Since November 13th, Beijing has been officially heated. For people in the north, the winter that has quietly arrived will not be so bitter. "there’s a gleam of green in an old bottle, there’s a stir of red in the quiet stove." Although everything is withered in winter, life is still interesting. Tonight, follow the words of Liang Shiqiu and Wang Zengqi, and go back to the north and south where there was no heating and air conditioning nearly a hundred years ago to see what the different scenery and taste were in winter at that time.
Winter in the north,
Is chilling cold,
The "winter defense" that started early,
And the heavy snow falling after a cold night in the north wind.
Winter in Beiping (abridged)
Liang Shiqiu
It’s so cold in Beijing in winter. Shortly after the Mid-Autumn Festival, the family was busy preparing for the winter and making "winter defense".
Speaking of winter, I shudder.
I grew up in Beiping. It’s so cold in Beijing in winter. Shortly after the Mid-Autumn Festival, the family was busy preparing for the winter and making "winter defense". On the first day of October in the lunar calendar, a fire will be lit in one room, and briquettes, hard coal and firewood should be lit early.
Shaking coal balls is a big event. A bunch of camels carry bags of coal powder to the door, and the coal spots (note: the old name for coal workers) carry the coal powder into the door and pour it into the east yard, piling it up in a very high pile. Then, waiting for a sunny day, they came with a sieve, a rake, a shovel and two-claw hooks, with a piece of cloth on their heads and a short and thick cigarette bag inserted on the cloth around their waist.
Their skill of shaking briquettes is really unambiguous. The coal powder was spread on the ground, and a pit was made in the middle to pour water, and the loess prepared in advance was added, so the two big men stirred up. After mixing, spread the slime-like coal powder on the open space, make it into a big cake, and pat it flat and bare with a shovel, about ten feet square. At this time, they are already sweating all over, and black sweat is running down their faces. It’s time to sit down and have a rest and smoke.
After the rest, the coal powder is slightly dry and coagulated, and then it is cut horizontally and vertically with a shovel and cut into small squares, which is as clever as a chef cutting vegetables and radishes. Then he sat down, inverted a small flowerpot on the ground, put the sieve on the flowerpot, and another man shoveled the coal powder cut into squares into the sieve and began to shake it, just like shaking Yuanxiao, slowly shaking the squares into briquettes. Then spread it on the ground to dry. Shake it screen by screen and dry it screen by screen. It’s hard work, and it’s fun for children to watch.
△ Old coal-burning stove
When the day turns pale and the rain is coming, they have to come to clean up, gather together and cover something, otherwise the coal will be washed away by the rain, and all previous efforts will be wasted. He enjoys all this, just develop a little more wine money. When it is completely dried, he will come to collect coal again, which will be complete. See you next year.
Coal balls are used for kitchen stoves and small white stoves everywhere, and even the poorest families have to reserve them in advance. People who have "foreign stoves" of course have to reserve large pieces of red coal and white coal, which must be smashed before they can be used, and it also takes some labor. Friends from the south are surprised to see that every household in Beiping is busy with "winter defense". He doesn’t know the severity of winter in Beiping.
The north wind was cold all night, and the heavy snow fell one after another. The scenery was worth seeing.
The north wind was cold all night, and the heavy snow fell one after another. The scenery was worth seeing. However, there are a few people who can enjoy the happiness of singing snow as calmly as Ms. Xie Daowen. All the people were cowered by the north wind that hurt people’s skin, and they were busy doing their own things.
Isn’t the winter scenery in Beiping beautiful? That’s not true. Early in the morning, crows often fall on the branches at the top of the elm tree, croaking incessantly. What an ancient picture of Western jackdaw! There seem to be quite a few magpies in Beiping, chirping on the ridge of the eaves, but their upturned tails are very beautiful. Some people say that they come to give good news, and I don’t know where the joy comes from. There are many sparrows, but they put up their feathers like hemp fiber and scampered on the ground for food, looking miserable. I don’t know who stood the pigeons, but a group of pigeons rowed past, circling and circling, white against the blue sky, and whistles suddenly sounded. I don’t know which one is flying kites, sand geese, butterflies, dragons and fish, and gongs and drums are still on the bow. In the middle of winter, it is also dotted with some interests.
Beiping is cold, in fact, it is colder than Beiping.
In Beiping, there are many frivolous people, but most people wear bulky cotton gowns, trousers, cotton-padded jackets, cotton gowns, cotton vests, cotton trousers, cotton hoods, cotton wool nests and cotton gloves in winter. The exception is those who wear silk cotton. To those who pull foreign rickshaws, carry water, dig out dung, exchange foreign matches for lanterns (note: also called matches), change fertilizer (note: the black core of Gleditsia sinensis, which is equivalent to sending oil), and play drums (note: people who walk the streets and play drums to buy all kinds of second-hand goods from residents) … … Which one is not wearing thin clothes and shivering in the cold wind?
△ North of Ergun City, Inner Mongolia, Linjiang Snow Scene, a border village close to the Ergun River, the border river between China and Russia Source: vision china
Beiping is cold, in fact, it is colder than Beiping. I spent two winters in Shenyang. The double-layer glass window of the house is condensed with ice and snow on the outer layer. If a small hole is opened on the inner layer, cold air will come. There was a layer of ice and snow on the road, and another layer of ice and snow. I once went to a dinner party and fell down twice on the way. Everyone thought it was a common thing. But it’s not easy to break your leg and wear more clothes. An old friend came to see me, but he didn’t know each other, because his eyebrows and beard were all frosted! There is not a woman walking in the street. On the street lamp wire, there is a row of birds like birds, silent and staring blankly, so cold that they don’t even have the strength to scream. Farther north, such as Heilongjiang, it must be much colder. Beiping is not the coldest in comparison.
Winter is really terrible. The poet said, "If winter comes, can spring be far behind?" I hope so.
△ Heilongjiang Harbin Fairy Tale Snow Town Source: vision china
"Cat Winter" in Old Beijing
It gets dark very early in winter in Beijing, and old Beijingers have the habit of "cat winter". After dinner, the family chatted around the stove, and from the depths of the alley came the cries of vendors selling various items.
"Stinky tofu — — Sauced tofu, stinky tofu in Wang Zhihe. " Vendors usually carry a burden, and later they also push a bicycle. There are stinky tofu, soy bean curd and bad bean curd in several earthen jars.
"Radish — — Sally, spicy — — Tube change. " This is a radish that sells "beauty in the heart". The radish in Beijing is sweet, crisp and delicious, and it is the "fruit" of old Beijingers in autumn and winter.
"Spiced rotten broad beans — — Hot. " Vendors selling rotten broad beans bear the burden of a small coal stove in winter. The coal stove is very small, and only a dozen briquettes or a few pieces of charcoal can be put in it, in order to keep the temperature of the broad beans in the steamer.
"Gourd — — Rock sugar. " There has been little change in Sugar-Coated Berry for hundreds of years, but the unique hawking and selling methods of old Beijingers are rare in other places. Vendors shake a bamboo stick while shouting, and people who buy candied haws have to draw lots after paying a dime. Unlucky people can only take a small gourd with five or six fruits, and lucky people can draw one that is more than a foot long or stuffed with bean paste, which brings a lot of fun.
Winter in the south,
Is a bed covered with straw,
A copper furnace that can’t be released,
With exquisite seasonal delicacies.
▽
Winter (with deletion)
Wang Zengqi
When you are in bed, you look tight and comfortable, as if you have an extra layer of protection in your life. Covered with straw, it is steaming and warm, which makes people feel happy.
It’s cold, and there are curtains in the hall (note: curtains are floor-to-ceiling windows, door leaves or similar barriers with latticed eyes in the upper part). Juzi, which was unloaded in the spring, has been placed in the compartment. Now, I’ve moved it out, scrubbed it clean, and replaced it with new pink paper and snow-white paper. When you are in bed, you look tight and comfortable, as if you have an extra layer of protection in your life. The family is sitting around, and the lights are amiable.
The bed was torn down and covered with straw. When washing the curtains, you should choose a fine day in Enigmatic and dry it that day. Xia Bu’s curtains are hanging in the yard, and summer is far away. Straw is packed in a cloth cover, coarse and as big as a bed. Covered with straw, it is warm and fragrant, which makes people feel happy.
Winter in the south is worse than in the north, and there is no fire in the house. General heating, just copper stove, foot stove and hand stove.
But it’s still cold. Winter in the south is worse than in the north, and there is no fire in the house. Take off your cotton-padded clothes at night and get into the cold bed; Get up early and put on cold cotton-padded jacket and trousers. It’s really cold.
After the winter vacation, you can sleep late. The cotton-padded clothes have been dried on the stove, so it is not very difficult to get up. In particular, cotton shoes are so hot that they are really comfortable to wear. There are few people who have iron stoves burning coal there. General heating, just copper stove, foot stove and hand stove.
The footstool is made of brass and has a perforated cover. What is burned inside is coarse bran. Filled with coarse chaff, shovel a few shovels of red ash from the unfinished Luchai fire (where we burn reeds, it is called "Luchai") and cover it. Coarse chaff led, take a puff of smoke, and soon, when the smoke is gone, you can cover the furnace cover. The coarse chaff can be burned slowly for a long time. Old ladies can’t live without it. I have nothing to do, playing cards, and every old lady has a foot stove at her feet. The coarse chaff in the footstool is too solid, the air is not enough, and the firepower is getting weaker. So we should dig twice along the hearth with a "poker" to loosen the coarse chaff, and the fire will flourish. The foot stove warms people. If your feet are not cold, your whole body is not cold. The smell of burnt bran is also very good. Imitating Japanese haiku, you can make a poem: "In winter, the smell of chaff is burnt in the foot stove."
Hand stoves are smaller than foot stoves, mostly made of white copper, and the exquisite ones are silver. The furnace cover is not a round hole, but mostly a hollow pine, bamboo and plum blossom pattern. Handstoves are very small, with charcoal sticks in the middle (block fuel made of charcoal powder, mostly cylindrical). Note: sound j:), led by paper media. A charcoal can last a day.
△ Qing dynasty brass gold-plated "Fenghua Zhengmao" pattern 16-sided round double-beam hand stove. Source: vision china.
In winter, there are black vegetables and frozen tofu. Fenzi, the Spring Festival is coming soon.
In winter, there are black vegetables and frozen tofu. Black vegetables fall flat on the ground, which is called "bitter vegetables" in the south of the Yangtze River. This dish tastes slightly bitter. My grandmother opened a small plot in the back garden and planted black vegetables. After frost, the edges of the leaves were purple, and the taste was bitter and sweet. Black vegetables and "crab oil" are cooked together, and the taste is difficult to compare. "Crab oil" is made by boiling and removing meat from big crabs and adding lard. It is put in a bowl in the sea and solidified into crab jelly, which can be eaten for a winter without being bad for a long time.
After tofu is frozen, I don’t know why it is honeycomb. Melt, cut into small pieces and cook with fresh meat, bacon, beef, dried rice or pickles. Chillies and green garlic should be put in frozen tofu.
There used to be no Chinese cabbage in the north, only "green vegetables". Chinese cabbage is shipped from Shandong, euphemistically called "yellow sprouts", which is very expensive. "Green vegetables" are as big as rape and two feet high. They are eaten by every family all year round. Pickled vegetables are pickled with green vegetables. It snows on cloudy days and drinks pickles soup.
△ Tangtuan made of glutinous rice flour Source: vision china
Flour powder. There is a neighbor who has a cymbal (note: sound duì, a rice-pounding instrument made of wood and stone). This bicycle is usually not used by many people, and it is only borrowed by 10 or 20 nearby houses in winter. The house is very small, except for a raft, there are only some sieves and reeds. It’s fun to step on the pheasant. When you step on it with your foot, it squeaks and twists, and the pheasant mouth rises, and with a bang, it falls into the cockroach nest. When the rice flour is ready, you can steam the rice flour, make "Nian Shao Bing" (glutinous rice flour as the pedicle, wrapped with bean paste and white sugar, and cooked in the pot), and rub the dumplings (that is, dumplings). Fenzi, the Spring Festival is coming soon.
Text/CCTV news synthesis, map/vision china, network, copyright belongs to the original author.
