Re: American "vegetable farmer" Langes has retired and his wife has grown vegetables in Shanghai.
in my ten years of association with Lang, three pictures often emerge in my brain: farming in the moonlight, playing the second tone on the farm, and two books that have been worn on the cover. .
for the Chinese farmers, in the age of the agricultural Dazhai, fighting "three summer", "three robbing", "three autumn", because of the tight season, less machinery, the moonlight farming is often the same thing, at that time the farmers are tired, upset, night ploughing is a helpless move. He said, "the tractor in the moonlight is the quietest, the calm thinking, the calm thought," he told me, he was feeling the smell of the land, he was communicating with the land, and he was aware of Emerson's famous saying: "thinking is action".
"a lot of innovation on the farm was in the moonlight." his wife said to me, because no one could communicate, he was also very lonely, and in the moonlight he could be very, very quiet, only moonlight, only land, and he and tractors. He did not describe the poetic nature of people's imagination. He said peace and tranquillity are wonderful and deep.
remember when Lang was retiring that year, he wanted to return to the United States and put his tractor back home and put it at his home, because everything on the farm, his life comprehension was in the moonlight, on the tractor, like the ancient generals love the war horse.
Lang's life is very simple and very fulfilling. The farm is the center, but not all. They seldom go out, except once a year. Music is the main theme of their amateur life. Lang's favorite musician is Beethoven, so he is full of passion and excitement in the face of challenges, sometimes it is a bit tragic. He likes Wagner too. When he meets Tang, he is bound to stay. The classic music of rock music in America in the 60-70 century can be sung freely. He also likes to blow China's "shandandan blossom red." His interest in music is extensive, and his heart is diverse and complex.
music is the medium of their love, and is also accompanied by their gradual aging, and music is the main melody of their life now. In those days, Miss Tang's "memories" touched Lang, and Lang's tenor was also enchanted by Tang. I saw one of them playing the piano, a picture of the tone of the middle tone, and looking at the pictures on their cabinets, looking at their young pictures, thinking about their mood and leaving the bustling city to grow in the countryside. That kind of realm and pursuit so far let me sigh and even want to sing for them.
2000 built five farms in the year, and Lang is the most successful. In addition to the farm size and layout facilities, the home is also the best. He used the abandoned factory, designed himself, and led the migrant workers to build a flat house of 2000 square meters, with vegetable processing areas, office areas, farmers' dormitories and their own residence. Entering his residence is like entering the home of an American farmer. That kind of function, decoration, culture and taste are all admirable.
every time I talk to Lang, he always takes a coke from the fridge, and I naturally feel like a cup of tea. Once I asked him, "you have worked in China for so long, and you have been dealing with Chinese farmers every day, why can't you speak Chinese?" He asked me, "we have known each other for a long time. How can you not speak English?" I said we were all stubborn. For many years, he did not love Chinese food or Chinese customs, but he liked "art of war" and Lu Xun's works. When we talked, he often mentioned Emerson's influence on him. I said I also admire your American "Confucius". He took out the Emerson collection and told me that he could memorize or tell the content of this page by opening any page. He said he liked reading Emerson, AI, Rousseau, and Tennyson. On one occasion, when I talked about the Chinese version of the four thousand year farmer, he immediately took out the English version of 1911 from his study, and I was shocked.
I know that Lang likes reading, but when I saw that the two books had been damaged by the cover and corner, the heart of admiration came up. Archaic language: read thousands of books, and have gold houses in books. When Lonon grows such a good dish, Lang is so calm to life that he comes nearer to thinkers and has his own thoughts. This is the power of thought.
Lang's life reminds me of the remote rural life in the south of the Yangtze River, daytime farming, reading at night, playing with children, playing the piano, and making tea as wine.
Lang likes to think and be quiet alone, but an American plant in Shanghai is a news story in the 80s of last century. By twenty-first Century, it has been a bit legendary, so there are quite a few news media interviewers in China and foreign countries, and there are more than 40 more famous press media interviews. The media is only curious about him, only paying attention to his growing food. Even his son, who works at the Dezhou military base in the United States, is amazed by the fact that his father in China has become one of the 8 million Shanghai farmers on television. The New York Times editor in chief told Lang Shi in 1995 that "his story is a special mixture of American philosophy and Chinese reality".
when Lang went to Songjiang to build a farm in five, he was in a quieter mood. He was no longer a farm unstable anxiety, the farm scale reached his ideal level, the market was quite stable, the farm worker's technical experience was fully adapted to his vegetable demand. They communicate with each other very well, and the outside media have disturbed him. After farming, he blows the middle tone, reading, and collecting the information and information of the whole world. His farm has no worries. He is worried about the land, soil and grain in the world. He is always thinking and is always full of anxiety. ...
in the moonlight, in the field, in the melody of the tenor, a figure is walking alone, and a soul is wandering.
after retiring, he doesn't plant. I went to see him and asked him about his retirement. He said to me, "you must never retire." His wife told me that Lang is now like a lady in the study all day, very calm and heavy. She was a little worried about the way of life after his retirement.
Mrs. Lang is an excellent Shanghai intellectual woman with beautiful appearance and firm heart. Before joining Lang, she was an actress at Shanghai opera house. She was a full - time wife. She was a translator, a marketing, a chef, a accompaniment accompaniment, a piano accompaniment to a soprano, an accompaniment of life mission, and she accomplished his theme.
Lang once asked me to go to Shangri-La to grow lettuce and broccoli. He said, "you can grow the best broccoli in the world." I knew he was studying geography, and I knew it was his wish. It was hard to make it happen, because he was retired, and he was still thinking about the land and vegetables. Two years later, he went to the farm to rent a few acres of land, spend a lot of work on a season of vegetables, vegetables to be shared by friends, he is not to harvest food, but the need for the process. The process of growing vegetables in the land has become an element of his life. Land and vegetables have become an important part of his life. "When you work on this land, you become part of the land, and the land becomes your reward."
"I tried to try to combine the works of Emerson and Rousseau with common sense, whether I was part of Emerson and Rousseau, at least by their words, their thoughts, in my philosophy in the binding or in the form of work or thought." (from Lang's note)
Lang has repeatedly mentioned to me that the person who influenced his life was Emerson. I can tell from his fonding Emerson collection that the book has been accompanied by him for decades. In Chinese, the cover of the book has been covered. Emerson's thought is the ideological basis of Lang and the standard of life, and Franklin.H. Jin "four thousand years farmer" is the theoretical and technical basis of his respect for land and soil. He has been exploring the use of advanced agricultural technology in the United States and traditional Chinese agricultural experience combined with a new agricultural model to guide production. He is using ideas to grow fields. Now he does not grow vegetables. He is still continuing his career. He is writing his own experience of growing vegetables for more than 20 years, and is also writing about his life in Shanghai.
Lang went back to his study from the field. He liked peace, but he was not alone. He had his beloved woman, his favorite music, and Emerson. "How many lives are lost in waiting"? Although he retired, he challenged himself and was full of dreams. Franklin.H. Kim traveled to China to write "the four thousand year farmer". He had a dream come to China to catch up with a great revolution. In this time he chose to grow vegetables, and he wanted to write his field, music, and Emerson symphony.
LONG, we look forward to it.