First arrival at Chikan



It was a drizzle when I arrived at Chikan ancient town in Guangdong that night. In the afternoon, I set out from Bao'an, Shenzhen. On the way, I encountered thunderstorms, which were like pouring rain, accompanied by typhoons. The car was like a small boat. Walking on the misty and rainy land of Lingnan, I could not see the green trees and red flowers. Only the sound of rain and wind echoed around. When I arrived in this wet Town, I suddenly felt quiet.



It seems that the car passed through some streets and alleys in the hazy night, and finally stopped at the edge of a bay of water. In front of us is an exquisite building, with lights on in front of the door and a warm yellow glow silently flashing. It is the small shop we want to stay in.



In the middle of the night, I could hear the distant bell. When it was clear and powerful, I was awakened by it. But the lingering aftertaste of the bell made me fall into a dream, and I even woke up the next day. I don't know whether the bell is a dream, or does the dream follow the bell?



This small shop is small. The antique stairs, doors, carved beds and sliding windows all make close use of every inch of space. The washstand was right in front of the bed, and the faucet was made of brass. At first, I even thought it was a decoration, but when I twisted it, warm water immediately flowed out, just washing away the dust in front of the small mirror attached to the wall. After washing in the morning, I opened the wooden window, and the sight in front of me suddenly stunned me.



It turned out that the side of the shop was in an alley, opposite to a row of arcades, but the building was empty. All the windows and even the glass had been removed. It was dark. Only a few vines climbed over the wall from the corner at the bottom of the building, hung around the windowsill on the second floor, and opened small flowers one after another. They stuck their heads out of the green vines and swayed in the wind. Looking aside, most of the buildings along the alley are like this. It seems that they have been abandoned for many days.



I wasn't surprised, but after visiting the town during the day, I soon learned that this ancient town with a history of 350 years is undergoing a great change.



Chikan town is located in Kaiping, the beautiful western part of the Pearl River Delta. It is a famous hometown of overseas Chinese and is called a famous historical town in China. The bay water I saw at night was the Tanjiang River that brought aura to the town. This river has existed since ancient times. It originates from niuweiling mountain hundreds of miles away. It once had a very elegant name - Junzi river. It flows through Chikan and enters the sea from the gate of Xinhui cliff. In the past, it has always been the main channel of Chikan and made it a famous waterway hub. Flights regularly lead to thirty-nine ports outside the county, such as Macao, Guangzhou, Dongguan, Foshan, Shunde, Zhongshan, etc., and are also connected to more than twenty Township wharves in the county. Chikan has been a commercial port since the Song Dynasty. During the Qing Dynasty, Emperor Kangxi lifted the sea ban for more than 200 years, and Chikan has a new atmosphere. Merchants from Fujian, Zhejiang, Guangchao, QiongYa and other places have come here to do business. "There are a lot of business trips, and there are many boats and cars." it is also known as "a collection of merchant ships and ants, and there are many people who move to Mao". In the Daoguang year of the Qing Dynasty, Chikan was prosperous on the river, with more than 400 merchant ships registered with the government. In today's words, Chikan town has become a commercial logistics center in western Guangdong. At first, wooden sailboats were used in the river. At the beginning of the Republic of China, there were electric ships. This kind of ship, which can take dozens of people, was locally called "blue chimney". Above the blue waves, electric steamers named big Guangdong, big Feiteng, new zaohou, Dongfa and Haili ply between Chikan and Hong Kong, Macao, Guangzhou and Siyi, carrying rice and local products from the south of the five ridges and transporting them to printed cloth, foreign fire, foreign nails and coal oil from Britain, the United States and Germany.



It is also along this Junzi river that a large number of bankrupt farmers, small traders and craftsmen in Chikan area crossed the Pacific Ocean with their dreams of becoming rich, went to gold mines and railway sites in the United States and Canada, or entered plantations in South America to cut rubber, plant sugar cane and mine bird droppings. They spent their whole lives in foreign countries and eventually became attached to their hometown and returned to their roots, They returned to Chikan to build their homes.



At that time, there was a large beach to the east of Chikan town. At the beginning of last century, an enterprising businessman reclaimed land from the sea. Later, the four roads of "democracy", "people's livelihood", "civil rights" and "nation" in the town were constructed from the beach at that time. It is because of the surplus land that overseas Chinese and businessmen are becoming more and more enthusiastic in building their homes, seeking innovation and change, which has long been the tradition of this town.



In the face of the current relocation and reconstruction, the innovation in Chikan people's genes is once again stimulated.



Standing on the Tanjiang bridge, you can see the countryside with green ridges on the south bank, and the streets and alleys densely covered with arcades on the north bank. There are rows of Chinese and western buildings invested and built by overseas Chinese a hundred years ago. In this small town with a population of less than 50000 at present, there are more than 90000 overseas Chinese and compatriots from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. Walking along the street, I found that behind the twoorthree story arcades, there were often fourorfive story Diaolou. The front of the Diaolou was in western style, while the top of the swallow's nest was in Chinese style, with a round and sharp glazed tile roof, on which was inserted a flag pole of Baloch style. They were integrated into one, natural and harmonious.



"Beijing Imperial Palace, Chaoshan people's home", there are many older houses and old houses in Chikan Town, which retain the brick and wood structures of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. There is an old Chaozhou immigrant mansion on Zhongshan Road in downtown. It has both the official style of the Qing Dynasty and Chaozhou Shantou characteristics, recording the immigration history of Chaozhou merchants in that year. The old folk houses in Chikan have a variety of styles, just like small museums. Deep in the winding alleys, there are still old-fashioned "long" sliding doors in the shape of ladders, which are usually pushed into the walls, as well as solid wood doors and ancient and elegant arches... Entering these door openings with different shapes, it seems that they have been introduced into different ages. The wooden carved handrail of the stairs was smooth and greasy, as if it had been touched by many people; Colored glass in different shapes, such as square and rhombic, parquet floors with different patterns, dormer windows, mottled walls, and moss over the years all make people pass through the time one by one. The past scenes emerge in the silence in front of us.



However, many buildings are in disrepair for a long time, and the steel bars are rusted. Almost all of them are dilapidated. The reconstruction of the ancient town has been listed as a topic for many times. In recent years, it has become a foregone conclusion.



Although there has been news about the demolition, walking in the town this day, you can still see that small shops along the street are open for business. The advantage of the arcade is that people live upstairs and do business downstairs. Under the eaves of the eaves, which shelter pedestrians from the sun and rain, there is the noise of business transactions. Just walking, the distant bell sounded over the town: when -! When -!



I found the bell and came to a beige three storey building in Xiabu. It was from this that I climbed to the top of the building along the steep wooden ladder. Finally, the big clock hanging in the bell tower came into view. A stocky old man was the bell keeper. Seeing the praise and surprise in our eyes, he took the initiative to talk about the history of the big clock. A hundred years ago, the clock was donated by overseas Chinese in San Francisco, the United States. Since then, it has been ringing on time on this clock tower. It has never been delayed for a hundred years. The old man said that people living in Chikan do not need to wear watches. Under the reminder of the bell, people work, farm, buy, sell, read, eat, drink and walk every day... Day after day, year after year.



I gazed at the big copper clock. It was only one meter away. I had never seen such a huge open heart clock so close. It walked firmly and clicked. For a hundred years, except for occasional oiling and cleaning, it never stopped. The pinion bit a big gear. Every time it completed a turn, it would start the elongated small hammer and ring the bell. In the past 100 years, Chikan children grew up with the sound of the bell, and then traveled far away. What kind of thoughts will they bring? Perhaps in their memory, there will be countless different tastes of Chikan, and only this bell is the same thick and distant. It rings the morning of every young man and calls every wanderer back home. It is waiting for the long history of Tanjiang River, and things change.



Kindness and kindness in soup



I waited in the bell tower and heard it strike the noon bell. There were 12 times when it rang, as if it were on the horizon and in front of me. It is sounded against the noon sun, so it is more diligent and enthusiastic. This moment is also a dialogue between time and heaven and earth. I listened devoutly and tried to understand.



At this moment, the town seemed to feel the urge of the bell, and the walkers raised their heads and stepped up in the direction of the bell; In front of the food shops, there are more people than in the morning. Some are still waiting in line. The aroma is spreading. The iron spoon for cooking touches the pot and jingles. One, one more.



The fireworks on the streets of Chikan are particularly strong, without any reserve at all. Fried vegetables and barbecues are placed on the streets, and people come and go in unison. The Cantonese style casserole here is said to be the most authentic. There are oneortwo alleys where casserole restaurants go from house to house. In front of each store, there are more than a dozen blazing small stoves, and a variety of fillings are placed on the table. Rice with preserved meat, rice with eel, rice with pond lice, rice with loach, rice with sliced chicken, rice with beef and rice with seafood can be cooked at any time. I waited in a long line and asked for a paella. I saw the young sister-in-law in a white apron walking around in front of the stove. She was like a skilled magician, flipping her hands up and down, flipping the lid of the pot, adding rice, water, feeding, all kinds of cut meat, onion, garlic and coriander. Under her hands, she was like a lady scattering flowers.



The shop is small and staggered with several small tables. I sat down alone and tasted some hot paella in a small pottery bowl. A woman wearing a red hat at the small table opposite was also eating a pot of rice. She stood up and walked inside and brought out a bowl of soup. She doesn't look like the owner of the shop, let alone the clerk. Why does she add soup? It was strange, but she looked at me, stood up from the table, went in and brought out a bowl of soup. This time, she sent her hands to my table and said, "drink."



I was at a loss for a moment, but I heard her say, "just drink the soup and serve it yourself." I don't quite understand her Minnan dialect, but I can guess the main idea from her gestures. I couldn't help but go to the back to have a look. It turned out that there was a big stove in the small compartment. There was a large pot of tofu and green vegetable soup warming on it. Next to it, there was an iron spoon and a pile of iron bowls, which I took for free. Although the woman in red hat was just a customer like me, she was from Chikan. Seeing that I was a stranger and didn't understand the hospitality of the shop, she brought me soup without saying anything.



A bowl of soup let me taste the kindness and kindness of Chikan people.



The layer of "rice coke" at the bottom of the pot is crisp and delicious. I can't chew all the fragrance. With tofu and green vegetable soup, I can taste the flavor of a century old shop. If the bell had not sounded again, I would have forgotten the time in this shop. I went out of the shop and wanted to remember the sign of the shop. Maybe I'll come back next time, but I can't find it on either side. There is a piece of paper pasted on the lintel. The faint ink is about the name of the shop, but I can't recognize it clearly. Only the lotus like dancing hands of the young sister-in-law and the red hat woman's soup have been lingering for a long time.



Interweaving of tradition and Modernity



In the past two years, in order to write the long reportage "powerful country and heavy weapon - Beijing Electron Positron Collider", I have interviewed the China Institute of high energy physics in Beijing for many times. I learned that they are building a large-scale Jiangmen neutrino experimental station in dashiling, not far from Chikan, Guangdong. This time, I will go to dashiling to interview in addition to the Tanjiang River called Junzi river.



Three years ago, the construction of Jiangmen neutrino experimental station began at dashiling. Driving from Chikan, you can see a continuous small hillside, quiet and peaceful. At the foot of the wooded mountain, rows of simple workshops with white walls and blue roofs are covered.



Neutrinos are everywhere and constitute the origin of the world. However, human beings have only known it for more than 80 years, and there are still many unsolved mysteries. The study of neutrinos may be the most important key to decipher the code of the origin and evolution of the universe. In 2012, wangyifang, director of the Institute of high energy physics, as the chief scientist of the "Daya Bay International Cooperation experiment" project, led scientific researchers to discover the third oscillation mode of neutrinos for the first time in 8 years and accurately measure the oscillation probability. This earth shattering research found the future development direction for the neutrino research which was at the "fork in the road" at that time, and was praised by American peers as the most important physical achievement in China's history. In the layout of Chinese physicists, the new vision of Jiangmen Kaiping neutrino experiment is followed. Their primary scientific goal here is to measure the mass order of neutrinos, that is, the mass difference of different types of neutrinos. The basic experimental principle is the same as that of Daya Bay, but the detector needs to be rotated at a distance of about 60 kilometers, because this is the expected maximum point of neutrino oscillation. Dashiling is the best experimental site.



The construction of the neutrino experimental station will undoubtedly bring advanced science and technology to this land, and the ancient Lingnan has entered a new era with a wonderful posture.



One year later, when I was writing these words, the message from Lingnan was that Chikan people were rebuilding their homes. All the streets in the town had been put up with scaffolding. All the small shops that cooked rice and sold clothes had closed. The town was temporarily empty. Accompanied by the ongoing scientific construction at the foot of dashiling, Chikan ancient town has experienced an unprecedented shock, with some buildings to be demolished and some to be rebuilt; Some traces left over thousands of years will disappear forever, and some new things that have never existed will appear again. Tradition and modernity are so clearly intertwined, which has brought inner conflicts and struggles to countless people, as well as new expectations.



The bell is still ringing on time.



The loud voice of the hundred year old clock: "Dang Dang" penetrates people's body and mind gently, just like an old man telling a fable of time, hoping to call on the ups and downs of the world. In the long reverberating bell, the sun shines on the bluestone slab of the ancient town, the mottled arcade can not be seen at a glance, and the beautiful reflection is flashing in the rippling river, with blue sky and white clouds. Chikan, that is your past and present life, and also your better tomorrow. (author: Yemei, member of the presidium of the Chinese writers' Association and executive vice president of the Chinese Minority Writers' Association, is the author of novel collection "Song stick", prose collection "crossing the river of La Meng" and "from small to large")