The book I wrote was sent to the Italian President, and Italians settled in Ruian, Wenzhou to study villages and alleys. Wenzhou | Tang Yun | Ruian, Wenzhou

"Do you know that eunuch Zheng He from Sanbao has descendants?" Faced with Tang Yun's question, the reporter shook his head repeatedly. Tang Yun continued to say that Zheng He's descendants may have lived in Nanjing. Around 2016, in order to study the Maritime Silk Road, she went to Nanjing to look for this descendant. According to her research, Zheng He's brother once adopted his child to Zheng He, and thus Zheng He's descendants continue to this day. Moreover, there are many traces left by Zheng He in Nanjing, such as the Zheng He Treasure Shipyard Site Park, Zheng He Park, Zheng He Tomb, as well as the mosque Jingjue Temple that Zheng He once requested to rebuild. Tang Yun is Italian and speaks Chinese very well. During the nearly 6-hour interview, there were no obstacles in communication between the reporter and her, and her pronunciation of only a few words was not standard enough. If you listen to her talk with your eyes closed, you won't feel like she's a foreigner. Tang Yun, 70 years old, was born in Turin, Italy. Her original name was Bonino Gabriella. The reason she named herself Tang Yun was because she really liked the Tang Dynasty poet Li Bai and also liked the saying, "In the midst of the colorful clouds of the White Emperor, a thousand miles of Jiangling can be returned in a day.". She said she hopes to become a link between China and foreign exchange, just like the foreigners who came and went to Chang'an during the Tang Dynasty.

She has been living in China for 36 years, traveling all over the country. In 2017, she settled in Wenzhou and has been living there ever since. She found it particularly interesting to study the "the Belt and Road", especially the Maritime Silk Road, in Wenzhou.

Wenzhou is interesting

Tang Yun said that Wenzhou is very special. Wenzhou is a famous hometown of overseas Chinese, and many people have been to Italy. Tang Yun recalls her experience living in her hometown of Turin 40 years ago: there are many Chinese restaurants in Turin, and Wenzhou people live in her neighborhood. When she was a child, she even visited Chinese restaurants owned by Wenzhou people. After settling down in Wenzhou, she felt a familiar hometown flavor here. In the Spring Festival of 2002, Tang Yun visited Wenzhou for the first time and visited the ancient village of Nanxi River. Since then, he has frequently visited places such as Taishun Langqiao and produced 16 radio programs about Wenzhou, introducing it to Italians thousands of miles away. In February 2017, Tang Yun joined the School of Media at Wenzhou University of Business and offered students an elective course on "Discovering the Silk Road" and conducted research on Wenzhou and the Maritime Silk Road. After settling in Wenzhou over the years, Tang Yun often rode bicycles, took buses, or walked to visit. The deeper she understands Wenzhou, the more interesting she finds it. Tang Yun went to Wencheng County, a remote mountainous county in Wenzhou, where transportation was very inconvenient. However, upon investigation, many families in the towns lived and worked in Italy, especially concentrated in Turin. She also found that Italian coffee in Wenzhou is very good, and the more remote the countryside, the more authentic Italian coffee is. After living in Wenzhou for more than 4 years, Tang Yun published "Discovering Wenzhou" in Italy, providing a detailed introduction to Wenzhou's history, including the ancient port and the Maritime Silk Road, as well as folk crafts, traditional festivals, and cuisine. Tang Yun also translated local folk songs and ballads such as "To Birds" and "Ding Ding Dang" into Italian. In Ruian, in order to search for inheritors of intangible cultural heritage, she often shuttles through the streets and alleys of the city, as well as remote mountainous areas outside the city. After visiting nearly a hundred intangible cultural heritage craftsmen, she published "Discovering Ruian Intangible Cultural Heritage" in Italy, which detailed 64 Ruian intangible cultural heritage projects, including wooden movable type printing, Wenzhou drum lyrics, blue Jiaxie, Tengpai dance, colored stone inlay, boneless flower lanterns, and so on. Tang Yun was talking about books while showcasing to reporters some works gifted to her by intangible cultural heritage inheritors, which she regarded as treasures.

Ruian Bamboo Weaving. Respondents provide

Ryan has over 150000 overseas Chinese, with over 50000 of them living in Italy. In the interview, Tang Yun repeatedly mentioned Chen Ming, a Wenzhou overseas Chinese living in Turin, Italy, and president of the China Italy Youth Association. When the COVID-19 broke out three years ago, these Wenzhou overseas Chinese were busy organizing masks and other materials to "rescue Wenzhou". Later, with the development of the epidemic, they turned to Wenzhou to "rescue Italy". Last February, Chen Ming mailed the book "Discovering the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Ruian" to Italian President Matarella, and attached a letter introducing the content and concept of the book. On March 24th, Chen Ming unexpectedly received a reply from the Presidential Office expressing gratitude and greetings, and immediately took a photo of the letter and sent it to Tang Yun. Tang Yun was very happy about this.

Chen Ming gave Tang Yun's book to the mayor of Turin. Respondents provide pictures

She told the reporter about the Wenzhou style wedding dowry "goose bag" and said, "This is the characteristic of Wenzhou." She pulled the reporter to see a traditional small workshop and walked into a familiar alley, turning seven or eight corners to find an intangible cultural heritage inheritor. The other person looked up and smiled, "You're here again." She understands Wenzhou and is also familiar with the Yangtze River Delta. In 2016, Tang Yun became interested in the Maritime Silk Road after writing and publishing the Italian version of "Discovering the Silk Road: From Camels to High Speed Rail". In addition to Wenzhou, she also visited cities such as Nanjing, Yangzhou, Suzhou Taicang, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Fuzhou, Quanzhou, and Guangzhou, and she loves each city very much. Yangzhou is quite unique to her. It is said that during the Yuan Dynasty, Italian businessman and cultural exchange envoy Marco Polo once served as an official here. Today, Yangzhou has a Marco Polo Memorial Hall. Tang Yun introduced that many Italians in the Yuan Dynasty did business in Yangzhou. She once saw a Yuan Dynasty tombstone written in Latin in the Yangzhou Museum. The owner of the tombstone was a foreign woman, and it was later verified by Tang Yun that it was a member of a prominent family in Genoa, Italy. Tang Yun found records of the family engaged in silk trade at the time in the local archives and found that foreigners were managing foreigners in Yangzhou. She said that it was possible for Marco Polo to serve as an official in Yangzhou. Tang Yun likes Tang poetry. During her time working in Beijing, she went to Tiantai Mountain for interviews, visiting the famous Tang Dynasty poet Han Shan's cave where he once lived. Prior to this, Italian sinologists had translated many of his poems. Last year, at the invitation of the Hangzhou Tourism Bureau, Tang Yun walked into this path of Tang poetry in eastern Zhejiang, accompanied by a Swiss sinologist residing in Hangzhou. Now, tourists can take the Hangzhou Taiwan high-speed railway to explore the path of Tang poetry. Along the way, she deeply feels that it was not easy for poets to hike over mountains and ridges in the past. These attracted poets have left many famous Tang poems here, such as Li Bai's expression of longing for Tiantai Mountain, "The Dragon Tower and Phoenix Que refuse to stay, soaring straight to the rooftop.".

Tang Yun is at the Wenzhou Martial Arts Museum. Respondents provide pictures

The more communication, the less misunderstandings

For many years, she has persisted in using radio programs, university lectures, and writing to open windows of communication and understanding between the Chinese and Italian people. During this process, she also witnessed significant changes in China's development. In January 1987, Tang Yun came to China alone to study Chinese at Beijing Language Institute. When he first arrived, it took more than a week to send a letter back to Italy. The Italian newspapers she subscribes to often take about two weeks to be delivered. Around 1990, she visited the undeveloped Hongcun Village in Yixian County, Anhui and the ancient city of Pingyao in Shanxi. She remembers that these two places were very primitive and beautiful at that time. In 1998, Wenzhou only had the Jinwen Railway leading to Jinhua. Wenzhou people built bridges, railways, airports, and other facilities without waiting to rely on it. Wenzhou merchants are spread all over the world, and there are naturally many overseas routes in Wenzhou. Now, direct flights to cities such as Milan and Rome in Italy are available from Wenzhou. "Besides going home, my least favorite thing is taking a plane," Tang Yun told reporters. He really likes green cars, which allow him to make friends during long journeys. At the same time, green cars stop at many stations, where he can get off and take a walk in the local area, and buy some local snacks. What she is most satisfied with is China's high-speed railway, which takes only 6 and a half hours to travel from Wenzhou to Beijing at the fastest. It is comfortable to sit on time and also allows for reading. Previously, people from Wenzhou took a long and tiring journey to Shanghai by boat from the Oujiang River, but now it only takes three to four hours. She looks forward to the opening of the Hangzhou Wenzhou high-speed railway next year, and the travel time from Wenzhou to Beijing and Shanghai will be even shorter. The 2012 Chinese TV drama "Wenzhou Family" tells the story of Wenzhou farmers who left their hometowns in the 1980s and worked hard to start businesses in China and Italy. The main filming location for the first episode of the TV series is in Junlu Village, Huling Town, Rui'an. Tang Yun has visited there several times and met a master who taught string puppetry skills to the actors in the drama. The characters in the drama performed string puppets on the streets, attracting customers to come and buy leather shoes. She said that such Wenzhou people are very intelligent. In Italy, the older generation of Wenzhou people do not speak Italian or Mandarin, only speak Wenzhou dialect, mainly engaged in leather processing, opening restaurants, and other businesses. Eventually, most people will return to their hometowns; Now, the new generation of Wenzhou people will go to Italian schools, where they can proficiently use Italian and better integrate into Italian society. Some of them have already engaged in high-tech industries such as computers in Italy or have gone to other European and American countries for development. Chen Ming is one of the representatives. When he was a child, he went to Italy with his parents to live and study. Now, he not only has a stable job in the local area, but also actively helps Chinese people integrate into the local area for many years, such as helping them handle various procedures and seek medical treatment. He also organizes various cross-cultural exchange activities, such as teaching Chinese, attracting many Italians to participate and becoming a bridge for communication between China and Italy. Tang Yun's book about Wenzhou allows Italians to further understand their Wenzhou neighbors, as well as the second and third generations of Wen who travel to Italy to understand their hometown. In the book "Discovering Wenzhou", Tang Yun introduces the entrepreneurial stories of Wenzhou people such as Zhang Huamei and Nan Cunhui. At that time, the introduction of Nan Cunhui's content involved many electrical professional terms, which made her difficult to accurately translate. Therefore, she invited an Ital