Carnival festivals, lost villages: Seeing native China from the Spring Festival returning tide
The annual return of the Spring Festival is a worldwide spectacle. No other country has such a large periodic population migration. The large-scale population flows from the city into the countryside, and the often crowded cities are chilling and cold for a while; while the empty villages on weekdays are overcrowded. Returning home for the New Year is the choice of most urbanites. In the past two years, “reverse flows” have increased, and more people have chosen to go to the city where their children are in the New Year, but the overall trend has not changed. For the individual, this is a reunion festival. But for the whole group, what is glimpsed from it is another China.
Cultural collision caused by the returning tide
With the return of the tide, the impact of urban culture on the countryside, the conflict between urban and rural culture, in this short period of ten days, the concentration is intensified. This kind of conflict performance is multifaceted. It is not just the simple accumulation of matter and population, but the collision of behaviors and values hidden behind it. Many people who work hard outside have returned to their hometowns. Among them, there are generations of backbones that have long been rooted in the city, as well as wandering wanderers and urban upstarts. The strong culture of the city they brought, to destroy the devastating trend, swiftly swept the country.
The calm and waveless village was instantly smashed, noisy, and filled with smoke and alcohol. The country has no place in this cultural war and has been quickly annihilated. But is this the result? not necessarily. The people in this whirlpool, whether in the city or in the country, lose their self in this cultural exchange. The city people did not do everything because of cultural victory. In other words, the village should have been the last piece of land to alleviate the city's illness. As a result, the city's anxiety and impetuousness were brought together; and the people in the village, suddenly Attacked by this overwhelming sound, it is at a loss. The two sides did not benefit from each other because of the exchange of culture. On the contrary, they lost their positions in this battle.
Although the city culture is strong, but for such a short period of time, it is still possible to establish a city discourse system in the future, and then rushed to withdraw; while the rural culture is weak, but at home, coupled with the deep-rooted rural discourse system, it will not collapse overnight. The strength of the two is different, and they compete with each other. But losing more is the country. Urban culture is like a foreign invader. On the battlefield of the invaders, even if they are defeated, their territory is still unscathed. In contrast to the countryside, after a shackle, left a mess. Moreover, those returning homes may not realize that the rural culture they erode is originally part of themselves.
Time and space folding of multiple worlds
People bring in the semantics of the habitual living environment and present it in a new field. Urban people with different identities, different statuses, and different roles return to the countryside to bring their behavior patterns and ways of thinking into them. But in the eyes of the villagers, they seem to have only one character, one identity, and the hometown. This transformation of identity has caused the separation of the world. The returnees seem to be in contact with the villagers, but they are actually separated.
This split is reflected in the space-time dimension. For returnees, perhaps in the first two days, they will talk to customers in an office building in the city, and turn back to the bleak village, become one of them, huge environmental differences and identity change, making the returning people’s life fold. The transformation of space, the separation of time, causes group alienation. Individuals that originally belonged to a cluster, instantaneously dissipated and transferred to its group.
They seem to have returned to their hometowns. In fact, they still use the norms of urban life. Whether it is the rhythm of life, the spirit, or the way of behavior, they all have deep urban imprints. Unlike the native villagers, they are only short-lived passengers, knowing that they will not stay there for a long time, so they will not be too close to the country. That is to say, even if they will greet and communicate with their relatives and friends and maintain their relationship with human beings, they will not be able to integrate into the country at all, and their world is not here.
Groups of two different worlds, although in the same field, each carry a label belonging to their own group and each speaks their own words. It is difficult for both sides to have deep, valuable and resonating exchanges.
Urban youth and rural villages are incompatible
Urban youth as a concentrated expression of intergenerational differences, their connection with the countryside, is the future observatory of the countryside.
As children growing in the city, the countryside is a strange soil in their eyes. Living in the noisy, fast-paced, and large-scale fields of the city, the trivial, slow, and small-scale living conditions of the country are easy to make them feel at a loss. Friends around me complained that after returning to their hometown, they always felt untrue. Everyday life completely lost its proper way, and life seemed to be stagnant. In fact, life is not stagnant, but the original rhythm of life is broken by the new environment, resulting in a temporary rhythm imbalance and nowhere to go.
Urban youth and rural areas have lacked in-depth connections. In their memory, perhaps there is still a vagueness in the shadow of a hometown. However, it is not easy for them to establish the feelings of the country in a short period of time. The outside world caused alienation from the hometown, not for individual reasons, but for a long period of social change.
Social landscape in rural context
Social acquaintance is a major feature of rural society. When you come to me, the parents are inevitable. Every individual is careful to maintain the scale and practice the rules of convention. No matter what career you are doing, what you have, what kind of achievements you have, and how you live. Going back to the country is a part of the country. Any words and deeds that do not conform to the rural context are counted down, and the hats of "the big cities are not allowed". In order not to violate the public anger, lost face, most people, willing to hide themselves in this short time, converted to what it is needed in this scene.
It is an essential part of visiting friends and relatives during the Chinese New Year. No matter which city you are in, how far away you return to your hometown, no matter how many years you have not been contacted, whether you are alienated, as long as your neighbors are visiting, you must visit. Indispensable, it is gift giving, courtesy, and human feelings. Human relations are an important part of the rural society. The reason for this is that the old fee has been clearly stated in the book "Local China". But with the changes of the times, gifts have gradually changed. Very early, the villagers are still very simple. When you are in the New Year, you can help me, help me, a bag of salt, and pick a meter. It is a good gift. However, later on, the reform and opening up made a group of people get rich and went back to their hometowns. Gifts began to turn into money. From one hundred and two hundred to the present thousands, it is not uncomfortable. Including the lucky money. The former child, looking forward to the New Year, is nothing more than a New Year’s money, a few hairs, and very happy. Now, with hundreds of thousands of children, what are the innocences in the face of such a situation? So many young people are not willing to return home, fearing the New Year.
In addition, with the advancement of technology, the form of sending money has also changed. In the past, the traditional paper red envelopes were also expected. The current WeChat red envelopes and voice red envelopes have a little finger but less flavor. Technology itself is not wrong, but while technology brings convenience, it also erases many traditional rituals. It is undeniable that the WeChat red envelope expands the use of traditional red envelopes, which links more capital and social relationships. During the Spring Festival, WeChat red envelopes exist in the form of WeChat group, especially family, friends and relatives, and classmates. As a manifestation of "human feelings" and "faces", red envelopes play a vital role in both the traditional payment era and the mobile payment era. In the red envelope, a vivid social network image is sketched out.
The end of a generation
The drawback of culture is that there is no uninterrupted transmission between generations. If the truth of the world, the experience of the predecessors, can be seamlessly connected between generations, then human progress will undoubtedly be much faster. Unfortunately, this is an idiotic dream. A generation has a generation of people who believe in truth and norms, their values and ways to cope with changes in things. There may be no right or wrong, but there is a difference.
Often the older generation wants to teach what they see and hear to the next generation, but unfortunately, the next generation of people does not easily appreciate. Because they also have their own culture, although the beginning may seem immature, but as the year and month increase and experience increase, it will gradually become the mainstream, becoming the benchmark for educating the next generation. Reciprocating from generation to generation, never intermittent.
And the reality is that young people gradually master the right to speak. Just as the fathers took over the burden of the family from their ancestors, our previous generation grew from a youth to a pillar of society. Now, this youth is gradually becoming the backbone. Intergenerational alternation is an irreversible trend.
If you listen carefully, you can find that the elderly in the country are the groups that really live as they wish. They can no longer cater to this era. No matter what changes happen to the outside world, they have nothing to do with them. In their cognition, they have fulfilled the mission of this life and can enjoy their old age. But what's interesting is that no matter what kind of individual, there is a desire to spread their own thoughts, and these old people are no exception. Although the ideas of their generation are rarely accepted by future generations, they will also spread their ideas indefinitely, but they are all personal experiences, such as marriage, life, and so on, but never thought that some will be unique. The value of the country's memories worthy of being preserved survived. The same is true of a generation, just waiting for the curtain call of the times.
Lost country memory
I remember when I was young, every time the year was approaching, every household was stunned, and the adults were busy preparing for the New Year's Eve. The children turned around under the eaves and the stove, just to eat a few snacks while the adults were busy. About three or five partners, buy a few packets of firecrackers in the store, the store owner will also say "we are careful to put it." Here the hills ran to the fields there, and the woods on the other side went to the dams here, making a fuss, not so happy. On New Year's Day, get up early, put on new clothes, and go door to door to celebrate the New Year. There is also a particular emphasis on New Year’s greetings. It’s not as casual as it is now. First of all, respectfully respected the three crickets. The voice of the New Year is good. The elders smile and touch their heads. They never know where to take the lucky money, and then they sing to the side and take it apart. I have to pay a few more to buy a beloved toy.
This is my childhood memory, but these memories have now disappeared. I don't blindly expect the country to return to its original state. That is an unrealistic idea. However, many rural customs, local culture, lack of soil for inheritance and nostalgia. Over the years, I have witnessed the changes in the world, and I have seen the changes in my hometown step by step. I don't want to look at the country in a gaze, but in the torrent of this era, where the country will go, it is unknown.
The seemingly lively countryside is in danger of dying. The Spring Festival is like a strong shot, which can temporarily restore the vitality of the countryside. However, as soon as the Spring Festival passed, it returned to its original state and became a hollow village. The reason why there are people in the current village is willing to go back, because there are still older generations. If the old generation disappears, will young people still be willing to return to the village, will the "homecoming tide" still exist? At that time, it was estimated how the country would exist. Those local cultures, folk customs, and homesickness will also die. The village talks about He Zhenxing, how to revitalize?
The country is no longer a memory. It constantly adjusts its posture, and it is only adapting to the changes of the times. It has never been the protagonist. Whether the city and the country can talk in a true sense determines whether the country has a future. Otherwise, the Spring Festival in the future will no longer be a return home, but a hometown. I think no one wants, and our culture is missing one piece.
This article is completed by myself, first published on this website, please contact the author, thank you!