all never be able to express my love—the kind of love as inspired by music or
painting. That is quite a letdown to both Peiping and myself, for it is to this ancient city
that I owe what I have within me, including my early knowledge and impressions as well
as much of my character and temperament. With Peiping possessing my heart, I can never
become attached to either Shanghai or Tianjin. I can’t tell why.
London, Paris, Rome and Constantinople are known as the four major “historic
capitals” of Europe. I know something about London; I have been to Paris and Rome only
briefly; I have never visited Constantinople at all. Of all these cities, Paris has the closest
affinity with Peiping (The word “affinity” may perhaps sound a bit farfetched).
Nevertheless, if should make my home in Paris, I would feel very lonely as if I had no
home at all. As far as I know, Paris is too much of a bustling town. It does have quiet open
spaces, but they smack of mere expanses of vacancy. Peiping is complicated and yet
tangible. I can feel it by touch. I can feel the red wild jujubes growing on its ancient city
wall! I can spend a whole day enjoying myself sitting on a rock to observe tiny tadpoles in
the water or tender dragonflies on reeds while facing me lies Ji Shui Tan Pond and right
behind me rises the high city wall. I can thus enjoy a perfect inner clam, free from any
desire or fear, like a child sleeping peacefully in the cradle. There are also bustling places
in Peiping, to be sure, but like the traditional Chinese shadow boxing Tai Ji Quan, the city
retains its stillness in the midst of motion. While Parisians have to turn to coffee or wine
for the relief of boredom caused by so many wearisome places in their city, the mild
beverage of jasmine tea will be more than adequate for dwellers of Peiping.
Though Paris has a better layout than London or Rome, it nevertheless cannot
compare with Peiping, one always finds the natural in the midst of the artificial. The city as
a whole is neither too crowded nor too secluded. Even houses tucked away in very small
lanes have their own courtyards and trees. Even the most secluded places are situated
within a stone’s throw of business or residential districts. Such a layout is, to my mind,
without equal all over the world. However, what distinguishes Peiping is not the perfect
layout, but the open spaces here and there where people can breathe freely; not the many
beautiful buildings, but the open grounds around each building which add to its
architectural beauty. Each gate tower of the city wall and each pailou (decorated archway)
can been seen from afar. And the Northern and Western hills are visible to people in the
open streets.
Those who are fond of studying or collecting curios will naturally be drawn to Peiping, │本│作│品│由││網│提│供│下│載│與│在│線│閱│讀│
which is remarkable for its rich store of books and curios. Personally I am not given to
studying, nor do I have spare money to buy curios. But I am keen on the flowers,
vegetables and fruit which grow in rich abundance in Peiping. Gardening is something
very expensive. But since flowers of herbaceous plants in Peiping are very cheap and each
house has a courtyard of its own, it does not cost very much to plant a whole courtyard to
such flowers which, though humble, are nevertheless lovely to look at, such as morning
glories on the wall, china pinks at the foot of wall and marvels-of-Peru. Yes, cheap as they
are, they attract butterflies! Green vegetables, cabbages, hyacinth beans, young soya beans,
cucumbers, spinach, etc. are often carried straight form the suburbs to your residential
quarters for marketing. Often, leeks from rural farms after a rain still have specks of mud
on their leaves. The vegetables stalls are so colorful that they present a scene of poetic
charm. Fruits come mainly from the western and northern suburbs, such as crab apples and
cherry apples from the Western Hills, and juj