was actually to bring these people back on track. He may give them money, but I won't do anything for material relief.
He had come to me 5 days before I was interviewed and invited me to a bottle of wine, and it wasn't a big deal to ask someone to drink a beer. I didn't really want to make friends with him at first, because I felt as if he had come to show off his wealth and didn't bother to pay attention to him. He said you're a journalist, and I wanted to ask you about the media, so I talked to him a little bit. Later, I watched his self-media number, all of which were filmed as tramps, and I felt that he still had a heart for public welfare, and I agreed with this value. He slept with me in my square for three days, and I was touched by his sincerity.
At the same time, I wanted to write a book after two years of wandering, but I don't know if I can publish it. He said, "Now you write a book that probably not many people read." I was also shaken, and I wanted to share this experience first.
But I didn't expect the impact to be so great that my mother knew about it. Because my mother can't look at her phone and definitely won't brush vibrato, I don't think my mother should know these things.
Red Star News: Will the outside world's doubts have a big impact on you?
Song Xiangbo: No.
Red Star News: But you once said that after being followed by a lot of people, I didn't sleep well for two days.
Song Xiangbo: There is such a situation. Probably the day after this matter was exposed, it seems that there are more than 100 million plays, which means that more than 100 million people across the country may have watched it. I'm from the countryside, and the people in my village know it all. People like my mom who don't play with their phones also know that I'm wandering. Including elementary school, middle school, college classmates, many of my past units (colleagues) know that I am wandering, which gives me a lot of pressure. Logically, I'm a person who doesn't care much about what the outside world thinks, but I care a lot about my mom's feelings.
Red Star News: After your video went viral, why did you decide to end wandering?
Song Xiangbo: One of the biggest reasons is that my mother knows. Shortly after the video was released, my mom called me, and she didn't know very well, because she didn't know what vibrato was, and she wondered if something was wrong with me, because everyone in the village was spreading the word, I had an accident, let me go back.
I went back to see my mom. She cried and said to me, you lied to me, that you were working for two years, and as a result you slept on the street. My mom was disappointed, felt sorry for me, thought I was probably working too hard, and I cried too. So I don't think it can be done, for one reason.
The price of popularity: no longer freewheeling
Red Star News: What changes has the video brought to your life since it went viral?
Song Xiangbo: This is the biggest change I have ever made, probably I didn't get much attention before, I was originally an ordinary person in the world, I can live as I want; now sometimes I am on the street, taking the subway, taking the high-speed rail... I may be noticed by a lot of people, and I will try to restrain some of my behavior, which will make me less casual and free. This is the biggest change.
Red Star News: Do you prefer the state you were in when you were wandering, or the state you used to be when you were a reporter?
Song Xiangbo: I said a sentence: when one story is finished, you should go to the next story. I respect every story. Maybe it's a little better now, freedom, and a certain source of income. I don't have to climb to the top of the director, deputy editor-in-chief, I don't have these ideas.
Red Star News: What is your definition of freedom?
Song Xiangbo: It depends on what context you speak of freedom. When I used to be a financial journalist, I met a lot of rich people. There are also a few billionaires who want to take me to his house for dinner, to see his villa or something, and his finances are definitely free, and he thinks he is free, but I don't think he is free. For his mind is only intoxicated by the freedom that wealth has brought him.
For example, if I eat with him, he will say, Song Xiangbo, you are so cattle, you are eating with me now, you talk louder than me, I can say that you may not have 100 yuan on you now. How can my family property also get hundreds of millions, how do you do this? I told him that we were talking about thoughts, but you were going to measure it in terms of money. Do you think that you are so superior, that line, we are talking about the topic of literature now, can you talk about it?
He didn't enjoy art, like watching a good movie, watching a literary book, which in my eyes was not freedom. My understanding is more about the freedom of the mind. It's just that if I have a family, I have to let the family have a certain amount of financial freedom, and I can't have children going to school without money, and my wife is sick and has no money, that's definitely not okay.
Red Star News: But your current "freedom" also has to pay a price, what is your price?
Song Xiangbo: If I had a family now, there would be expenses, and I would need more money. Like after getting married and having children, I may also try to climb up a position and earn more money because I have to support my family. But I don't need to raise a family now, I'm enough.
Some people say that there is 5 million yuan, that is, wealth freedom, but I do not understand it this way. For me, maybe the current state of 500,000 yuan can be financial freedom, if I become a family may cost 5 million yuan, if I open a company, to support the company's people, may not achieve financial freedom of one hundred million. Financial freedom depends on how much you want to spend, how much you earn, such a comparison. So if I wasn't where I am, I would definitely have to go back and work hard.
Red Star News: Are you worried about being forgotten one day?
Song Xiangbo: It doesn't matter, I don't need others to remember me. I once wrote in an article that I was just a firework. You can just watch this firework, and the fireworks will pass one day.
Red Star News: You are in the short video, there is no new job at present, will you engage in work related to short video live broadcasting in the future? Or will you choose a different lifestyle?
Song Xiangbo: If anyone wants me to stay, I will stay. If no one really wants to, why stay?
Red Star News: Will you start the wandering lifestyle again?
Song Xiangbo: I won't wander, my wandering is over, and this story has come to an end.
Red Star News reporter Peng Li
Edited by Guo Yu
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