The original text and appreciation of Liu Chengzhang's "Into New York"

"Entering New York"

Looking at New York, the largest city in the world, I raised the waves of the Atlantic Ocean and spoke the ancient language of the East Let out a hot exclamation: How majestic and majestic! Yes, it seems that all the mountains, all the mountains, all the ridges, all the peaks from nearly 200 countries on the five continents of the world have gathered here! Are you in Lushan Mountain before you? It looks like ridges from the side and peaks from the side, with different heights near and far. However, it is impossible to appreciate all its magnificence and elegance in an otherworldly way. When people walk in the gloomy canyon, the sky seems so narrow, so narrow, that it often becomes a vertical and horizontal blue line. Walking in the gloomy canyon, people seem so small and lonely. When we arrived at the famous Wall Street, which is so short but only about a dozen meters long and winding, the mountains seemed to be holding a grand exhibition there; as the mountains became more numerous, the ravines also increased, so when you look to the left, you can see the ravines. , looking to the right is a ravine, moving forward and back, still seeing ravines, ravines, ravines. Walking into each ravine gives people the feeling of being blocked by mountains and rivers, which makes you breathless and ends in darkness. However, whether it is mountains or ravines, there are no real Xiyan rocks, no real springs and waterfalls, and no real pines and cypresses among them. But there are windows, and there are thousands of them, covering every inch of the cliff. But there are people, people like ants, hiding in the window silently. But there are also clouds, and the clouds are just in front of the windows of those high-rise buildings that look like mountains. A high mountain of glass reflects the cliffs of metal and cement, and also reflects the white clouds. That's where my daughter-in-law Xiaowei just went to work. The revolving door is spinning. People were being spun around and stammering. I clearly saw her getting on the elevator in a flash, and I could also imagine that the elevator was rising and rising, but it was difficult to guess which cloud she had reached?

But unlike the Empire State Building and the World Trade Center that suddenly emerged, Compared with the two side-by-side buildings in the center, these buildings all seem insignificant. They are a field of grass, and the Empire State Building and the World Trade Center are three coconut trees holding the sky: they are a pile of toys, and the Empire State Building and the World Trade Center are three giraffes eating laurel leaves. Climbing the Empire State Building and the World Trade Center is like crossing the snow line and climbing Mount Everest, K2, and Kanchenjunga. Although there was no snow, the temperature suddenly dropped to a chilly level. Thousands of miles of wind, like a transparent giant dragon in the sky, is passing by at a speed of seven or eight thousand miles per hour. The dragon's claws and scales are colliding and tearing everyone's clothes and hair, making everyone as embarrassed as a plaything in the dragon's palm. Unable to stand firm. You thought you were nine days away, but in fact, you haven’t left New York yet. It’s just that the radiant and powerful New York has stood up. The super giant New York stands so tall, and you are standing on New York’s shoulders. . You can clearly feel the body temperature of New York on the soles of your feet. Looking down, the skyscrapers around me that have suddenly become humble are all fat at the top and thin at the bottom, wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, thick at the top and thin at the bottom, skewed to both sides. Looking down, I saw countless small buildings, long and short streets, and bustling downtowns, interspersed with swamps, bays, and the Hudson River, and mixed with countless cars and a few boats. , they all seemed to be carried very far and far by a magical big hand, as if they were transformed into objects in Lilliput. And looking around, as far as the eye can see, there is nothing but vast sky, and everything is equidistant from me. The boundary of New York seems to be drawn by a compass, just like a big circle. Therefore, New York, the most international metropolis, has a lot of symbolic meaning. It's very much like an earth drawn on paper.

I know I don't belong in New York. My hometown is on that side of the world. I was born in JL China, a place where the most beautiful folk songs float. It was a loess plateau that was deprived of life and vegetation by old people and storms. When I was born, a famous American journalist named Edgar Snow was lamenting there, just as I am lamenting New York now. Snow, of course, soon returned to his America, but I grew up there and was deeply imprinted with it. At this moment, I have traveled thousands of miles across the ocean, been washed by the waves, and passed by by the strong wind. I have been gently patted by the hands of New York, but my body is still full of the smell of red flags, charcoal fire, loess, rice wine and wild wormwood. It was the bastion of the Chinese revolution. But as the flames of revolution developed in the 1960s, revolutionaries were burned to the point of death, and even those who narrowly escaped death were terrified and could not live forever. The strange thing is that it was on those days that I dreamed of New York with its skyscrapers. When I woke up, I was too scared to tell anyone. But I don't know how I could have such a dream. I condemned my sin: How could I dream that New York was so prosperous?! Yes, yes, I was definitely guilty. However, my motherland finally came out of the fog and brought me out of the fog. However, what is in front of us is the real America and the real New York: neither a man with coffin flesh nor a disease-free immortal, but a man who is alive and well, like Hemingway, who has inspiration from time to time. How can we not be grateful that in the story of spring, China has opened its doors and windows, allowing us to see the real world. Rock music praises: "Big Apple! Big Apple!" New York, the big apple in the hearts of New Yorkers, hangs on the branches and is full of vitality.

New York's 1st Street? 10th Street? 142nd Street? as well as 2nd Avenue? and 5th Avenue? They are like the numerical control system of an electronic computer. Every time you give it an instruction, it makes something more vivid than life. Also need to react sensitively. Ah, New York, this is New York! Facing its strange rise, majesty and vitality of modern civilization, I must adjust my breathing and steps like a country shepherd.

When riding in an elevator, the eardrums are under strong pressure, and the person does not fall freely, so he can fall down at an even speed. When he lands, he immediately falls into the hustle and bustle. The noise of customers. Negro drumbeat. The screams of police cars and ambulances. All kinds of sounds are rolling, and the waves are ups and downs, making you swim breaststroke, backstroke, butterfly, crawl, sidestroke and freestyle. Even if you try your best, you can't swim out of the end. And the subway roared beneath the surface, as if there were more than ten felt earthquakes happening every second. Every street in New York was shaking. Every street in New York rocks to the rhythm of rock and roll. Therefore, the streets of New York seem to have become the world's largest massage machines. Anyone with foot or leg problems can sit on the island in the middle of the street and enjoy a free massage. But here, even if people have sick legs and feet, they still walk with great strides. Because everyone is a striver and competitor. Because everyone is a desperate Saburo. Because everyone is racing against time to pursue higher work goals and higher income. Maybe only the little squirrel has no pursuits and no pressure. The little squirrel jumps to the retired elderly or foreign tourists sitting on the bench under the tree, jumps on their palms, and enjoys their caress and rewards such as bread like little angels and elves. People are far less relaxed than squirrels. So as soon as I finish my work, I get into the car like a whirlwind, like getting into the belly of a beetle, and the beetle gallops away in a hurry. The whole of New York is a world of fast running beetles. The beetle uses iron as its armor, wheels as its legs, gasoline as liquid bread and milk as Coca-Cola. In the streets and alleys, beetles are densely packed and colorful, showing their beautiful appearance. What belongs to my youngest son Jin Jin is a lowly and sick black beetle. Other people's beetles are often worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, but the Jinjin ones are worth less than two thousand. Because Jinjin was still studying at Columbia University, he was poor and proletarian. Sitting in the belly of this black beetle, we can see that its internal organs are in tatters and missing some things. You can also hear an extremely unpleasant sound, which may be from its trachea. It may be suffering from severe tracheitis. But New York is generous. Although there is a place to show off if you are rich, there is no one like you if you are poor. Therefore, our black beetle does not need to be ashamed of itself, but walks into the ranks of the beetles with swagger. road. straight line. Cross lines. arc. Arched line. The hidden line. circle. There are also overlapping lines, and even lines that are tangled together. The beetles were sometimes chasing each other, sometimes running side by side, sometimes they suddenly parted ways, and then they suddenly ran high and low on the winding roads of several layers of complex overpasses, running along the dazzling spiral curve into a circle. A rotating multi-colored lotus flower developed from light and shadow. Suddenly, a lying harp hung from a cable-stayed bridge. Now, the beetles rushed up and were played by an invisible hand into notes and melody, which was beautiful and beautiful.

Above the lush green lawn, rising like a giant monument, is the United Nations Headquarters. The marble stone walls of the 1-ton building are projected high into the blue sky, showing the power of peace and development. A bronze sculpture of "Forging Swords into Plowshares" from the former Soviet Union is placed under the wall. Our Chinese giant bronze tripod is placed under the wall. There are also lost-of-shape artworks from many countries placed under the walls. More than 150 national flags of member states were spread out in front of the gate. They were blown by the Atlantic sea breeze that has been blowing for hundreds of millions of years. Their roaring sounds were like singing and crying. Complain, like cheering or protesting. But not every protest made by Xun Shengqiu is sincere and justified. I saw three or four Tibetans from our country sitting on the bottom of the building wall opposite the gate, like international beggars, who wanted to take a piece of the waves of the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers. Mr. Mi Feng Chang Annan, who works on the 38th floor of the building, is obviously busy. He faces various crises throughout the year, facing the green, red and yellow lights indicating approval, opposition or abstention respectively, trying to make it healthy. into a spring of peace.

Broadway is as long as a kilometer long. It is full of lights and lights, and has countless theaters, cinemas, dance halls and nightclubs. It is as vast as: continents) hectares Central Park, with rippling lakes, rolling rocks, and ancient castles, attracts people's imagination. But after seeing them, I couldn't help but want to look at Wall Street again, even though Wall Street is so short and narrow. Because Wall Street is truly a fairyland of clouds and clouds. Perhaps the poet Li Bai's spirit in heaven once came to him in a dream. What did he see? The poet wrote "Dream Wandering Tianmu's Farewell" written in the clear sky of New York: "The stone door of the cave sky suddenly opened in the middle, the blue and dark vastness is bottomless, the sun and the moon shine on the gold and silver platform." On the Gold and Silver Platform, there is endless information that gold is more valuable than silver, because it is the place where six of the top ten banks in the United States are headquartered. Many of the largest brokerage companies in the United States are located here. The general management offices of many large American conglomerates such as insurance, railways, shipping, mining, and manufacturing are also located here. In the stock exchange hall, wind and waves were blowing in the face.

Although it is not vast and majestic, it is oceanic than the ocean. The ever-changing sea water ripples on the electronic display. There are countless rocks, dangerous shoals and eddies lurking in the sea. The Dow Jones Index ebbs and flows, affecting the economic climate in every corner of the world. Walking out of the lobby and looking at Wall Street, every brick on Wall Street is like a pioneering bull charging and howling. No, Wall Street is a huge multi-faceted diamond. With its colorful and fantastic light, it attracts people to rush here, and the buildings are crowded higher and higher. However, even on this precious land, the Trinity Church built in the 17th century, the church cemetery, and the tombstones, high and low, peeling off, are preserved. Looking at them is like looking back at history, the history of history. In the river, a piece of tired masts solidified.

New York Harbor, where the Statue of Liberty stands, is filled with a strong maternal atmosphere between the water and the sky. It is warm and soft, reflecting the rays of the sun as if showing the color of blood. It should be America's womb. Thousands of Americans were born here. It is often said that people come into this world naked, but Americans are not. When Americans were born, they were all wearing clothes worn by travel, carrying large and small bags, and even carrying wooden and rattan boxes. They were all tired and hungry. I was led by Jin Jin and Xiao Wei to learn about this from the Immigration Museum located at Ellis Island in the harbor. When Americans were just born out of their mother's womb and climbed ashore from New York Harbor, they were all panting and rushing to the bottom of society. After a few years, they suddenly felt comfortable and comfortable. They had their own lawn, their own car and their own villa. When they looked down, they saw a group of figures squirming under their feet. It was new again. A group of people immigrated. New immigrants have replaced their original lowest social status.

Group after group of newer immigrants keep coming, and they are constantly at the bottom. The first comers at the top gradually rise, rise, and rise. Due to differences in talents and opportunities, There is a difference between slow and rapid progress in high school. Some finally become white-collar workers, some become billionaires admired by the world, and of course, there are also unfortunate people who are down and out. The double welcome and instant integration of high-tech immigrants over the past few decades have added a dazzling spirituality to the soaring United States, making its giant wings full of real vitality and endurance, capable of fighting thunder and lightning with little wear and tear. The United States has become a complete ethnographic museum. Be tolerant to diversity, tolerance is a virtue. The United States is now so big that it is as big as the earth as mentioned above. This earth is full of gears, computers, and modern thinking, as well as rolling wheels that raise light dust, and steaks, pizzas, and popcorn in your hands. The white, black, red, and yellow colors on the earth are condensed into a magical magic that breaks away from traditional inertia. It is magnificent and powerful, completing a feat.

Jinjin and Xiaowei currently don’t even have green cards, which means they are not even qualified for new immigrants. Of course, they are at the bottom of the bottom. However, with their intelligence and hard work, not only them, but also all Chinese and even all Asian international students are proud of this. They are confident and even a little ambitious. That day, they drove their shabby car and took me quietly to Long Island to see the mansions of the rich. I understood the secrets in their hearts. When they returned, they designed the colorful clouds of the Ming Dynasty. How they laughed.

Driving through dirty, crowded Harlem. Harlem is like a huge shadow cast by the times. Our nerves were a little tense all of a sudden, and the car drove very fast. This is where I'm most worried about my car breaking down. Because Harlem is a black neighborhood. The Negro Quarter was like a wolf's den and a tiger's den. Young black people twisted and danced, laughed wildly, and some even sang: "Kill the police! Kill the police!" According to Jin Jin, some black people who have become rich are moving to other places one after another. But according to Xiaowei, wherever there are more black people, the price of houses will immediately drop. However, they all said in the end that many black people are actually quite kind and civilized. The bruised brows of those black people clearly reveal their unequal inner world.

I don’t know when, the twilight has emerged from behind every tree in every corner of New York, becoming blurry and gradually getting thicker. The five neighborhoods of Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens and Richmond all took out black dresses from their closets and prepared to wear them. But before they could stretch out their arms, street lamps and store lights were like plants competing for spring, blooming into colorful flowers one by one. The best thing to see at this time is the cars on the street. The row on the left is all incandescent headlights, and the row on the right is all red taillights; the incandescent headlights are a long chain of silver plates, and the red taillights are It is a long chain of cherries. However, although I have come all the way from the East, New York has no intention of letting me taste it, so there will never be a cherry placed in front of me on a silver platter. The weaving bats were flying up and down, writing in cursive scripts in English or Chinese characters, very delicate and crisp poems. At the top of the church, the bells were buzzing, and the rumors spread were all stained with ink. After a burst of footsteps, everyone saw that the army of night had occupied all the streets and alleys. However, raise your blurred head, you see, on the tall Empire State Building and the World Trade Center Tower, their upper half, the army of daylight is still clinging to it, and there is still a bright sunshine.

Appreciation of "Entering New York":

Liu Chengzhang is a powerful prose writer who has emerged since the new era. Since 1981, he has broken out of the long-term creative barriers of poetry, lyrics, scripts and other styles. He started his "middle-aged reform" by specializing in prose creation of northern Shaanxi style. He drew materials from his own life course and travels, and has a strong sense of style. It has a local flavor and a strong sense of the times; at the same time, it draws on the charm of the folk song "Xintianyou" in northern Shaanxi in terms of expression techniques, and uses a poetic form to create a simple and ingenious conception; the language is humorous and full of interest, and almost every article is carefully brewed A masterpiece of beautiful writing. His prose is outstanding and constitutes a beautiful landscape in contemporary prose creation, thus achieving success. Liu Chengzhang's Northern Shaanxi style prose "Zhuan Jiuqu", "High-heeled shoes, ringing through the streets of Suide", "Ansai Waist Drum", "Going to see the good mother-in-law", etc., have become popular masterpieces. In 1998, his collection of essays "Sheep Thinking of Clouds" won the first "Lu Xun Literature Award" Prose Award.

Since the mid-to-late 1990s, Liu Chengzhang's life has changed a lot. His two sons and one daughter all settled in the United States and Canada, so he spent more time abroad and expanded the scope of his prose creations. It can be said that what he sells is life. He starts from the reality of life and pays attention to the role of objective reality in prose creation. He also insists on capturing the highlights deep in his memory and pays attention to the uniqueness of personal feelings. Northern Style is his own territory, and he has adapted to the changes of the times and personal life, gradually expanding the scope of subject matter, writing from northern Shaanxi to Xi'an, Hong Kong, Russia, the United States and other countries and regions, showing his multi-faceted insights and thinking. His essay "Entering New York" published in the 6th issue of "Meiwen" magazine in 1999 is a masterpiece in this regard. This prose not only writes about the prosperity of New York, the world's largest metropolis, but also about human civilization and progress, including knowledge, material resources, ideas, etc., and also about the yearning and future of the Chinese nation.

First of all, the writing perspective of this essay is unique. The author carries out aesthetic activities with the unique vision of a Chinese mountain person, specifically a mountain person in northern Shaanxi. What compels the author's vision is the strong contrast between different cultural backgrounds and sense of the times. This contrast not only produces the magical effect of kaleidoscope, but also forms a special humorous style. The author utters a heartfelt sigh at the beginning of the chapter: "How majestic and majestic!" This is a "shepherd in the mountains" filled with the smell of "red flag, charcoal fire, loess, rice wine and wild mugwort" and the smell of green grass. , an exclamation for a brand new international metropolis. The emotions contained in it are similar to those in "Historical Records: The Family of Chen She": "Yan! She is the king of Shen Shen", so similar to Naer! It is because he was born in a place in northern China where the most beautiful folk songs are floating, and his whole body is full of emotions. There are countless artistic elements of "Xintianyou". Facing the wonder, stature and vitality of modern civilization, I must adjust my breathing and footsteps like a country shepherd. In a sense, this special writing perspective determines the humorous, romantic, exaggerated, and deformed artistic tone of the entire prose, and also determines the poetic expression of the entire prose, that is, the prose is written purely in the form of large splashes of ink. Concept and lyricism.

Secondly, the author guides readers into the strange and lively international metropolis New York through bold, rich and magical imagination and association. We know that imagination and association are the main ways of image thinking. The level of imagination and association is an important criterion for measuring a writer's innovative ability. For Liu Chengzhang, long-term literary creation practice and good absorption of the colorful folk culture and folk art of northern Shaanxi have made his prose show bold, fantastic and romantic imagination and association, which makes people sigh. .

In this prose, Liu Chengzhang uses exaggeration, metaphor, contrast, and synaesthesia in language, and expresses it richly and vividly with his unique aesthetic feeling and artistic imagination. You see, New York is so big! All the mountains, all the mountains, all the peaks from nearly 200 countries on the five continents are gathered here one by one. ?Using mountains as a metaphor to express the grandeur of New York is probably only Liu Chengzhang who can think of this. The life root of this extraordinary and wonderful thought is the deep loess feelings hidden in the author's heart. From this, in the eyes of the author, the short and winding Wall Street, which is only 500 meters long, seems to be holding a grand exhibition there; as the mountains become more numerous, the ravines also increase, so the left Look at it, it's a ravine, look to the right, it's a ravine, move your eyes forward and back, it's still a ravine, ravine, ravine

The author's initial feeling is holistic and hazy. After firmly grasping the feeling of capturing the moment, the author's thoughts did not stagnate, but symphonically and artistically outlined major buildings such as the Empire State Building and the World Trade Center in New York, Wall Street, Broadway, black communities? Harlem? and other major New York communities. When describing the emergence of the Empire State Building and the World Trade Center, the author compares them with the rows of high-rise buildings like this: They are a field of wormwood, while the Empire State Building and the World Trade Center are three coconut trees holding up the sky; they are one Stacks of toys, while the Empire State Building and the World Trade Center are three giraffes nibbling on laurel leaves. ?New York streets,?roads. straight line. Cross lines. arc. Arched line. The hidden line. circle. There are also overlapping threads, and even, threads that are tangled together.

?Cars on the street,? The beetles are sometimes chasing each other, sometimes running side by side, sometimes suddenly parting ways, and suddenly running high and low on the winding roads of several layers of complex overpasses, along dazzling spiral curves, It ran into a rotating multi-colored lotus flower developed from light and shadow. ?When you step into the hall of the world's largest stock exchange on Wall Street, you are greeted by wind and waves. Although it is not vast and majestic, it is oceanic than the ocean. The ever-changing sea water ripples on the electronic display. There are countless rocks, dangerous shoals and whirlpools lurking in the sea. The ebb and flow of the Dow Jones Index affects the economic climate in every corner of the world. The Statue of Liberty stands in New York Harbor. Between the water and the sky, there is a strong maternal atmosphere, which is warm, soft, and shining. The glow looks like blood, it should be the womb of America. When dusk falls, New York becomes a colorful and variegated world. On the five famous streets, everyone takes out their black dresses from their closets and prepares to wear them. But before they had time to stretch out their arms, street lamps and store lights were like plants competing for spring, blooming into colorful flowers one by one. ?At this time,?the most beautiful thing are the cars on the street. The row on the left is all incandescent headlights, and the row on the right is all red taillights; the incandescent headlights are a long chain of silver plates. The bright red taillight is a long chain of cherries, a bold imagination, superimposed imagery, magical synaesthesia, vivid descriptions, and the highlight of texture and movement. It makes a super city three-dimensional, which is indeed dazzling. The author's vivid and witty words deeply imprint the colorful panorama of New York into the readers' hearts.

In short, for Liu Chengzhang, what changes is the contrast of life content and the further penetration of subject emotions. What remains unchanged is his ability to capture life and be good at poetic coloring, and to vent the passion of life to his heart's content. Ability. All this gave his prose a new advantage and showed his artistic charm and personality evolution. No wonder readers who are familiar with Liu Chengzhang are suddenly unfamiliar with him, and no wonder this prose appears in the "1999 Chinese Prose Rankings" and "The Best of China's Centenary Travel Notes".