Wild vegetables in my hometown (1924) written by Zhou Zuoren is a famous article, and many people know it. Later, Wang Zengqi wrote an article on the same topic (1992), describing the wild vegetables in his hometown (Zhou is from Shaoxing, Zhejiang, and Wang is from Gaoyou, Jiangsu), which is very interesting and worth pondering.

The differences are as follows:

1, Wang Zengqi's literary interest was influenced by Fei Ming and Shen Congwen, while his cultural interest came from Zhou Zuoren and Yu Pingbo. It can be seen from the two pieces of Wild Vegetables in Hometown that they have a strong interest in folk songs and unofficial history's miscellaneous notes. Zhou Zuoren quoted a nursery rhyme in eastern Zhejiang, "shepherd's purse Malantou, sister marries the back door"; Wang Zengqi recalled the cries he heard when he was a child. "sell dog heads!" He also quoted a two-part allegorical saying in his hometown, "Wang Xilou marries his daughter-painting (words) is more money and less money." Zhou Zuoren quoted the records of shepherd's purse flowers in Travel Notes of West Lake and Jia Qinglu, and Wang Zengqi quoted the records of shepherd's purse and various wild vegetables in Wild Vegetable Book.

2. Zhou Zuoren's vernacular Chinese is very durable and has a feeling of astringency, because he likes to mix with classical Chinese from time to time. Compared with Wang Zengqi, the style of writing is extremely white, which is simply vernacular (except quotations from ancient books), but we find it durable, white and vulgar when reading it. As mentioned above, every sentence quoted by a girl selling gouqi head is "white", but when put together, it is very tasty and has a meaningful basis.

3. Zhou Zuoren's essays are full of academic flavor, because his essence is a scholar and loves the wise, and his knowledge is only expressed in the form of prose; Wang Zengqi's prose is not as experienced as Gu Yuzhai's in thought, but his unique words are vivid and vivid, and he has many novel brushstrokes. After all, he is a novelist.

Note: As far as learning is concerned, Wang Zengqi is far behind Zhou Zuoren. Of course, he never wanted to imitate his predecessors in learning. Zhou Zuoren was a pioneer in Greek studies, Japanese cultural studies, children's studies, women's studies and sexual cultural studies, and his influence was not only at that time, but also in later generations. Wang Zengqi doesn't read many books, all of which are writers' books, and he has obvious preferences, such as notes, local chronicles, travel notes, painting theories, customs, plants, insects, fish and other books.