Zhiyin:A Ship of Memories

By Liu Dongli

Zhiyin:A Ship of Memories

By Liu Dongli

1.

“Compared with the powerful and torrential Yangtze River,the Hanjiang River is limpid and joyful. She runs peacefully from the Bozhong Mountains of Shaanxi to Wuhan, singing, moving around the mountains, and bending through the canyons. Hanjiang River would flow to the sea if it weren’t for the Yangtze River lying before her, dictatorially terminating her independent journey.As one who pursues self reliance and freedom, Hanjinag River refuses to lose herself, and strives to find a way out…”

Fang Fang wrote so about the personality of the Hanjinag River in the beginning of The Vicissitudes of Hankou, a book about the past stories of local Wuhan.

Yangtze River and Hangjiang River merge and run together to the sea. So, stories which spread in local Wuhan are closely related to these two great rivers.

Zhiyinhao is one of the ships that sails up and down the rivers,silently experiencing the rising tides and ebbing levels, seeing the birds wandering above the sad and happy faces of Wuhan people. It is a theme ship based on the prototype of Jianghua, a ship forged by Wuhan Minsheng Shipping Company in the early 20th century. Built strictly according to the old fashion, Zhiyin has a rounded bow, two old-type chimneys, and more than 300,000 rivets. She can bring you back for a moment to the 1930s.

According to what Fang Fang narrates, buildings totally different in style from the local warehouses,workshops, and bungalows“appeared along Yangtze River as rapidly as the wind”. After the opening of the port in Hankou (a District of Wuhan), she said, “Locals who lived far from the sea and thus knew little about abroad were greatly stunned by the lifestyle, the material civilization, and the cultural customs of the western world.”

The shock didn’t last for long,though. Wuhan, as a port city,has rooted its open and inclusive culture into its people’s mind. In the process of economic and urban modernization, Wuhan mixed its traditional culture with western culture. Wuhan not only accepted the gardens, the western-style houses, the race course, and the ballrooms from the West, but also became the second biggest city after Shanghai around the Revolution of 1911.

1.

“與氣勢磅礴、渾厚穩(wěn)重的長江比，漢水是一條清澈而活潑的河流。它從陜西的嶓冢山一路喧嘩奔來，穿山繞峽，蜿蜒跌宕，一直歡樂地跑到武漢。倘若沒有長江橫亙在前，或許它還想自己奔往大海。可惜浩浩長江切斷了它獨行的道路。就像一個一心富于個性和自由的人不甘于突然間失去自己一樣，漢水也不甘于就這樣終結(jié)前程。它努力地為自己尋求出路……”

摹寫武漢舊事故貌，武漢作家方方的《漢口的滄桑往事》算得上代表作之一。書一開篇，方方就浩浩湯湯地寫到漢口的水。

江漢朝宗于海。在武漢，大凡流傳的故事，多與長江和漢水有關(guān)。

舟行水上，“知音號”是那些往來船只中的一艘，它們在江中顛簸，默默見聞江水漲落、鷗鳥低徊，以及武漢人的愁容和歡顏。

這條以上世紀(jì)初武漢民生輪船公司“江華輪”為原型打造的主題輪船，為了再現(xiàn)民國時期老武漢風(fēng)情，一切都嚴(yán)格按照舊時樣式打造：舊式圓潤船頭，船身30多萬顆仿制鉚釘，兩座老式煙囪……讓人仿佛重返上世紀(jì)30年代。

方方說，自漢口開埠以來，與本土貨棧、作坊、民屋風(fēng)格完全不同的建筑群“像風(fēng)一樣快速地矗立在長江邊上”?！拔鞣饺说纳罘绞?、西方人的物質(zhì)文明、以及西方人的文化習(xí)慣，足令居住內(nèi)陸深處、無緣見識國外的漢口人一時間目瞪口呆?！?/p>

但是，驚訝僅僅只是一時間的。

作為碼頭城市，武漢開放與包容的碼頭文化已經(jīng)深深植入武漢人的血液之中。武漢在經(jīng)濟與城市現(xiàn)代化的過程中，將本土的傳統(tǒng)文化與歐風(fēng)美雨的洗禮融匯在一起，不僅接納了花園、洋房、賽馬場、跳舞廳這些西式建筑，還成為辛亥革命前后國內(nèi)僅次于上海的第二大城市。

民國時期（1911～1949年），是武漢歷史上最輝煌的時期之一。這里有戰(zhàn)火硝煙，也有歌舞升平，更有商賈往來、精英匯聚。如今，“知音號”就是這段歷史最具年代感的“解說員”，向我們訴說著那個年代的老武漢——

2.

“賣報，賣報！”進(jìn)入知音號碼頭，剛?cè)霗z票口，迎面而來的報童就將一份豎版繁體的“號外”塞到每一位游客手中：“快看快看，‘知音號’漂移式多維體驗劇，絕對精彩！”

隨著人流往前走，連接碼頭和躉船的棧橋儼然一個熱鬧的集市，餛飩攤、老石磨、舊報亭、黃包車、老爺車，斑駁的木質(zhì)地板，吆喝著剪紙、漢繡的貨郎……所有的細(xì)節(jié)都在還原著最原汁原味的老漢口碼頭風(fēng)貌，也在暗示著游客，你已經(jīng)進(jìn)入了一個不一樣的時空。

The Republican period (1911-1949)has witnessed the most glorious time in Wuhan’s history. It is a period of war and also a period of peace when merchants from different places bustled about and talents of different nations were jammed.

Now, Zhiyinhao, seemly a living witness from that past period, is here to tell us about the old Wuhan.

2.

“Breaking news! Breaking news!” At the ticket entrance, a newsboy cries,giving an extra of a newspaper printed vertically and written with traditional Chinese characters to each tourist.This is what you are going to see when you arrive at the wharf of Zhiyinhao.

“Look, we have a ‘drifting multidimensional drama’ on Zhiyinhao, it’s de finitely fascinating!”said the boy.

If you walk forward following the crowd, you will see a trestle bridge connecting the wharf and the pontoon. The place looks like a busy market with the old stone mill, an oldstyle newspaper stall, the jinrikisha,vintage cars, the blocky wooden floor,and the street vendors peddling local papercuttings and embroideries. All these together restore a realistic scene of the old Hankou Wharf, reminding tourists that they have stepped into a totally different space.

“Look, isn’t she beautiful in that cheongsam?” My company is talking about a couple who are carrying leather suitcases, walking arm in arm by us. The woman wears a cheongsam and the man wears a long gown.

Looking around, we see on the shipboard all those who live in the Republican period. Some of them are communicating intimately, some saying goodbye to people standing on the wharf, some getting drunk,and some looking for their cabins in a hurry. All of them have their own stories.

Little Yulan is her master’s favourite Dan actress in the Liu Theater Troupe. During the troubled times, the troupe experienced adversity. Little Yulan, who wanted only to marry the “eldest brother” in the troupe, now had no choice but to marry a general in order to save the troupe. In Zhiyinhao’s cabin,she stares at the woman’s headornaments that her master made for her before her first stage show,thinking about the happy days with the “eldest brother”, and bursts into tears.

Next to little Yulan, a dancing girl folds the ship ticket into a paper boat.She is going to leave this city in which she has lived for 20 years, because she has been given away as a gift by her love to his business partner.

“When I was a little girl, my mother told me that if I put a paper boat on the water with my wishes written on it, those wishes would come true. Now I wish to go to a rural primary school,and teach children there to read and dance.”

“你看她穿著旗袍真好看！”我的同伴發(fā)現(xiàn)身邊有一對身穿旗袍和長衫的夫妻，挽著手，拎著皮箱從身邊走過。

再抬頭，船舷上都是民國時代的人物，他們有的在親昵交談，有的在與船下的人道別，有的喝得酩酊大醉，有的正在匆匆找房間。每個人，都有他們自己的故事——

小玉蘭是劉家戲班子最受師傅寵愛的旦角兒。亂世之中，劉家班遭了難，曾經(jīng)一心想嫁給大師兄的小玉蘭不得已決定乘坐“知音號”嫁給將軍，以救回戲班。在“知音號”的艙房里，小玉蘭看著自己第一次登臺時師傅親手為自己做的頭面，想起過去在戲班的種種和大師兄的點滴，不禁潸然淚下。

而在小玉蘭的隔壁，一位舞女把手中的船票折成了紙船。她要跟生活了20年的這個城市說再見，因為她的愛人把她當(dāng)禮物送給了生意伙伴?！靶r候母親告訴我，把心愿寫在紙船上放到水里，愿望就會實現(xiàn)。我想要去一所鄉(xiāng)村小學(xué)，教那里的孩子們識字、唱歌。”

這里的每一位“乘客”，都在動情地講述著他們的故事，我們需要做的，只是聆聽：這里有每天點同一種酒等同一個電話的男人；有總是自己帶酒，喝醉就述說情傷的大叔；也有因為家庭阻撓，久別重逢的戀人；還有曾經(jīng)叱咤漢口的地皮大王，因為洋人入侵土地盡失，他決定發(fā)表一份聯(lián)合聲明喚起民意，向洋人抗議。

動蕩年代的愛情故事，總會蒙上一層哀傷；戰(zhàn)火硝煙中的愛國人士，總會有著一腔悲壯。

我翻閱記錄老漢口歷史的文獻(xiàn)發(fā)現(xiàn)，晚清民國時期，武漢至少出現(xiàn)過五大房地產(chǎn)大亨，但能被稱為“漢口地皮大王”的，則是一個名叫劉歆生的商人。據(jù)說，現(xiàn)在繁華的漢口鬧市中心江漢路，起初就是以他的名字命名——歆生路；和歆生路相垂直的三條馬路也依次定名為歆生一路、歆生二路、歆生三路（今江漢一路、江漢二路、江漢三路）；

1938年，日寇攻進(jìn)武漢，偽軍強占了劉歆生位于漢口循禮門的劉家花園做司令部。日本人想要劉歆生出面當(dāng)維持會長，為侵略者效力。可是他們始終找不到劉歆生本人。原來早在日軍逼近漢口時，劉歆生就警告其家人，不準(zhǔn)和日本人做生意。當(dāng)日軍侵入漢口前，他住進(jìn)了法國租界一直沒有露面，直至病重去世。

Each “passenger” aboard is telling his/her story emotionally, and all we need to do is to listen. There is a man who orders the same liquor and waits for the same call every day, a drunk middle-aged man who brought his own alcohol aboard and is babbling about his heart break, and a couple who once broke up because of the obstruction of their families and reunites here delightfully. There is also a former “l(fā)and king” of Hankou.He has lost the ownership of his lands because of the foreign invasion, and now announces a joint statement in order to call up the public to fight against invaders.

Love stories in turbulent times are always eclipsed by sorrow; patriotic personages in war times always become solemn and stirring.

I looked through the historical documents of Hankou and found that during the late Qing dynasty and the Republican period, there had been at least five real estate tycoons, among whom only one businessman named Liu Xinsheng had been called “Land King of Hankou.” It is said that the prosperous Jianghan Road in the center of Hankou downtown was originally named after that “king”as Xinsheng Road; and other three roads were named Xinsheng First Road, Xinsheng Second Road, and Xinsheng Third Road. (Now they are Jianghan First Road, Jianghan Second Road, and Jianghan Third Road.)

In 1938, Wuhan was attacked by the Japanese army and the puppet army; Liu Xinsheng’s garden in Xunlimen, Hankou was occupied for being the headqurters of Japanese Army. The Japanese wanted Liu to serve them and work as a “maintenance mayor,” but they could not find him. It turned out that before the Japanese approached Hankou, Liu had hidden himself in French Concession. The tycoon told his family never to do business with Japanese; he lived in refuge till his death of serious illness.

Fully loaded with stories, Zhiyin is like a microcosm of old Wuhan.Being here to witness the vivid lives in every corner of the ship, you will feel yourself become a part of that history.

3.

The ballroom, the bar, the café,and even the stairs or the corners of corridors… each part of Zhiyin is like a stage where a new episode is being performed. The tourists are so attracted that they can’t look away, almost forgetting that they are traveling on the Yangtze River. When the actors and actresses stop to invite the audiences to the fourth floor, the passengers suddenly find that the ship is already in the middle of the river, and is just passing through under the Second Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge.

The majestic bridge appears quite amazing in the light; and the passengers now have a unique perspective of the bridge. The brightly-lit buildings along the river banks drag people back to the modern reality. Watching from the deck, the lights and the moonlight add radiance and beauty to each other; the river water glitters in both. The buildings existing and those under construction are harmoniously nestling each other.

知音號這艘滿載故事的船，濃縮了老武漢的過往，就像一個濃縮的小世界，每一個角落都上演著人間百態(tài)，而作為觀眾的你，就是故事的一部分，見證著老武漢的起伏興衰。

3.

舞廳、酒吧、咖啡廳，甚至是樓梯、走廊拐角，“知音號”的每一個角落都是舞臺，每一秒都有新的劇情在上演，吸引著游客幾乎沒有時間望向窗外，甚至忘了自己身在長江之上漂流。直到演員們邀請大家走上四層甲板，許多人才驀然發(fā)現(xiàn)，此時游輪已行至江水中央，正好從武漢長江二橋下穿過。

這座巍峨壯觀的武漢長江二橋在燈光的照射下，十分驚艷。這是長江上獨一無二的觀橋視角，兩岸燈火通明的高樓，一下把人拉回到現(xiàn)實的時空。從甲板上望去，燈月輝映，水色瀲滟，已有的和正在興建的高樓錯落有致地相互依傍，使得夜景格外好看，仿佛能看到這座依江而興的城市的未來模樣。

“長江二橋，哎呀，真的是穿越了！”人們紛紛驚嘆。

據(jù)說，如果在汛期，水位高漲，站在四樓甲板上，個子高的人甚至伸手可以摸到二橋。也正是因為這個原因，為了順利通過長江大橋和二橋，知音號的煙囪也改為可升降式，避免與橋體發(fā)生碰撞。

我們不禁感慨：武漢因水路而發(fā)達(dá)，因商路而繁盛。經(jīng)歷百年的發(fā)展，那艘見證過老武漢變遷的老江華輪，大概怎么也不會想到，在如同天塹的長江上，會飛架起這么多的橋梁。

隨著一聲汽笛聲響，知音號再次靠岸，游客們陸續(xù)下船。

在岸上，我將一張寫有地址的明信片投入郵箱筒內(nèi)。地址寫的就是我自己的住址，就像是一百年前的我，寄給21世紀(jì)的自己。我想，等我收到這張明信片的時候，我也許正在用著智能手機給遠(yuǎn)在異國的好友發(fā)送即時訊息。

正如人們所說，停船下岸，是一個故事的結(jié)束，也是另一個故事的開始……

延伸閱讀——

“知音號”是由武漢旅游發(fā)展投資集團(tuán)與知名導(dǎo)演樊躍團(tuán)隊聯(lián)袂打造的文化大劇。該劇以知音文化為靈魂，以大漢口長江文化為背景，重現(xiàn)了上世紀(jì)二三十年代大武漢的生活圖景，今年4月26日起全球公演。

“知音號”長120米、寬22米、高15米，98個艙室，排水量4015噸。船身由厚重的黑色打底，三層船艙是老照片一樣的淡黃色，原木的地板、圓圓的舷窗，近百間客房，走廊、燈光、桌椅、床榻甚至門把手等所有道具，均是精心打造的仿古造型。

有媒體稱，“知音號”不僅是一個可以親身體驗百年前武漢風(fēng)情的大型劇場，更是一座喚醒城市記憶的“漂移的博物館”。

A more prosperous city by the rivers will be there.

“Wow! The Second Yangtze River Bridge! We are really travelling through time”. exclaimed the tourists.

It is said that, in the flood season,the water level will rise up and those tall people who stand on the deck of the fourth floor can even reach out to touch the Second Bridge. For this reason, the chimney of Zhiyinhao is the extendable type in order to avoid crashing on the bridge bottom.

Wuhan flourished on waterways as an important port city. The old ship Jianghua which had witnessed the vicissitudes of old Wuhan would never imagine these many bridges across the mighty Yangtze River built a hundred years later.

With a sound of siren, Zhiyinhao docks again, and tourists disembark in succession. On the shore, I put a postcard with an address into a mailbox. It’s my own address; and it’s like a card sent by a hundredyear-ago person to his 21st-century reincarnation. I might be using my smartphone to send instant messages to my friends in foreign countries when I receive this postcard.

As people say, docking at the shore is the end of a story, as well as the beginning of another…

Background:

The Ship of Zhiyinhao, a form of grand cultural drama, is created by Wuhan Tourism Developing Investment Group and Fan Yue Team, a group of well-known directors.The drama is performed in the style of Zhiyin culture (based on the ancient tale of the friendship between musician Boya and his listener Ziqi) and set in the background of Hankou’s Yangtze River culture; it reproduces life in Wuhan in the 1920s and 1930s. The public premiere performance started on April 26thof this year.

The ship is 120 meters long, 22 meters wide, and 15 meters high. It has 98 cabins,with a displacement of 4,015 tons. The hull is painted a deep black, while the cabins on the three floors are in faint yellow (as appeared in old photos). The timber floor,the round portholes, the one hundred guest rooms, the aisles, the lighting, the tables and chairs, the beds, and even the handles are all of exquisite antique style.

Zhiyinhao, according to some media,is not only a large theater in which tourists can experience the charm of Wuhan 100 years ago, but also a “drifting museum” that awakens the memories of the city.

(Translation: Wang Xiaoke)

知音號一艘關(guān)于記憶的輪船

文|劉冬莉