大衛(wèi)

走出我的公寓樓左轉(zhuǎn)，映入眼簾的是一派都市盛景，這種繁華正逐步深入中國各大城市，成為中心地帶的常態(tài)。寬闊的林蔭大道兩側(cè)，鋼構(gòu)架配玻璃外墻的大廈林立，間或有幾家五星級酒店和銀行分行。若有心去尋找，還可以看到兩家相距大概兩百米的星巴克，赫然昭示著全球化的進(jìn)程?？吹竭@些，你大可不必驚訝。繁榮的城市大都如此，況且中國作為世界第二大經(jīng)濟(jì)體，欣欣向榮的地方多著呢。當(dāng)然，即便繁花似錦也各有姿態(tài)，這些欣欣向榮之地也是如此，在我看來很應(yīng)該花些時間細(xì)細(xì)研究一番。不過中國值得研究的可不僅僅是這些寬闊的林蔭大道。若出公寓樓右轉(zhuǎn)，呈現(xiàn)在眼前的則是完全不同的景象，這里離之前全球化惠及之地不過兩分鐘的路程，簡直令人難以置信。這片截然不同的街區(qū)正在迅速消失，可以預(yù)見，不久以后我每天看到的街景和我住的公寓樓都會被推土機(jī)夷為平地。所以，在這片即將消失的街區(qū)來一場小“探險(xiǎn)”，徜徉在窄街小巷中，也不失為一種有趣的體驗(yàn)。

西溪路上店鋪繁多，每家店通常就一個店主，在波紋鐵門內(nèi)的低層小單間里做著小生意，而店面大多局促隱蔽。為了給我在2018年春天的所見之物編排目錄，我將據(jù)其環(huán)境氛圍逐個列出：

一大早，小卡車?？吭诼愤叄浖苌戏诺脻M滿當(dāng)當(dāng)?shù)?，老板坐在一旁的矮凳上等待著生意。如果有人前來光顧的話，定能給攤子帶來人氣;如果遇上了本地買主，人們就更有興趣在店里閑話起來。這種生產(chǎn)銷售有時與西方國家的不大一樣，不知怎的，我覺得竹筍更有吸引力——令我想起了一小片樹林，樹的根部伸展到土地深處。大概是竹筍總放在貨架底層的緣故吧，畢竟那兒離地最近。

與生產(chǎn)銷售的小攤不盡相同，他們兜售某種“毛”河蝦。魚蝦在塑料盆兒里游來游去，老板們都是賣活的。肉類也都直接賣，不放冰箱，也不放在玻璃柜里。如果還沒完全切割好的話，就直接把肉擺在顧客面前，或者用鉤子掛著。其中也包括牲畜的臟器，比如：肺。在城市中國的各個地方，集貿(mào)市場的肉類售賣方式大多如此。但是，更多的雜貨鋪不這樣賣。而且，雜貨鋪的數(shù)量逐年增多。

修理的業(yè)務(wù)范圍包括摩托車和電動摩托車、自行車、家用電器及電子、管道設(shè)備、五金雜件和家庭鐘表。鐘表店還銷售新產(chǎn)品，所以它只是部分屬于此類。實(shí)際上，除了鐘表店，其他所有修理店都不大能容得了身，店里的空間都被一摞摞東西占滿了。我發(fā)覺，盡管我每次出門回家都能見到它們，但當(dāng)我提筆寫作時，卻無法形成清晰的畫面，它們?nèi)涡缘卦谖夷X海里跳來跳去，不知道哪兒是哪。當(dāng)然，這不包括時鐘店。老板執(zhí)拗地在墻上掛滿了走動的時鐘，彼此的間隔時間固定。似乎提醒著我們，一切都在嘀嘀嗒嗒地流逝。

中國小餐館特別多，西溪路也不例外。西溪路上有幾家面館，除了餐具等不大一樣外，他們提供的面食與購物商場里的并無二致，只不過后者的門店更新、環(huán)境更好罷了?？墒牵诖擞貌偷拇_給人與眾不同的體驗(yàn)，店主們也不輕易到別的地方去。但應(yīng)該說，對于中國社會這個特殊階層，他們有發(fā)揮個人主動性的一定空間。這兒有好些私人廣告牌，或者攤販們騎著電瓶車或摩托車當(dāng)街叫賣，有的人拉載的貨多、有的貨少。我看到過一塊有紅色手寫字體的牌子，寫的人似是漫不經(jīng)心、不刻意講究。牌子上的商品目錄倒是十分豐富。我能清楚地辨認(rèn)出“煙”、“酒”這類常用字，其下跟著一長串醫(yī)藥保健商品名稱，其中有一個我完全不懂。我問我的學(xué)生，他們告訴我，它叫冬蟲夏草，是傳統(tǒng)中醫(yī)藥材，我還以為是某種蘑菇呢。在明清兩代的街景照片和繪畫中，我們可以了解到中國早在很久以前就使用廣告標(biāo)語了。我眼前的自制廣告牌已又是新一代的版本了。我很好奇，將來城市中國把這些擁擠的區(qū)域清理之后，它會以什么樣的新形式出現(xiàn)呢？

洗衣服確實(shí)是人們生活中的很重要的一方面?？梢韵胍?，在人口稠密的西溪路晾干衣服聽起來是多么稀奇。人們充分利用可用的街道晾曬，沒有人會去移動甚至是注意到它。在中國大學(xué)校園，在陽光明媚的周末或是相當(dāng)于春天大掃除的溫暖日子里，這樣的風(fēng)景也隨處可見。在公共區(qū)域，或院子里，大家把剛洗過的毯子蓋在灌木叢上。沒人會拿走，要不是初到中國的美國朋友指著讓我看，我早就不覺得奇怪了。直到那個時候，我才突然發(fā)現(xiàn)，原來我已經(jīng)習(xí)慣了頭上掛著隨風(fēng)飄動的衣服，習(xí)慣了西溪路的一草一木。如果這些都不復(fù)存在，我會很懷念和留戀啊。

（節(jié)選自《來自中國的明信片：大運(yùn)河紀(jì)行》，本文題目為編者所加。）

Xixi Lu：A Walk through Hangzhou

Excerpts from Chapter four ofPostcards from China： Travels along the Grand Canal

By David Pickus

If you walk out of my apartment building and turn left， you can easily see a cityscape that is becoming the norm in the prosperous parts of all of Chinas large cities. It is a wide boulevard of steel and glass buildings， with five-star hotels， several bank branches， and in case anyone wants an obvious symbol of globalization， there are two Starbucks within about two hundred meters of each other. The point is not really to gape in wonder. Much of the affluent world looks like this and China， with the worlds second largest economy， contains a great many affluent parts. Naturally， those affluent parts have their own special character and qualities， and time should be taken to examine them carefully. But of course China is not only these wide boulevards. Thus， if you walk out of my apartment building and turn right you see a quite different world， even though it is only a two-minute walk from the globalized one. This different world is one that is fast disappearing and my prediction is that the street scene I see daily， as well as the very building I live in will be bulldozed in the very near future. Hence， it helps to take a small trip down such a fast-disappearing street， as well as into its alleyways and side streets.

The businesses along Xixi Lu are many， but they are “hole in the wall” businesses， typically operated by a single proprietor in which a corrugated iron door opens into a single room in a low single-story building. Just for the sake of cataloging what can be seen in the spring of 2018， I will list something of their atmosphere：

. I agree that there is nothing especially exotic about such things， but the older way of selling produce is becoming less and less common. They are not always little stores you can walk into， but more like a closet with shelves that is locked up with a metal door at night. Early in the morning a small truck pulls up and the shelves are fi?????? and then the proprietor sits near it on a low stool and you shop creates a certain amount of bustle and makes it impossible to walk by quickly， which， if you are a local， creates even more of a temptation to stop and gossip， etc. The produce sold is not always the same as that which is sold in Western countries， and for

some reason I have always found the bamboo shoots attractive. They are called 筍 （sun） and this character， to me， seems to evoke some small grove of trees with a root extending into the ground. Maybe this is because they are always put in the bottom shelf， closest to the ground.

. These are not entirely different from the produce stalls， as those stalls also sell a kind of “hairy” river shrimp. Both the shrimp and fish are sold live， swimming around in plastic tubs. The meat is also sold with some directness without being put in a refrigerator or behind glass. It is simply put out in front of you or hung on a hook if the carcass has not been fully carved. This also includes buckets of organs like lungs. Across urban China， there are many open markets that sell meat like this. But there are also even more grocery stores that do not sell meat this way. And every year the grocery stores are getting more numerous.

. These include repairs for scooters and electric motorbikes， bicycles， household appliances and electronics， plumbing and miscellaneous hardware， and household repair and watches and clocks. Most of these stores are large enough to walk inside， only they tend to be very cluttered. In fact， except for the watch and clock store—which only partly belongs in this category， since it also sells new goods— all of them are rather difficult to walk into， since space is occupied by heaped up piles of things. I realize now， in writing about it， that even though I live close enough to see them clearly every time I leave or enter my home that I cannot form a clear picture of what objects are where. They seem to jump around in my mind. Except， of course， for the time-keeping store， which in my view somewhat sternly filled a whole wall with running clocks of every sort hung at regular intervals. As if to remind us that all this is ticking by.

. China has a great many small restaurants and Xixi Lu is no exception. There are several noodle shops and while the utensils， etc.， are different， the noodles honestly are not so different from those served in the newer and fancier places and in the shopping malls. Yet， it feels different to eat them here， and the proprietors do not easily have another place to go. It should be said that in this particular stratum of Chinese society there is some scope for individual initiative. There are any number of privately done advertisements， or people coming by on electric carts and motorbikes selling any number of things. Indeed， there is one red-lettered， casually hand-painted sign that offers good deals on a wide range of items. Among them， I can clearly recognize the common characters for tobacco （煙） and liquor （酒）， followed by a series of medicines and health products， including one I could not understand at all. I asked my students who told me it translates as “Chinese caterpillar fungus.” I thought this was a kind of mushroom， but they said it was an herb used in traditional medicine. Photographs and paintings of street scenes in the Qing and even Ming dynasties show how long- established the practice is of using advertising placards in China. The homemade sign in front of me is another iteration of a long practice. I wonder what form it will take when urban China sheds these cluttered areas entirely.

. I understand that this is not a business， but washing our clothes is a principal human business and it should be expected that in high-density Xixi Lu space for drying clothes will be scarce and that people use available venues without anyone else moving it， or even much noticing it. Thus， it is a normal sight on a Chinese university campus during a warm weekend， or the equivalent of a spring cleaning time， to see a recently-washed blanket draped over a bush in a public place like a quad. No one takes it away， and it was only when an American friend who was new to China drew it to my attention that I realized I had stopped noticing it. Likewise， it was only when I began to think of how I came to get used to the clothing fluttering above me that I realized that I had grown used to Xixi Lu and missed it when it was gone.