The following poem is a memory of riding the old slow green trains in China at the peak of worker migration during the Chinese New Year. It was brought back by a recent news that an unusual snow storm swept through central China. Many high speed trains were delayed or canceled. It couldn't have happened at a worse time since the Chinese New Year was only a few days away and people were eager to get home. However some stranded passengers reported in the social media that many old slow green trains were still running in the snow, ice, and freezing rain, zipping through the country side, untouched by the adverse weather. They acclaimed, “the old grandpa rules again!”
中國製造
人們湧向商朝。
經商。
買中國製造。
臨近春節，
製造了中國的人正返鄉，
大包小包，
和一小遝正在貶值的鈔票，
是給他們的全部回報。
一同帶回家的還有
塵肺、失聰的耳朵、
重金屬、正己烷、苯，
等等，等等。
工業驅趕農業，
離開田野。
有如狼驅趕羊，
離開草場。
火車哐當直響。
捶胸頓足。
裝滿幸福的夢想，
以及一廂情願。
圖謀不軌的心，
先於身體回到了故裏。
從南到北，從東到西，
開往四麵八方，
這為年準備的
香腸。
開過了清。
開過了明。
開過了元。
累出一身大汗。
落下半生的病。
他住北宋以北，
你住南唐以南，
我住東漢以東，
她更遠，西周以西。
我從不及格的曆史啊，
給我一匹汗血寶馬，
日行千裏，
回到我回不去的回程。
追上恨凰，追上愛鳳，
燒了熬藥，免禍去病。
哐當直響，超負荷的心髒。
累得夠嗆，睡了。
在夢裏熟讀詩經。
王侯將相，您有種，
確信
碩鼠是檢驗貓的唯一標準。
開過了春。
開過了秋。
數不清過了多少車站，
多少鋼筋水泥的城郭。
前進了多少，倒行了多少？
隻有不動的風景知道。
黑的河水，白的血，
看不見的石頭，
摸不著的良心，
辛苦掙來的薄利，
圖方便省錢，
像吸溜開水泡麵一樣
吞沒了列車的霧霾，
都有一個小小的標簽：
Made in China.
The English version of the poem below is a direct translation from its Chinese counterpart. I used Google Translation first. It did a decent job, but with some obvious errors that I fixed. All the puns and word plays in the Chinese text were lost. Inherently they are the parts of a poem that are untranslatable.
Made in China
People flocked to the Shang Dynasty.
Do business.
Buy made-in-China.
Spring Festival is approaching,
The people who made China are returning home,
big and small bags,
and a small wad of depreciating banknotes
is the full reward for them.
Also bringing home with them
pneumoconiosis, deaf ears,
heavy metals, n-hexane, benzene,
etc., etc..
Industry drives out agriculture,
to leave the farmland,
like a wolf driving a sheep,
to leave the pasture.
The train clanked.
Beat its chest and stamped its feet.
A full car of happy dreams,
and wishful thinking.
A heart that has off track intentions
returned to his hometown before his body.
From south to north, from east to west,
heading in all directions,
this is the sausage for the new year.
Passed Qing Dynasty.
Passed Ming Dynasty.
Passed Yuan Dynasty.
Sweating profusely from exhaustion.
Sick for the rest of my life.
He lives in the north of the Northern Song Dynasty,
You live in the south of Southern Tang Dynasty.
I live in the east of the Eastern Han Dynasty,
She is further away, to the west of the Western Zhou Dynasty.
Oh, my history of never passing,
give me an akhal-teke horse
(a.k.a. bloody BMW)
that travels a thousand miles a day.
I'll go on a return trip that I can't return to.
Catch up with the hated phoenix, catch up with the loved phoenix,
burn it then boil it to make medicine
to avoid disaster and cure the disease.
Clanging sound, overloaded heart.
I was so tired that I fell asleep.
Read the Book of Songs in your dream.
Princes, generals and ministers,
you are the noble breed by gene.
Convinced that
the rat is the only criterion for testing a cat.
Passed the Spring and Autumn Period.
I can't count how many stations I passed,
And how many reinforced concrete cities.
How much has it gone forward and how much has it gone backwards?
Only the immobile scenery knows.
Black river water, white blood,
invisible stone,
intangible conscience,
hard-earned small profits.
To be convenient and money saving,
the smog that swallowed up the train
like sucking instant noodles.
All have a small label:
Made in China.
A few old photos of worker migrations via train during the Chinese New Year:
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