Old Chengdu

Author: Liu Shahe
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-03-01
Features: Chengdu is known as the City of Hibiscus, abbreviated as Rong. This flower changes its color three times a day—white in the morning, red at noon, and purple in the evening. It blooms in the morning and wilts by dusk, its glory fleeting, evoking a sense of melancholy. Perhaps this isn't a flower but a sorrowful dream of autumn? A man who has lived in Chengdu for seventy-two years has poured all his love into every character, weaving a tale of the modern and the past between an ancient city and an elderly man. This man is Liu Shahe. The author was born in Chengdu; he attended high school and university there. In December 1949, he cheered with his classmates as the People's Liberation Army entered the city in Chengdu. He started working in Chengdu. After the poem was disgraced in 1957, he still lived in the suburbs of Chengdu. Upon his comeback, he wrote poems in Chengdu. Now retired, he still resides in Chengdu. Truly a native of Chengdu.