Rural

Author: Hainan
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-01-01
Features: This book, like revealing women, men, love, and the body, allows Hainan to take us back to touch the appearance of the countryside swept by history. The female writer Hainan persistently searches for the countryside in the vast world once again, and finally presents us with a perfect countryside. Hainan's biographical works are a spiritual biography, an exploration of the soul and a soul-searching. After "The Man," "The Love," "The Woman," and "The Body," Hainan has now brought out "The Countryside." The countryside is almost the spiritual mother of everyone, and the emotional significance and aesthetic value it holds far exceed its geographical meaning. In China, most cities still retain the flavor of the countryside because the vast majority of city dwellers have an inseparable connection with it. Although Hainan grew up near the village since childhood, she cannot be considered a true "presence." As the daughter of an agricultural technician, young Hainan could carelessly follow in the shadows of farmers and water buffalo. Small-town life gave Hainan a spiritual experience and emotional memory. The countryside occupies an important place in Hainan's growth history, and the hard life in the countryside can better stir people's imagination and make them more prone to contemplation and meditation. Anyone who spent their childhood in the countryside will have experienced gazing at distant clouds in the fields and letting their thoughts wander. Rural life suppresses people's material needs, which subtly strengthens their metaphysical impulses. The spiritual experience given to people by the countryside is, in fact, a spiritual journey that transcends the body and desires. People leave the countryside for survival and other reasons, but few dare to declare a complete severance from it. Betraying the countryside also negates one's spiritual foundation. To write "The Countryside," Hainan re-enters the countryside with her heart to seek those long-lost things. The slowly changing village did not pose great difficulty for the writer in restoring memories. Although the countryside in Yunnan differs geographically from that along the Yellow River in China, looking at the wrinkled faces of elderly women and the earthen houses hanging with farming tools makes it clear that the soul of the countryside is the same. Under the erosion of wind and rain, the countryside gradually withers. The times keep changing, and various trends and fashions excite and tire people. Yet the countryside seems indifferent. Adapting to change without changing is the unique wisdom of the countryside. Even in the face of a modern writer like Hainan, the countryside's appearance remains unchanged. To break the awkwardness, Hainan follows the rolling potatoes into the dreams of the countryside. In Hainan's eyes, the countryside is an unfathomable symbolic kingdom and a rich spiritual world. Every stone and every clod of earth seems to hold ancient fables and exudes a mysterious aura. What is familiar to villagers is a wonderful revelation to intruders. Thus, outside the reality of the countryside, there is a hard shell that shields the poet's emotions from the countryside. Travelers and residents operate two entirely different systems of discourse. A resource-poor countryside never lacks sunshine and legends. A cow, a loom, or an embroidered sash may all become the representatives of the countryside. In the hands of farmers, they are merely ordinary tools, but in the eyes of the writer Hainan, they become sincere confidants. The subtitle of "The Countryside" is "A History of the Countryside in a Nation." The countryside is the mother of the nation, hiding countless cultural enigmas. "Facing the face of the entire countryside, we see the wrinkles." Hainan attempts to interpret rural culture through imagination, selecting symbols such as corn, potatoes, blacksmith shops, mute people, matchmakers, and shrews, which represent various voices and emotions in the countryside. Through them, Hainan discovers the soul of the countryside. Hainan does not observe everything before her as a tourist; her eyes sparkle with spiritual light. Thus, it is no wonder that Hainan writes such a metaphor: "Wheat is the invisible rib of a farmer." With a sense of exploring her ancestors, Hainan enters the world of the countryside, striving to walk and perceive according to the laws of the countryside. Faced with simple living scenes and impoverished circumstances, who can still express shallow and boring emotions? Rural philosophy is profound, a cumulative wisdom and experience of generations of farmers. The spiritual world of farmers has been forgotten by people, yet they unknowingly possess an immeasurable life energy accumulated over long years. Hainan recognizes this and discovers that a blind villager uses all her imagination to dream of the peach groves on the village slopes, and she hears the fields calling out to a rural orphan. These all constitute a vibrant part of the soul of the countryside. Hainan is like a witch, counting the things of the countryside, lost in the mysterious stories she weaves.