Writer Wei Xin's Homecoming: After 20 years of absence, how did Cao County become the "center of the universe"?

Comparison of Cao County's present and past. Courtesy of Wei Xin

Cao County, China News Network, September 18 (Reporter Liang Xiaohui) "After 20 years of leaving Cao County, how did it become the 'center of the universe'? This is the sentiment of the writer Wei Xin when he returned to his hometown of Cao County.

Cao County, a small county town in Heze City, Shandong Province, in May this year, suddenly because of a magic slogan of "Shandong Heze Cao County 666" spread all over the Internet, becoming the latest "cosmic center" identified by the Internet seal, and even many netizens joked that its ranking in China was "North, Shang, Guangzhou, Cao".

In addition to the explosion of the Internet, the two major industries cultivated by Cao County in recent years- Hanfu production and wood products (mainly coffin) processing, have become the hard support for the cultural "soft power" of this small county. The data shows that most of the Hanfu at a price of 100-300 yuan on the market comes from Cao County. The coffins produced in Cao County are exported to Japan, and even account for about 90% of the Japanese market. Cao County's "fame" on the Internet is actually not surprising.

After leaving Cao County 20 years ago, Wei Xin always wanted to return to Cao County to see, during which time he slowly grew into a cultural scholar, and also appeared on the "Hundred Family Pulpit" and became the youngest keynote speaker. In many literary works, he has written about his hometown, but he mostly uses "county town" to refer to it. For Wei Xin, Cao County has never been the "center of the universe", but an ordinary small Chinese county.

But in May, he had a new sense of his hometown — and when he was ready to go home to see it, he found that more than 100 media outlets were there. "Let's see so many people and don't add to the chaos."

Until recently, he accepted the invitation of the watermelon video to return to his hometown and gaze at the changes in Cao County from the perspective of cultural scholars. He also took the opportunity to become a fashionable Vlogger (watermelon video creator), recording and uploading his return to his hometown with videos, and like "Cao County", he received unexpected attention and discussion.

"In the 1980s and 1990s, I felt that the appearance of Cao County had basically not changed, and it had only changed a little bit older every year." Wei Xin recalled that at that time, the county town was actually just a few streets, one street and one back street, no parks, no buses, all bicycles and donkey carts. At that time, I was particularly eager for the outside world, and I felt particularly shocked when I heard the words "skyscraper".

And the Cao County that appeared in front of him today surprised him. "These few days of drizzle, do you feel that this is Cao County, or Jiangnan?" With spacious asphalt roads, park trails everywhere, clear water and rivers, and the once dilapidated Cao County has become poetic.

What made Wei Xin even happier was that now in addition to the change in the appearance of the county, the appearance of young people was also different. "Now you see a lot of young people who start their own businesses, whether they work in Cao County, their spirit is much better than in the past."

In Wei Xin's memory, the scene of Cao County in the past can no longer be seen, "Now many young people's faces are full of that kind of upward pursuit, because there are many opportunities."

This is also an important reason why Cao County has "developed" in Wei Xin's heart. In his view, the development of the hometown and the development of young people are mutually reinforcing.

However, the development of Cao County also made Wei Xin's psychology feel a little contradictory. As a person who has left his hometown, of course, I hope that when I go back, my hometown will be exactly the same as in my memory, as the saying goes: "I especially envy those who come from the countryside, and they have at least one hometown in their minds."

With this nostalgia, Wei Xin once wrote a poem "Cao County, Where To Go" - "The stone toad is hanging away, the Rock Building is gone, osumi shou, jumping into the tower, or two intersections... Cao County, where did it go? ”

However, after returning to his hometown, Wei Xin quickly convinced himself. "Is it as good as it used to be?" Then we can sigh at best. Is it important to sigh, or is it important to make your hometown thrive? ”

"It must be the latter that matters." Wei Xin said. (End)

Source: China News Network