我的父母之乡 The Land of My Ancestors

我的父母之乡The Land of My Ancestors

-- 冰心Bing Xin; 张培基 译Translated by Zhang Peiji

清晓的江头,

白雾茫茫;

是江南天气,

雨儿来了——

我只知道有蔚蓝的海,

却原来还有碧绿的江,

这是我父母之乡!

《繁星156》

The River mouth at dawn,

Behind a white haze of mist,

‘Tis southern climes,

Behold, the rain is coming.

I have seen the blue sea all along,

Little aware of this green River,

O the land of my ancestors!

--Sparkling Stars, 156

福建福州永远是我的故乡,虽然我不在那里生长,但它是我的父母之乡!

Fuzhou of Fujian Province will always be my old home. Though I was brought up elsewhere, Fuzhou is nevertheless the land of my ancestors!

到今日为止,我这一生中只回去过两次。第一次是一九一一年,是在冬季。从严冷枯黄的北方归来,看到展现在我眼前的青山碧水,红花绿叶,使我惊讶而欢喜!我觉得我的生命的风帆,已从蔚蓝的海,驶进了碧绿的江。这天我们在闽江口从大船下到小船,驶到大桥头,来接我们的伯父堂兄们把我们包围了起来,他们用乡音和我的父母热烈地交谈。我的五岁的大弟弟悄悄地用山东话问我说:“他们怎么都会说福州话?”因为从来在我们姐弟心里,福州话是最难懂难说的!

As yet, I have been back to Fuzhou no more than twice in my lifetime. I made the first tripe in the winter of 1911. Returned from the bitter cold North with its drab and dried up vegetation, I was amazed and delighted when greeted by the charming scenery of sapphire mountains and emerald rivers as well as red flowers and green leaves. I felt the sailing boat of my life steering its way into the green River after leaving the blue sea behind. At the Minjiang River, we changed from the big ship to a small boat, which took us to Daqiaotou (Big Bridge), where we were met by Uncle and cousins. They gathered round us and talked warmly with my parents in the local dialect. Thereupon, my 5-year-old younger brother whispered in my ear with a Shandong accent, “How come they can all speak the Fuzhou dialect?” We had both thought that the Fuzhou dialect was indeed most difficult for anyone to learn.

这以后的一年多时间里,我们就过起了福州城市的生活。新年、元宵、端午、中秋……岁时节日,吃的玩的都是十分丰富而有趣。特别是灯节,那时我们家住在南后街,那里是灯市的街,元宵前后,“花市灯如昼”,灯影下人流潮涌,那光明绚丽的情景就说不尽了。

From then on, we lived an urban life for more than a year in Fuzhou. During such festivals as Lunar New Year, Lantern, Dragon Boat and Mid-Autumn, we all celebrated the festivities with plenty of food and fun. Particular mention, however, should be made of the Lantern Festival when Nanhoujie, the street known for its lantern fair and also the street where we lived, became as bright as broad daylight at night with myriads of lanterns and streams of spectators. The splendor and magnificence of the scene is beyond all description.

第二次回去,是在一九五六年,也是在冬季。那时还没有鹰厦铁路,我们人大代表团是从江西坐汽车进去的。一路上红土公路,道滑如拭,我还没有看见过土铺的公路,维修得这样平整的!这次我不但到了福州,还到了漳州、泉州、厦门、鼓浪屿……那是祖国的南疆了。在厦门前线,我还从望远镜里看见了金门岛上的行人和牛,看得很清楚……

I made the second visit in 1956, also in winter. As the Yingtan_Xiamen Railway had not yet been built, the NPC delegation, with myself as a member, had to go from Jiangxi Province by car. The highway from Jiangxi to Fuzhou, paved with red soil, was as smooth as a mirror. It was the most level soil-paved highway I had ever seen. This time I visited not only Fuzhou, but also Zhangzhou, Quanzhou, Xiamen and Gulangyu—the southern frontiers of our country. At the Xiamen seaside, I could see clearly through a telescope pedestrians and cows on the Quemoy Islands.

回忆中的情景很多,在此就不一一描写了。总之,我很喜欢我的父母之乡。那边是南国风光,山是青的,水是绿的,小溪流更是清可见底!院里四季都有花开。水果是从枇杷、荔枝、龙眼,一直吃到福桔!对一个孩子来说,还有什么比这个更惬意的呢?

My experiences of this trip, however, are too numerous to be recounted one by one here. Anyway, I deeply love Fuzhou, my ancestral home. Over there we have the typical southern scenery with blue mountains, green waters, limpid books…! There in the courtyard we can always see some kind of flowers in full bloom throughout the year. Fruits ranging from loquats, lichees, longans to tangerines are in plenty. Is there anything more palatable to a little child than these fruits?

我在故乡走的地方不多,但古迹、侨乡,到处可见,福建华侨,遍于天下。我所到过的亚、非、欧、美各国都见到辛苦创业的福建侨民,握手之余,情溢言表。在他们家里、店里,吃着福州菜,喝着茉莉花茶,使我觉得作为一个福建人是四海都有家的。

I did not visit all the local attractions in Fuzhou. Everywhere we could find historical relics as well as villages and towns inhabited by relatives of overseas Chinese. Fujianese expatriates are found all over the world. They have mostly started from scratch by the sweat of their brow. When I met some of them on my visits to Asian, African European and American countries, they all expressed warm feeling towards me while shaking my hands. As I ate Fuzhou food and sipped jasmine tea in their homes or shops, I felt that being a Fujianese, I could make myself at home wherever I travelled in the world.

我的父母之乡是可爱的。有人从故乡来,或是有朋友新近到福建去过,我都向他们问起福建的近况。他们说:福建比起二十多年前来,进步得不可辨认了。最近呢,农业科学化了,又在植树造林,山岭田地更加郁郁葱葱了。他们都动员我回去看看,我又何尝不想呢?不但我想,在全世界的天涯海角,更不知有多少人在想!我愿和故乡的人,以及普天下的福建侨民,一同在精神和物质文明方面,把故乡建设得更美好!

My ancestral home is so endearing. Whenever I meet somebody hailing from Fuzhou or a friend who has recently been there, I always inquire of them about the present conditions of Fujian. They all tell me that compared with two decades ago, Fujian has made so much progress that it is now almost beyond recognition. Recently I have learned that people there have gone in for scientific farming and afforestation so that green and luxuriant vegetation has appeared on all mountains and fields. People have been advising me to pay another visit to my old home. Yes, I am more than eager to do so. And so are my numerous fellow townsmen in all corners of the world. I hope that together with all the people in my home town as well as all overseas Chinese from Fujian, I can do my bit to make a still better place of my ancestral home, both materially and culturally.