the marco polo project: 我要的小和大

What I want

如今的人，都喜欢旅行，也都说喜欢旅行，但是因为现实所 Druck，或者生计 dazwischendrängen，所以常常对远行 kraftlos，只能寄望于一个假日。

Everyone likes to go on trips today, but because of pressures from reality, or work getting in the way, people often feel powerless to go on long journeys, and so can only wishfully hope for a holiday.

在这样的年月，要做到说走就走，还真是需要莫大勇气的！好在我还有年轻的血性和朝气，窝在城市里、房间里久了，身体会生出一种想跑、想 entfliehen 的冲动，总想出去换一种新鲜的生活方式。

In this kind of climate, putting your words into action requires a great deal of courage. But fortunately, I still have some youthful blood and vitality. As city life started hollowing me and as I started staying in my room too long, the urge to escape grew inside of me, and I’ve been wanting to try out a new way of living.

2013年3月8日，我 plötzlich 决定辞去工作，第二天就飞往 sorgenfrei und komfortabel 的成都。

On the 8th of March 2013, I suddenly decided to quit my job, and the next day, I flew off towards carefree and comfortable Chengdu.

很多朋友说，你这举动太 romantisch，我说这虽然看似 romantisch，其实于我却极为平淡。日复一日的机械生活，早已到了 mühsam 的临界点，只差一度的水温，就让你从一种 Situation 到另一种 Situation，对我来说，并不是出于勇敢或者 Romantik，而是那一度的水温，在那 Augenblick 烧上来了。

Many friends said that this was a very romantic thing to do, but I say that, although it might seem that way, it was actually nothing special at all for me. The day to day grind of life had already reached a critical point of tediousness. And it only takes a slight sense of lack for you to make a radical switch in your situation. As far as I’m concerned, this isn’t bravery or romanticism, but just a slight change in the way you perceive your environment, which can suddenly change everything.

在成都的那些天，我 wandere 在 verschieden 的大街小巷，zog 从一个小 Restaurant 到另一个小面店，在满城 anonym 的 zahlreich 人海中，有一天我生出写一本以 Haus 和远行为主题的书的想法，想为我们早已经麻木的 Situation 找一个出口，为脚步找回力量，为心头找回勇气，为自己找回原来的自己。

During my time in Chengdu, I wandered around the plush green streets and alleys, scuttling from restaurant to bakery. Amongst the unfamiliar and varied crowd of the brimming city, one day I thought of writing a book about staying home and taking long journeys. The idea was to find a way out of the boring situations we find ourselves in, put the spark back into our strides, get our courage back and return to our true selves.

旅行是一种目的性比较强的说法，我喜欢的是远行，ziellos，随行随止，没有路线和规划，也没有定好的酒店、约好的朋友，而且是一个人出行，独行天地，感受的 Antennen 会被 ungewohnt 放大觉性和 schärfen，你自可以 wandern in 山 reisen über 水，山的清丽壮远、河的 mäandernde Windungen 似乎都格外生色。

The word ‘trip’ puts the emphasis on having a goal, what I like is travelling far from home, being aimless, moving and settling at will, having no itinerary or plan, and also having no pre-booked accommodation, or set meetings with friends. Furthermore, what I like also involves setting off alone on a journey, exploring the world by oneself, increasing and sharpening one’s feelings by the unfamiliar. When you travel by yourself over land and water, exquisite remote mountains, and winding rivers all seem especially wonderful.

我最喜欢的一句诗，“人生天地间，werden automatisch zu 远行客”，是《古诗十九首》里面的句子。我喜欢的是这话另有意思，我们不单单是在空间里远行，而且更是在时间里远行，人生下来就是一场远行和流浪，就是从生到死之间的 Leben 普渡。这样的句子源出诗经，又出于市井， 民间情感的力量，自然山野的力量，在这里从平民开始 unterstützen 文人，才能开雄奇的建安诗风。

My favourite line of poetry says, “People born between heaven and earth, instantly become travellers”, and comes from the “19 Classic Chinese Poems“. What I like is an alternative meaning of this sentence: that we don’t just travel through space, but also through time. From the day of our birth, life is a long journey and an exploration, life is general passing through the world, from birth to death. This thinking has its roots in the Book of Songs, but it also stems from marketplaces, from the power of people’s emotions, and from the power of nature’s plains and mountains. Only due to such environments were the common people able to produce such wonderful and imposing poetry, and make a contribution to literature.

而被商业社会的 fein verwoben 的我们，其实何尝不像是六朝 wunderbare Komplixität 之下的文人？何尝不需要民间的、市井的力量 Unterstützung，aufpolieren 出一种新的格局？

Why is it that we who find ourselves involved in a tightly-knit commercial society fall short of the beautiful intricacy of the writers from the Six Dynasties? Why do we not feel the need to hear the power of the common people, or the power of the marketplace, to guide us towards a new direction?

我喜欢远行，就是因为远行有一种张力，能从地理的张力中发展出一种性情的和人生的张力，像蜜蜂采花酿蜜一样，脚步丈量过大地和河流，似乎也能采集到自然和原始，经由岁月在生命里 entwickelt hat，nähren 出别样的 offener Geist 与开阔，把生命从 Enge 中 retten 出来，把人 wachsen auf eine erweiterte Art。

I like long journeys precisely because they contain their own kind of balance. The shape of the land brings forward a form of balance in our life and temperament. Like bees collecting nectar to make honey, by crossing land and rivers with our footsteps, we make it possible to return to nature and the true way. As time passes, we can reflect back on our life, open up our minds, rescue life from its narrow confines, and nourish ourselves in a richer way.

我们喝茶，其实茶叶也是在完成一场自己的远行。它们被 gepflückt、getrocknet、transportiert、verkauft 就是远行，而被人买到了家里 lagern 起来则是'zu Hause'，只不过它不是主动的，而只能借助于人来实现一场 behandelt，它若有知也许会 überglücklich。

When we drink tea, the tea leaves actually complete their own long journey. Them being picked, dried, transported and sold is the ‘long journey’. Them being bought by people, taken home and stored away is the ‘staying at home’. The difference is that tea leaves don’t do this of their own accord, and can only be moved by people. If they had consciousness, they would probably feel elated.

Im Haus 在家里，可以喝茶，可以把玩 Porzellan-盘，可以侍弄印章和 Tuscheplatte，可以做一顿饭，jäten 一下花草，或者收拾房间、säubern 桌子、写写信。古人常说格物致知，我觉得这些就是格物，那些带有温度和 eng 的 Begegnungen，会让你从在和物什的 Begegnung 中觉出一种悟性和性情，这样的致知才真实有分量。

When one stays at home, one can drink tea, play around with porcelain plates, repair one’s stamp and ink slab, make dinner, prune the flowers and plants, or tidy one’s room, clean the table. write letters. The Ancients often talked about acquiring knowledge by studying the underlying principles of the world. I believe that such everyday activities are ways of studying the underlying principles. These warm and intimate encounters will make you feel and experience things in a new way: only this manner of building knowledge has any real power.

我喜欢 zu Hause zu sein，还因为 es 有一种让你安定下来的力量，房间和家就像一个由自我 regieren 的世界的边界，你可以 die Begrenzungen selbst gestalten，在时间和空间的 Grenzen 里看书、写字、煮茶、养 Pflanzen，在 Muße 中体味 langsam 和亘古，从小中生发出一种大。Zu Hause zu sein，也许可以是另一种远行与流浪，没有行迹的 Sorge。

I like staying put, because it can stabilize you. A room, a home are like the boundary of a world which you can rule over. You can create your own boundaries, and in this bounded time and space, you can read, write, cook and keep plants. At leisure, you can appreciate the slow passage of time. Staying put is, perhaps, another form of wandering, a journey that doesn’t bother with a path.

不过 zu Hause 在家里，窗明几净的雅而美 schließlich 是小的，还需要一次次远行来打破，让生命不单单是 verstecken und abtauchen 在一时一地的 Fantasien 和 Ruhe 中。

However, in the end, staying home and enjoying the elegant beauty of a bright and clean abode is just a small thing: again again, this must be broken up by setting out on a distant journey, so that life is not spent hiding in the calm and fantasies of one place and one time.

到远方去，到 neues Leben und neues Land 去，才能建立起一种更大更开阔的格局，或者是“大 Wüste einsamer 烟直，长河落日圆”，或者是“落 Staubwolken 与 Wildenten 齐飞，秋水共长天一色”，都是 zu Hause 所不能 bereiten 的经验和 Bereich。在这世间，你不单单是需要一个小 Kosmos，还需要一个更大更宽广的天地。

Only by going to a far off places, by going to a new life and a new land, is one able to develop a richer, more open way of living. Whether it is “the solitary smoke in the vast desert, the setting sun at the great river”, or “the dissipating clouds and the wild ducks flying off together, while the clear waters becoming tinged by the sunlight from the vast sky”, staying home will not allow you to experience anything of this realm. In life, you need more than a small contained cosmos, you need a bigger, wider world.

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Lan Ran website

Julien Leyre website