In June 2018, WANG Yiming, a well-known economist and deputy director of the Economic Development Research Center of the State Council, pointed out that, he is noting a special phenomenon: both Hong Kong and Macao people have a special and good impression on Zhongshan. What is the reason? Can we explain it in a few words?
I am a new Zhongshan person, and I have been living here for more than a decade.I am interested in studying this city and its people. For this reason, I have got some personal views, which may be echoed by many people. However, it is difficult indeed to explain the reason in a few words.
However, one must strive to answer this meaningful question by Mr. WANG Yiming. So, it has been on my mind for two months now. Today, it is my attempt to answer it.
Luckily and fortunately, I changed my workplace from Zhuhai to Zhongshan in 2004. Zhongshan was called Xiangshan in ancient times, governing both Zhuhai and Macao. So actually I came to the origin of Xiangshan. Back when I was working in Xiangzhou District in Zhuhai City, I wrote two sentences on the back of my business card: Xiangzhou miniatures the process of China’s transition to the marine economy and marine culture from continental economy and continental culture over a century ago, and also reflects the fact that China has shifted from close economy and closed culture to open economy and open culture after the reform and opening up. Later on I worked in a municipal organ, and I changed "Xiangzhou" to "Zhuhai", and when I came to Zhongshan, I changed it to "Zhongshan (Xiangshan)" accordingly, as I actually came to the origin of Xiangshan. However, these two sentences are not sufficient to answer Mr. WANG Yiming's question.
When I worked in Zhuhai, I visited Zhongshan for several times, and I thought I knew Zhongshan very well. But after I came and lived here, I realized that I only had very superficial knowledge of Zhongshan. Half a year later, with my own understanding, I told Zhongshan people a joke of "Three Don’ts": grass-root government officials don’t want to get promoted, leaders don’t want to be on TV, private enterprises don’t want to go public. Indeed, it was a criticism of the narrow vision of Zhongshan people who want to stay low and down-to-earth but not willing to look up at the starlit sky. However, this criticism also entails some positive elements, because "Three Don’ts" reflects a pragmatic spirit--though too pragmatic. But now "three Don’ts" is not true anymore.
As I live and work in Zhongshan longer, I probed further and came up with a more comprehensive and in-depth observation of Zhongshan. Based on this observation, I profile Zhongshan in five sentences : "Zhongshan (Xiangshan) –it is the hometown of the great man Mr. Sun Yat-sen, the cradle of modern Chinese history, the center of Brackish-water Culture, the example of endogenous growth and exogenous growth, the ancestor of authentic canton gourmet, with an ending in local vernacular: ‘I am Zhongshan people, who will never be unbridled even after achieving success.’". It is actually these special and important humanistic qualities that create "Zhongshan miracle". Since reform and opening up, Zhongshan ranked fifth or sixth in economic aggregate with the smallest urban area among the 21 cities in Guangdong Province, and formed the "Zhongshan model" under "five in one" coordinated development. Zhongshan is particularly strong in private sector, featured by special industrial towns and clustered industries. People here are enjoying an enriched, harmonic and beautiful life here. I guess the above five sentences are comprehensive enough to profile Zhongshan, but too redundant and mundane.
How to answer precisely his question?
After pondering the question for two months, now I have an answer: Zhongshan, or its people, leave good and special impression on the people from Hong Kong and Macao and rest of the world because "three features" embedded in this city and its people.
These "three features" are:humanity, earthly life, culture.
Instead of giving you a lengthy explanation of "three features", I try to illustrate it by some examples.
Starting with humanity, every ethnic group and city has its own manifestation, but Zhongshan people are outstanding in their kindness and affability. It is a city with love. A good case in point is the "Parade of Charity" that has lasted for 31 years. In 1988, Zhongshan started Parade of Charity with the theme of respecting the elderly and showing filial piety. Since then, every year after the New Year's day, people from all walks of life at all levels in the city, and even Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan people and overseas Chinese donate money to this event. Parade of Charity would be held in the downtown during the Lantern Festival. At that time, the whole city acts together. As all people are turning out for this event, the event becomes a big carnival attracting many domestic and international organizations to visit and study, including UNESCO. Up to now, it has raised nearly 1.5 billion Yuan and expanded its presence nationwide. The event has been awarded by the State Council. After 30 years’ operation and management, Parade of Charity has become the most featured urban spiritual and cultural brand and new folk custom of Zhongshan, a postcard which Zhongshan people take delight to talk about, and a banner of the Red Cross movement in Guangdong and even in the country. So, can you deny it is a city full of humanity?
Second is earthly life. No doubt, every person and every city has its own lifestyle, but you can experience the supreme feeling of lifestyle in Zhongshan. The most convincing evidence is the elegant culinary arts and exquisite cuisines that Zhongshan people are pursuing. Some people say that canton cuisine consists of Zhongshan cuisine, and Shunde cuisine, and therefore, Zhongshan cuisine should be regarded as the precursor of canton cuisine. Zhongshan people are famous for their ability to prepare an amazing spread of dishes. In 1914, an overseas Chinese brought back the fine pigeon of improved breed from the United States to Zhongshan, and cross-bred it with the local pigeon, and then bred the Shiqi squab, the most famous delicacy with a history of 104 years. Every year, Zhongshan outputs about 5 million squabs. Zhongshan people enjoy gourmet throughout the day. As the person-in-charge of CCTV's documentary channel came to Zhongshan, I introduced Zhongshan cuisine to him, and then the topic of "a Bite of China" was determined. Later, "Taste Zhongshan" became the first local food documentary film in "A Bite of China" series broadcasted on CCTV. As the saying goes, food is the paramount necessity of the people, and Zhongshan people particularly consider enjoying food as the most important thing in their life. What a delightful and earthly life!
Last but not least is culture. Zhongshan has a typical geographic position where the fresh water and salt water meet. Five of the eight estuaries of the Pearl River flow through Xiangshan area to South China sea, Lingdingyang bay and the Pacific Ocean. The brackish water cultivates a unique culture. People in Zhongshan (Xiangshan) were the first to experience the marine culture and blue civilization, the first to walk out of China to see the world, and also the first to look at China from the outside. That is why Zhongshan becomes the cradle of modern Chinese history and culture. She cradled many great people represented by SUN Yat-sen, ZHENG Guanying, RONG Hong and YANG Yin, and also the great thoughts represented by the "Three People's Principles", "Dare to be the First", and "Warnings in the Blooming Age". Zhongshan (Xiangshan) cultivated many important people in the politic, economic, cultural, educational, commercial, military, sports and other fields, who made revolutionary contribution to the development of modern and contemporary China. That is how the region has a historical and iconic Xiangshan culture. When speaking of Confucius, both Chairman MAO Zedong and General Secretary XI Jinping hightlighted: "from Confucius to Sun Yat-sen..." . Confucius and Sun Yat-sen are important representatives of China's outstanding culture. Sun Yat-sen culture, both a national and ethnic topic, dose not only represent China's outstanding traditional culture, but also adopts a future outlook as it absorbs and integrates the elements of other advanced civilization. Sun Yat-sen culture and Xiangshan culture have infiltrated and influenced Zhongshan today and are shaping the future. It was the first city in China to win the UN Habitat Award, one of the "four tigers" in the Pearl River Delta in the early stage of reform and opening up, one of the first national civilized cities, and a national historical and cultural city... All of these stories are the perfect illustrations.
Humanity, earthly life and culture are my answer to Mr. WANG Yiming’s question. Of course, this is just my personal opinion, and might not be necessarily accurate and comprehensive. I would never dare to negate any different views. There are a thousand ways to interpret Zhongshan. Actually, every Zhongshan people, every visitor to Zhongshan, have their own impression and feelings about Zhongshan. Even Mr. WANG Yiming, I believe he must have his own answer at heart; we eagerly look forward to hearing his insights in the days to come.
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Qiu Shuhong was born in Lianping county, Guangdong province in 1957. He is currently a member of the China Writers Association (CWA), member of the Chinese Musicians’ Association, member of the China Soong Ching Ling Foundation, member of the Museum of literature and history of the Guangdong provincial government, vice chairman of the Guangdong Writers Association, and an adjunct professor in sevaral universities. Former Chairman of Zhongshan Municipal People's Political Consultative Conference of Guangdong Province.
Qiu Shuhong had initiated a number of institutional reforms in Zhuhai Special Economic Zone, established a new model for the transformation of urban villages, initiated the concept of "Sun Yat-sen culture" and promoted it as a national proposition.In addition, he also planned and organized a large number of large-scale cultural activities and projects with extensive influence.
Qiu has published 10 volumes of poetry and 8 works on humanities and social sciences. He has won the poetry fund award of Poetry Journal, the gold medal of the People's Literature competition, the Guo Xiaochuan Poetry Award, the " Five-one project "（namely a good play, a good television works, a good book, a good theoretical article and a good film）award of Guangdong province and the Lu Xun Literature and Art Award. In June 2003, the China Writers Association and China central television (CCTV) produced a large-scale anti-SARA TV program with the same title of his poem"In the name of life". In recent years,he has turned to the creation of long poems, epic poems and large-scale stage literature programs. The large-scale symphonic song "Sun Yat-sen" has been touring at home and abroad and broadcast on CCTV. “The heroic pearl river”, “Zhao Tuo-the king of south antient China”, “Salt-water song”and other large-scale stage music works are devoted to the exploration of Lingnan humanities and the innovation of traditional culture, which have exerted profound influence on the literary and art circles.
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