另一扇门背后的世界

冯克礼

当一扇门为你打开的时候，如果你不去探索它背后的世界，你将永远不知道自己可能错过什么。

一切都要从我2017年准备去美国参加高级地面教员证书的期末考试来培训航空业急需的飞行员说起。一直以来，我都在和我的女儿“明争暗斗”：她从小就會说3种语言，19岁开始又会讲一口流利的中文。我不可以再输了，因为我在一天天老去……

所以我决定最后一次去探索未知领域：我选择了位于杭州的著名大学浙江大学学习中文，并去发掘一下我女儿（她曾在中国留学）一直赞美的这个国家。

一学期很快就过去了，我又该踏上前去美国的旅途了。结果，我不仅没有去，还在浙大多待了两年。在此期间，我在中文老师的帮助下撰写并出版了《奇妙飞行100问》一书。这个经历又让我结识了武汉理工大学的席龙飞教授，并将他的《中国古船图说》一书翻译成法语在法国出版。2019年，我受邀出席《中国古船图说》在北京国际图书博览会上的法语版发布式，又有一家出版社请我将《我们的广西， 海上丝绸之路》这本有关中国古代海上丝绸之路的精彩图书翻译成法语，这本书很快将在法国面世。而我又一次推迟了美国的行程，留在中国继续指导一家帆船学校参加国家赛事。

那已经是差不多两年半前的事情了。

就这样，本来四个月的语言学习变成了我在中国四年半难以置信的经历。很多人都问我为何选择了杭州，原因有二：第一，因为它的气候和美景，不管是古诗词还是旅行家和游客们都赞美有加;第二，因为它的活力和生态环境。

对我而言，杭州就像是一大片森林，高楼大厦矗立在青草绿树之间：在杭州，差不多每隔七八米你就能看到一棵树，而在主干道两旁种四五排树也很常见;夏天时，市中心一些区域的温度甚至比外围的还要低;公共汽车以及不少私家车都是电动的，所以基本没什么声音……这里基本不用担心困扰诸多大城市的空气污染、噪音污染。

在这座城市中“奔波”了两年之后，我挑选了两个地方作为我定居此地的选择：一个是杭州市中心的东河，一个是历史悠久、古建筑众多的西兴古镇。最终，我选择了后者。

西兴古镇位于钱塘江南岸，西兴老街西端就是浙东古运河的源头，是全长250多公里的浙东古运河的起源地，经萧山、绍兴、上虞、余姚、宁波注入东海。西兴历史上是一个南来北往的中转码头，客商云集，丝、茶、瓷等奢侈品经由海上丝绸之路，运往日本、越南、斯里兰卡、中东国家以及西方世界。

我很幸运，只花了一两个小时就在拥有千年历史的西兴老街上找到了一间小公寓。友善的邻居一开始对一个外国人居住在这里表示惊讶和好奇，问了我很多问题。后来，新冠疫情暴发了。疫情初始阶段确实给生活带来了一些不便，但是它也让我见识到中国人民的团结一致、中国政府战胜肆虐全球的新冠病毒的决心。

起初，有关部门要求我们不要随意离开家门，不过每天都会有社区志愿者来询问我们的最新情况，并帮助购买生活用品和物资等。仅仅几周之后， 在遵守防疫规定的前提下，人们基本上已经可以自由活动了。而仅仅几个月之后，当地的经济已经开始复苏，游客们也慢慢开始重新返回这座美丽的城市。

大概两个月前的一天凌晨4时30分左右，邻居的一幢房子着火了。尽管每个屋子旁边都长期配备了灭火器，我们很快控制住了火势，但是不幸的是，屋顶的一部分还是受到了损害，因为它正好处于可用灭火器灭火的范围之外。

我顺手把这次事故的一些照片和视频发到了微信朋友圈：要是我们学过如何使用消防水带和水枪，也许能够将损失降低到零;如果附近的居民能够经常接受专业训练，会有很大的益处。结果没多久，消防队就为附近居民组织了专业灭火演习，还邀请我这名外籍人士参加。他们甚至在附近建了一个小型的消防站！

邻居们很快就把受损的房屋修补好了，修补房屋的一位工人当时非常仔细地粉刷了外墙，特意绕开了墙上的一个燕子窝。据说，在中国，燕子只在非常友善的人家筑巢。前两天，我看到燕子宝宝们已经能够飞出自己温暖的家开始独立翱翔了。

（作者系法国作家，出生于非洲，目前定居杭州，致力于促进中法两国之间的文化交流。）

The World behind Another Door

By Christian Fardel

When a door opens， if you do not go through and explore the world which it may open for you， you will never know what you have missed.

This story began in 2017 as I was about to travel to the USA to take the final exam for the advanced ground instructor certificate to train much needed airline pilots. However， I have been in constant competition with my young daughter， who has been able to speak three languages since childhood and who began to speak fluent Chinese when she was 19. I could not let her win because I was getting older…

This is why I decided to head toward the unknown one last time： I chose to learn Chinese at the prestigious Zhejiang University in Hangzhou and to discover a country which I did not know yet but which my daughter （who had studied there） had been praising.、

After one semester， I was supposed to go on to travel to the USA and to put my long years of teaching and experience at the service of commercial aviation， which was running out of instructors worldwide. Instead， I overextended my stay in Zheda （a shorthand for Zhejiang University） for two years， during which I wrote a book about aviation in Chinese titled “奇妙飛行100 问” （Fantastic Aviation： 100 Questions Answered）， with the help of one of my Chinese teachers. This new experience led me to meet Xi Longfei， an eminent Professor of Maritime History， and to translate and publish in France his wonderful book “中国古船图说” （A Pictorial History of Ancient Chinese Shipbuilding） about ancient Chinese shipbuilding. While I was invited to present this book to the Chinese authorities during the Beijing International Book Festival in 2019， a publisher asked me to translate an excellent book about the history of the ancient Maritime Silk Road （“我们的广西， 海上丝绸之路”， or Our Guangxi， Maritime Silk Road）， which will be published in France any time soon.

Again， instead of proceeding to the USA， I decided to stay for another two months to guide a sailing school for an international event.

That was two and a half years ago.

Now， my four-month "university studies" in China have turned into four and a half years of incredibly rich discoveries and unlikely encounters.

Many people have asked me why I chose Hangzhou： for its climate and its beauty， which have been profusely described in ancient poems， by illustrious travelers and tourists， and for its reputation as a dynamic and ecological city.

For me， Hangzhou is a huge forest where skyscrapers grow between trees： there is a tree every seven to eight meters， and sometimes four or five rows of trees are planted in the main arteries. In summer， the ambient temperature is even lower in some areas of the city center than the outside.    Cars and buses are mostly silent， and therefore people are far from the pollution plaguing the world's major cities.

After having crisscrossed the city for two years， I selected two places where I would like to settle if I had a choice： either along the East River， in the center of Hangzhou or in Xixing Ancient Town， a town with a rich past and beautiful architectures， the prosperity of which dates back to the sixth century. Ultimately， I chose the latter.

Located on the south bank of the Qiangtang River， at the entrance of the Eastern Zhejiang Canal which connected Hangzhou to Ningbo， one of the starting points of the ancient Maritime Silk Road， for over a thousand years， Xixing has been a transshipment dock for porcelain， tea， silk productions which were delivered from the interior of China to Hangzhou， and which would go on their way to Japan， Vietnam， Sri Lanka， countries in the Middle East， and later to the West.

I was lucky and within in literally an hour or two， I found a small apartment right in the Xixing old street， a street with more than 1，000 years of history.

My neighbors， initially surprised to see a foreigner settle there， were all very friendly and asked me many questions. Then COVID-19 struck. While the pandemic certainly made life a bit difficult in the beginning， it also enabled me to discover an exceptional national solidarity and the determination of a government to stop a scourge that would ravage the rest of the world in a dazzling way.

At first， the authorities asked us not to leave our homes. But three times a day， a group came knocking on our doors to see if everything was fine and help buy provisions. A few weeks later， we could move almost freely again while respecting fundamental rules to contain any contagion. The inhabitants planted their garden on the banks of the canal， and life resumed. And only a few months later， the economy was already recovering， and tourists were gradually returning to this beautiful city.

One morning， about two months ago， at around 4：30 a.m.， one of the neighbors houses caught fire. Armed with the fire extinguishers which are permanently hung near each house， we could control the fire， but part of the roof was still burnt， because it was out of the reach of our fire extinguishers.

I put some photos and videos on WeChat， indicating that if we had learned how to handle a fire hose， we could have saved the roof. It would be beneficial for the inhabitants to be trained regularly. And voila： Two weeks later， I was invited to a fire drill in the old street， and the authorities even built a mini fire station！

My neighbors quickly repaired the damaged house， and one of the workers carefully repainted the front wall around a swallows nest which had been spared by the fire. I was told that in China swallows make their nest in the houses of extremely good people. The other day， I saw the baby swallows left their nest： they have already been able to fly on the own.

Born in Africa， educated in Europe， Christian Fardel progressed professionally in the Caribbean and Americas. He discovered the charms of Asia in 2007. After over 60 years of learning in five languages and with over 50 years of teaching experience in sailing and flying， he discovered the rich maritime history of China. Based in Hangzhou， he works as a consultant to promote cultural exchanges between China and France in the field of modern sailing.