Hope and Love in Qingyuan (清远)
Posté par ITgium le 14 mai 2015
A jùn mǎ 俊 马 tale 故事 (François de la Chevalerie)
Surrounded by mountainous areas, Qingyuan (清) is located on the Běi Jiāng river (北江) in the middle of the Guangdong province, not that far from her nurturing mother, Guangzhou.
Here I come for the first time on January 2011, welcomed by the Liu Wei family, a happy one, deeply rooted in the Chinese culture and, at the same time, under modern influence.
Staying in Qingyuan was the definite step to what I have achieved so far in China.
Qingyuan stretches out over a countryside that is like a long deep breath.
Between earth and water, it is made up of a succession of different landscapes: cultivated fields, towns, forest, wetlands, old caves, all the way through to the mountains.
Whispering with the local accent, between the twittering of birds, heartbeats and noises, Qingyuan sound like a poetic slogan.
A once civilized city
According to environmental standards, Qingyuan is the civilized city of the Guangdong province because of its protected and one-time nature, because of the people.
In recent years, Qingyuan has undertaken the huge project to give back to the Běi Jiāng promenade a greener and more cleaner aspect, providing a better view of the river and reasserting both the visual and physical interconnections between the old and new parts of the city.
Here, there is no stream more closely bound up with the life of a people, nothing more important than the Běi Jiāng (北江). The breeze has made small ripples on the river.
Listen to the people
As Augustine of Hippo encouraged me to do, my longtime dream is to walk spiritually with the people. That is what I did during my time there. Open to all meetings – in the street, in people’s homes or at the market, wherever my city-dwelling feet take me.
The old woman, the living memory of the city
Once, I strolled along the seashore by a sunny afternoon, I met an extremely old woman, the face wrinkled and withered like parchment. She was sitting under a tree at the edge of a river, staring into space. She was apparently watching time pass by.
- I am the oldest woman of Qingyuan ever. Nobody could compete with my age. Nobody except my ancestors mind! I guess you can say I am legally blind now. Not that much. I can’t see anything. Are you tall or short, I can’t say for sure? I see only the shadows. It’s enough to get the message. That is what I learned from the people who died since long. I was born a long time ago at a period where none modern building of this city has been built. At that time, migrating birds stopped off each year on the way to Hunan. At that time, I was burdened in collecting water and firewood, cooking, and cleaning.
Tears were running freely down her wrinkled face. Now in the evening of her life the weight of Time was showing in his white hair, lined face, and feeble step.
- How to deal with that sudden shift? She asked.
A man on the bridge
Then I took the path that goes across the bridge between the old Town and the new one. Beautiful scenery I’ve taken feast my eyes.
A man was coming from the other side. He was walking along with a quick and resolute step. A look of sadness came over his face. Then he stopped in front of me. He asked me abruptly where I came from. Then he stood and started talking about his life.
- When she left me, from my very distant hometown in Henan to this city, I kept on walking and walking night and day. At that time, my soul was overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. But I was fortunate. On the road, I met an old man who said to me: « However much you run, you will not be able to put the fire out”. Then, I stopped in Qingyuan. Thanks to him, I patiently reconstructed my life. I became a very different person at that point.
Saved from the water
On November 11, 2007, Li Hong, a native from Fosham in his early thirties, rescued two children from the cold waters of the Běi Jiāng (北江).
By a sunny afternoon, he was strolling nearby the shores. Suddenly, he heard screams that of the innocence.
Two young boys were drowning in front of the seemingly hopeless and desperate face of their parents. The current was very strong. Without questioning himself, he threw himself into the waters. He devoted all his strength to the rescue operation. Thanks to him, the young boys have been able to reach the shore.
Unfortunately, when he emerged, he succumbed straight away to a heart attack. His last words: « I have done my duty!.
“It is an incredible act of courage that makes sense in our today too material and selfish world, remembers with emotion one the young boy. Sometimes, I am asking myself. What is the real purpose of our existence? For me, the answer is given by Li Hong.”
The teacher
As I learned since ever, Education saves and improves the lives of girls and boys.
By far, I met an elegant woman with a tender face, a teacher named Yao, in her late thirties. Native of the city, she looked quiet, a peaceful heart, a charming smile.
Sometimes with a degree of naivety, I tried to court her. I was puzzled about what must have been going on in the caves of her mind. Already moved, I was delighted to converse with her about the sense of life.
Unfortunately, with my poor Chinese, my pseudo-intellectual trivia, my somewhat man’s arrogance, instantly I’ve bored her to death.
The moral of this story is, of course, that to conquer a woman heart, as everywhere in the world, is to be silent, low-profile and patient.
An Alien in Qingyuan
Qingyuan has its alien.
Please don’t ask me to describe his physical appearance. During my journey in this city, I haven’t seen him. I guess I will never expect to see him, face to face. That’s my unfortunate fate; I am a human being without any contact with far distant lands.
- Uncover the horrific truth: Cut through the harrowing mystery to stop the alien onslaught” that what a man told me once there.
- But who are they? I haven’t the slight idea, an alien individual is beyond my imagination.
Then the man said:
- Please be reassured, you are not the only one going through these emotions. The extraterrestrial is disguised as a bird, just a bird.
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