On this day, I went to Panlong Cave in Yunfu for the first time. It was already noon when I came out, and there was still some time before the sun went down. Let's stop looking for places to hang out.
I checked the map and saw the words "People's Square" about two kilometers away from me.
So I went west first, then south, and found the past all the way.
Finding the way to Yunfu People's Square is also a way to feel the daily life of Yunfu people.
Meet a big banyan tree
I think Yunfu is a very loving city, and this big banyan tree is proof.
Look at this position, it's not an ordinary place.
Next to the Labor Bureau of Social Security City, it can be said that it is one of the most prosperous areas in the whole city, sealed in the middle of a road.
Look at this big banyan tree carefully. It is only about 150 years old. Compared with other ancient trees I have seen, I can't see anything special.
But when you think about it, there is a big difference:
In recent years, many ancient trees are distributed in villages and towns, and have been preserved as "amulets" by superstitious villagers. In these cities, 80% of roads are cut off.
What a pity.
The attitude towards old trees and things reflects the "heart" of a city.
A monument was erected under the banyan tree with the words "Banyan Tree Head" written on it. Netizens in Yunfu told me that this place is the "landmark landscape" of Yunfu. Yunfu people can't remember the way. Tell them "I'm on the blackboard" and they will know where you are.
Before, there was no such wide and smooth road under this tree. Even the People's Square in Yunfu City, where I came later, was built in 2000. It seems that Yunfu is actually a very young city.
Keep walking until you reach Nanshan River.
In my feeling, although Yunfu is a "small transparent city in Guangdong" with little fame, it is by no means a dead city.
Everything here is in good order.
The motorways, bicycle lanes, sidewalks and blind roads on the road are clearly divided, and the big trees on the roadside are one after another, very close;
Yunfu is lush with vegetation. Here, sanitation workers are a very busy group of people. They have fallen leaves that can't be swept all year round.
Beyond the pillar is the South Mountain River, which is not so clear after the rain.
Nanshan River is an accessible river. It's by the river, as wide as two lanes. That's the way many Yunfu people go home from work.
Someone is fishing on the other side, looking for the best fishing position along the river.
I shouted at him and asked, Will the fish stop when the current is so fast?
He said: As soon as it rains, the sediment turns up and the fish will come out to feed. This is the best time for fishing.
Guess, the little brother with a white shirt is in his early 30 s. In Yunfu, many young people of this age have gone out to work hard. Those who stay in their hometown are probably people who can stand their temper and just want to live with peace of mind in this life.
In Yunfu, there are many left-behind elderly people.
Some of them live nearby and come to the river to stroll and play chess at night;
Others do nothing, sit and don't know what they are thinking until the sun goes down and they go home.
During the days I went, it was raining in Yunfu and trees were like umbrellas. They sat under this umbrella and chatted. No shelter from the rain, no worries.
Seen from Nanshan Road by the Nanshan River, the mountains and trees in Yunfu are stacked one after another, hiding those vague buildings in the bushes. Just like this small town with no sense of existence, hidden in Guangdong.
A small park
After crossing the bridge, there is a small health theme park, and dozens of table tennis tables in the fitness area are arranged in a row.
A mother, with her son of about elementary school age, practiced table tennis in a light rain.
The fog floated up before the rain stopped. Across the street from Yunfu Municipal Government is Nanshan Forest Park.
Many place names in this area are related to "Nanshan".
Yunfu is the city with the highest park density I have ever seen. Under such geographical conditions, it is probably difficult to build anything other than parks. I can even imagine that decades ago, when Yunfu didn't build so many stones and steps, people probably lived in the "rainforest" every day.
Finally came to the people's square.
Yunfu People's Square is opposite the Yunfu Municipal Government Building.
The iconic landscape here is a relief the size of a wall. The figures on the relief are arranged one by one. Looking closely here, there are many stories hidden.
Past lives in Yunfu, the hero of building a city, the story of six ancestors ... a row of sculptures, at a glance.
Behind the sculpture is a long tree-lined path. The necessary supporting facilities of the city, children's play area, activity center for the elderly and places for citizens to exercise are all arranged on the other side of this road in turn.
Further down, it is the bank of Nanshan River.
There is a 100 meter promenade by the river. I saw the old man playing the piano here, and the young man on horseback stopped to read occasionally.
An old man told me that there are four pavilions opposite.
There is a small convenience store in People's Square. I bought a bottle of water from here and crossed the road while drinking.
For myself, these places across the street are more attractive than the amusement facilities in People's Square.
This is the "Four Pavilion Little Square".
The cultural centers, museums, libraries and archives in Yunfu City are all concentrated in this Little Square, which covers an area of about 40,000 square meters. Generally, I have been to every museum. They are just like "quadruplets", with the same color and design style.
Spent the longest time in Yunfu Museum. Although I only saw three or five tourists in the whole building in the afternoon, I gained a cordial Yunfu humanistic style and got to know some interesting old objects. They are completely different from what I saw in those famous museums.
In Yunfu Museum, no narrator told us about the "unofficial history" of a royal family and the "lofty status" of a musical instrument. Everything here comes from the people. They are unfamiliar and "familiar", just like another group of people in another time and space, using other tools in another way and living a life similar to ours.
For the travel notes of Yunfu Museum, please refer to my previous article.
Although there are not many tourists, everything works normally. The contents of the information column at the entrance of the library are also updated regularly.
On the Little Square in front of the museum, there are several rows of steps that look different, and two teenagers are standing next to them, talking and laughing.
I walked past the place where they had just played and found that it was actually an open-air film screening.
Turning around, there is Little Square's famous sculpture: stone pumpkin. This is probably one of the most iconic sculptures in Yunfu City.
Yunfu is a city rich in stones, and pumpkins have "happiness from now on" in their bellies. For more than ten years, the pumpkin made of this stone seems to stand quietly here. In fact, it tells people all the time that Yunfu people change their lives by stones. The great changes in Yunfu City over the years-
Everything will be fine. Everything is getting better.
postscript
A trip to Yunfu is like watching a Miyazaki Hayao movie.
Walking in this small town in summer, people live a warm and peaceful life, and everything around them is strange, but they feel familiar. All this has nothing to do with me, but it is so vivid.
Blue sky, white clouds, green trees, villages, streams and roads ... It's like Kiki riding a broom through a green Yuan Ye, just like borrowing something from Aglietti's house. When you can't help feeling the richness of life, it's like being carefree again.
I'm Sister Dahong, the anchor of the audio radio travel channel, a professional traveler, focusing on minority games and sharing unpopular destinations. Travel is not an attitude, but life itself.