The evening breeze blowing through Jiading University of Science and Technology, memories of that summer in Jiading | Shanghai | Memory
Shanghai University of Science and Technology, located in Jiading, was established in 1958 and formally established in 1959. It is a local university of Chinese Academy of Sciences in Shanghai. It is a multidisciplinary university focusing on science and engineering. It was incorporated into Shanghai University in the 1990s. Because my mother was teaching foreign languages here at that time, as a student of the faculty, I had the opportunity to grow up on campus. That was my childhood playground and the beginning of my enlightenment.
We live in the newly built family building of the University of Science and Technology teachers across from Heping Park in the city. During winter and summer vacations, I follow my mother to Jiading. I still remember that on the school bus heading towards Jiading, most of them were my mother's colleagues in the teaching and research department. There are also German and Japanese foreign teachers among the teachers. After getting on the car, I am always forced to take English tests. First, greet the uncle, aunt in front of you one-on-one. The first level is better, and then start answering more and more difficult sentence patterns and grammar. How can I handle a difficult interview with a university teacher when I have learned a few English sentences? Finally, a dismissive attitude was adopted as a protest.
At that time, the Shanghai University of Science and Technology was located outside the south gate of Jiading City, in a large area of farmland, with a prominent wall erected and a low rise campus building inside the wall. The teacher dormitory and family area are built outside the fence and can only be reached through a large vegetable field. Every morning, when I wake up, the adults have already gone to work, and there are only us children in the dormitory building who come on vacation with our parents. Under the guidance of the adults, we leisurely go to the campus cafeteria for meals.
For urban children, this farmland is full of surprises. For example, the rare golden beetle seen in the city is casually lying on the green leaves in the field, as if waving to us; Grasshopper that blends with the color of vegetables and fruits; The tireless cicada; And the crickets that come and go, all waiting for us to catch. Older children often come prepared. They use flour to make highly sticky clumps, place them on long bamboo poles, aim at targets on tree trunks, and quietly attack them, turning cicadas into spoils of war. We children, as adults, cleverly seek goals, pray for rewards of a few living creatures, tie thin strings, and play all the way to the campus. Unexpectedly, the interest of older children is to collect cicada molts, the kind of outer clothing that molts off during the cicada's growth cycle, and exchange it for "broken silver" at a traditional Chinese medicine shop in the city, which is enough to make a living.
After many years, another incident that must be honestly confessed is to steal fruits and vegetables from the fields. Our goal is to have ripe tomatoes, cucumbers, and golden melons, but the harder one to get is big watermelons. Now, thinking about it, farmers must know the reason why there are so many poachers during the summer. They have been closely guarding mature watermelons with high commodity prices for a long time, without giving outsiders any chance to take action. But older children always have a way to obtain spoils of war, perhaps the pleasure of stealing food is more fascinating than the pleasure of mouth. So, the immature watermelon became the main target of search. When the thief returns victorious, they quickly cut open the watermelon, dig out the pulp, add sugar and honey, and eat it in their mouth, which tastes good. I remember there was also a surprising set of chemical reactions - adding some salt to the half cooked and half raw melon pulp, the sweetness seemed to be even stronger. Under this peculiar instigation, we learned a lot of knowledge that cannot be learned from miscellaneous textbooks.
Finally crossing the fields, we arrived at the campus cafeteria, tempting us with the scent of greediness, as well as other creatures. During the summer vacation, the doors and windows of the cafeteria are wide open, and birds, mainly sparrows, hover between the cracks and beams in the ceiling of the cafeteria, adding a lot of lively atmosphere to the dining environment. I hold a large number of meal and vegetable tickets, and I don't know where to start each time. The sales window is filled with a variety of delicious food, with a full range of colors, flavors, and flavors, which arouses human primal desires to a high degree. Finally, I always choose big steak, Braised pork belly, meatballs, etc. Dining in allows me to experience the benefits of free choice for the first time, and learning to adjust my mindset through reckless spending or deliberate self-discipline is enough to influence my character as an adult.
Next to the cafeteria is a swimming pool. My swimming training is very formal. I don't just jump into the pool and jump around aimlessly. The older child instructed us to first immerse our heads in the water and practice holding our breath. Then start the first round of the competition, see who has been holding in the water the longest, breathe at the corners of the mouth, hold your breath at the nose, and take turns adapting. After gradually exercising in water, even practicing dog crawl swimming is invincible.
As usual, during lunch break, the desk in the teaching and research office is the bed where we take a nap. But I lay there peacefully, still thinking about the ping pong table in the teaching building. I just made an appointment with another group of children for a swing competition. During the summer vacation, the teaching building was surprisingly quiet, and most students either went to study engineering or agriculture.
In fact, these college students who are called uncles and aunts by us have never attended classes safely in the classroom. We play with their sports equipment, and on the high-end glass blackboard that should have taught them cultural knowledge, we indulge in graffiti and learn to create beautiful artistic characters. Originally, the chalk was lying flat and written horizontally, which can present a three-dimensional effect. When the new semester begins and we return to our own elementary school, the homeroom teacher will be surprised to find that there is an expert in producing blackboard newspapers in the class.
At that time, the color TV signal was preparing to be broadcasted to the citizens. Coincidentally, the university where we are on vacation is the technology center in Shanghai, with dedicated researchers developing civilian color televisions. In the past, I have seen legitimate black and white televisions or programs broadcasted on Wild Road televisions assembled by electronics enthusiasts in my family's elders. However, the content of those programs was monotonous and boring, similar to staring at electronic test screens in the University of Science and Technology laboratory. However, I heard that watching color TV can be like watching a movie theater, and the attraction is extraordinary. Legend has it that on the night of its premiere, a story about a female sea militia catching spies will be broadcasted, so we children all try our best to participate in the activity. We flatter and please the children of the electronic teaching and research room, and then we must be allowed into their territory to share this exciting moment.
That night - in front of the fluorescent screen, we watched the faces of the confident female militia turn red and purple, but we ignored the color and clarity. Everyone was completely attracted by the twists and turns of the plot. After the subtitles of "The End of the Drama", the children were automatically divided into several groups according to the faction of the teaching and research department, and in the pitch black corridor, they shouted and imitated the dialogue of the characters in the drama to fight.
There were also a few days when, after waking up from lazy sleep in the morning, we didn't go to the campus and instead walked into Jiading City. Not far from the dormitory area is a monument, with summer sunlight leaking through the cracks in the leaves. As we walked forward, we saw the gate of the ancient Fahua Pagoda tightly closed, with only the Confucius Temple further ahead open. The buildings of Confucius Temple at that time were dilapidated. Fortunately, the remaining stone piers, stone columns and stone memorial archway had their own charm, which attracted children to walk around here repeatedly. I still remember the huge tree crowns that seemed to be responsive. But perhaps there is still an inner magic that we do not perceive, and the aura of scholars taking essays and exams here for hundreds of years should still remain in space. The largest imperial examination field in the vicinity of Shanghai at that time also had an unstoppable magnetic field effect on the descendants of scholars who accidentally passed through this area.
In the blink of an eye, it was the weekend and we, mother and son, intended to enjoy a one-on-one outing style holiday. Crossing the urban area and arriving at the west gate, there is a completely different ancient and rustic scene of the Jiangnan water town. Free trade of agricultural goods, scattered on the streets and alleys, was tacitly approved by local authorities depending on the urgency of the situation. It turns out that the river fresh and vegetables and fruits that my mother brings back to our urban family's dining table on a daily basis come from this place. Crabs are sold in bundles made of straw, while eels are considered abandoned by locals who allow visitors from the city to sweep their goods at low prices.
A small bridge flows through the shops of residential buildings, with colorful tailoring shops, uniquely shaped bamboo and wood shops, and a tin foil coffin shop that startles children on both sides. I quickly became familiar with the melody flowing through the wired speakers, which is a folk Xiju that locals love. The Shanghai dialect spoken by "Wo Ni" sounds similar and can be further subdivided according to different tones. When their stomachs chatter, it is easy for people to smell the aroma of grass head pancakes, a unique rural delicacy.
I have to wait for many, many years before I gradually realize that Ximen Street is not just a simple rural area, it used to be grand and magnificent. The great diplomat Gu Weijun and the great entrepreneur Wu Yunchu who emerged from here are representative figures who have influenced China's modern opening-up and are associated with significant historical events. By contrast, we, the new residents of Jiading who have just settled outside the south gate, do not have enough understanding of the charm here.
