Oriental background that can't be erased
Text, picture/horse sword
At the end of May, Vladivostok was still very cold. I walked out of the airport hall in a daze. I had to rush to find a coat to put on. The most important thing at this moment is to get to the city early and drink a cup of hot coffee. Warm up.
The earliest bus to the city has stopped by the roadside. Although it does not understand the Russian language on the stop sign, there is basically nothing wrong with following the footsteps of local tourists.
The reason why Vladivostok is the first stop of the trip to Russia is that this is the starting point of the easternmost end of the Trans-Siberian Railway. I plan to take a train from here all the way to the west to start my trip to Russia.
Looking at the slightly deserted plains and woods outside the car window, the mood will inevitably become a little complicated. It is a foreign country and it seems to be a revisit. Although history has long been frozen, the national emotions cannot be completely calmed down for a while.
The terminus of China Bus is Vladivostok Railway Station, which is also the center of the city.
The railway station was built in 1912. On the platform stands a monument to the end of the Siberian Railway. The words "9288" on the monument are the original mileage of the Siberian Railway, which echoes the monument to the beginning of the Siberian Railway on the Yaroslavl platform in Moscow.
The statue of Lenin still stands on the square in front of the station. After the victory of the October Revolution, Vladivostok was still in the sphere of influence of the White Army. It was not until 1922 that it was liberated by the Soviet Red Army led by Lenin.
At this time, more than half of the residents of Vladivostok were still Chinese who stayed here, but in the subsequent Stalin period, almost all the East Asian residents such as Chinese and North Koreans living here were massacred or depleted by migration. In 2009, local workers found a large number of Chinese remains while building roads. Nowadays, it is difficult to find the descendants of Peranakan in the city of Vladivostok.
The booked youth hostel is only a few hundred meters away from the railway station. There are buildings of different heights on both sides of the street along the way, most of which bear the marks of the Soviet period. They are mixed in the newly built high-rise buildings and the Russian-style buildings that have a history of hundreds of years. Between the buildings, the whole city appears modern, and it seems that it is impossible to get rid of the past history.
A Wen is an international student from Jilin I met in the youth hostel. He specially made a two-day trip plan for me and lent me a tourist map.
Arvin’s most recommended museum is the Arsenev Museum. The history of the museum dates back to 1890. It is named after the Russian explorer Arsenev. It is claimed to be the largest museum in the Russian Far East. In fact, it is just a three-story small ocean facing the street. floor.
The cultural relics displayed in the exhibition hall on the first floor are basically relics from the Ming and Qing Dynasties. According to Awen, two of these steles are from the Yongning Temple in the Ming Dynasty. It seems that the Russians did not have the original owner of this land. Don't mince words.
The most numerous in the collection are the specimens of plants and animals from Primorsky Krai.
These specimens of animals and plants are not much different from those of Northeast China. I even saw a specimen of a Siberian tiger.
For the Russians, they are more willing to show off their proud military power.
The Museum of Submarine C-56 is located in the square of the "Combat Glory Monument of the Pacific Fleet". This 77-meter-long and 5-meter-wide submarine represents the glory of the Soviet Navy in those days.
During World War II, this submarine sank 10 enemy ships and damaged 4 ships.
After accomplishing his accomplishments and retreating, he became a base for patriotic education.
The first half of the submarine was renovated into a showroom, displaying a lot of submarine materials, military uniforms and badges from the "World War II" period, and the second half was the original submarine.
There are densely packed meters and pipes in the control room, and Stalin's portrait is still hung in the officer's lounge.
At the end of the cabin is the crew rest cabin and also the torpedo launch cabin. There are more than a dozen crew hammocks side by side with the torpedoes. It is hard to imagine that the crew stays for several months in this environment.
Behind the Submarine Museum is a row of monuments with the names of soldiers who died in the war.
There is a small Orthodox church next to the monument. It was built in 1907 to commemorate the Russian soldiers who died during the Russo-Japanese War. When the local devout Orthodox believers came to this church to worship, they did not forget the name on the side monument. Pray silently.
Probably because there have been too many Chinese tourists here in recent years, there is a Chinese prompt on the church door: "According to religious regulations, ladies need to wear a headscarf when entering the church. Female tourists are invited to follow the customs.
This is a city full of churches and statues. Almost every few minutes you can see a church or a statue.
In the nearby evening, a small concert was being held in a church hidden behind a bush. The piano player was a teenager. Among the audience were his relatives and friends, as well as passers-by like me. Sit or stand and listen carefully to the sound of the boy's piano.
In recent years, Russia's economy has not been as good as before, but the level of people's artistic literacy remains the same.
The next day, according to Awen's plan, head to the Eagle's Nest Observatory, which is the best place to overlook the entire bay.
The best way to go to the observation deck is to take a funicular with local characteristics, but the undulating mountain roads in the harbor city are like the mountain city of Chongqing. Even if you have a mobile phone navigation, you can’t tell the direction.
While hesitating, an aunt in her 50s and 60s walked towards her, with a package in one hand and an oil painting in the other.
The aunt didn't understand English, and we had several conversations like a chicken and a duck.
Seeing the aunt's expression gradually irritable, I thought I should not embarrass her anymore. I didn't expect that the aunt patted me on the shoulder and motioned for me to follow her. She turned around and walked in the opposite direction. The two of them were speechless and left. Twenty minutes before I walked to the entrance of the cable car I was going to.
I hurriedly thanked me, and I didn’t know if she could understand it. The aunt seemed to be relieved, and returned with the heavy package and oil painting.
I guess she must be very beautiful when she was young.
The old carriages of the cable car, mechanically climbing, give people the illusion of going back in time.
After reaching the top of the mountain, after passing through a passage, we came to the observation deck.
Overlooking the bay, the entire Golden Horn Bridge has a panoramic view.
The Russian government spent billions of dollars to build this bridge in Vladivostok in order to welcome the APEC meeting in 2012, showing the world the elegance of Russia in the Far East.
Vladivostok is too far away from the Russian mainland, and the economic development here is slow. It was not until the railways of Siberia were connected that it ushered in a rapid development opportunity.
Today Vladivostok is trying to weaken its military color, but to show more of its economic charm.
Behind the observation deck stands the statues of St. Cyril and St. Murdoch. One of the two brothers is holding a book and the other is holding a cross. It is they who introduced Christianity to the Slavic regions and in order to bring the "Bible" Translated into the local language, the "Cyrillic alphabet" was invented and became an important origin of modern Russian.
This sturdy nation has found a peaceful side in religion, but the harsh cold wind from Siberia has forced the people here to become tough. The seemingly contradictory character seems to be so natural.
The young people in this city don't have much historical baggage. Love is what they care about.
On the fence of the viewing platform, there are countless locks that symbolize love.
Arvin told me that most of his Russian classmates and fathers were not locals, but family members of the Russian Pacific Fleet, or immigrants from Ukraine and other places in the Soviet Union.
When I was about to leave, I returned the map to Awen.
"Did you know that Chinese place names can still be seen on this locally published map, similar to Yihezi and Erdaohezi, these place names are very common in our northeast." Awen said to me.
Indeed, Vladivostok doesn’t look like a typical European city. You can always feel its oriental flavor when you walk on the street. You will often see billboards in Chinese and Korean on the roadside, everywhere in the city. They are all Chinese restaurants and Japanese restaurants. On the streets, students, migrant workers and tourists from East Asian countries may be met at any time. They all exude an oriental atmosphere. Perhaps it is the oriental background that can never be erased here.
China News Weekly, Issue 15, 2021
Statement: The publication of the "China News Weekly" manuscript is authorized in writing