Xianghu Lake is located in the hometown of He Zhizhang.
He Zhizhang’s hometown – located in Zhizhang Village, Shushan Street, Xiaoshan District, Hangzhou City.
What is nostalgia?
More than 1,200 years ago, an octogenarian resigned from his official position and bid farewell to all the officials, crossed the Yellow River and the Yangtze River, and returned to his dreaming hometown. At this time, it has been more than 50 years since he left his hometown, and everything in his hometown feels familiar and strange to him. This old man is He Zhizhang, a leading figure in the literary world in the prosperous Tang Dynasty. A well-known “Homecoming Puppet Book” records his nostalgia, and also leaves a special chapter in Chinese poetry about a wanderer returning home.
one
He Zhizhang was born in Yongxing County, Yuezhou, which is now Xiaoshan District, Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province. When He Zhizhang left his hometown, he wrote “My hometown is boundless, and Mingfa is full of friends.” He got up early that day and set off from home to Xilingdu. At that time, Xilingdu was the site of the Third Qianjiang Bridge (Xixing Bridge). During the Five Dynasties, Xiling was changed to Xixing.
Due to the high tide at night, the ferry is shrouded in clouds and mist in the morning. Looking back, my hometown has been hidden in the clouds and mist. At this time, He Zhizhang did not expect that the faint nostalgia in “Xiaofa” would continue to accumulate echoes in the 50 years after he left his hometown, and become a memory that he cherished all his life.
Half a century later, the 86-year-old He Zhizhang returned to his hometown and wrote “The Puppet Book of Returning Home”. Song Zhiwen, a poet in the early Tang Dynasty, once said, “You are more timid if you are close to the hometown, and you dare not ask people who come here.” This kind of wanderer’s affection for being close to the hometown has been repeatedly written by literati. But what He Zhizhang wrote was “Children meet each other and don’t know each other, laughingly asking where the guests come from”. When He Zhizhang was in Chang’an, no matter how successful he was, he made friends and sang harmony, he was a “Chang’an guest” wandering outside. He thought he would be the host when he returned to his hometown, but he didn’t expect the children to ask him, where did you come from, this guest? The child’s innocent words were almost cruel in He Zhizhang’s heart. The old man in front of him clearly spoke a local accent, but in the eyes of the children, this visitor who had never seen him in his life must not be a local. The children back then would never have imagined that this sentence would have such a penetrating power. Even today, through this poem, we can still feel the complicated mood of a wanderer returning home: nostalgia can be the longing for the hometown after a long absence, or it can be the The fear of returning home.
In addition to “asking the guests where they came from with a smile”, He Zhizhang also wrote in the second part of “The Illustrated Book of Returning Home”: “Only the water in the mirror lake in front of the door, the spring breeze will not change the old waves.” Jinghu is now Jianhu Lake in Shaoxing, Zhejiang. The essence of the road of poetry in the Eastern Tang Dynasty. He Zhizhang’s love and attachment to Jinghu can be reflected in the few poems he left behind. The gray-haired wanderer returns to his hometown, even if things are different, at least there is still the eternal water of Jianhu Lake, to recount the old feelings with him.
two
He Zhizhang called himself “Siming Madman”, and he behaved like an ancient madman who dared to act recklessly. Du Fu said in “The Song of the Eight Immortals in Drinking”: “Zhizhang rides a horse like a boat, and sleeps at the bottom of a well with dazzled eyes.” According to historical records, He Zhizhang has a wild and open-minded personality. Sometimes when he gets drunk, he sees the white and smooth walls of the store and splashes ink whenever he is interested. The wine shop in Chang’an City painted white walls in private, waiting for the great writer to come to “give words”. When He Zhizhang was 84 years old, he met Li Bai in Ziji Palace in Chang’an. After reading Li Bai’s new work “The Road to Shu”, he was amazed that he was “an immortal”, and then he took Li Bai to get drunk. When the wine was hot, he realized that he had no spare money, so he handed over the golden tortoise that he was wearing to represent the official status to the bartender as a drink. Since then, “golden turtle for wine” has been cited as an allusion by later generations.
Later generations called He Zhizhang a “crazy guest”, but he was such a “crazy guest”. In his later years, he resigned from the position of minister and secretary supervisor of the Ministry of Industry, returned to his hometown and returned to eastern Zhejiang. Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty lamented that “wouldn’t you spare the virtuous” to keep him again and again, and ordered the prince Li Heng to lead all the officials to farewell. At that time, for an 86-year-old old man, the 1,400-kilometer journey home was extremely difficult and long, but He Zhizhang still came back, took off his madman’s coat, and returned to the place where he was born and raised.
He Zhizhang retired with a lifetime of legends, and died in his hometown. A few years after he left Chang’an, Li Bai traveled long distances to the east of Zhejiang Province to find his old friend, but he was deeply saddened to learn that He Zhizhang had already left for the west. He wrote two poems in succession, “Reminiscing about He Jian for Wine”, expressing his sadness between the lines in the words “There is no congratulations for the old man in Jishan, but he returns with the wine boat”. Later, Wen Tingyun, a poet in the late Tang Dynasty, traveled to the east of Zhejiang Province to Xiaoshan, and wrote poems such as “He Zhizhang, a fisherman who crosses the river” and “Clams and wild vegetables dream of Hengtang”. In the Song Dynasty, Su Dongpo’s “crazy people go back when they want to return, and they ask for imperial edicts in vain for their innocence”, and Lu You’s “only one piece of song is given to Jinghu, and He Zhizhang is laughable at a loss”, all of which can hardly hide their envy for He Zhizhang.
three
The sentiment in “Homecoming Puppet Book” is about the most beautiful hometown. He Zhizhang’s affection for his hometown is poured into the scenery of his hometown, and he appeals to his pen, which has become the best interpretation of “poetry and painting Jiangnan, vibrant Zhejiang”.
The first acquaintance of people today with He Zhizhang began in childhood. He Zhizhang’s “Ode to the Willow” and “Returning to the Hometown Puppet Book” were compiled into the Chinese textbooks for primary schools in the new curriculum standard. Today, in He Zhizhang’s hometown, there is a chanting in “Ode to the Willows”: “I don’t know who will cut the thin leaves, and the spring breeze in February is like scissors.” “
What makes He Zhizhang unforgettable is the taste of his hometown. “Clams are served on a silver plate, and water shield in Jinghu Lake is as messy as silk.” Clams are a food that can be eaten casually in He Zhizhang’s hometown, but in Chang’an, they are rare and expensive, and people take exquisite silver plates to serve them; water shield In He Zhizhang’s hometown, it is a wild vegetable, but in Chang’an, it is also neatly placed on a plate for banquets. He Zhizhang’s relaxed and humorous self-deprecating tone made clams and water shield in eastern Zhejiang famous. So far, clams and water shield are still delicacies that tourists from all over the country must try when they come to eastern Zhejiang.
He Zhizhang did not forget his hometown, and his hometown did not forget He Zhizhang. In the birthplace of He Zhizhang, Shushan Street, Xiaoshan District, Hangzhou City, there are still the remains of the “Sijia Bridge” and the “Luopo Bridge” rebuilt by later generations. According to legend, in the last days of his life, He Zhizhang fulfilled the agreement he made with his mother when he was young. In order to let the villagers cross the river without ferrying each other, he built a “Hengdan Bridge” on the Hengdan River in his hometown. The “Yifang Bridge” was built in the homeland. Thanks to He Zhizhang’s merits, the villagers renamed the two bridges “Luopo Bridge” and “Sijia Bridge”. Among them, the “Sijia Bridge” was rebuilt once during the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty. Up to now, there is still an east-west single-hole beam-style stone slab bridge with three strip-shaped stone slabs in the middle and eight-shaped stone steps on both sides, each with more than ten steps. The stone inscription “He Xueshi’s founding patriarch successively Yixiu” can be seen on it.
On the Feilai Stone on the southern slope of Wanwei Mountain in Shaoxing, there is a side of the cliff inscription “Longrui Palace”. “The Story of Longrui Palace” is the history of Longrui Palace inscribed by He Zhizhang at the invitation of fellow villagers, and it is engraved on the stone wall. When we climbed to the south slope of Wanwei Mountain, we can see a moss-stained cliff carved stone hidden in the mountains and forests.
In recent years, people in my hometown have built He Zhizhang School, Zhizhang Park, and Jizhen Pavilion in Xiaoshan District, Hangzhou City to commemorate He Zhizhang; rebuilt He Zhizhang’s former study site in Ningbo Yuehu Scenic Area; and built it in Sanjia Village, Keqiao District, Shaoxing City After He Zhizhang Square, the village still retains the corner of the mirror lake bestowed by Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty when He Zhizhang returned to his hometown. Hidden in the cracks of the Sijia Bridge, in the old waters of Jinghu Lake, in the customs and culture of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, it has been passed down from generation to generation in the sound of reading and writing by numerous students. (Liu Zhen/Wen Fangyuan/Photo)
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责编：李汶键 ]
