In front of the gate of the East Station, look at the river beach in the distance. Where no one has set foot, there are patches of weeds swaying in the wind. It was a cloudy day. Even now, I still see the gray body of the World Bridge, reflected alone in the Haihe River. Many years later, when I set foot on this land again, crossed the Liulin Bridge, arrived at the former site of Golden Bay Garden from Dagu South Road and Xueyuan North Road, and looked at the weeds on the other side of the river beach, I could still remember my feelings when I left, which was far away and euphemistic, just like people and things there. It is a land, in the Far East, in China, in North China, in Tianjin and by the sea.
My home is in meadows Road, meadows? It means meadow, which is transliterated as meadow road in Chinese. There is a river (Qiangzi River) about 100 yards southwest of Zhengxingde Tea House at the junction of Taian Road and Xinhua Road today. Yes, it has been buried and turned into Nanjing Road. When the subway runs in the original river bed, I often think of a fish flying in the river. The train on Tianjin Line 1 Nanjing Road is like that fish.
When I went back many years ago, the house was gone, and some shrubs and small trees were planted on it. You asked me why I remember it so clearly. I think it's probably because I lived there for 18 years, and the street layout there has remained basically unchanged compared with before.
Dolores Road (now Tai 'an Road), Victoria Garden (now Jiefang North Park), Central Garden (still existing), Russian Garden (destroyed), Ping 'an Cinema near Xiaobailou (now Concert Hall, now underground of Concert Hall is Tianying Langxiang International Cinema), St. John's Girls' School (still existing), British Public School (now Tianjin No.20 Middle School), Machang Road and Minyuan Stadium (now Minyuan Stadium). Industrial and Commercial College Building (in today's Tianjin Foreign Studies University), Beijiang Museum (in today's Tianjin Foreign Studies University), Chilin (now moved to the right of Tianjin Concert Hall), Anligan Church (still at the intersection of Taian Road and Zhejiang Road), Zizhulin Church (still near Yingkou Road 10), Lishunde Hotel (still here, the luxury of Lishunde Hotel in Tianjin today)
At that time, the largest building where I lived was Gordon Hall, which was built at 1890 and has been the office of the China municipal government since 1945. In the year of Tangshan earthquake, Gordon Hall was seriously damaged and most of it was demolished. Of course, I'm glad only a small part was left. Now, on top of the original Gordon Hall, the fourth courtyard of the five major courtyard projects has been built, but the architectural appearance is not in accordance with the previous Gordon Hall. However, on the right side of Jinwan Square on the south bank of Haihe River, Tianjin Banking Regulatory Bureau (the intersection of changchun road and Jilin Road) was built according to the prototype of Gordon Hall.
Next, let me talk about my experience there.
My first childhood memory is the cry of "Bai Lianhua …". As if with my birth, how wonderful the voice is, announcing my birth to the world. "Bai Lianhua ... Bai Lianhua ..." The old man's voice was loud and reached my ears through my window.
At this time, a thin woman will come in from my mosquito net probe with two urging words: "It's time to get up, it's time to get up!" " "This is YingJie. Sister Ying is a servant of my family. She drifted from an unknown place to Tianjin. She didn't speak English at first, but she gradually learned some simple English through contact with us.
Sister Ying is a typical rural woman in China. She is hardworking and kind, but she is a little old-fashioned and has some feudal remnants.
I still remember walking around the room after I got up, not going out, just waiting for my breakfast. My father works in the British Concession in Shanghai. My mother used to live in London. My grandparents were there, but she came to live with my father. My mother has a bad temper. When she was a little upset, she shouted loudly and swore a few words from time to time. This doesn't look like an English woman. Yingjie is quietly beside her at this time, just looking at her, looking at her like that, and then going to do other things. It's not that Yingjie didn't persuade my mother, but that my mother didn't listen at all. Yingjie was scolded several times for this. As a result, Sister Ying never advised my mother again. Sister Ying later said to me (when I was older), "Your mother just has a bad temper. If she had a better temper, life would be better. "
My gray brick house is not far from the canal, which was built by Kublai Khan in the Yuan Dynasty. Of course, it leads to Haihe River. There is a small river, like a silver belt hidden in the grass. I call it "undercurrent". Now, there are no canals and undercurrents here, only beautiful and clean streets. In the old society, there were many rivers, large and small, and many swamps and wetlands. Even today, in the surrounding areas, you can feel my feelings-weeds, nettles, stray dogs, children in China. I spent my childhood in this place, but the children in this land of China, their childhood life is completely different from mine. I will elaborate on this point later.
My backyard is not big, and it is a wasteland to the outside world, but with the development of the concession, things like houses are gradually built. Tianjin used to have a lot of wasteland, and now it is also a lot of land to be developed.
There is a small tree in the small garden in front of my yard. Now, there are still some trees planted there. Of course, they haven't left yet. Now the trees are just roadside trees in some streets. Naturally, there are no "slim" scenes, but they are all neat and beautiful. It is said that the leaves of this small tree in the center of the garden hang down. I don't remember what tree it is, but it does look young and tall. The way the branches and leaves hang together makes it look like an umbrella, so I call it an umbrella tree.
Opposite my house, a little farther from the garden, across meadows Road, is the British officers' restaurant. This building is very similar to my house except that there is a balcony. If you stay on the road opposite the restaurant, you will see British officers coming in and out of here in one day, sitting in China rickshaws (cars are not widely used in the concession). At the end of this street is the British barracks, where there are arches and sloping roofs, which are a bit like the red rubble of Allergan Church.
There is a breast wall around the officers' dining room, which was built to prevent bandits from attacking the Chinese concession. The story of the Boxer Rebellion in Zizhulin made all foreign residents in China tremble with fear. This breast wall can slow down the attack speed of bandits and wait for the rescue of the royal army not far away.
When I was a child, my favorite place to go was Victoria Garden. As can be seen from the previous photos, there are many children like me, but there are no China children. Only China servants carried by foreigners can go in, and other ordinary China people are not allowed to go in. One reason is that this is the official residence of the British government in Tianjin, and another reason is that the riots of the Boxer Rebellion in the early 20th century made foreign nationals worried about China people.
Victoria Garden is a big world to me. Everything here has left my mark. Even now, it has become the garden of Jiefang Beiyuan. There is no Gordon Hall, no clock, and nothing I am familiar with. However, in this garden which combines Chinese and western, in the pavilion in the garden, I can still recall my friends who played with me in those years, as well as Yingjie, my mother and Mike who can play the piano. Opposite is Lishunde Hotel, and the layout of Midos Road is the same. I should be happy.
The big clock in the garden was brought from Guang Hai Temple. Guang Hai Temple used to be a temple. Now, if you go there to see it, there is no trace of the temple except this place name. Just like the food market in Beijing, China, it can only appear in the history books. The bronze bell was not hung up, but quietly placed on a high stone platform, and no wood was ever hit. Sister Ying said that this was not a temple, so there was no need to fight. We children often pick up pebbles from the garden lawn and throw them at the big clock. That crisp sound is much better than the whistle of a ship in Haihe River.
One day, Sister Ying told me that I was five years old. I'm in my mother's study. There is a piano in the corner of the study, which my mother brought from London. It looks very old. Because of its rough appearance, I always touch the layers of wrinkles with my fingers and feel very comfortable. I only remember that the sky was clear that day, because it was noon, and I stood on the balcony and looked at the opposite house. The sun shines obliquely on the roofs of those houses, and the red roofs of various medieval styles look very beautiful in the sun. "Remember, you are five years old today!" Mother told me in my ear that her yellow hair was a little messy.
In the evening, Sister Ying cooked a sumptuous dinner for us, including dishes from China. I vaguely remember kung pao chicken, which was put on a white plate, but I don't remember the rest. After dinner, Ying Jie and I went to Victoria Garden. Yingjie is chatting with other housekeepers in the pavilion of the garden. This is one of her habits. After all, I don't understand why they always talk endlessly. I started my game again in the garden. It just seems that these days are numbered.
……
Acknowledgement: Thanks to Brian Bauer for the inspiration and part of the materials (meadows Road, Victoria Garden, Yingjie, Hidden Creek, Officers' Dining Room, Wall River, some pictures and "Bai Lianhua" part) from his works. This article is just an unfinished attempt, and it will definitely not continue to be written in the future. The significance of blank space is that it will give people reverie, and the illusion of reverie makes people memorable, even for a moment.
Finally, I just want to say: naive NM freezing! Done.
Yu Xiaohai