Entry: Bordered Love Field
Bordered Love Field is a part of a county fair for the Miao people in Xiangxi. It is a particular way for the young to date. It is romantic and miraculous.
It is a small town with the mountains as its protective screen and a crystal clear river as its charming eye. With roads and railways built, a few hundred families came to live here, government agencies and organizations were established, and the town became the center of this area. A market is opened, displaying and promoting the prosperity and beauty of this small town.
Two rows of stilt houses lie at the foot of the mountain and wind upwards with a river flowing in front of them. With the black tiles and wooden planks, they are all of an archaic brown color. Flagstones are even blacker after the rain, one kissing another, stretching through these two rows of wooden buildings into the distance. Straight and long, this several meter-wide road can be called either "Hutong" or "lane". At the end of this road, a level clearing near the river dike comes into view. And this is where the market called "field" is. Tobacco, poultry and eggs, dried fish, tea leaves and mountain products are displayed there along the lane. Some are placed in opened bags, some are spread on a thin plastic film on the ground, while others are put in back baskets (a kind of basket made from bamboo and carried on the back by the local in Xiangxi). The goods include fish, eels, frogs and loaches from paddy fields, corns, soybeans, eggplants and bitter gourds from dry fields, rice bran, vermicelli, and noodles from granaries, pancakes, steamed cakes, Tangsan (colored fried puffed rice cakes) and Baba made by the local with pans (glutinous rice cakes, a kind of traditional food in Xiangxi), and fresh grapes, pears, peaches newly picked from the mountains. Sellers of pigs, goats, chickens and ducks as well as butchers who yell at the top of their lungs are busy with their business on the clearing. People squeeze through the crowd back and forth in the hope that they can buy something of excellent quality at a reasonable price with their hard-earned money. Some are standing in front of a stall, some bending down, and some even squatting while bargaining with the sellers. Later, the flowing crowds together with the noise seem to heat up the air a little, making you long for an idyllic quietness.
Actually, walking out of the crowd and looking into the distance will feast your eyes on the scenery of the pairs of young lovers dotting the slopes or ridges, fields on the left, corn fields on the right, shoals as well as lawns in the front, lovely corners in front of and at the back of the houses, immersing you in another kind of feeling.
You can see pairs of young lovers.
Just like everybody else, the young also come here for the field or the market, but for them, this is a place where they express their longing for love and fall in love. Since they gather either in the corners, or along the edge of the field or outside the market, a very beautiful and lovely name comes into being—Bordered Love Field.
They stroll around the market several times. Some even bring a few mountain products and sundry goods to sell on the market, but they will soon sell them out at the lowest price, or ask an acquaintance or a friend to help them sell the products. Thus, they can seize the opportunity to meet their lovers. One is waiting at a fork in the road in the front while the other merrily runs towards him or her; if they are courageous and bold enough, they'd like to hang around the field together; if they are afraid of being spotted, they'll shun their acquaintances and follow behind their lovers at a distance.
On the horizon, the setting sun is quite gentle. Warm sunlight filters through the red leaves of the ancient, large maple tree under which lovers will sit down side by side, face to face. Nothing needs to be thought about at this moment. Simply saying "How red the maple leaves are, just like your lips", the young man will win the young maid's heart and see her face blush in a second. She responds, "What a naughty boy you are." while offering her hands to take his. Tears trickling down her cheeks, she'll bury her head in his arms. There's no need to say, "I love you" or "I'll marry you". After leaning on his chest quietly for a moment she will come and meet him here whenever there's a field and make a fairy tale for him with her tenderness and beauty.
Not far from the maple tree is an ever-running brook in which the green water plants and purplish red pebbles can be easily seen through the clear water. Along the brook, gray and glossy slates can be found here and there with one end stretching beneath the water while the other leaning against the bank. They are for people living nearby to wash clothes. Usually, villagers will wash clothes or their bodies here, but today the brook as well as the slates belongs to pairs of young lovers only. They sit on the slate, take off the shoes, roll up their trousers, and wiggle their feet in the water. Fine maids will take out a towel, wash their hands and faces, and use the water surface as a mirror to tidy up their hair. Even their happiness and thoughts of the moment can be mirrored by the water. When she finds in the water a man is looking at her gently, she will hold a handful of clear water and gently drip it along the man's neck while he suddenly holds her close in his arms and begins to kiss her. However, this does not happen in broad daylight. Instead, they will hide themselves under a parasol, so that we can only see two figures there but do not know what they are actually doing.
Then you may feel embarrassed and walk upwards along the brook. At the end of the brook stands a cave which is embraced by the green shade of vines. The water actually runs from inside the cave. It will greet you with refreshment that has never been felt before. Several wooden casks are placed outside the cave. Inside them are tender and bright yellow bean sprouts which you wish to buy. However, just when you are thinking about buying some and walking around the casks, a pair of lovers come into view. The man is lying on his back, looking at the sky, the clouds and his charming lady while she is sitting on the man's thigh, stroking his chest muscle over and over, twisting and counting the chest hair slowly and tenderly, which makes you so green-eyed that you want to drive the man away.
If you go over the riverside, walk into the group of young maids, and ask the one whom you take a fancy to, "Come with me to the field, will you?" Perhaps, the maid will cast a glance at her companions, tilt her head shyly, twist her braids while smiling and then go with you. You can take her hand, walk into the forest and create a legend of your own.
Don't worry if you do not know her;
Don't worry if you haven't got a friend;
Don't worry if you are still alone.
The field opens every five days. You can come anytime you like. Girls in small groups can be found sitting on the level ground near the river dike, admiring the clear water and listening to its tune. Whoever you are and whenever you pass them, they'll become quiet in a minute, turn their heads to meet you, and then straighten their heads to look at you and finally turn their heads again to see you off. Like a row of bamboo partridges, the girls keep their heads high with staring eyes targeting at you as if you were blowing joyful songs with a leaf (making music with a leaf against the mouth is the local custom) that took their breath away.
As the sun is setting down, there is an indescribable feeling of joy brought by the dense shade and mountain breeze. In the corn field, green leaves and stalks are waving in the wind. They rise and fall rhythmically like green water waves. The sunset glowing in the far distance is turned into an ever-changing kaleidoscope by the ups and downs of corn leaves and seems like playing hide-and-seek with people's eyes. At that time, people will stand up and set foot in this picturesque landscape to feel the natives' romance, honesty, purity and beauty. As such, they'll be delighted to come here once more to the market, the fields and the poetic Bordered Love Field.