my half-life relationship with ditan book fair: those old times that can never return
2024-09-02
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it has been more than 30 years since i first came to ditan park - what a shock!ditan park is the northernmost point within my childhood range that i could measure with my feet.there are usually two ways to get to ditan temple from dongsi where i live: one ends at the south gate of ditan temple, and goes all the way north from beixinqiao, passes the "ten lands in the round" archway of yonghe temple, and then crosses the moat to reach the destination; the other ends at the west gate of ditan temple, and needs to first go west from beixinqiao to jiaodaokou, then turn north to andingmen and cross the moat to see the archway of the west gate of ditan temple.
the atmosphere near the south gate of ditan park is different from that near the west gate. outside the south gate is a 24-hour jindingxuan restaurant, which was established in 1993. its facade is decorated with glazed tiles and serves sichuan, shandong, guangdong, and huaiyang cuisine. next to it is the candy club. the starlight live music hall on the third floor of the club is one of the earliest live houses (small live performances) in mainland china. at midnight, you can often see music trendsetters from the candy club going to jindingxuan for supper. outside the west gate of ditan park is a gathering place for sports enthusiasts. the beijing ditan sports center is located in the northwest outside ditan park. the weightlifting competition of the 1990 beijing asian games was held here, and school sports meetings of nearby middle schools are also often held here.
there are several important times of the year when you must go to ditan temple, namely the temple fair in winter and the book fair in spring and autumn.my childhood memories of ditan temple are not a complete narrative line, but fragments composed of colors, sounds and smells. for example, the red wool ball on the large copper kettle of tea in the steam represents the ditan temple fair during the spring festival; the cypress fruits scattered on the ground in the mist in the early morning after the rain exude fragrance, accompanied by the chirping and playful magpies, which takes me back to the ditan book market.
the ticket price for ditan park during the book fair is 5 yuan, which is higher than the usual price. the books are the cheapest a few days before the book fair closes, and good books can be found everywhere for 5 yuan.many citizens pulled carts to buy books in piles. most of the stalls at the ditan book market were owned by publishing houses, but there were also stalls selling ancient books, magazines, comics, cds, vinyl records, stamps, coins, and calligraphy supplies. i have found many new and second-hand books at ditan. the books on the shelves include the "history of chinese literature" published by the people's literature publishing house, the "chinese translation of famous works" series published by the commercial press, the large-volume "cihai" and "sanyan erpai", as well as the books by wang xiaobo, zhou guoping, sanmao, yu xiu, dai wangshu, lin yutang, mo yan, zhang ailing, and cai zhizhong. all of them were purchased at the ditan book market.
i always come back from the book fair with a full load, so i usually take public transportation. in the 1990s, private cars were still a rarity, and bicycles, metro line 2, and buses were still the main choices for people to travel to and from ditan. route 116, a bus route that runs through the north and south of dongcheng, is the main transportation route passing through lama temple and ditan. the milky white bus body is decorated with red or blue-green stripes. this model is a jinghua bk670 articulated bus with a long and through body. the front and rear bodies are connected by an accordion-like canvas, which is called the "big passage" by everyone. every time i finish visiting the ditan book fair, i will take bus no. 116 and get off at dongsishier tiao station. on the way home, i will pass by the first sales department of daoxiangcun and buy some freshly fried lamb and chicken skewers, and pick a few cakes. it is really a day of both material and spiritual food.
later, the ditan book fair was discontinued. at first, i didn’t feel disappointed, because there were many places to read and buy books near my home, such as wangfujing book building, dengshikou china bookstore, dongsi sanlian bookstore, dongdan medical bookstore, jiaodaokou east street dongcheng district library, and the former site of the imperial college capital library... but one day many years later, i passed by chaoyang park and discovered the newly opened book fair. i hesitated at the door for a long time and refused to go in, as if i wanted to meet an old friend, but was afraid that after so many years we would no longer be familiar with each other.it was then that i realized that the ditan book fair was not only a functional place for me to buy books, but also a time that gu manzhen in half a lifelong romance said she could never go back to. there were my childhood memories of distinguishing between juniper and cypress in the woods, and my warm memories of going to the book fair with my father when i was a teenager...
after work, i participated in the filming of the feature film "beijing park opening", which introduced the process of the transformation of the former royal gardens and sacrificial altars in beijing into parks open to the public, including the temple of earth. this altar, which has experienced many vicissitudes, was once the site of the ming and qing dynasties' earth worship ceremony, and then became a deserted abandoned garden, a military garrison, and an agricultural experimental field... until august 2, 1925, the predecessor of the temple of earth, jingzhao park, was opened, and on may 1, 1984, the temple of earth was officially opened. the world is a big dream, and life has experienced several autumns. the temple of earth has gone through hundreds of years, and i have also bid farewell to my youth.in 2023, the beijing book fair returns to ditan, and i will continue my relationship with the ditan book fair...
(the author is a collector of old books)
