On January 23, 2018, Xie Jianguang, 59, died on his way due to ineffective rescue of gastrointestinal bleeding

When the news came out, the domestic circle of donkeys mourned.

As a cinerary level player of hiking, Xie Jianguang has almost measured the beautiful rivers and mountains of the motherland with his own feet, and has brought countless legends, stories and landscapes to tourism lovers in 35 years.

After Xie Jianguang died, his fellow travelers claimed that such a unique travel enthusiast had never been seen before, and it was hard to see anyone coming.

What is the story of Xie Jianguang? What did he gain from his hiking career?

Starting point

One day in 1959, a baby boy was born in a remote fishing village in Zhanqi Town, Ningbo. His parents gave him high hopes and named him Xie Jianguang, hoping that he could bring dawn and hope to the family.

As his family background is not very good, and education popularization is not high, Xie Jianguang’s education experience in his childhood has always been spent studying while herding cattleThere are so many people here. He has only studied in primary school for five years

Xie Jianguang has recalled many times that he was very fond of reading, especially literature, when he was young, but because of some irresistible factors, he delayed his studies. When I grew up, I was busy helping my family with farming and feeding livestock, while other people’s children went to school happily.

His parents asked Xie Jianguang to learn carpentry with others in order to make him grow up to be a professional. But when he was planing wood, he accidentally cut off his fingers. Xie Jianguang’s parents gave up the idea of making him a carpenter.

Since then, Xie Jianguang has continued to help his parents in farming, living a leisurely life and enjoying themselves in hardship

Before he could pursue his literary dream, an accident suddenly struck. Xie Jianguang had a heart attack when he was 17 years old. He was diagnosed as congenital by the doctor. His family spent almost all of their savings to cure him.

However, it is precisely during this hospitalization that Xie Jianguang began to think about some interesting things for the first time. Lying in bed, he always asked himself the question:”Will I spend my life in a small mountain village?”

After thinking about the same question for countless days and nights, he came to the answer: either read a book or go to the outside world to see. In short, there must be one body and soul on the road. Only in this way can he live a meaningful life.

Although Xie Jianguang dropped out of school early, he always loved the four masterpieces, Lu Xun’s articles and Heine’s poems, and never gave up his pursuit of the literary world. But just seeing can’t satisfy his self pursuit, so he always wants to go to Hangzhou University for further study.

However, he had only five years of primary school education, so it was difficult for him to stand out in the college entrance examination, so he fell out of the first college entrance examination without accident

After failing in the college entrance examination, Xie Jianguang did not get down and simply picked up his bedding and went to Hangzhou University to attend literature classes. However, the school could not tolerate such an”idler” to sneak around in the university class all day, so it expelled him and asked him not to enter the school again. Xie Jianguang’s path to study was completely aborted.

Xie Jianguang, who failed in school, returned to the small mountain village again and continued to live a farming life with his family. In the eyes of outsiders, he seems to have been ready to stay with his parents and farm all his life.

However, after six months of such a life, Xie Jianguang’s heart began to palpitate and he made a bold decision

As he thought at the beginning, there must be one body and one soul on the way. Now that I can no longer study, I must go to the outside world to see.

In 1983, Xie Jianguang took care of everything and started his hiking trip with his backpack. There are only a few simple clothes, a pen, a notebook, and my savings over the years of 150 yuan.

He told his parents that he would go into business and start a business, and go to the outside world

There are many thorns on the road of dreams

Xie Jianguang, who just left the small mountain village, has a simple mind and carries 150 yuan with him. At the beginning of his life, he lived a very natural life. He stopped walking, ate, drank and spent money without planning. Soon, 150 yuan was spent while I was wandering aimlessly.

He had no idea where he was or where he was going. For the only gain after embarking on the journey, there is only the word”fresh”.

At this time, his life began to become embarrassed. Without money, food and clothing became the biggest problem. He had no time to take care of his own image, and soon became unkempt on the streets and lanes.

Fortunately, he was born in a poor family and had no money. He simply found bridges and caves on the way to spend the night. Sometimes he used the sky as cover and the ground as clothing on the way. I’m hungry. If I’m in the city, I’ll go to a small restaurant and ask the kind boss to give me some food. If you are on a mountain path, simply use local materials to pick wild fruits.

But wild fruits are not always available. More often, he can only dig wild vegetables. Sometimes, he has to force himself to gnaw the bark and drink the water in the stream when he is thirsty

In this way, a young man who was only 24 years old soon turned himself into a savage and a tramp. He was ragged and unkempt, and was disliked everywhere he went.

Soon, his body became unbearable and he became seriously ill

The torture of hunger, sickness and sleeping in the open air slowly made Xie Jianguang realize that the road to pursue his dream was not only based on blood, nor full of poetry and flowers, but also rugged and thorny.

After going through many hard days and nights, Xie Jianguang always thought in his heart when he collapsed on the road several times dragging his sick body:”If I just die here silently, it would be good.”

Fortunately, there is no way out for him. He met a kind friend. Along the way, the donkey friend took extra care of him. He not only spent money to buy medicine for him, but also took care of him closely until the day when he was well.

In this way, Xie Jianguang returned to his hometown in rags after six months. When his parents saw him down and out, they were very distressed.

His mother kept telling him that she didn’t want him to stand out outside, but that she would like to work steadily at home in the future. At any rate, she could eat well and dress well

But Xie Jianguang’s heart, because of this trip, has already been planted a seed of freedom.

Accompanied by the wilderness and ate grass and stones

In his hometown for half a year, Xie Jianguang’s parents thought that he had settled down to live at home. Unexpectedly, one day half a year later, he suddenly told his parents that he still wanted to go outside and have a look. As he wrote in his notebook –“Even though the road of life is gone, the road on the earth is endless.”

He felt that his life path, such as studying, farming and doing business, was either impossible or impossible for him. Only the journey on the earth is the only way for him to live.

Only on the journey can he enjoy a free life in nature without fear, without pressure, without intrigue, and without watching others’ faces and ridicule. On the way, every inch of his skin was released like never before.

So Xie Jianguang spent half a year and made a lot of preparations

Xie Jianguang has a very mature understanding and positioning of his second trip. He felt that the journey of life was always full of twists and turns. There would be flowers everywhere and envious eyes, but more of them were food, rice, salt and thorns.

For him, flowers are everywhere and thorns are everywhere. Therefore, he must gladly accept it and enjoy all the ups and downs of life and nature.

On the second trip, Xie Jianguang didn’t bring much money with him. He still had a few simple clothes, a pen and a notebook. The only difference was that he had a few books he liked to read

This time, he no longer insisted on the hard journey on the road, but looked at the book in his hand when he was depressed. He also has a mature and clear plan for the route, targeting the Yunnan Guizhou Plateau. As for when he can get there, he never limits the time.

He felt that the scenery of the destination was good, but the scenery of the journey was the normal beauty. If you stick to the scenery at the end of the journey, you will have a very difficult and depressing day.

Everywhere he went, he saw some different landscapes, saw interesting people, or felt thoughtful after a heavy rain, or felt comfortable after overcoming difficulties, he would write down notes on his notebook.

Over time, his notebook has been filled with stories of his youth. Turn over each page, it is a poetic landscape and a distant dream. In the text, there are his praises of nature, his perception of life, and his understanding of suffering. He said that both good and bad are landscapes!

After writing a notebook, Xie Jianguang’s daily journey looks bumpy and down, but his mind is gradually interesting. He has changed from a tramp in the early days to a travel writer with unparalleled spiritual wealth. He uses his writing style to describe the ups and downs and sing praises of the motherland.

On holidays, he would write with childlike innocence:”The hometown where you were raised is not your final destination, and the foreign country that took you in has never broken your dream.”

Although many of his words can’t stand scrutiny, later we all know that this is just his self mockery. Behind the seemingly absurd and funny scenes, there is an interesting soul jumping

What should he do if he has no food, drink or money on his journey?

Xie Jianguang spent a lot of pen and ink to record his little secret.

He said that it was normal to have nothing to eat or drink during the journey. If you are on the mountain path, you can only find food by all means. During this period, he had eaten all the wild vegetables and bark that he could eat, and sometimes even chewed the dead mouse meat.

Of course, every time he goes to a city, he is an excellent supply station, where he can replenish some necessary dry food and medicineOf course, he has no money to maintain long-term expenditure, so he can only be self-sufficient all the way, picking up waste and selling money all the way.

Sometimes it can even sell for more than ten yuan in a lucky day. The scraps of paper and iron that others don’t like are good treasures in his eyes.

Of course, sometimes when he passes a village, he feels lucky. When he catches up with the busy farming season, he simply stays to do temporary work and lives with people every day. Transplanting rice, cutting rice, working as a carpenter and a bricklayer, he can do all these jobs with ease.

When the busy farming season is over, he will carry his bags again and embark on a new journey with a heavy memory

Sometimes he will buy some books, newspapers, magazines, novels in big cities. He will buy anything that he likes at all times and in all countries. On the way, he met a good donkey friend, who would give it to others after reading the book.

During the journey, it was normal to live in the open air and starve. Xie Jianguang wrote in his notebook:”I came from heaven, lived in the wilderness, accompanied by the sea, and ate grass and stones.”

The second trip was unexpectedly more pleasant than the first. Xie Jianguang was very satisfied with this state of running on the road and in nature, so he soon had the third and fourth trips.

In 1996, Xie Jianguang embarked on his own journey again. But this trip was different from the past. He had a small cart that he modified. Two wheels, behind which a wooden shed like a small cabinet was built. The outer part is sealed with iron sheet, and the inner part is divided into two layers. The upper layer contains some articles for daily use, and the lower layer contains bedding and mats.

Don’t underestimate this small cart. Thanks to it, Xie Jianguang can stop sleeping in the open air and have a place to keep warm in winter

From 1996 to 2010, the trolley has been updated by him for more than ten years of hiking. Until we met in Guangzhou in 2010, we specially customized an aluminum alloy cart for him, which looks very beautiful and durable.

Xie Jianguang was very satisfied with the small cart sent by his friend, Under the great poetic prosperity, he also wrote a special poem”Ode to the Small Vehicle” -“The luxury of the five-star hotel is only wealth and rank, while the luxury of my small RV is mountains and clouds, which is an overwhelming possession and enjoyment. The emperor can visit his own city and country, but the freedom of the thinker transcends the city walls and boundaries. My palace is built in the sun and clouds, and all the geomantic omens are collected by my small vehicle…”

Between the lines, Xie Jianguang already has the feelings of a philosopher and the literature and art of a poet. He said that he was the king of his own free world, and the RV was his palace.

He came alone and went alone

On his journey, Xie Jianguang also met several women he loved

Once, when I stopped by a school, the children and nearby villagers came to ask him about the story. Only a young female teacher paid special attention to his notebook in the car. When I opened it, it was full of poetic and jumping souls.

Unexpectedly, I forgot to return it. When he got up the next day, Xie Jianguang looked everywhere anxiously and shouted from time to time -“Who took my notebook?!”

At this time, a girl shyly came and handed her notebook -“Sorry, I took it away, because I was fascinated by it, so I forgot to return it to you.”

In this way, two people get along well because of a notebook

Xie Jianguang likes this girl from the bottom of his heart. The girl did everything she could to keep him. Take him to get a haircut, buy clothes, buy books and eat. The two people will take a walk together when the willow shoots are on the moon and talk about interesting stories in their notebooks.

However, after a painful choice, Xie Jianguang chose the latter for love and freedom, leaving the woman who was infatuated with him and embarking on a lonely hiking journey again

He always said in his notebook more than once that love was dispensable to him, but it would be suicide if he restrained his yearning for free travel for love.

Later, the proprietress of a photo studio and the single mother who took care of his sick body on the way showed her love for him. But no matter who he is, his final choice is the same. From the beginning, he clearly told the other party that his destination is far away, a journey, not love and marriage.

Xie Jianguang has always felt indebted to his parents, but he never considered himself unfilial. He wrote many times in his notes:”I don’t think I’m unfilial. Filial piety is to remember, inherit the good qualities of the previous generation, fulfill their unfulfilled wishes, and change the unchanged life world of their parents…”

In Xie Jianguang’s opinion, his parents are more willing to let him live the life he wants happily than to detain him in the countryside

In his notes, there are many chapters to express his yearning for his parents. Sometimes he would write to his mother like this:”One time, tears fell on each other. Mom, your rebellious son sold his love to the beauty in the distance…”

After more than 30 years of hiking, Xie Jianguang has become famous in the domestic circle of donkey friends, and even in the circle of writers

His writing may not be deep enough and philosophical, but it really records the emotions, sorrows, and experiences of a mortal. People love him, love his words, and more importantly, love his interesting soul and indomitable will to dream.

In 2016, Xie Jianguang’s friends in Ningbo’s cultural circle finally put all his notes and essays together and published them in Ningbo Press, which details the legend of Xie Jianguang, the first Chinese hiker for more than 30 years.

After having a fan friend, Xie Jianguang also opened his own social account to share his interesting stories on the road from time to time

His last record of his circle of friends was published during his journey to Heihe in Heilongjiang Province.

I didn’t expect that he would die of gastrointestinal bleeding soon.

Xie Jianguang’s death surprised everyone and was unacceptable.

Not long before his death, he once said to his friends with a smile:”I always felt that I would suddenly stop my heart beating at dusk, as if I had seen my last life.”

Unexpectedly, after 35 years of seeing the prosperity of the world and the rivers and mountains of the motherland, this fighter of fate, the pursuer of poetry and the distance, even left in such a smart way.

Just like every place he passed on his journey in the past, he waved his hand and was alone without taking away any clouds

References:

Xie Jianguang: Pursue poetry and distance in his own way, and turn grassroots people into legends in the world – Zhejiang Workers’ Daily

Xie Jianguang, a famous hiker in Ningbo, walked thousands of kilometers and reached Hoh Xil — Zhejiang Online