22/10/2016
【九州览胜 Travel Around China】
老重庆的市井生活 Life in the Old Chongqing
很多人对山城重庆发生兴趣是从一部《疯狂的石头》开始，我却早在看王家卫的电影《重庆森林》时就对这座城市产生了浓厚的兴趣，喜欢搞些小资情调的王家卫怎么会把目光放在这座长江边的老城呢？只因它曾作为国民政府的陪都而繁华一时吗？除了出了名的麻辣火锅和美女，这座城市还有什么吸引人目光的地方呢？
Many people take interest in the city of Chongqing because of the movie Crazy Stone, but I have had an early crash on this mountainous city after I watched the movie Chungking Express directed by Wang Jiawei. I was always wondering why Wang Jiawei, who favors romantic atmosphere very much, would choose this old city by the Yangtze River as the locality of his movie. Was it because its past history as the second capital, its famous hot pot, the beautiful girls, or others?
一切疑问，只有亲自去探寻，才能找到答案。炎热的八月，在这座火炉最发威的时候，我去了。
吃过了麻辣的火锅，看过了解放碑的美女，在山城里高高低低兜兜转转地过了无数隧道、大桥，我似乎还是没触摸着重庆的灵魂，直到我去了十八梯。
I decided to find out the answers for myself. Therefore, I went there in August which is the hottest season there.
After I had the spicy hotpot, saw the pretty girls in Jiefangbei, and made many roundabout trips to various tunnels and bridges, I still didn't touch the inner most of Chongqing until I got to Shibati.
通常的，一座城市在“现代化”的建筑群背后，总藏着一条“青灰色”的老街。走进了它们，就走进了这座城市的历史深处，就触摸到了这个城市的灵魂。十八梯——重庆较场口的一条石梯小街，蜿蜒盘旋，依山而上，总共有十八个石梯组合，俗称“十八梯”，沿街而建的重庆吊脚楼，蜿蜒在石梯旁，延续在岁月中。
Usually in a modern city there is an ancient street hidden under numerous skyscrapers. As you walk along the ancient street, you are in the meanwhile walking deep into the profound history and touching the soul of the city. In Chongqing there is such a tone street named Shibati. It is located in Jiaochangkou and composed of eighteen stone stairs which wind zigzag up the hill. There are many stilted buildings along the stone street, which have weathered through years and years.
十八梯似乎已被这个繁华热闹的城市所遗忘，连当地司机都问了很多人才找着它的入口。入口处掩在一个闹哄哄的农贸市场里，穿过农贸市场，眼前的景象，仿佛一下子时光倒退二十年。
It seemed that Shibati had already been forgotten by this bustling city. The taxi driver had asked many local people before he finally found the way there. The entrance was set in a noisy farm produce market; as I walked across the market my mind flashed back to the past two decades.
沿着蜿蜒的石阶向上走，一会儿就汗流浃背，深刻的体会到了山城人生活的不易。石阶两旁，仿佛在回放一幕幕老电影，简陋的茶馆、老旧的茶炉、租书的小屋、很多人家共同的厨房，还有屋檐下酣睡的猫……不同的是，电影中的人活生生的生活在现实中，过着充满烟火气息的日子。
I walked upon the winding stairs and was bathed in sweat after only a few minutes. Not until then did I realize the hardship of mountain dwellers. The scenes I saw along the stone street constituted elements of an old movie: shabby tea houses with tea heaters, book rental houses, kitchens shared by several households, and cats sound asleep under the eaves. But the difference was that the life here was real and vivid.
石梯的另一头便是重庆最繁华的解放碑，巨大的反差使得这一条老街显得很不真实。可事实上，它却上演着最真实、最市井的生活。
At the other end of the stone stairs was the famous Jiefangbei plaza, one of the busiest places in Chongqing. The sharp contrast between the antiquity and modernity of the two ends made the old street rather unreal. But in fact it has demonstrated the most quotidian life of the common people.
听说，重庆政府正准备斥巨资改造“十八梯”，到时，这些老房子老铺子估计都要被拆除。我不知道这应该算是好消息还是坏消息，我想站起来说些保存文化特色、留住城市的根之类的话，又怕十八梯的一只猫都会跳出来反驳我：你们这些人，真是站着说话不腰痛。
It is said that Chongqing municipal government intends to invest a huge amount of money to rebuild the street of Shibati. The old houses as well as shops will be torn down in the near future. I don't know whether this is good news or bad news. If I speak for the preservation of cultural heritage, perhaps even a cat of Shibati would jump up and refute me, saying that I don't put myself in local people's shoes and care nothing about their welfare.
说到这里，不得不提提重庆的另一个地方：磁器口古镇。这里曾因其繁华而被时任国民党主席的林森称为“小重庆”。如同许多被开发的古镇一样，如今这里也是人声鼎沸、商业繁荣，游客似乎比本地人还多。好在热闹的只是中心地带的那两条街，离开了往高处走，也就远离了喧嚣，总能于一片老茶馆、一间杂货铺、一把旧竹椅中寻出些岁月的痕迹。
There is another interesting place in Chongqing—Ciqikou Ancient Town. Due to its once flourishing economy, it was named "Little Chongqing" by Lin Sen who was then the Chairman of Kuomintang. Like many explored old towns, nowadays Ciqikou Ancient Town enjoys business prosperity and the streets were always swarm with visitors—the tourists outnumbered the local people. However, as you walked away from the busy lanes and went further to the upper regions, you could get away from the uproar and into a quiet world of antiquity, where there were also old tea houses, grocery stores and bamboo chairs from which you could feel the imprints left by the old time.
