I always thought Yuanmingyuan was crying. Eight-Nation Alliance ravaged her body and destroyed her bones. This is a nation burning in the sky.
The self-esteem of ethnic groups, the pain of more than a hundred years, is like the broken arm of the West Building, which has experienced a hundred years of wind and rain forever-standing on the ruins of Dashuifa in the West Building.
Before, I couldn't help feeling the pain of Yuanmingyuan, feeling the humiliation and pain of a nation, which was the kind of pain that touched the skin.
I went to Yuanmingyuan ten years ago. No one wants to go, and there is nothing to see at that distance. I said I would definitely go.
It's a gloomy day, and it's raining cold in Mao Mao. With the autumn wind blowing on my face, it's like a knife. I walked along the vast lake, but I didn't see anyone. Finally, I finally came to the site of Dashuifa-although I have seen photos of this site from pictures and textbooks many times, I still felt a heartfelt shock when I stood under the pale sky and truly faced the jade-white stone in this wilderness! Still gorgeous-I stroked the cold jade texture; Still exquisite-European curves are smooth and uninhibited; Still noble-the broken Roman stone pillars stand proudly under the sky. Then I cried, but fortunately there was no one around. I didn't bring my camera, but those stones, pillars and stone carvings, together with the gray sky, are branded in my mind and become indelible murals in my heart.
Today, ten years later, I said, I will go to Yuanmingyuan again. For me, going to Yuanmingyuan is a kind of mourning and a kind of memorial. Even a reminder.
I'm not afraid of being called melodramatic when I say this. That's what I thought.
When I entered the Yuanmingyuan, I found that it was not what it used to be. The tranquility of ten years ago no longer exists, and the once silent Yuanmingyuan is in an uproar. Liuqing peach vine
Purple, full of spring scenery, the past royal leisure garden site, the average person should also go and see; No matter the ticket price rises from 50 cents to 25 yuan, the venue, this huge garden, must be managed by important people to support themselves. Gorgeous rickshaws around: going to Fuhai? Go to Hunchun Garden? Just ten dollars, I'll pull you.
Go to the west building! Thank you, I said. I just want to go by myself.
Go ahead, go along the lake and turn right through the wisteria frame. Yes, it is the site, the site of Dashuifa.
Unexpectedly, there are so many people here at the site of Xiyanglou! A group of children wearing red scarves screamed and threw stones at each other; A group of boys and girls who look like high school students or technical secondary school students are biting popsicles in front of the ruins of Haiyan Hall and singing loudly "The girl opposite is coming". Several people who looked like cadres smiled happily and took a group photo in front of the marble monument engraved with the words "Yuanmingyuan". The one with the camera said, laugh! Smile! This group of people just laughed stupidly with fat bellies. In front of the Dashuifa site, I read in the book that hour that five Roman pillars were crying there ten years ago, and a couple hugged and kissed like no one was watching!
For a moment, I was a little at a loss. Why do you want to kiss in front of this big water law field to show your love? How can you laugh in such a broken and decaying rock?
Come out? Singing is really good. Go to Qichun Garden, Changchun Garden or boating Fuhai! Watching this group of people talking and laughing in front of the rubble.
Young and old, staring up at the tall and broken Roman column, their eyes and hearts ached.
What about history? What about shame? What about the blood? !
A few years ago, there was an argument about whether Yuanmingyuan needed to be rebuilt. As a result, rational people understand the value of ruins and respect the calendar.
History has left us a cruel truth, leaving behind this ruin. I was cheering for staying. But today I saw so many ruins on the ruins.
I doubt whether it is necessary to stay with the laughing crowd in front of the address. After all these years, the broken wall can still remind me.
People's memories of nightmares more than a century ago, the disaster and shame of the Chinese nation? !
It's time to come to Yuanmingyuan, and it will be cloudy. A cloud of dust came on my face, and raindrops the size of beans fell and split my face. The laughing crowd walked on.
Rush outside. I am the only one left, sitting quietly on a white stone, facing the Dashuifa site and the magnificent and broken Roman stone pillars, and
Heaven, cry with these broken walls. ...
historical remains
I curse the ruins, and I sympathize with the ruins.
The ruins swallowed up my hopes and memories. Pieces of rubble are scattered among weeds, broken stone pillars stand in the sunset, and records in books and childhood fantasies are destroyed in the ruins. The glory of the past turned into ridicule, and the ancestors of entrepreneurship roared in the cold wind. As night fell, the unknown moon smiled bitterly and hid in the clouds, casting a shadow over the ruins.
But the accumulation of generations is not history. Ruins are destruction, burial, farewell and choice. The power of time should leave traces on the earth; The great ship of years should crush the bumps between lanes. There is no yesterday without ruins, and there is no today and tomorrow without yesterday. Ruins are textbooks, let's read a geography as history; Ruins are a process, and life is to start from old ruins and move towards new ruins. At the beginning of the construction, I thought of its future decline, so the ruins are the destination; The renewal construction is based on the ruins, so the ruins are the starting point. Ruins are a long evolutionary chain.
A friend told me that he once walked into a famous ruin and looked up with tears in his eyes. The composition of this tear is very complicated. It's hatred, it's loss, and it's not entirely. The ruins show stubbornness, like a disabled tragic hero. The ruins show the vicissitudes of life and give people a glimpse of the faltering nation. The ruins are the instructions of the dying old man, so you can't help but be moved.
Ruins have a kind of formal beauty, which transforms the beauty from the earth into the beauty attached to the earth. If there are many teenagers, they will become dirt and completely integrate into the earth. The stage to be melted is ruins. The mother smiled to encourage her sons' creation and accepted it with a smile. The mother is afraid that her son will be too tired and the world will be too congested. Have you ever seen yellow leaves fluttering in autumn? Mothers are afraid of their cold and income. There is no autumn without yellow leaves, and the ruins are the yellow leaves of the building.
People say that the meaning of yellow leaves lies in feeding spring. I said, the yellow leaves themselves are beautiful.
Two friends argued in front of me. One said that he likes to walk alone among the ruins on the night when the stars and the moon are gone, or sing poems or songs until the east turns white; Another said that with the expectation of morning light, this kind of night outing would be gone. His habit is to take advantage of the twilight of the waning moon and find a path to walk back quietly.
As for me, I am older than them, and I don't have that kind of pride and courage. I am afraid that people will refresh, repair and rebuild all the ruins.
It is unimaginable that the Colosseum in ancient Rome needs to be rebuilt, the ancient city of Pompeii needs to be rebuilt, the Angkor Wat in Cambodia needs to be rebuilt, and the Mayan cultural sites need to be rebuilt.
It's like we can't imagine that the ancient bronzes in the distance need polishing, the unearthed broken halberd needs nickel plating, the books in the Song Dynasty need plastic surgery, and the old lady in the Han Dynasty in Mawangdui needs skin grafting, breast enhancement and heavy makeup.
As long as history does not stop and time does not go backwards, everything will age. When you are old, give the world a kind of beauty peacefully. Pretending to be naive is the cruelest form of self-abuse. Grandma without wrinkles is terrible, and old people without white hair are sorry. Life without ruins is too tired, and land without ruins is too crowded. Covering up the ruins is a big scam.
Let history return to reality and life return to the process.
-This is the great wisdom of mankind.
Of course, not all the remains are worth preserving. Otherwise the earth will be scarred. Ruins are envoys sent from ancient times to modern times, which have been selected and screened by historical kings. Ruins are feats launched by our ancestors, which gathered the local strength and essence at that time. The ruins smashed into powder are not ruins, but they should have the strongest ligament in history. Ruins can provide the possibility of reading, and the ruins exude the magnetic force that makes people linger. Yes, the ruins are a magnetic field, extremely ancient and modern, and the compass of the mind is strongly felt here. If you lose magnetism, you will lose the life of the ruins and will soon be eliminated.
Not all repairs are absurd. Carefully clean up, reinforce without showing traces, and then painstakingly design to keep the original flavor and easy to watch. This kind of work is a boon to the ruins, and the purpose of all work is to make it a veritable ruin, so that everyone is willing to mourn for it. Repairing always means some loss. It is the long-cherished wish of all real ruins restorers to minimize the damage. Not all reconstruction needs to be denied. If even the ruins are gone, it doesn't matter if we rebuild one to realize the ambition of modern people to swallow the past and the present. However, that's just the classical style of modern architects, with an old name, out of humor. The Yellow Crane Tower has been rebuilt and can be installed with elevators. If Epang Palace is rebuilt, it can be used as a hotel. If the Wang Teng Pavilion is rebuilt, it can open a shopping center. This has little to do with history. If there are both ruins and reconstruction, then I suggest that the ruins be preserved and rebuilt next door. It hurts to drive a bulldozer on the ruins.
Whether it is restoration or reconstruction, the essence of the remains lies in preservation. Yuanmingyuan site is one of the most historic cultural relics in Beijing. If it is completely razed and a brand-new Yuanmingyuan is built, it will not be worth the candle. The Qing dynasty is gone, the raging fire is gone, the national haze is gone, the historical feelings are gone, the story of last night is erased, and the dreams of the previous night are cleared. However, it is not last night's dream, but today's game.
China has always lacked site culture. The word ruins is very scary in Chinese.
Either winter is full of nostalgia or pragmatism. Those who yearn for the past only want to make use of the ancient present, while those who follow the times only want to destroy the ancient present. As a result, two wars and two defeats are afraid of injury, which not only hurts history, but also hurts modern times. Bloody and scarred, such a big country, in front of me, where are those lost times? Behind me, where are the future generations? I thought of heaven and earth, with no limit and no end. I was alone and my tears fell.
Leave some blank in the hearts of China people! Let the ancients leave a few footprints in modern times, and let modern times gaze at the ancients calmly. Ruins are nothing to be ashamed of. The ruins need not be covered. We are too good at covering up.
China's history is full of tragedies, but China people are afraid to see the real tragedy. In the end, everyone has a happy reunion to win emotional comfort and psychological satisfaction. Only Qu Yuan, Du Fu, Cao Xueqin, Kong, Lu Xun and Bai Xianyong did not want a happy reunion. They preserved the ruins and purified the tragedy, so there appeared truly profound literature.
There is no tragedy without tragedy, and there is no sublimity without tragedy. Xuefeng is great because the hillside is full of the remains of climbers; The sea is great, because there are sunken ships floating everywhere; The moon landing was great because of the fall of Challenger. Life is great, because there is white hair, farewell and helpless loss. Ancient Greece lived by the sea, and countless warriors who yearned for the other side went wave after wave, so there was a brilliant Greek tragedy.
Sincerely and frankly admit the failure after the struggle and the loss after the success, we will only be more calm. If China people want to become atmospheric, it is impossible to drive all the ruins out.
The survival of ruins is a symbol of modern civilization.
The ruins reflect the confidence of modern people.
Ruins will not stop the market and hinder progress. Modern people have a profound vision and know where they stand in history. He wouldn't imagine that a high platform would rise on the ground under his feet. Therefore, he is happy to look at all the steps behind him.
What touches the ruins is modern historical philosophy, and historical philosophy also needs to find materials. Only in the hustle and bustle of modern times can the tranquility of ruins have power; Only in the meditation of modern people can the ruins rise to fables.
So the ancient ruins are really modern buildings.
Modernity is not just a period of time. Modernity is tolerance, modernity is tolerance, modernity is vastness, and modernity is vastness.
We, with the ruins, are moving towards modernity.
The moral story of Yuanmingyuan
The British Museum is a way to tell about civilization. The story it wants to tell starts from the left-hand side of the gate. There are Egyptian, Babylonian, Greek and Roman exhibition areas, which are the roots of western civilization. On the right side of the gate is the "new world" region such as the United States, which is the late stage of western civilization. As for China, it coexists with other Asian exhibition areas at the other end of the gate. Comparing one's own unique track and nature is the other of western civilization. It is also the memory of an empire. The mummies, marbles and countless rare cultural relics that fill its narrative framework are just enough to illustrate the strength, deceit and hegemony of the British Empire in the past.
In contrast, the ruins of the Acropolis tell us a completely different story. Originally the glory of the western classical world, after more than 2,000 years of natural disasters, wars and looting, it has now become a broken ancient bottle, which induces tourists to think about the whole that no longer exists and the significance it contains.
However, although there are many vendors around to attract tourists, the whole ruins still have the dignity of history, without excessive vulgar decoration, and have never become a paradise ravaged by others. Every visitor who has been to the Parthenon can't help but imagine what a magnificent sight it would be if all the stone carvings in the British Museum were transported back here and put back to their original positions.
So far, the Greek authorities have successfully retrieved many remains of the Acropolis from Sweden, Vatican and Italy. Only Britain, under the great pressure of public opinion, is trying to keep the treasure of the British Museum. Nevertheless, the negotiations between the two sides have made progress. At the very least, the British side knows that this is morally untenable and can only strive for the best interests through leasing or other cooperation methods.
In this context, watching the auction of animal heads in Yuanmingyuan may reflect different directions.
First of all, after many changes of hands, the owners of those animal heads are not the state, but private people, so it is particularly difficult to get jobs. Judging from the folk sentiment in China, people really care about the symbolic significance of Yuanmingyuan. In this case, we might as well assume that China should do something before the animal head can return smoothly.
For example, we can upgrade the management right of Yuanmingyuan, turn it from the Yuanmingyuan management office under the Haidian District Government of Beijing into a national heritage park management office, stop letting people go in for filming, leave damaged vegetation (that's what the "Promise" crew did in those years), and tear down the hotels and shops built later (according to a survey conducted by Cao Lijuan of Beijing Forestry University, such buildings actually account for 15% of the scenic spots in Changchun Garden), and return what they deserve. Then we use it to tell stories.
This story is naturally related to the country. Historian Wong Young-tsu pointed out in Pursuing the Lost Yuanmingyuan that modern China people can't forget the fate of a royal garden because they are very confused. "Why do westerners violate their own international laws, which expressly prohibit looting of private property that can be taken away from civilians or heads of state in wartime", especially when the British and French allied forces looted Yuanmingyuan, because the powers just joined The Hague, which prohibits looting in wartime, in 1899. However, its significance should not be limited to this. Because of the collapse of Yuanmingyuan, not only the West, but also China people are responsible. Shortly after the British and French allied forces retreated, nearby residents ran in to grab wood. After the overthrow of the Manchu dynasty, from warlords to the government of the Republic of China, from high-ranking officials and dignitaries to folk bandits, they even colluded with the remaining cultural relics and plundered them wantonly. After the founding of New China, the process of site destruction did not stop. When the mountains and lakes were filled up, the original artificial hills and ponds became large-scale agricultural land and staggered passages. Then came the Cultural Revolution, which cut down more trees and added many factories. ...
Therefore, this story is very complicated, but its theme can be very simple; That is to respect history and cherish all the precious material memories in our hands. Any ruins park and disaster memorial hall has the function of establishing a "moral community". Its purpose should not be narrow, but its meaning can be broad. For example, the establishment of "Holocaust Memorial Hall" in western countries is not only to make Jews forget their blood and hatred, but also to make non-Jews (including Germans) deeply introspect and understand how the road to the abyss was built. In other words, the moral community established by sites and museums speaks not only to their own people, but also to foreigners; It not only needs outsiders to reflect, but also needs our own people to forge ahead; Because moral principles are not limited to the boundaries between countries and nations.
What can Yuanmingyuan tell us? Besides educating China people to be patriotic, can western tourists reflect on the cruelty of imperialism? Shows the scars caused by foreign enemies; But does it remind us that just today, around us, countless cultural relics are still flowing out illegally and valuable buildings are still falling down under bulldozers? If China people themselves don't show their determination to prevent material memory from being destroyed, how can they stand on the moral high ground in international public opinion like the Greeks and win wide sympathy?
Compared with the animal heads, the cultural relics of Yuanmingyuan that China can retrieve more easily through diplomatic channels are actually the pictures of women's history hidden in the British Museum and the remnants of Wen Yuan Gusku's complete book in Fontainebleau. If one day, the government is ready to make a request, we need a more solid foundation to form a momentum. And that foundation lies in Yuanmingyuan and the moral authority it represents. Therefore, we should ask ourselves today: Do you respect history?