(This article was first published in Southern Weekend on August 15, 2019)
Guizhou Town, Zigui County, Hubei Province, Three Gorges Reservoir Area of the Yangtze River, qu yuan ancestral hall old photo. (Visual China/Photo)
In the main hall of Qu Yuan Ancestral Hall stands a bronze statue of Qu Yuan, whose figure is emaciated and depressed. This statue was located near the old county town before the construction of Gezhouba, when I went thirty years ago, the river did not rise so high, the river bank is steep, it takes a long stone step to climb, and after going ashore, it is a long stone step, followed by Qu Yuan Ancestral Hall, when the statue was placed outside the main hall, there is a very high pedestal. In short, in the process of looking up, it is all the way up, unlike today, the line of sight is basically level, I always feel that something is missing.
Gray clouds floated, drizzle stained the cheeks, the dam was like a majestic mountain stretching over the river, cutting the Yangtze River into two sections, the high part of the water and the low part of the water, the difference between the two is nearly 100 meters, and the boat passes through a special gate. Passenger ships go one way, cargo ships go another way. The river is gentle, the nearby mountains are light gray, and the distant mountains are dark gray and gray and white, and between the gray and white, there are many iron towers that transmit electricity. Suddenly thinking about the dam, thinking of the ancients and the present, thinking of the three gorges of the past and the reality of the Three Gorges, the past is gone, and the rain and fog began to thicken, the dam became hazy, and even the water discharge channel could not be seen clearly, only felt like a rough black fold. That night, staying at the Three Gorges Dam Project Hotel, I inadvertently looked through the window and saw the evening view of the river, the mountains were lying horizontally, and the clouds were like milky white ribbons, which decorated the mountains with some mottled and confused. The lights of people on the other side of the river flickered high and low, and a light box similar to a stage read "Three Bucket Ping". Thirty years ago, I used to pass by here, when it was foggy, and the boat we were riding on touched the reef and could not move, and the next day we took another boat to leave, I did not expect to stay here today, but I could no longer hear the sound of the mighty river. In the faint light of the night, from time to time there is the whispering of river wheels, the river water is gray, and the slender barges slowly paddle the river surface, creating a solemn vortex at the stern. A bridge across the river is lit like a chain, which outlines the night color of the river a little enchanting.
Since the river was cut off, the scenery of the rushing gorge river has ceased to exist. The river has become a stable lake, the water flow is basically static, and I accidentally see a trace of light, giving people the feeling of solidified wax tears. The river has been raised by more than a hundred meters, and the original towering peaks have become low and peaceful. Xin Jiaxuan said, I see how feminine Qingshan is, and I expect Qingshan to see that I should be like this, it should be like this, an equal perspective without the difference between high and low. It is no longer the feeling of walking on the river, the High Gorge River fighting thunder, but "the lake light and autumn moon two phases, August autumn wind mirror unpolished", the context of this poem is autumn, autumn wind suddenly rises, the waves disturb the original calm water surface. It is summer, there are no signs of autumn, no wind, but there is no feeling of mirror unbranded, only the feeling of the wax tears that are about to solidify mentioned above. This is, of course, just my personal feeling and does not represent others. And because in the summer, in order to prevent floods, a part of the water is released, so the mountain that was originally not on the surface of the water is exposed to a large section of gray and white color. If it is winter, these mountains sink into the water again, which is another scenery, maybe more beautiful.
The ship approached Wushan, and the color of the mountain began to turn black, and the reason for the name of the mountain "Wu" was here. The cliffs around the Goddess Peak are unusually smooth and flat, as if they were split with an axe and then finely polished. Emerald green vines intertwine on the rock walls like a beautiful picture. What kind of plant is that? Due to the elevation of the river, the Goddess Peak has become a low brow, and the Wangfu Stone above the peak can also be clearly identified, no longer mysterious. Later, I heard that the local area had opened a mountain road to climb to the top of the peak, and a young man spent four hours climbing up, hugging the stone, and after going down the mountain, he said that where there was a goddess, it was just a stone, and he only felt the coldness of the stone. This is puzzling. Chinese cultural traditions pay attention to blank space, the pursuit of secluded and hazy beauty, Wushan goddess is a distant beauty legend, thin clouds trick, flying stars spread hatred, why do we have to destroy the ancient myth?
The Late Tang Dynasty Fan Xi's "Yunxi Friendship Discussion" has such a record:
Zigui County Fan Zhiyi, Wen Bai Lotte will cross Wushan Mountain, before the goddess shrine powder wall, the big sign of the name: "Suzhou thorn history and modern talent, there will be poetry when you go to Wushan." In order to report the high Tang Goddess Dao, quickly row the clouds and rain to clear the words. ”
Not only did Fan Zhiyi paint the walls in advance, but he also composed a poem himself, obsessively waiting for Mr. Lotte to come and chant and wave ink. However, Bai Juyi did not agree, he looked at the newly painted bright pink wall, and for a long time, he said to Fan Zhiyi: "Liu Yuxi, who has done the history of the assassination of Kuizhou, has been here for three years, and has not written a single poem. "Why?" Timidly but not for", because of fear and dare not do. When he left Kuizhou, he smeared more than a thousand poems on the walls of the goddess shrine, leaving only four poems, and those four poems were "the best songs of ancient and modern times", and I did not dare to create a second poem. In the face of the poems of the former sages (Shen Qiqi, Wang Wujing, Li Duan, and Huang Furan), Bai Juyi weighed and could not win, and adopted an evasive approach, just like the legendary Li Whoxian, who came down from the white cloudy Yellow Crane Tower and handed over the white scroll.
Due to the 175-meter rise of the river, the White Emperor City has changed from a peninsula to an isolated island, and both the upper and lower islands need to take a boat. But the site of the White Emperor Temple has not changed, because it was originally on the top of the mountain. Someone in the temple was chanting Liu Yuxi's bamboo branch words, he had done the history of thorns here, was a powerful official, unlike his predecessor Du Laofuzi, who was poor and helpless. Du lived here for nearly two years, why did he live here for a long time? One of the reasons was that the officials at that time took more care of him, were there other reasons? unknown.
Du Fu created 462 poems in Kuizhou, accounting for about one-third of his total poems, and the eight poems of "Qiu Xing" are his masterpieces, chanting oh the high-rise powder there gradually faded in the twilight sky, and the moonlight was cold as a mirror, the sound of sadness soaked through the dense autumn anvil, the leaves were boundless, the fish and dragon were lonely and the autumn river was cold, the poet's mood was complex and sad, recalling the prosperity and wealth of Chang'an, the color pen was once dry, and the five Lings dressed and horses were light, what kind of magnificence and magic was it?
Wang Bin