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In spring remember our roots in the soil
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The Shanghai Meteorological Bureau yesterday announced that spring officially began last Friday — the first day in a five-day sequence when temperatures averaged 10 degrees or more.
But of course, we can also look elsewhere for more persuasive signs of spring. As dwellers in the temperate zone, our sensitivity to seasonal changes is ingrained in our national consciousness, or subconsciousness. While the passage of another year inevitably signifies the deduction of another unit from our lifespan, we are, as a rule, cheered up by the arrival of spring.
The revolution of the season hints at renewal, the chances of making a fresh start, even the illusion of eternity.
We call the biggest holiday in the year the Spring Festival, and at a very early age our children learn to memorize the observation yinian zhiyi zaiyu chun, — “The whole year’s work depends on a good start in spring.”
In its ancient form, the Chinese character chun (spring) is composed of two parts, with “grass” above, and “sun” below, suggesting the growth of grass under the influence of sun, according to one explanation.
Probably the moon has a part too. Roger Deakin observes in his “Wildwood: A Journey Through Trees” that “In the woods, there is a strong sense of immersion in the dancing shadow play of the leafy depths, and the rise and fall of the sap that proclaims the seasons is nothing less than a tide, and no less influenced by the moon.”
Flora and fauna
In another Chinese explanation, chun is interpreted simply as the awakening of insects.
In a modern city where the landscape is dominated by highways and high-rises, to detect the seasonal changes through the sound of insects is not easy.
But for several weeks now, I have awoken to the trilling of birds. I do not know if they are birds that have come to stay here, or passing travelers in their migration north. I don’t even have a chance to see them. Once up, we quickly forget about these birds and their dawn chorus.
Homer’s “Iliad” refers to augury — or finding omens in the observed flight of birds. Today we have no patience with such nonsense. We have other preoccupations. The changes in plants are more noticeable. After more than a month of splendid show, the wintersweet and plum blooms are in the last phase of their glory, shedding their petals and ready to be clad in thick foliage.
But the show will continue. We have a long waiting list: magnolia, tulips, cherry blossom, peach blossom.
This glorious show of color and scent is directed by the soil, the living soil that is not yet killed by concrete.
The modern view of soil is ambivalent. The Beijing News reported recently that officials in Yongzhou, in central China’s Hunan Province, while on a site visit on National Treeplanting Day on March 12, had a long stretch of red carpet laid over muddy soil, so as to reduce the risk of accidents. They have been criticized for not being genuinely interested in treeplanting, and following media uproar, some of the officials have been disciplined.
Out of touch
Isolated from the natural world and out of sync with its natural rhythms, some people view life-giving soil as inconsistent with modern notions of hygiene. Typically in a big city, we do not have much chance of physical contact with soil.
In time, many of us suffer from a kind of amnesia, not knowing whence we came, or to where we will return.
The ornate trappings of our civilization not only keep us busy, but also shut out the view of the real world.
We cease to know that our contact with nature is not only vital to our health, but essential to an understanding of the world. When our officials begin to view soil with suspicion, we have good reason to suspect the thinking and impulses of their statesmanship.
In “The Analects,” Confucius reportedly asked several disciples what they felt they were capable of doing if their merits were recognized. Most spoke of their ambition in managing state affairs or directing wars.
But Confucius’ approval went to a disciple whose reply was (in Ku Hweng-ming’s translation) “ ... in the latter days of spring ... I would then propose that we take along with our five or six grown-up young friends and six or seven still younger men.
“We will then bathe in that romantic river; after which we will go to the top of that ancient terrace to air and cool ourselves; and at last we will return, singing on our way as we loiter back to our homes.”
As later explained by great Confucian scholar Zhu Xi (1130-1200), Confucius endorsed this view because this disciple alone seemed to enjoy truly what his present position afforded him. He is in total peace with his environment, where everything is in its proper place.
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