Shu Ting described in an article that when she was three years old, her father took her from Xiamen to Gulangyu's grandmother's house, but within two months, she was taken back to Xiamen by her grandmother who had always loved her because she was not used to life there. This should be the first time that Shu Ting came to Gulangyu in her life, although it was only a short two months.
Shu Ting's real contact with Gulangyu Island should be after she came back from jumping the queue. At that time, her grandmother and mother had died, so she came to her father who lived in Gulangyu and worked as a worker in Gulangyu. This period is the heyday of her literary creation. From this time on, Shu Ting hasn't left Gulangyu for a long time.
Shu Ting called Gulangyu the source of her life, which was from the heart. Although she was not born in Gulangyu, her roots, her life, her poems and her essays are all in Gulangyu. In this sense, Gulangyu Island is indeed the source of Shu Ting's life.
Shu Ting's family has lived in Gulangyu since grandpa. Shu Ting's ancestral home is Quanzhou, and she is a scholarly family. After his grandfather graduated from Shanghai Law School, he was hired as an accountant by his cousin's family, which is probably equivalent to the current accountant. This cousin is not simple. She is the first wife of the original owner of "Xinzhuang Garden" in Gulangyu. Now Xinzhuang Garden has become a famous scenic spot on Gulangyu Island. Since then, Shu Ting's grandfather has settled in Gulangyu with his family. Shu Ting's grandfather has never bought a house and has been renting a house in Gulangyu.
At first, I borrowed a house to live in for many years. The borrower, who was called "Aunt jiaozi" by Shu Ting, was a wealthy businessman in Nanyang, who was widowed at an early age. It's a handkerchief friend of Aunt Shu's (now called a best friend). The borrowed room is a small wing. Shu Ting's father got married here and his brother was born here. After the population gradually prospered, the originally quiet residence became a little noisy. Shu Ting's grandfather couldn't bear to interfere too much in Aunt jiaozi's life at home, and the economic conditions at this time were better than at the beginning. Before Shu Ting was born, she rented a floor on Zhonghua Road in Gulangyu.
Shu Ting wrote an essay "Aunt jiaozi's Family" in the book "True Water Without Fragrance", which described in detail the influence of this residence on herself, but unfortunately did not mention the specific address. Otherwise, she can visit Gulangyu Island. But it may have been destroyed.
Grandpa Shu Ting rented a house on Zhonghua Road, in the courtyard of 45-47 Zhonghua Road. There are two buildings side by side in the hospital, with six floors. There are six families. My grandfather's house is one of them, living on the second floor of No.45, Zuolou. Before liberation to 1970s, the monthly rent was 10 yuan. On the third floor, No.47, the right building, lived Zhang Yuanzhou. Shu Ting wrote an article entitled "Bible in one hand and gun in the other".
Shu Ting's grandfather lives on the second floor, covering an area of about 200 square meters. However, due to the rapid population development and many children, it is quite crowded. According to Shu Ting's prose "Once a Boudoir", when grandma's big bed was fully used, all five children slept head to tail except the old man who touched the edge of the bed. When Shu Ting was three years old, she was taken by her father from Xiamen to Gulangyu's grandmother's house and slept beside her at night. Originally, this is the most favorable location, but I don't know how to cherish it. She cried all night, even foaming at the mouth, and kept shouting that grandma's bun smelled. Father had no choice but to hold Shuting and wait for the morning on the sofa. Grandma doesn't like this granddaughter from now on. Shu Ting said that grandma's hair is very thick and dense, and she only combs her hair with shaving water every day, instead of washing her hair. This should be the normal state of some women in the old days.
Shu Ting was spoiled by her grandmother since she was a child, and she had a very good relationship with her. Grandma was not used to seeing Shu Ting living in her grandmother's house. In less than two months, she took Shu Ting back. Shu Ting said in her essay A Lucky Stick that when she was a child, she always asked her grandmother why she grew up in a place like Gulangyu. Grandma's answer is simple and clear: providence.
1972 When Shu Ting came back three years after jumping the queue, both her grandmother and mother had died, so she had to go back to Gulangyu's father. The father loves his daughter very much, and repeatedly implores the landlord Xiuyinggu to move out of a hexagonal room with an independent portal on the ground floor of the right building, making it Shu Ting's "boudoir" and renting 2 yuan every month. It was here that Shu Ting studied, wrote poems and received visitors, and spent her most vigorous youth. Finally, Shu Ting got married from here. These contents are described in detail in Shu Ting's essay Once a Boudoir.
Shu Ting described her "hexagonal boudoir" in detail in her essay Dear Friends and Family at Home:
Chen Jiayuan, Zhonghua Road 13, where Shu Ting lived after marriage, is her husband's ancestral business. This is a small red building on the second floor built in the 1930s. The address of this small building was once marked on the tourist map of Gulangyu Island, which brought a lot of trouble and inconvenience to Shu Ting. Every morning, before Shu Ting got up, someone came here and asked to take a photo with his master. Later, under the protest of Shu Ting, this sign finally disappeared from the map. However, Shu Ting said that she often saw a tour guide with a group of people talking about "To the Oak Tree" at her door. It seems that Shu Ting and her To Oak are inseparable from Gulangyu Island and have become the landmark scenery on Gulangyu Island.
The house at Zhonghua Road 13 is under the famous Sunlight Rock. In Shu Ting's prose collection The Lost Story, Shu Ting describes her and Sunlight Rock in this way: "Just like the Statue of Liberty in new york Harbor, the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, Sunlight Rock is the coordinate of Gulangyu. Open the door early and cover the window late to welcome Sunlight Rock. The top of the rock is always crowded with people and looks like a crown from a distance. "
When I went to Gulangyu, I also searched and found Shu Ting's home at Zhonghua Road 13. But by then Shu Ting had moved to Xiamen to live. There is only a deserted and dilapidated yard left. I walked around the yard for a while, facing the opposite Sunlight Rock, thinking about the poet's poems and taking a look at the deserted yard and overgrown trees. This is a dream that I commemorated myself since I was a child. I visited the house where Shu Ting lived in Gulangyu, which is explained in detail in my other article "Dreams in Gulangyu-Shu Ting and Poetry". Interested readers can refer to it.
By the way, the name Chujiayuan next door to Shuting's house is also a famous house, which seems to have been built several years earlier than Shuting's house. It is the hometown of Chu Wu Yao, a professor at the Central Conservatory of Music and a famous violinist. The Chu family and Shu Ting's husband, Chen Jia, have been friends for many years and neighbors.
After Shu Ting got married, her father and family moved to No.52 Anhai Road. This building is the ancestral property of Shu Ting's great uncle's family and has been uninhabited for a long time. After Wen *, my uncle went back to China to find relatives. Because his hometown in Zhonghua Road was overcrowded, he had to stay in a hotel. So, he proposed to simply repair the three old buildings on Anhai Road and entrust them to his father. So Shu Ting's father took his son and family to No.52 Anhai Road, where Shu Ting's father finally died. Shuting's house at Zhonghua Road 13 was renovated, and she once took her son to live in her father's house at No.52 Anhai Road for a period of time.
Gulangyu is a small island that can only be walked. Shu Ting has lived in Gulangyu for many years and has a relatively fixed walking route. Shu Ting explained it in detail in her article "Snapshot", and the excerpt is as follows:
When Shu Ting fans visit Gulangyu Island, if they are interested, they can take a trip along the route mentioned in the article, which is also quite interesting.
Shu Ting no longer lives in Gulangyu, or there is no Shu Ting on Gulangyu. But Shu Ting has actually become a landscape of Gulangyu, and many people will think of Shu Ting when they board Gulangyu. Gulangyu Island is the source of Shu Ting's life. I think Shu Ting must have mixed feelings when she moved out of Gulangyu Island.
When Gulangyu added a lot of poetry because of Shu Ting, the increasingly noisy Gulangyu made Shu Ting reluctantly leave it. I wonder if the poet's departure will make Gulangyu feel a little lonely. Although Gulangyu is full of excitement every day, what we can know is that Shu Ting who left Gulangyu must still have the beautiful island that gave her the "source of life" in her heart!