Where is the township?

Where is the country gate?

Text/Zhang Mingquan

"Where is the country gate at dusk? The smoke on the river makes people sad." This is Cui Hao, a poet of the Tang Dynasty. The last sentence in "Yellow Crane Tower". Any wanderer who is wandering abroad will have an immersive feeling every time he reads such a poem.

I have always believed that homesickness is a social psychological phenomenon that affects different people in different time and space. In social life, the migration of people is a common thing and has happened since ancient times.

In Chinese history, there are many evidences of population migration. My hometown, Dahuaishu, Hongdong County, Shanxi Province, is one of the typical commemorative places for immigration events. With the change of dynasties, population migration has been happening all the time, and it has not stopped yet.

"Where do I come from and where do I want to go?" This is probably a question that each of us often thinks about. Life is a wandering experience of soul and body. From croaking to the ground, from babble to learning, from boyhood to youth, from youth to adulthood, from prime age to late autumn! How many times does a person have to experience wandering life in his life?

I was born in a remote small village in southern Shanxi. In terms of geographical and landform characteristics, it can be regarded as a typical hilly area. When I was a child, I was rolling around in the loess, completely ignoring the outside world, and I didn't dare to think about studying or working far away from home.

With yellow skin and black hair, he grew up eating red and orange wheat and corn kernels. At that time, the most typical image of the warmth of home was the lingering wisps of smoke from the roof of the cave! That was the warm smoke, and from that time on, a deep mark naturally formed on the young and ignorant mind.

When I grew up, I left home to study, and for the first time I felt the sadness of leaving home. The day before I left, I always felt that everything in the house was so intimate and inseparable. The earthen kang, the three of us brothers rolling on it together; the courtyard, the jujube trees in the yard, the autumn moon. Listen to the fairy tales told by my sisters and brothers; the well platform, the mud walls, the red peppers and golden corn cobs under the eaves; the desk, a small square table, is said to have been used by my grandfather... relatives The advice from my parents and the advice from my parents turned out to be so precious at that time.

The moment I left, I stared at the silent bridge at the entrance of the village for a long time. I don’t know what the official village entrance of my hometown actually looks like today. I just clearly remember that at that time there were two roads out of the village and into the city. The road I took should be the one that the villagers called Xiangguan since ancient times.

From that time to today, the word "Xiangguan" has often become an eternal image of life in my life. Where is the village gate? For a person who has been wandering away for a long time, this image of life may be like a cold snake entwining his thoughts.

Every festival, vacation, every time a person walks alone on the lonely road of life, this snake will keep squirming deep in your heart, making you restless and restless. .

I am very envious of those who can go home during holidays. What a happy life they have. At least they can meet their hometown for a short period of time. I think that maybe in their hearts, they may have the same understanding of Xiangguan as I do. Xiangguan is also an unforgettable symbol of life for them.

There is always a wish that when I reach the age of late autumn, I can stagger towards the countryside. I hope that at that time, in my hometown, the smoke from the cooking stoves and the small bridges will still be the same.

(Editor: Deputy Editor)