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East as a Metaphor东方作为隐喻

Cycling to China across the Euro-Asian landmass. Ten days before departure, life centers around preparations. The significant shift from words to action has already begun. Yet, people question, why head East?

骑行穿越欧亚大陆到中国。出发前十天,我的生活重心围绕在准备工作上。从言语到行动的显著变化已然开始。然而,人们问,为什么选择向东行进?

 

Having lived in China for a decade, the East surrounds me. Some may wonder why embark on a journey at a such a slow pace to a place already familiar?

在中国生活了十年,东方环绕在我周围。或许有人好奇,为什么要以这样缓慢的速度前往一个早已熟悉的地方?

 

The aim is to comprehend the East in its essence and share that understanding. It's also about experiencing the East as an unfolding process, something a mere plane ticket to Shanghai would never reveal. More crucial than viewing the East as a destination is embracing it as a journey, a reality evolving pedal stroke by pedal stroke.

目的是理解东方的本质,并分享这种理解。这也涉及到将骑行前往东方看作一个不断“展开”的过程。而仅仅一张飞往上海的机票永远无法揭示其蕴意。比将东方视为目的地更为重要的是将其视为一段旅程,一个随着每一脚踏板踏出的现实。

 

Yet, the paramount importance lies in showing respect for the East through actions and the tangible effort of physically moving oneself. This journey will no doubt construct its own reality. A reality that will assert itself so profoundly that no expectation, assumption, projection, or judgment will endure.

然而,至关重要的是通过行动和切身努力以展现对东方的尊重。这段旅程无疑将塑造出其自身的现实。这是一个如此深刻的现实,任何期望、假设、预测或判断都不会持久存在。

 




Over a decade in China has highlighted how easily Westerners, even those professionally versed in writing about China, get entrenched in assumptions, alas often articulated as accusations. There's a profound laziness in contemplating the East, amplified by the quest for an enemy, a competitor, or at least an opposition. Riding towards the East is, at its core, a response to this laziness—an openness to the transformation occurring when crossing numerous cultural boundaries. It's witnessing the shift in worldviews, observing how people forge unique ways of living, building, and imagining, and inevitably living up to that. I hope to find East as a fabric of live, I hope to cultivate East as a living thing.

在中国生活了十多年,我深刻体会到西方人,即使是那些以专业写作中国为职业的人,也很容易陷入一些“假设”中,而且常常以指责的形式表达出来。思考东方时存在一种深刻的懒惰,而这种懒惰又因寻求敌人、竞争对手或至少是反对派而被放大。

骑行前往向东方本质上是对这种懒惰的回应——当越过许多文化界限时,对所发生的变化持开放态度。这是目睹世界观的转变,观察人们如何塑造独特的生活、建筑和想象方式,以及不可避免地实现这一切。我希望寻觅东方如同生命之织物,我希望将东方培育成生生不息的实质存在。


In essence, this kind of East is the direction that will also discover me, rather than one I rationally choose. Thank you for anticipating regular updates on this adventure.

本质上,这种东方是一个指引,将启示我,而非我理性选择的路向。感谢你期待关于东游历险记的定期更新。

 

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