台湾之行：这么近 那么远

　　The Miaokou Night Market in Keelung is bustling with diners.

　　基隆著名的庙口夜市汇聚了各地小吃，这里门庭若市、熙熙攘攘。

　　My first trip to Taiwan, which took place last month, was with a team of professional photographers. They were more interested in the people inhabiting this treasure of an island, than the tourist attractions it has to offer. And it made a world of difference because it clicked with my intuitive finding that the most wonderful thing about Taiwan is its people.

　　It is difficult to claim to know a place and its people in a tour of one week. So I depended on my teammates for corroboration. He Yanguang, a veteran photographer with China Youth Daily, was embarking on his fourth tour of Taiwan. He first visited it in 1997. "There's not much difference," he said, "not even in the facade."

　　And that lack of change could well be the most valuable lesson we carried away from this journey.

　　Sure, there is Taipei 101, the tallest building in the world when it opened in 2004 until the title was snatched away by the Burj Khalifa in Dubai in 2010. It's certainly sky-piercing or a crane among a clutch of chicks, to borrow the Chinese term, as Taipei does not have a dense cluster of skyscrapers as Hong Kong does.

　　When I examined it closely, Taipei 101 seems an oversized Chinese pendant, with coins on all four sides. All the symbols of money would take some explaining when the world enters an all digital era when cash may sound extremely quaint to future visitors.

　　But worry not. Right now, Taipei is a paradise to those who want a taste of the old way. Here, gourmet could mean snacks and street stands, which attract hordes of diners including the middle class and chic youth. This is subversive to my thinking because in the mainland a restaurant could easily have dozens or hundreds of tables in a mammoth hall or flanks of private rooms, often with lavish decorations.

　　In Taiwan, we were taken to every lunch in restaurants with no more than 10 tables. The service is efficient and the place is clean, but the taste of the food is so memorable we instantly understand why so many are waiting for a seat. I had the best beef noodle I could remember.

　　I was told that all of these businesses are operated by families and most have a history that goes back half a century or more. And I noticed there are many businesses of this size in Taipei, either downtown or in the suburbs, and they contribute to the feeling of a community. I left Taipei with a strong sense that, though it's a city with a population of almost seven million in the metropolitan area (with 2.6 million in the city proper), it has a touch of intimacy as if it's still a village - only endlessly enlarged. People talk to each other in a way they talk to fellow villagers.

　　We visited many old streets and night markets, which are unadorned and crowded. Vendors hawk their offerings and bakers ask you to have a taste of their fresh pastry, but they never give you any pressure to buy or give you the nasty look after you tasted something but decided against buying it. There is a friendliness in their voice and their manner that is more neighborly than businesslike.

　　Every member of our delegation was impressed by this attitude of the people we met. One day we swooped into a fishing port in Keelung and jumped onto several boats. The fishermen were surprised, but as soon as they learned of our purpose they blithely cooperated and even struck some poses for us. "I have not met a single person who is nasty," said Zhang Feng, photographer with The Beijing Evening News.

　　There are lots of place names familiar to us mainlanders as they are featured prominently in movies and pop songs. I was more surprised by the ubiquitous use of "kindness" and "loyalty" for street names, terms revitalized in the recent campaign in the mainland to read Chinese classics such as Confucius' Analects.

　　Sure, the display of traditional virtues in such high profile could be window-dressing, but it is more than that. We met a middle-aged woman in Daxi, an old town by the Tamsui River where a century ago cargo ship would dock and turn the place into a hub of trading. Now it's a quiet town with a couple of commercial streets. On one of them, which is quite touristy, we talked to this woman who gave up her job to take care of her father.

　　The old man has to get around in a wheelchair and his medical expenses have been covered by welfare, but the full-time care by a family member would be something of a luxury to most families in the Chinese mainland. "We get some income from renting out a storefront," she explains, without a hint of bitterness or regret.

　　In the ensuing days, we encountered other examples of this nature, where a grownup child gives up his or her job to care for an ailing parent. I don't know how popular the practice is in Taiwan, but it's the ultimate manifestation of "filial piety", a concept sanctified in Chinese tradition.

　　"We just scratched the surface," said Wang Wenyang, photographer with a newspaper devoted to intellectual property protection in China. "We didn't have time to go into people's homes for long stretches of time. But from what we could see, the daily lives of Taiwan people have shown sufficiently the lifestyles and human interaction that are the bedrock of this society. It is heavy on small business and it is full of human warmth. We did bump into two weddings, though."

　　On Dihua Street in downtown Taipei, I strolled into a store that has a plaque saying this is the oldest store in the city. Now it sells tea from all over China. The architecture along the street probably goes back to the early days of the Republic of China. But at that time, Taiwan was still occupied by the Japanese.

　　Whether in architecture or food or ways of life, Taiwan seems to have absorbed from all sources, taking what is good and valuable and making it its own. In Ho-Ping Island Hi Park in Keelung, there is a seashore with rocks carved by millions of years of winds and water, similar to the nearby Yeliu Geopark. Despite a gust, a couple of fisherwomen were scouting for a certain seaweed that goes into a local snack. A few of our photographers jumped down to search for the best shots.

　　Meanwhile, our guide told us this was the location Chiang Kai-shek landed after he retreated from the mainland in 1949. Across the strait lies Fujian province, where most of the early settlers in Taiwan hailed from. For many decades, there was something stronger than the gusty wind to prevent people from calling on each other. Now it's just a short flight away.

　　After a week of going around Taipei, we stuffed our bags with Taiwan pastry and the memory of a way of life that used to live in ancient textbooks and is now so hauntingly real. It's not the most touristy place, but in an unconscious way it offers a corridor into our past.

　　上个月我和一群专业的摄影师一起去了台湾，这是我第一次去台湾。比起那些旅游景点，这些摄影师更感兴趣的是宝岛上的人。这也给我了一种感觉，台湾最美的风景是人。

　　仅仅一周的时间，很难去定义这个地方和这个地方的人如何，因此我向我的队友贺延光求助证实。他是中国青年报非常有经验的摄影师，之前就已经来过台湾三次。第一次来台湾早在1997年，他说：“这里没有多少变化，连外观都没变。”

　　在这次旅行中，我们获得的最有意义的理念就是“没有多少变化”。

　　当然，2004年竣工的台北101大楼曾是世界第一高楼，2010年迪拜的哈利法塔(迪拜塔)的建成使得台北101退居世界第二高楼。由于台北没有像香港那样高楼密集，台北101大楼显得“鹤立鸡群”。

　　根据我的仔细观察，台北101大楼看起来像是个放大版的中国玉石坠饰，在四周是钱币。所有钱币的标志都可以解释，当世界进入全面信息化时代时，现金可能在未来变得特别奇怪。

　　但别担心，台北是品尝传统小吃的天堂。在这里，小吃和路边摊也是美食;在这里，每天都吸引着无数的吃货，包括中产阶级和时髦的年轻人们;在这里，饭店颠覆了我的固有思维，因为在大陆，我们的饭店通常有着巨大的、装修豪华的大厅或者雅间，能够容纳上百桌。

　　在台湾，我们几乎每顿饭都是在那种只有几张桌子的小馆子吃的，但是服务好地方也干净。当我吃到第一口牛肉面时我就明白为什么这么多人在等位了，因为它的味道实在是太令人惊艳了，这绝对是我人生中吃过的最好吃的牛肉面。

　　庙口夜市所有的商贩都是以家庭为单位的，大部分都有半个世纪甚至更长的历史。并且我注意到在台北这样规模的店家有很多很多，无论是市区还是郊区，是它们让台北充满了浓浓的人情味。当我离开台北时，我深深的感到，虽然台北是一个拥有700万人口的大城市(包括260万城市人口)，它仍然给人一种亲切感，好似它仍是一个村庄，只是在不断扩张而已。人与人之间的交流非常朴实，毫无距离感。

　　我们参观了很多朴素的街巷和夜市，小贩们在沿街叫卖，面包师们让你品尝新鲜出炉的点心，但他们绝不会强迫你买，或是你品尝之后没买，他们也不会甩脸色。在他们的言语和行为中，我看到更多的是邻里之间的友好，而不是商人的斤斤计较。

　　我们同行的每一个人都对宝岛人民的态度印象深刻。有一天，我们抵达了基隆的一个鱼塘，跳上了几艘渔船。起初这些渔民有点惊讶，但得知我们的目的后非常爽快地答应了我们的合作请求，甚至摆造型让我们拍照。北京晚报的摄影师张峰说：“在台湾我从来没有看到一个人对我甩脸色。”

　　在台湾有很多因为电影和流行歌曲而被大陆人所熟知的地名，但当我看到无处不在的“仁义路”和“忠孝路”时还是被震惊了。最近，大陆举办了很多阅读中国经典著作的活动，例如论语等，这些词语再度引发人们的关注。

　　当然，用高姿态的方式来展示传统美德是装饰门面的，但我们看到的远远不止这些。在淡水河边有一个古老的小镇名叫大溪，一个世纪前，这里成为了港口，渐渐发展成了贸易中心。现在，这里发展着旅游业，有几条商业小街。我们在这里遇到了一位中年妇女，为了照顾父亲而放弃了自己的工作。

　　这个老人必须整日待在轮椅上，社保承担了他的医药费，但是要一个家庭成员来全职照顾他，在大陆算的上奢侈。说到这个时，她解释道：“我们有一个店面，靠租金来挣钱。”言语中没有一丝苦涩和遗憾。

　　接下来的日子里，我们还遇到了其他类似的例子，正值壮年的孩子为了照顾生病的父母而放弃了自己的工作。我不知道在台湾还有多少这样的事，但是中国传统观念中的“孝顺”在这里体现的淋漓尽致。

　　一位在一家致力于中国知识产权保护的报社供职的摄影师王文阳(音)说到，“我们只挖出了表面，没有时间去深入了解他们，但是就我们现在所看到的，台湾人已经充分展示了他们的生活方式。台湾建立在家庭式经济和浓浓的人情味之上，人与人之间的互动交流是社会的坚韧基石。我们还无意中碰到了两次婚礼。”

　　我在台北闹市区的迪化街闲逛时，进了一家据说是这里最古老的商店，茶叶销往全中国。迪化街的建筑能够追溯到早期的中华民国时期，但当时，台湾还被日本占领着。

　　在这里，无论是建筑、食品还是生活方式，它都吸收着所有的资源，取其精华去其糟粕，发展成自己的特色。在基隆和平岛的一个公园里，有一片被数百万年的风吹雨打侵蚀而成的岩石海岸，看起来很像附近的野柳地质公园。尽管这里狂风大作，几个渔妇仍在这里搜寻着一种能做出当地小吃的海藻，还有几个我们的摄影师东走西顾寻找最好的角度。

　　同时，我们的导游告诉我们，1949年蒋介石从大陆撤退到台湾时就是在这里登陆的。海峡对面就是福建省，大部分最早的台湾居民也是从这里来的。过去几十年，有很多因素让两岸人民不能来往互通，而如今，海峡两岸实现了三通直航，人民交流往来非常容易。

　　一周的台北之行结束时，我们的包里都塞满了台湾小吃，过去曾经只是书本上读到的台湾现在深深地刻在我的脑海里。它不仅仅是个旅游胜地，而是能让我们无意识地回到过去的桥梁。