"Old Things in the South of the City" describes a courtyard in the south of Beijing in the 1920s, where Eiko's warm family lived. "Old Stories in the South of the City" was selected as "Top 100 Chinese Novels in the 20th Century" by Asia Weekly. It is full of nostalgic tone, and expresses its multi-level emotional color in a natural and traceless way.
In the early 1920s, a six-year-old girl named Lin Yingzi lived in a small alley in the south of Beijing. Xiuzhen, a "crazy" woman who often stands in the alley looking for her daughter, is the first friend Eiko makes. Xiuzhen once fell in love with a college student secretly. Later, the college student went back to his hometown and never came back. Xiuzhen's daughter, Xiao Guizi, was given to others by her family and disappeared. Eiko is very sympathetic to her. Eiko inadvertently found that the girl's life experience is very similar to that of Xiao Guizi, and her words and deeds are also very close to Xiuzhen. She also found the mark on the back of her neck and quickly took her to Xiuzhen. Xiuzhen took the girl to find her father immediately after recognizing her daughter who had been separated for six years. Eiko had a high fever and was in a coma for ten days, almost losing her life. Xiuzhen and Niu died under the speeding train. Later, Eiko's family moved to Xinlan Hutong. Eiko met a young man with thick lips in a nearby desert garden. He had to steal in order to provide for his brother's school. Eiko thinks he is very kind, but he can't tell whether he is a good person or a bad person. Not long after, Eiko found a small bronze Buddha on the barren grass, and was discovered by the police spy. He took the policeman and took the young man away, which made Eiko very sad. Later, Aunt Lan, who was driven out of the house, came to Eiko's house. Eiko found that her father's attitude towards Aunt Lan was wrong. Eiko was very sad. She thought of a way to introduce Aunt Lan to Uncle Dexian and make them fall in love. Finally, they left together in a carriage. Dad was very sad. When Eiko was nine years old, Feng Daming, the husband of her wet nurse Song Ma, came to the Lins' home. Eiko was very sad to learn that Song Ma's son was drowned two years ago and her daughter was sold to others by her husband. She didn't understand why Song Ma left her children to wait on others. Later, Song Ma was picked up by her husband with a donkey, and Eiko's father died of lung disease. With her father's departure, Eiko really realized her responsibility and really grew up.
Xiaoying, as a main character, appeared in the article. When she found that there was a huge contrast between the good wishes of adults and reality, her innocent and kind young mind became more and more weak. The endless cycle of tragedy entangled in the article is even more striking and thought-provoking, which is the key to the richness of this article.
The characters in the article all left Eiko in the end, showing the sadness and nostalgia of bidding farewell to childhood.
Thoughts after Reading Old Stories in the South of the City
In the old days, Niu, a playmate by Jingwozi, was always forced by her parents to sing opera. If she couldn't sing well, she would beat and smoke. She couldn't help but want to run away from home and say that they were not her biological parents. Who knows, Hideyoshi, another playmate of Eiko (Lin Haiyin's nickname) and a madman in Huian Pavilion, turned out to be the girl's biological mother. After a rough time, the mother and daughter finally got together. Eiko took care of them carefully, gave them travelling expenses and let them go to Huian, and finally fell ill.
The book also says that when she was in primary school, she made friends with a thief (she didn't know) hiding in the haystack. He turned out to be the brother of the first-class student in the school! Although in the end, he was still arrested by the police, Eiko knew that he was forced to do so and never hated him. Nowadays, whenever a thief is found out and a group of robbers are pulled out, people abuse them. People have thought about why they steal and rob, and maybe they have something to hide.
Finally, the book also says that Eiko's father has passed away, and Eiko will grow up and will no longer rely on others.
This book draws a picture of Beijing scenery and human feelings with Eiko's eyes, and also writes the author's cognition of people and life experience.
In the book, the author blends the scenery of the south of old Beijing in Eiko's eyes between the lines, showing the joys and sorrows of the adult world, telling the complicated feelings and true human nature in the world, and even telling the cowardly, superstitious and bullying nature of people in the old days.
In addition, connecting the center of the article is Eiko's childhood. Her childhood was happy, with playmates, loving parents, conscientious Song Ma, and a good school. Everything was almost the best at that time, which was the happiness of children.
Think about my childhood, everything is the best. Innocent playmates, like the girls in the text, are willing to wait, find and have their own happiness. Although I have never felt the death of my loved ones, I know that all where will you go is predestined. Since people live in this world, there must be death; Since we came to this world, we should look at it with children's eyes, cherish it and feel the present life.
The author once wrote that "the past in the south of the city" is to write the world of adults in a child's tone, and to write those memorable characters and stories from a foolish childlike innocence, so it is so vivid and deeply rooted in people's hearts.