#1 [原创] 刘绍棠: 《实用北京街巷指南》序
《实用北京街巷指南》序
刘绍棠 文 （1986）
方壶斋抄录、翻译
我是城圈外的北京人，北京的乡下人。
I am a Beijinger outside the city line, a country folk of the city of Beijing.
虽然我那生身之地的村庄距离北京城内只有三十六公里，可算近在眼前，但是在旧社会却又象远在天边。我是十二岁那年考入市里的中学，才进了城的。
Although the village where I was born is only 36 kilometers from the city center and can be said to be very close to it, but in the old days it was as far from the city as the sky was from the earth. I did not enter the town until I tested into a middle school inside the city at the age of 12.
童年，我听到城里开了眼的本村人说起北京市内的街巷，是“大胡同三千六，小胡同赛牛毛”，被吓得瓷住眼珠儿，伸出的舌头缩不回去。我们那个小村，只有一条街，几条巷子，对于北京之大是难以想象的。
When still a child, I heard the villagers who had been to the city talking about the streets and alleys of Beijing this way: “there are 3600 big Hutong alleys and countless small ones.” I was really scared, my eyes popping out open and my draw dropping. There was only one main street and a few side streets in my village, of course I could not imagine how big Beijing was.
所以，我进城上学有一两个月不敢远离校门，怕的是在三千六百大胡同和多如牛毛的小胡同中走丢了，晕头转向，迷途难返。以后日子住长了，摸着了门路，才知道北京内城四四方方，大街小巷四通八达，只要记住方位，便不会迷路。这年冬季，我为衣食所迫，一边上学一边当报童，每天凌晨三时趸报，六时半以前卖完。数九寒天，顶风冒雪，穿街过巷，见胡同就钻，有路就能走，跑遍四城畅通无阻。也正因如此，我虽然曾在不知多少条大小胡同奔走，却都是浮光掠影，一闪而过，记下的胡同名字很少。
So when I went to the city to attend school, for one or two months I dared not venture far from the school gate, fearing getting lost in the 3600 big hutongs and the countless small ones. Only after awhile did I find a way to deal with the city, for I learned that the inner city of Beijing was square-shaped and the streets and alleys connect with one another and as long as one remembers his direction he would never get lost. That winter, out of the need for making money for food and clothes, I sold newspapers while going to school. Every morning I went to get the papers at 3 o’clock and sold them by 6 o’clock. In the bitter coldness of the deep winter, I walked the streets and alleys of the four districts against wind and snow, trying every hutong and every road, never running into a dead end. Yet because I was hurry selling papers, despite the many hutongs I had been through, they appeared to me like vague shadows that came and went fast, leaving no memories of their names in my mind.
四十来年过去，我已经是个货真价实的老北京人，但是老北京的街巷变化极大，光靠记住方位走路，常常钻进牛角尖而陷入绝境，或是撞墙碰壁原路返回。我这个老北京又象当年初来乍到一样，举步游移了。
Forty years have passed since then and now I call myself a genuine and authentic Beijinger. Yet Beijing’s streets also have undergone great changes. Often I go somewhere doggedly in the remembered direction only to find myself in a place of nowhere or forced to return the way I had come because of an unpenetratable wall. Nowadays, me a veteran Beijinger hesitate a lot in going tou, just like when I first came to this city.
古老的北京城，是一座伟大的文化宝库和历史博物馆。北京的街巷，是城市的脉络，交通的渠道，也是大博物馆中的一座座历史、文化、民俗展览室。每一条街巷都有自己的来由，都有自己的故事，大有学问，各有特色。
Beijing, an ancient city, is a great treasure house of culture and a museum of history. The streets and alleys of Beijing, in addition to being the arteries and veins of the city and the channels of transportation, are also the exhibition halls of history, culture and folkways in this great museum. Every street, every alley has its history and story and each is unique in providing a profound pool of knowledge.
有关北京街巷的典故，野史稗闻和方志笔记都有繁简不一、丰富多彩的记载。但是，散布众书，书又古旧，不但当代北京人知之甚少，即使年高资深的老北京人也知之不多。北京正在发生巨变，建设现代城市又如何维护古都风貌，还没有妥善解决；目前城市建设是否已经算得上现代化，古都风貌有怎样对待才是真正的维护？众说纷纭，各有其理。但是，现实生活的迫切需要，又不得不大拆大建。未来的北京将是什么模样，是否还能保留老北京的民族特色、地方特色、历史特色和民俗特色，谁也难以预料。
The legends and anecdotes of Beijing streets can be found in folk histories, informal essays and local ethnological recordings, either elaborate or brief but nevertheless all rich and colorful. These recordings, however, are scattered in antiquarian books and are known to but a few veteran Beijingers of advanced age and much less to contemporary Beijing residents. Beijing is undergoing colossal transformations. How to build a modern city while preserving the style and appearance of the ancient capital remains an unsolved question. Can the current construction be considered modernization? What is genuine preservation of the characteristics of the ancient capital? For these questions, there are various answers and all are partially justifiable. Moreover, large scale reconstruction is out of the necessity to meet the needs of current living and it is beyond anyone’s imagination whether the ethnic, local, historical and folkloric characteristics of ancient Beijing are still to be preserved.
我反对大破才能大立，反对破字当头立在其中，反对破坏了老北京才能建设新北京。但是，我赞成该拆的就拆，决不能抱残守缺，守旧绝不是维护。然而，在新北京的建设上，不要只管眼前不顾后世，只讲实用不顾美观，凡是新的就是好的，正如创新未必就是创优。人们之所以发思古之幽情而恋旧，主要是因为新得肤浅，新得低劣。日用百货可以日新月异，花样翻新，伟大的首都北京不可能拆了盖，盖了拆地变花样玩。所以除旧布新必须有高瞻远瞩的见识和作为， 将过去、现在、未来三合一考虑，才能周全而稳健。
I do not buy the idea that there is no construction without destruction, that destruction must precede construction, and that we cannot build a new Beijing without destroying the old one. However I agree that what should be demolished must be demolished. We mustn’t hold on tightly to the decadence and imperfection and regard that as conservation. Nevertheless, in building up a new Beijing we should not eye what is beneath our nose only and disregard what lies beyond. We should not sacrifice aesthetics for practicality. We should not believe that what is new must be good. Innovation does not necessarily mean the creation of excellence. The reason why people are nostalgic about the past is mainly because of the shallowness and shabbiness of things new. It is alright for daily-use commodities to have new varieties day by day, but it is not alright for our great capital to be played like a toy, torn apart today and sewn up tomorrow.
新陈代谢，万物一理，老北京街巷的逐渐减少也是势所必然。雁过留声，人死留名，城市的变化沿革也应有所记录。旧的街巷拆除了，应该留下它的遗照和遗事，不能尸骨无存而又不留档案。我们需要家谱、巷谱、街谱、市谱、国谱。市谱就是地方志，国谱就是中国史。
The replacement of the old by the new is the principle of the work of nature and it is inevitable that Beijing will have less and less of its old streets and alleys. But just like a man’s name remains after his death, the changes of cities should also have some record left behind. When old streets are demolished, their photos and stories should be preserved. It is bad not to keep a record of the streets that will be rendered to dust. We need family genealogy, alley genealogy, street genealogy, city genealogy and country genealogy. The genealogy of the city is its local history and that of the country is the history of China.
（以下为节录）
几十位业余研究北京民俗文化的青年同志…正在编写百万字的《北京胡同史》…为了给国内外游客提供方便，也为了使当代北京人对自己的居留地怎加一点了解，他们又在踏勘的基础上编写成《实用北京街巷指南》。出版社一定能获得很好的社会效益。
Tens of young amateur researchers studying the ethnology of Beijing are writing a book of a million characters, A History of Beijing’s Hutongs. On basis of their fieldwork, they also produced this Practical Guide to Beijing’s Streets and Alleys with an eye to providing some convenience to domestic and foreign tourists and some knowledge to Beijingers of their own place. The publishing house of the book will surely benefit the society.
他们要我为这本书写序，我不堪重任，写不出来。草成这篇小文，只算是一个老北京人献给他们的衷心感谢。
They wanted me to write a preface for the book. This is indeed beyond my ability. This humble composition of mine I take as the sincere gratitude for their work from a veteran Beijinger.
刘绍棠
1986年10月于蝈笼斋
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