Memory of the Central Plains, my hometown in Henan

My hometown is in the plains of eastern Henan, which is the slogan often mentioned on CCTV: My hometown is Henan.

In fact, among the Chinese living in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Fujian, and Southeast Asia, as well as the Chinese scattered across the country and even around the world, if you look up the family trees of your ancestors and the origin of their surnames, you will find that how many of them have deep connections with the Central Plains. origins and strong blood ties.

The Great Plains of Eastern Henan, south of the Yellow River and west of Mangdang Mountain, are the roots of many wandering wanderers from far away. Therefore, Henan Province dared to publish a ground-breaking slogan on CCTV:

Memory of the Central Plains, my hometown of Henan.

Some people say that the Central Plains is backed by the Tianshan Mountains, Kunlun Mountains, and Qinling Mountains in the Central Mountains. It is located in the embrace of China’s two mother rivers, the Yellow River and the Yangtze River. Surrounded by mountains and water, facing the sea, it is China’s largest Feng Shui treasure land. . This makes sense. There has been a saying among the people since ancient times that whoever conquers the Central Plains conquers the world. The soil here is fertile, the products are rich, and the people are simple and kind. It is indeed a rare blessed land.

The Eastern Henan Plain is a corner of Henan Province, but it accounts for half of the total area of ​​Henan Province. It is a thousand-mile plain with vast flat rivers and intertwined fields. It has a long history and deep cultural roots. It is the birthplace of traditional Chinese culture. The local people are deeply influenced by traditional culture, which has been passed down from generation to generation and has long been integrated into their blood. In my memory, the customs, habits and local customs there have been passed down for thousands of years. Although they have been affected by changes in the past dynasties, the lofty belief deep in their hearts will never change.

The conscience of heaven and earth is the most noble and pure and simple belief that people here have adhered to for generations.

The conscience of heaven and earth, as the most orthodox traditional cultural belief of the Chinese nation for thousands of years, has long been deeply rooted in the blood of every Chinese son and daughter, and has become the highest criterion for our personal behavior in dealing with others. The fallacy that Chinese people have no faith is the biggest misunderstanding and humiliation of the Chinese nation. It also highlights the shallowness of some people and their ignorance and misunderstanding of the culture of the Central Plains of China.

Of course, we cannot deny that at any time there will be some national scum who betray the belief in traditional Chinese culture, heaven and earth, and conscience, just as there are believers in the West who betray their religious spirit, but this does not mean that Denying the greatest belief in the heart of every conscientious Chinese person. For those scum, people in eastern Henan often slap their chests, point to the sky, and curse them in two sentences without a single curse word:

You don’t grow up eating food and your conscience is eaten by dogs.

Not growing up by eating grain means that he is just a beast; having his conscience eaten by dogs means that the person has no conscience. On the plains of eastern Henan, a person without conscience is like a zombie and is not looked down upon by the world. Of course, no one wants to deal with a person without a conscience.

Our village is located at the junction of Henan and Anhui. Before the founding of New China, it was an area between Henan and Anhui. There is an interesting story: In the early days of the Republic of China, the security chiefs of several villages centered on our village received notices from Qiuqu Township in Henan Province and Lucun Township in Anhui Province at the same time, asking them to go there to hold meetings to discuss the formation of grassroots political power. The security guard was in a dilemma as to whether it was better to go to Anhui or Henan for the meeting. He remembered that there was a good hair-shaving master on the street in Qiuqu Township on the border of Henan, so he wanted to go and have his head shaved. So, the security chief chose to go to Qiuqu Township for a meeting. Since then, several villages near us have been under the jurisdiction of Henan.

Our villages did not change much in the decades after the founding of the People's Republic of China. I remember that it was not until 1993 that the village had electricity and electric lights. The road has always been a dirt road, but when it rains it becomes muddy and full of potholes. Although the government funded the construction of it twice in recent years, the asphalt roads were of poor quality and broke down within two or three years. Several nearby villages are still troubled by the road. So much so that it is said that in the past two years, boys in the village were unable to find wives due to road problems. Girls from nearby villages wanted to marry outside to get rid of their difficulties. Girls from outside were unwilling to marry there because of the difficulty of traveling. It was not until 2018 that, with the help of the government's poverty alleviation campaign, cement roads were completely built, eliminating the difficulty of traveling on rainy days.

But the contribution to the country here is no less than elsewhere.

In my memory, almost half of the food that farmers worked hard to grow was paid to the public, and many families were always on the line of food and clothing. It was not until the country completely abolished agricultural taxes in 2006, and all the young people in the village went out to work to make a living, that the people were able to change the situation of being embarrassed for food every year.

For so many years, I have been traveling abroad, and I have not returned home for a year or two, but every time I go back, I can feel that my hometown is changing so fast that it is difficult for people to adapt to it. The living habits and customs that had remained unchanged for hundreds of years have gradually changed, and even people's language has also changed. This kind of change is something that generations of people have hoped to see for thousands of years and have been looking forward to it for many years. But when this kind of change comes, it is unexpected. People have to lament that the world is changing so fast.

In order to commemorate the past and remember history, I spent three years writing the novel "Peach Blossom Rain", dedicated to the plain of eastern Henan where I was born and raised. On this happy day of the National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival, I wish my hometown will become more beautiful and better, and I wish our motherland will become more prosperous and strong.