In Shanxi
Lin Huiyin

We are finally here on the land of Shanxi! The sky is liquid blue; eyes feasting on the white clouds overhead, one may loiter and dream at will in utter restfulness. Moreover, such landscape as hills and streams, small fortresses, hamlets, and the sun-gilt temple or pagoda can be observed anywhere at any time. Or we might as well say the eyes could fall on nothing that is not of a breathtaking beauty.
Seldom have I had such a long journey. Tied up with various chores on weekdays, I yet was at a total loss when managing to shake them off and make my way here. During these ten days, everything into the eye forms a good picture and each day passed makes a happy song. At night we had gathered on a threshing floor round a big burning furnace, and watched the blacksmiths form Henan Province striking iron, the sparks and din of which diffused and sank into the surrounding darkness. By moonlight we had walked to fields and wilds and paused to contemplate—with the help of a "tinder"—the Buddha we had found, whose face had remained serene for hundreds of years, seemed to show a smile at that very glimpse.
We traveled quite a few miles because of our archaeological work, and in many places we had lingered, musing over the vicissitudes that might have taken place there. Deciphering the inscriptions among the grass, or stumbling upon a hand or a smiling face of the Buddha among a mass of waste bricks, both could inspire great sensations in us. The various locations of the rural dwellings, though casual, were all so natural and pleasant that they were given a tinge of romance and the people inside were all with the most primitive simplicity. There were elders on crutches, and the kids stripped to the waist; along the road were all their faces bright with smiles and glowing with innocent enjoyment. Everything was new for us the newcomers who just broke loose from Beijing; we hanged here and there, gazing around, the setting sun behind our back, and felt as if having lost ourselves among the grandeurs of another world! The distinction between the clouds, the sky and us seemed to have disappeared. I laughed whenever I liked it, my laughter extending all the way across the river, through the mountains, and to the adjacent villages or woods which I could not even identify! I felt something serene, or perhaps infinite, was rising inside me and stretching about in parallel with the horizons; my faculties, seemingly all astir, were rushing forward in race with the ends of the earth…
I belong to that kind of person clumsy with speech. And though I do have a tongue, I am afraid it might go so far and wide as to be a bore, while the present scene could be beyond words even to a man of eloquence. In a word, in a distant field we could see someone working, where crops green, yellow and purple were growing in respective rows; on every slope of the hill there were people walking or shepherds browsing sheep, their shadows revolving round their moving figures against the sunlight; before every county stood a gate tower, with a small temple lying beside and a stone pagoda rising out somewhere among. The josses and living human beings alike were with great piety, being content with having one corner of their own on the earth. The scene in the immediate vicinity was with more liveliness. The street was crowded with people, with children wearing their hair in braid three, four or even five and six scattering about! Their clothes, so plain as to be a sole red bellyband, still dimly bore two or three flowers that must be their Mama's work!
And who has informed people beforehand that we were to be there, beneath the shaded tree before Her Majesty's temple? Yet the masters came over, the soldiers dragging their horses approached, and several women hand in hand coyly also came and stood beside us quietly. The kids jostled against each other to see us taking pictures, placing the tape measure and doing the measurement, while the masters helped us with the rubbing of inscriptions. Our talk shifted from one temple to another, all with so long a history that nobody could tell their origins! The increasing number of the villagers joining the talk added difficulty to our work, but we all were very happy. Even the kids having their meals with rice bowl in hands were all eyes, without any hint of relaxation.
The whole village would pour out to see us off whenever we left one place for another. Daughters-in-law pointed and explained to their old mothers-in-law, and the children ran to follow us for miles. Whenever we reached, this or that village, we were received with the same great hospitality. Discovering the effigy built in the year 552 AD, subconsciously, we gave out an exclamation of astonishment. The hunchbacked elders, aware that this antique article of treasure in their village had staggered us the strange visitors, returned us a knowing smile. "With a long history, isn't it?" They asked with pride. "Yeah, a long history absolutely," we assured them with joy, "of almost 1400 years". Then together we were wreathed in pride.
We were still burying ourselves in those palaces and temples rebuilt in the Jin and Yuan or Ming dynasties here and there, and deciding the uniqueness of their styles, appearance, and making craft when the night gradually fell. It was only until then that we began to realize our mouth had been dry and our stomach empty, that another fulfilling day was over. Back to the dwelling place, body lying on the bed, the vivid impressions still haunted before eyes and prepared me for various sweet dreams. And the fresh fruits and vegetable we had during the dinner had too refreshed us with enough energy, until tomorrow morning we would be greeted by another new day of a big and red sun shining.