10. Old kra
The so-called "Old Kra" refers to a certain kind of romantic figure, especially popular in the 1950s and 1960s.
In that new social outlook, they maintained the old fashion of Shanghai and insisted on being radical.
The word "Kra" actually comes from the English "colour", which represents the characteristics of the colonial culture.
English, a foreign language, was later broken up in the city's spoken folk language, and the inner meaning was also broken up and re-emerged. With the evolution of time, the meaning has become more and more distant.
People like "Old Kra" were almost extinct in the 1980s. There were three or five of them, all of them were getting old, and their faces changed a little. People gradually forgot the name.
But it’s strange that in the mid-1980s, a generation of young old Kras quietly grew up in a silent place. They were more lonely than the old Kras of the old age, and they were more easy-going in appearance and did not make grandstandings. Potential.
In the hustle and bustle of the crowd, it is even difficult for people to distinguish them. Where can they be found?
When people are busy buying stereos, the one listening to old records;
When people were fashionable with "Nikon" and "Minolta" computer focusing cameras, they were playing with "Rolex" in 2012;
Wearing a mechanical watch on his hand, drinking a small pot of coffee, shaving with shaving cream, playing with an old-fashioned slide projector, wearing boat-shaped leather shoes, it is indeed him.
Find him, then look away from him, look at the current fashion, and can't help but see the crude and vulgarity of this fashion.
The swarms are too late to be meticulously carved.
It's like someone is chasing behind, and there is no time to take over.
One is more and one is faster, so I have to cut corners, make shoddy work, and then break the can.
Just look at the clothing store. There are big sale signs on the walls, on the shelves, on the counter, and on the stalls at the door. One generation is too popular to sell out, and the next two generations are already here. What if you don’t sell it? ?
"Old Krak" is a fine point in this rough fashion.
They are really particular about it. Although they don't make any declarations, and no matter what the reason is, they are down-to-earth, step by step, do it themselves, and let others say.
They don't even have a name. Calling them "Old Kra" is just an invention of one or two people who came here, and it can't be spread.
There are also a few people who put them in the "yuppies" of the West, and it is difficult to spread.
Therefore, they are silently ploughing their own fields.
In fact, we can call them "nostalgia". Although they are all newcomers, they have no old memories, but they have been to the Bund, ferryed to Jiangxin and then suddenly looked back, they saw the barrier-like George Style buildings, as well as the Gothic-style spire clock tower, the windows are full of strict gaze, all through the time tunnel.
They have also climbed on the roof platform, where they fly pigeons or kites. The exhibition is the sea on the roof. There are several towers that rise like sails, but also the rapids that cross time.
Then there is the creeper on the gable, and the piano in the next-door bungalow are nostalgic nourishment.
Wang Qiyao knew one of them, 26 years old this year.
People call him "Old Kra", which is a bit ironic, referring to his smallness.
He is a physical education teacher in a middle school, and he always wears sports clothes and his hair is brushed.
Because of outdoor work, he has dark skin for many years.
In the school, he speaks very little and has no personal relationships with colleagues. No one would have thought that he actually played a good guitar, Spanish style, with hundreds of jazz records in his home.
His family lives in an old-fashioned alley house in Hongkou. His parents are hard-working and honest clerks, and his sister is married.
He lived in a three-story pavilion by himself, stretched the palms on the ground, and put the record player on the ground. When he entered, he took off his shoes and sat on the ground, forming a unified world.
When his tiger skylight opened, it was a sloping roof tile. In summer, he sometimes spread a mat on the roof tile, tied the waist with a backpack strap, tied it to the window sill, and crawled out to lie down.
There is a deep blue sky with some stars hanging in front of me.
There was a factory in the distance, and there was a faint roar, and a column of smoke in the chimney was white in the night sky.
Some trivial night sounds settled down, and he seemed to be dissolved by the air, thinking nothing, thinking nothing.
He has no girlfriend yet.
Although there is no shortage of men and women who have a good relationship with each other, they stop developing when they reach the level of good friends because there is no further need.
He has no ideals in life, as long as he has something to do, and he knows that he has to find things by himself, so he still has a positive attitude.
There are no far goals, there are near goals.
Therefore, he doesn't have any major troubles, but sometimes there is some unknown melancholy.
This melancholy is also comforting, that is, the jazz of the 1920s.
The saxophone is accompanied by the sound of needle movement of the record, hissing, and it has some skin-friendly meaning.
He has some old tunes, new things don't please him, he feels like a nouveau riche, and he has no confidence.
But don't be too old. Too old is an old stereotype and too desolate. It only takes a hundred years.
What is needed is the prosperity of the first few people, in the dark night sky, a small clump of splendid, smooth road, a European-style house, and a little winding sound in the silence.
Speaking of it, in fact, that old jazz can represent and summarize.
The young men and women of Old Krak are modern characters. They are at the extremes of things with Old Krak. They are at the forefront of trends.
There are tennis courts in this city, and they are the first customers; if a hotel has bowling, they are also the first customers.
They were the classmates of Old Krall when he was studying in the Department of Physical Education. They led the way with the spirit of sports, and also reflected the trend of today's world.
Just look at those famous brands: Nike, Puma, almost all come from sportswear, while the old suit brand "Pierre Cardin" is declining.
The image of their people appearing on the road is mostly riding a motorcycle, with a girl in the back seat, whose hair floats from under the helmet, passing by in a gust of wind.
They are also the craziest group in the disco.
They can always get acquainted with one or two foreigners in various ways and participate in it, so that their group has an international appearance and can freely enter and exit some international places.
Old Krak is an unknown one among them, the one who has not done anything.
When others are busy, he mostly stands aside, he can do without him.
He looks a bit lonely, but it is this loneliness that adds the background to this happy and trendy group.
Therefore, it is different to have him and not.
For him, it is also necessary to have a modern background, which really throws him into the vast sea of ​​people, without support, his old tune will inevitably be overwhelmed.
Because that old tone has an outdated appearance, it is difficult for the world to recognize, it can only show value in a brand-new seat.
It is as if an antique is to be placed on a gorgeous velvet base. If it does not have this base, it will be thrown into the trash can.
Therefore, he is also inseparable from this group. Although it is lonely, if he leaves, he will not even be lonely, and some are just like the same style.
Old Kra's parents regarded him as an honest child: no smoking, no drinking, a decent job, a decent amateur life, and no promiscuity with girlfriends.
When they were young, they were not playful people. Watching a movie once a week was all their entertainment.
His mother was once keen on collecting movie manuals. During the "Cultural Revolution" she consciously burned her collection, and later movie theaters stopped selling manuals.
Later, because they had a TV, they stopped going to the cinema.
After eating dinner every day, I turned on the TV and kept seeing eleven o'clock.
With a TV, their old age is perfect.
The old music the son played in the attic sounded familiar to them, and it made them believe that his son was an honest child.
His reticence also assured them.
Even if they ate at one table, they couldn't say a few words from beginning to end.
In fact, they are strangers to each other, but because we get along day and night, we don't take the strangeness seriously, it should be so.
After all, these are really honest people who close their hands and feet as well as their hearts. Regardless of material or spirituality, a small amount of space is enough.
Under the roof of the Shanghai alley, there are many such saving careers in Mimi Zazadi.
Sometimes you may feel that it is noisy there, and the noise is full when you open the window. Don't blame it. This is the movement of simple life gathering sand into a tower.
They are lively after all, and they must be somewhat loud.
On the roof of Xia Ye, there was actually more than one child lying down and watching the stars. They were all agitated, and they came to the roof without knowing where they were going.
There was much more openness and freedom, and even the pigeons roosted, giving up their airspace.
The noise is all underneath, and they float up, drifting will be all right after a while.
An alley with a tiger skylight like this is also a bit of an extraordinary heart song, which is squeezed out, and the tiger skylight is its singing voice.
The one who really understands Lao Kela is the road in the West District of Shanghai.
He came and went there often, with the shadow of a tree covering him.
The shade of this tree also has a history. It has shaded the sun for a hundred years. Maoming Road has been from noisy to quiet, and both noisy and quiet have ages.
He just loves the feeling of walking back in time.
He thought, what kind of situation would it be like with tram tracks on the road? The wooden benches on the opposite side of the tram show black and white silent films. The old hotel buildings, brick cracks and stone ridges are all there. Words, patiently read, you can read the old wind and rain.
The roads in the east district of Shanghai also know about Lao Kra. All roads lead to the banks of the river. The scenery is rougher and more straightforward than in the west district. The black and white silent films performed are epic themes, and the old wind and rain are also wild.
Jiang Ou flies, there is no time, like a pigeon, what he wants is that there is no time.
It's not too much to ask, it's not a kind of old-fashioned kind, it's just a firefly of fifty years.
Just like the sunrise in this city, it does not rise from the sea horizon and the horizon, but rises from the ridge of the roof.
Speaking of it, this city is still a child, and there are not many days to look back.
But a child like Old Krall has become an old man again, and he is reminiscing about the past, and the words in his heart are all about the old scene.
After all, the big customs bell was still ringing, and it was one of the indelible smoke and clouds, and what he heard was the ringing of the past.
Old Kela was walking on the road, and the wind was blowing on his face.
It was the deformed wind squeezing from the cracks of the building. He didn't seem to have any sensuality, but his heart was active, even a little singing and dancing.
He likes the sunset in this city. The street scene in the sunset is like a faded oil painting, which fits the mood of this city best.
On this day, my friend said that someone held a push, and there was so-and-so, and it was said that there was also a Shanghai lady from that year.
He sat in the back seat of his friend's motorcycle and went all the way west to a new residential area near the airport.
That friend lived on the thirteenth floor of a remittance house, which was taken care of by his foreign relatives.
Usually he doesn't come to live, but just launches in twos and threes, bringing all kinds of friends together, and having a happy night or a happy day.
His school gradually gained a reputation. One spreads ten, ten spreads a hundred, and the people who come are also ten in one area, ten in one hundred, and he is all welcome.
If there are too many people, it is inevitable that people will get mixed up. If some unscrupulous people come in, unpleasant things will happen, such as theft cases.
But in terms of probability, there will be more elites in the sand.
Therefore, sometimes special characters appear on his pie, such as movie stars, chief fiddler of the orchestra, reporters, and descendants of a certain Communist or Kuomintang general.
His tweets are like a small CPPCC, and many old stories and news are circulating in the living room, which is really lively.
In this new area, when you open the windows, you can see tall buildings like forests. The windows are bright and dark, the sky looks very vast, and the stars and moons are far away.
Looking down, there are peas-like cars running on the wide and straight road with strings of bright beads.
There is always a construction site not far away. The lights and the sound of electric rammers fill the night sky, surging rhythmically.
There was some cement powder in the air, and the wind was very powerful, marching between the buildings.
The lights in the hotel area seemed a bit lonely because of the large and high buildings in the world, but they were dazzlingly lonely, with some heartfelt joy.
This is really a new district, with an open mind, unlike the urban area, with a tortuous heart that is hard to guess.
When you come to the new district, you always feel like you are out of town. The format of the roads and buildings are all different. It is reasonable to say that it is horizontal and vertical. Unlike the urban area, it is all out of the heart.
Under the night sky of the new district, the laughter and laughter on the thirteenth floor of this overseas Chinese remittance house disappeared suddenly, and the sound of music disappeared.
What is this happiness in the new district?
In the honeycomb-like windows of that tall building, there is full of fresh happiness.
Have not added the four-star or five-star hotels, where buffets, dances, and receptions are held every night.
There is still some erotic love, which is also very resounding, and it is justified, with a "do not disturb" sign hanging at the door.
The happiness there is because of the participation of all kinds of people, with the meaning of universal celebration.
Especially at Christmas, when you sing Christmas songs, you really can't tell whether it is Chinese or foreign.
This place seemed a little heartless and worry-free when it came up, because it didn't have time to accumulate any memories, its mind was still blank, and it didn't need to use memory.
This is the mental state of an entire new district.
The laughter on the thirteenth floor was just a drop in the ocean.
Only the woman driving the elevator was a little impatient. This group, a group of people, holding wine or flowers in their hands, pouring into and out of the elevator, and most of them were strangers, all kinds of people.
When Old Kela arrived, he was already in the dozens of batches.
The door was ajar, and it was full of people shaking.
They walked in, no one paid attention to them, the stereo was on, and violent music came out.
In a room leading to the balcony, some people were sitting behind the door and watching TV series.
The balcony door was open, and the wind rolled the window curtains in and out, looking very bulging.
In the corner of the room sat a woman with fair skin and light makeup, wearing a silky lotus-colored dress.
She held her arms and leaned forward slightly, looking at the TV screen.
The window curtains sometimes swept past her skirt without distracting her.
When the light on the screen lit up sharply, she could see her lower eyelids drop slightly, which showed her age.
But this age was passing by in a flash, and it was carefully hidden and kept in his bones.
It was the years when I walked on hand and foot. I was afraid to leave a trace, but I had to leave it.
This is Wang Qiyao in 1985.
At that time, in some articles recalling old Shanghai, the prosperous scene of 1946 was reproduced, so Wang Qiyao's name came out.
There were also one or two good people who came to Wang Qiyao to trace their roots and wrote some essays, but they didn't cause any response, so they disappeared.
After all, it's time, no matter how great the glory is, once it falls into the black hole of time, it is not bad to have some light scum.
The halo of forty years ago, like Wang Qiyao's people, was aging unsatisfactorily.
This halo even added age to Wang Qiyao and marked her with the year.
It's like old clothes at the bottom of the box. It's good, but I missed the year and put it on my body. At first glance, it looks like a person who has been for years, so it still adds to Wang Qiyao's old.
Only Zhang Yonghong was moved. She didn't believe it at first, and then she believed it, and countless questions emerged.
Wang Qiyao began to be reserved, and gradually opened up the chatterbox, and there were countless answers waiting for her to ask.
She thought she had forgotten a lot of things, but unexpectedly they mentioned them all at once, together with the trivial details, bit by bit, all converged into a river.
This is the limelight of a woman, the girl on Huaihai Road who is struggling for beauty, is it what she wants?
The new trend of that generation succeeds generation, and what is fueling the flames is not just grabbing the limelight?
Zhang Yonghong got the honorable weight, she said: You are really enviable!
She introduced Wang Qiyao to each of her boyfriends and invited Wang Qiyao to various gatherings.
At these gatherings, which are mostly young people, Wang Qiyao always sits aside very consciously of the current affairs, but let her brilliance add a wonderful color to the gathering.
People often can't see her and have no time to see her, but they all know that a "Miss Shanghai" is here tonight.
Sometimes people will wait for her to come from beginning to end, don't you know that she will sit in the corner until the end of the song.
She is dressed so decently, with an elegant attitude, not at all disappointing, and not in the way of hindrance.
She is like a decoration, a painting on the wall, decorating the living room.
The furnishings and paintings are of calm tones and sauce-yellow backgrounds. They are truly gorgeous and will not fade away.
Everything else is a glimpse of light.
It was in this situation that Old Kela met Wang Qiyao. He thought: Is this what people call "Miss Shanghai"?
When he was about to walk away, Wang Qiyao raised his eyes, swept and lowered.
There was some panic in this look, and there was no expression of bewilderment or forgiveness towards anyone.
Only then did Old Krall realize his unfairness. He thought, "Miss Shanghai" has been around for nearly 40 years.
Looking at Wang Qiyao again, there was something faint in front of him, as if he was out of focus, and in a daze, he saw the shadow more than thirty years ago.
Then, the shadow became clear again and again, with some details.
But these details are not so real in the end. They are on the surface, and they hurt Old Kra's heart.
He realized a cruel fact, that is the corrosive power of time.
At the age of twenty-six, he shouldn't know the depth of time. Time hasn't taught him the truth, so he dare to nostalgia, and he dare to say that time is good!
The time in old jazz is indeed a good thing. It polishes things to be firm and delicate, and polishes away the superficial luster of things, showing fine lines. The fire means real gold.
But what he saw today was not an old thing like old jazz, but an individual. He really didn't know what to say.
It was actually a bit tragic, and he really touched the core of the old time. Before, he was walking through the flesh and blood of the old time.
Old Krall didn't go away, something was holding him back.
He was holding a glass of wine, leaning on the door frame, watching TV.
Later, Wang Qiyao came out from the corner of the house thinking that she was going to the bathroom.
He smiled as he walked past him.
She immediately took the smile, showing a grateful look, and smiled back.
When she came back, he said to her, do you want to pour a drink for her?
She pointed to the corner of the room and said that there was her cup of tea, no need.
He asked her to dance again, and she hesitated a little and accepted.
Disco music was playing in the living room, but they danced four steps, doubling the rhythm.
In a fierce shaking, only they are still, like an island in a frenzy.
She apologized, he should go to the disco, don't accompany her to work hard.
He said he liked this.
With the hand he held on her waist, he felt the subtle rhythm of her body, and he could find his own rhythm in any rhythm, traveling through time.
He was a little moved and was silent. He suddenly heard her talking, and praised him for his good dance, the old-school Latin style.
For the next dance music, others came to invite Wang Qiyao.
They walked leisurely with their dancing partners, sometimes when they met their eyes, they smiled knowingly, with some joy of encounter.
This night is the National Day night. On the platform of any building, put a firework, a lonely flower, slowly spreading the leaf petals on the dark sky, and slowly withered into thin meteors, and gradually disappeared. , There was still a pale shadow in the air.
It took a long time to blend into the night.