Why Huaibei, I love you?

 

When I first set off to the Middle Kingdom after years of curiosity I had no idea of where exactly I was going to arrive.

Of course one can look at the pictures on the net but these never tell the whole story.

Like any location on earth, it is always the way the people are in general that makes the place what it is.

It was winter when I arrived in February 2009 it was misty and cold.

Fine by me, I was brought up in misty and cold, years ago back in my native Yorkshire, a province in the north of England.

Novelty is a great teacher, soon I was going regularly into the town to truly enjoy the vitality and to me the mystery of this very Chinese city.

I soon found the people were openly curious about this strange looking foreigner, and surprisingly honest and friendly. I found Friendship Street with its wonderful food stalls and began to enjoy a far greater variety of Chinese food than I had experienced before. It was fun to have owners of restaurants take pictures of me, they said, "I was the first foreigner to eat in their place". Well my understanding of Chinese is non existent so I assume that is what they were saying.

I had to learn to try to bargain with shopkeepers to purchase the warm clothing I needed to keep out the strange damp cold that Huaibei specializes in. I think they won. As they all usually do when I go shopping, I never was that great at bargaining. Not that, that bothers me, so long I was warm enough dressed the irreverence differences and curiosities to a new visitor could be enjoyed with great relish.

Very soon after my arrival I had one very embarrassing moment getting on a very crowded bus, then falling over and pushing just about everyone standing on the bus over. There was a look of astonishment and amazement on faces of the other passengers, when they saw it was a very strange looking foreigner that had clumsily knocked them all over, talk about lose face. Unfortunately I have lost face a couple of other times, but that was the fault of a lack of experience with Baijiu (liquor) but I don"t feel so alone about that in Huaibei.

It did not take me long to adjust to this new type of life, living among a people I both admired and was curious about for many years although I have given up on the Baijiu.

Ever since my boy hood I have been aware of the struggles of the Chinese people. Fortunately it is the tradition of my own culture in, Yorkshire, which is distinct from just being British, that we are not judgmental of others. Not only did my father tell me many times that we must like all people on earth, we are encouraged to be intellectually curious. I was very fortunate indeed to have the father and mother I had, who encouraged me to take constant interest in the developing aspects of the world we share.

It may even be of interest to Chinese who are both confused and curious about the west, that there are many differing cultures among the variety of people who are known as Westerners. There are a great variety of ways of thinking among westerners. From a religiously centric and relatively closed view to an open and scientifically minded one, with a good sense of humor. I belong to the latter.

The particular one I was brought up in Yorkshire sees no separation between humans and we have no belief system that tells us this.

So for this reason, it is quite easy to go to a distant land like China a different culture and gradually fit into the life here.

Curiosity is my particular great driver. I am one of those very strange people always trying to see what is over the next hill or beyond the next bend in the winding path of life, so I began to walk further and further around Huaibei and its rather surprisingly, lovely and in may ways romantic country side.

With the Xiangshan Park taking one onto the local mountain I soon realized this is a very wonderful place to live in. One has the mixture of the advantages of the city while within easy walking distance, or with very little cost one can get into the local countryside, visit the villages and observe the more traditional Chinese lifestyle.

Through this I have gained great respect for the people who live in villages, I have begun to really appreciate the struggle of the Chinese people to pull by great individual and national effort them selves out of hardship and poverty..

It is also spiritually rewarding to come to Huaibei in the dead of winter, have the gods sprinkle it with snow, then see the whole of the four seasons give out the visual and natural beauty provided for by nature, Xiangshan Park and the mountain itself.

I love the experience when on my walks of seeing an amazing amount of variety of flora and bird life. For some one who spent his boy hood and much of his youth exploring the wonderful nature of his home land I become habituated that way, discovering these new types of flora and some similar ones growing all over the mountain and through the countryside, it soon became a sort of little heaven.

I truly congratulate the efforts of who ever it is that planted trees all over the little mountain of Huaibei, they deserve a medal for their amazing work. The people of Huaibei owe them a great thank you for what they have done.

It is a shame though that people cannot teach their children not to drop litter around this wonderful place. I hope one day they get out of this habit it would truly make Huaibei and its park a really lovely piece of nature.

Sure there are many splendid natural places all over the earth, China is surely blessed by its own geography, and natural history, but if one appreciates nature for what it simply provides, one does not have to go to the bother of traveling great distances to enjoy that which nature provides locally.

I have become addicted to walking over the Xiangshan Mount and into the misty distance discovering the villages scattered around the base of the mountain.

Because of the accessibility of the country side around the mountain, to me these are wonderful cultural experiences, as satisfying in many ways as going to many of the great tourist attractions.

I am a practicing artist, the painterly aspects of the villages makes them richer in many ways than the cities, and people all too eagerly flock to. They provide some very interesting pictures to paint.

I see great futures for village people as the economy of China grows and people gain wisdom as well as wealth, their ideal memory of their early years will grow and give impetus to the idea of retiring back in the village they grew up in. Taking some of their wealth and ideas with them building new modern and environmentally sophisticated homes, these new age villagers will be very much part of what continues China"s economic development and gradually improves the life of all Chinese villagers and city folk alike.

Because of the small distance between most of the villages and the Huaibei city centre commuting as many in other parts of China already do, from outer suburbia into the great metropolis built up in recent years through the endeavor of the Chinese people, it is not hard to envision just how wonderful Huaibei, and its surrounding satellite towns will become as another example of the success of China as Huaibei gradually evolves from a coal city and adapts to more modern ways.

Many local people sort of apologize for Huaibei, saying it is a small city, it is not all shiny and splendid like the more wealthy cities of China, but there in lays its real charm.

In all of my life I have never lived among such honest people. Such honesty is true wealth. Wealth is after all a state of mind as much as an ability to shop, let us hope that regardless how Huaibei develops its people never lose their down to earth, charms.

What really struck me is when I went back to Australia where I have lived for some years, then returned back to Huaibei after the summer holidays, how surprised I was when the train from Shanghai finally pulled into Huaibei station, how glad I was to return to this city. I felt like a local getting off that train. Pushing and shoving to get through the station gate and grab a taxi along with the rest of the returning passengers. Huaibei were I had only lived for some months felt more like home than Australia where I had spent many years ever did. I put it down to the people.

What is remarkable is how similar Huaibei is to Sheffield, in its feel. Sheffield is a very a famous steel coal and industrial city in Yorkshire. Hardened steel for railways lines was invented there in the 1830s and altered the world for ever. Sheffield, is near to the small coal mining village of Maltby I was born and brought up, where my father worked as a coal miner, in some peculiar way I can"t quite put down to anything else but the down to earth robust people who live in both places, as well as the similar Winter and Autumn climates, make it feel surprisingly normal to this foreigner.

It will be a very difficult place to leave, I love it here. And by the way, one is only a foreigner until one gets drunk with others, they soon see you are just like them.

Kind regards.

 

 

Graham Gordon Thomas

 

 

 

 

淮北， 我为什么爱你？

对中国的兴趣和好奇持续了若干年后，我第一次动身前往这个国家，那时候，我并不清楚自己要去的是个什么样的地方。

当然我可以像人们通常所做的那样，在网上看些图片介绍，了解这个地方的位置，然而那些信息远非我想知道一切。

2009年2月，当我踏上这片国土时，正是冬季，薄雾笼罩下的中国相当寒冷。但是我觉得挺好，因为我出生在英格兰北部的约克郡，恰恰是在雾霭和寒冷中长大的。

 新鲜感可以成为最好的老师，我非常迅速地融入了这个对我来说很神秘的、中国的小城市淮北，并快乐地感受着它的勃勃生气。

当地人对我的态度是一种毫不掩饰的、对陌生老外的好奇，同时表现出令我惊异的真诚和友好，我在街边的小吃铺经常享受到这种友情，并享用着从未吃过的各种中国美食，我总是很乐意地应邀和小饭店的主人合影，他们都说我是在那里吃饭的第一个外国人， 虽然我不懂汉语，但是可以感觉到他们说的是这个意思。

我必须买些保暖的衣服来抵御淮北特有的潮湿阴冷的天气，于是我学习怎么和店主砍价， 说实话我从来就不是个砍价高手， 我总是他们的手下败将，然而我并不在意，使我感到饶有兴味的是他们对我这个“新鲜事物”的好奇和各种不同的态度。

到淮北后不久， 我还有过一次非常狼狈的经历，我上了一辆很拥挤的巴士，没有站稳而摔倒在地，同时推倒了身边几乎所有的乘客！当他们发现是一个笨拙的老外在“作案”时， 脸上无不露出极其惊讶的表情，大概还在议论我的“丢面子”吧，不幸的是在这之后，类似“丢面子”的情况又发生过几次， 因为我缺乏应付淮北酒场上“劝酒”的技巧，我想在淮北， 我不会是个例外吧。

置身于我所钦佩而又令我感到好奇的人们中间，没过多久我就适应了新的生活方式， 当然， 我不得不“戒 ”了白酒！

记得我还是孩子时，就听说过中国人民的奋斗史，我很幸运地秉承了我的家乡约克郡的文化传统，和其他英国人不同，我们从不用苛刻的眼光去看待别人，我父亲经常告诉我要热爱身边所有的人。我确实很幸运，因为我的父母总是鼓励我对这个世界保持永恒不变的兴趣和探究它的好奇心。

我想中国人也同样，对西方世界，对各民族不同的文化感到困惑而好奇。西方人有截然不同的思维方式，有虔诚的相对保守的宗教信徒，也有思想开放、重视科学喜欢幽默的人， 我属于后者。

好奇心真是巨大的推动力， 我总是想设法去看看山那边的景色、总是想知道人生曲折道路上，下一个弯道后面会是什么，于是我开始在淮北周围， 在充满浪漫气息的美丽的乡村土地上越走越远。从相山公园循路上山，我发现淮北实在是个适宜居住的好地方，既有城市的便利，又可以很轻易地、步行一小段路就到达当地农村，去观察中国更传统的生活方式。

那些住在乡村的人们都很尊重我，我也开始发自内心地赞赏这些中国人，他们凭靠自己的力量和政府的帮助，努力地，一步步从艰辛贫困中走出来。

我是深冬季节到达淮北的，因此得到另一种精神上的馈赠 —  得以欣赏上苍慷慨地撒向人间的飘飘雪花，随后又领略到四个不同的季节里，大自然赋予这片土地和山峦的美不胜收的景色。行走在野外时，我是多么热衷于观赏各种奇异的鸟类和植物，因为我从小就习惯于在自己的家乡探索大自然的美丽，去发现新的植物品种或生长在田间、山头的那些相似的草木，在这里我也有了些新的收获。

我很想为那些人喝彩 —  他们为绿化淮北的荒山而付出过努力，如今这些努力带来了令人赞叹的成果，他们出色的劳动确实值得受到奖赏，值得我们每个人的感谢。然而遗憾的是，人们还没有真正养成不向地上乱扔垃圾，保持地面清洁的良好习惯。我想会有一天他们会养成这种习惯，那时淮北一定会变得更加可爱。

毫无疑问，我们生活的地球上有许多景色优美的地方，中国得天独厚地拥有其独特的自然景观和人文景观，如果一颗心敏锐得足以感受并欣赏自然美最淳朴的本质，那么不必劳神费力经过长途跋涉，只需睁开眼睛看看我们的身边！

我是那么迷恋我的行走 —  翻过山，走近散布在山脚下的村落，感觉是那么轻松又那么美妙，就和走近那些旅游胜地完全一样。我的另一个身份是画家，在我眼里的乡村，比那些人们蜂拥而去的大城市有着更丰富的色彩。

随着中国经济的发展，人们的智慧和财富也会同时增长，我可以预见到在不久的将来，从农村走出去的人们会怀念他们曾经在那里生长的土地，会带着他们的财富和智慧回到故乡，建造现代化的精美住房，这些新村民将推动中国经济继续发展、逐渐把乡村生活变得和城市一样令人羡慕。

近几年来，中国的各省会城市到远郊已经建立了便捷的交通，淮北也一样，不难想象这个令人赞叹的城市和她周围的卫星乡镇会逐步从煤炭走向全面现代化之路，成为中国社会发展的又一个缩影。很多当地人为淮北是个小城市而遗憾，觉得不如那些富裕的大城市华美亮丽，然而小城市也有自己的无穷魅力。

生平第一次，我生活在如此真诚的人们身边，真诚也是一种财富，财富是一种心境，使人相信，不管淮北将来是什么样， 那里的人们永远不会丧失脚踏实地的魅力。

暑假期间，我回到生活了多年的澳大利亚， 然后又返回淮北，当火车从上海开出、最终驶进淮北站时，我内心的喜悦令我自己都感到惊讶，我下车时感觉自己像是当地人，又回到了家乡，我急匆匆地走出车站，越过其他旅客抢先上了一辆出租车。淮北，这个我只住了几个月的地方却比澳大利亚更像是我的家乡！

还值得一提的是，淮北在感觉和谢菲尔德十分接近。谢菲尔德是约克郡非常著名的煤炭工业城市，我的出生地莫尔特比煤矿就在离那里不远的地方。我觉得淮北和谢菲尔德的秋季和冬天气候十分相似，是否也因此造就了同样坚强的人民？

我爱淮北，这个让人不忍离去的地方，一个只要你敢在酒桌上和大家一起豪饮，即使是“老外”也会被大家认作自己人的地方。

祝福淮北。

格雷厄姆·戈登·托马斯

(吴淑君译)