With this in mind, I was very worried that China would be ranked second this time. If that happened, the "China Threat Theory" would become popular again, and the United States and Japan would have an excuse to sow discord between China and other countries. At this moment, I suddenly understood why Chairman Mao said that the purpose of "developing sports" is to "enhance the people's physique" and why he said "friendship first, competition second". Our Chinese leaders have never said that gold medals are the first. The Chinese cultural spirit of benevolence and loyalty is also fully demonstrated in sports. I prayed in my heart: "China, you should lose a few gold medals." Sure enough, on the last day, the polar bear Russia foolishly surpassed China and continued to chase after the United States to live a life of "living with the king like living with a tiger". I also deepened my friendship with some Korean friends because China lost a few gold medals. On October 1, the embassy held a grand banquet and gathered hundreds of scholars in Korea to celebrate the National Day. Everyone felt that the third place was the best, which could both encourage themselves and prevent troubles. Amidst the hearty laughter, the chicken, duck, fish and meat were eaten up. A row of Korean waiters standing behind the service counter stared blankly at the Chinese, not knowing why they were so happy. Koreans still have a long way to go to truly understand the Chinese.
The Sea of Korea
In the eyes of ordinary Koreans, Korea is perfect, especially its mountains and rivers. You can describe them in the words of the second aunt in the Henan opera "Chaoyanggou": "It's so beautiful --- it's so beautiful!" I have seen many places written with "the best mountains and rivers in the world", "the best scenery in the world", etc. When I went to Jiangling, there was a stone tablet standing there. When I looked up, I saw seven big characters engraved on it: "Jiangling's mountains and rivers are the best in the world". Whenever Chinese people encounter such a scene, they can hardly even laugh. But I have been in Korea for more than half a year and have become familiar with them. Once they know that your criticism is well-intentioned, they can still accept it a little, so I will discourage them every now and then. I once said to my students, "Don't brag about your mountains and rivers in front of Chinese people. Do you think there is only one Xiangshan in China? Xiangshan is the most dilapidated mountain in China. There are hundreds of mountains that are taller and more beautiful than it. Isn't your highest peak only more than 1,000 meters above sea level? An old lady in Shandong, China, can climb Mount Tai twice a day. Isn't your most famous river the Han River? It's neither surging nor graceful, and it doesn't flow or flow. If you want to fool Westerners to come and travel, I can help you brag, but you want to fool even the Chinese. Isn't that the same as selling the Three Character Classic in front of Confucius?"
Seeing the students looking so dusty and pitiful, I said, "South Korea's landscapes are also beautiful. The red leaves of Seoraksan Mountain and the beaches of Baekma River are among the top 100 in China. But you forgot to promote the most beautiful scenery in South Korea. In my opinion, you should blow your sea vigorously."
South Korea is a peninsula country. Except for the 38th parallel in the north, which borders North Korea, the other three sides are surrounded by the sea. However, the strange thing is that you can hardly see the characteristics of the sea from Koreans. Assuming that everyone's appearance has a "motif", Koreans basically belong to two categories: small landlords and poor and lower-middle peasants. You will never see fishing tyrants and poor and lower-middle fishermen, let alone water ghosts and pirates. Only from the diet of Koreans, you can know that they can't live without the sea every day. Seafood is everywhere in every family and every table. But after eating, there are only about ten kinds of food, and the most important ones are squid and sea vegetables.
So I have long wanted to see the sea of Korea. In addition to looking down from the plane, I have inspected it 11 times so far, including 4 times to the West Sea, 4 times to the East Sea, and 3 times to the South China Sea. The West Sea is China's Yellow Sea. I once looked at the "Fairy Mountain on the Sea" on the Korean side on a ship from Qingdao to Yantai, but the wind was howling, the waves were empty, and there was nothing to see. When I went to Incheon for the first time, the weather was very good. I took a passenger ship to travel around the sea for a long time and found that there was nothing to see in the sea water. It was gray and dirty, obviously the evil of the Yellow River silt. I could even smell the breath of the Loess Plateau. What is worth seeing is the tortuous and changeable coastline and the scattered islands of various sizes. The sea here is shallow, there are many beaches, and the islands form natural fortresses to cover ships. It is absolutely easy to attack and difficult to defend militarily. No wonder MacArthur chose this place for a surprise attack and turned the tide of the war in one fell swoop. If the "Incheon Landing" is performed here every day, it will definitely attract a large number of tourists. However, the US and South Korea were the ultimate losers in the Korean War, and they are probably unwilling to expose their scars.
Another deep impression of Incheon is eating sashimi at Soraepokou. This is the largest aquatic distribution center in the West Sea. In a market about the size of Wangfujing, hundreds of fish stalls are lined up, and all kinds of fish, turtles, shrimps and crabs that have just "landed" jump and roll in the pools that are constantly changing water. My companion said that this place is like the Dragon Palace, but I think it is more like "fish hell". Thousands of tourists are there to choose and bargain. After choosing the fish, the stall owner skillfully cuts the fish alive. Sometimes half of the fish has been cut into thin slices on the plate, while the remaining half shows white and sharp bone spurs and is still twisting and struggling. Customers can go to the restaurant next door to wait. The gluttons who can't wait will take out their own hot sauce and mustard and eat it without stopping. To be honest, that day was the most beautiful fish fillet I have ever eaten in my life, and it was also one of the most memorable delicacies. I had many moments of "selflessness" or "eating climax". I really understand why our ancestors said "the more you eat, the better", why the ancients even quit their official positions when they missed the sashimi from their hometown, and why the Chinese call the best art "popular". But when I think of the scene of killing fish, I can't help but feel guilty and think I'm a barbarian. I can't bear it, but I have to eat it. No wonder Confucius said "a gentleman should stay away from the kitchen". I think this is the hypocrisy of human beings.
I went to Incheon again in the rain. The other two times I went to the West Sea were in Ganghwa Island and Taean, the birthplace of Korea. The feeling was similar to the first time. However, the several times I went to the East Sea, the feeling was different. The East Sea of Korea has a straight coastline, deep and vast waters, and is spotless. It is both peaceful and deep, and it has the true Pacific Ocean atmosphere. I told my Korean friends in Jeongdongjin that it was the first time I saw such a beautiful sea. I wanted to describe it when I was writing my diary, but I felt that I couldn’t write it well, so I gave up. Later, I suddenly remembered that Bing Xin seemed to have a paragraph about the sea in "Letter to Young Readers", which was similar to what I saw. I found it and saw that it was about the sea in Korea! I plagiarized it, which is my feeling:
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