看电视剧《叶落长安》(w English)
The great famine in 1942 witnessed many catastrophic deaths in Henan, precipitating an exodus of those who struggled to survive. With meagre belongings on one side of a pole over the shoulder, and little kids in a basket on the other, people fled on foot to the destination almost five hundred miles away. In hunger, against frosty winter wind, they trudged on harrowingly. Among them was a Bai family, who stealthily left the village without taking the daughter along. The mom, who only valued boys, legitimized her act as having one less mouth to feed.
The girl was ten years old. Urged by her kind grandma, she ran desperately to catch up with the parents. She did, but that was not the end of her misery. The whole family, along with other immigrants, first holed up in caves in Xian, living from hand to mouth. When the hand was empty, they even had to beg on the street. By the time the girl was sixteen, she was sold at fifty dollars (大洋) to be wedded to a man twenty years older. But life went on, after all. She became a mom of five children, one died and one adopted. Years of hardship bonded them together, tiding them through thick and thin. In the ensuing decades, those who were uprooted from Henan finally took root in Xian. They prospered in the land they called it home.
The TV Series Take Root in Chang’an is a heart-wrenching drama revisiting the history of mid-twentieth century in China, chronicled all the important occurrences before and after New China – wars in Old China, land reform and societal class reclassification and asset redistributions in 1950s, Cultural Revolution in 1960s, stagnant economy and death of Mao in 1970s, economic revival and reform in 1980s, and the advent of a new century. Woven into the gripping stories were people’s optimism in the face of adversity and the inner strength that brought them out of the poverty. A family as ordinary as Bai’s is an epitome of our tribe’s resilience. As a viewer, who is familiar with the history and lived through part of it, I echoed in their love, sadness and joys. Tears swelled, so did the memories of the past as I watched one episode after another, till the end.