馮克禮

當一扇門為你打開的時候，如果你不去探索它背后的世界，你將永遠不知道自己可能錯過什么。

一切都要從我2017年準備去美國參加高級地面教員證書的期末考試來培訓航空業(yè)急需的飛行員說起。一直以來，我都在和我的女兒“明爭暗斗”：她從小就會說3種語言，19歲開始又會講一口流利的中文。我不可以再輸了，因為我在一天天老去……

所以我決定最后一次去探索未知領(lǐng)域：我選擇了位于杭州的著名大學浙江大學學習中文，并去發(fā)掘一下我女兒（她曾在中國留學）一直贊美的這個國家。

一學期很快就過去了，我又該踏上前去美國的旅途了。結(jié)果，我不僅沒有去，還在浙大多待了兩年。在此期間，我在中文老師的幫助下撰寫并出版了《奇妙飛行100問》一書。這個經(jīng)歷又讓我結(jié)識了武漢理工大學的席龍飛教授，并將他的《中國古船圖說》一書翻譯成法語在法國出版。2019年，我受邀出席《中國古船圖說》在北京國際圖書博覽會上的法語版發(fā)布式，又有一家出版社請我將《我們的廣西， 海上絲綢之路》這本有關(guān)中國古代海上絲綢之路的精彩圖書翻譯成法語，這本書很快將在法國面世。而我又一次推遲了美國的行程，留在中國繼續(xù)指導一家帆船學校參加國家賽事。

那已經(jīng)是差不多兩年半前的事情了。

就這樣，本來四個月的語言學習變成了我在中國四年半難以置信的經(jīng)歷。很多人都問我為何選擇了杭州，原因有二：第一，因為它的氣候和美景，不管是古詩詞還是旅行家和游客們都贊美有加;第二，因為它的活力和生態(tài)環(huán)境。

對我而言，杭州就像是一大片森林，高樓大廈矗立在青草綠樹之間：在杭州，差不多每隔七八米你就能看到一棵樹，而在主干道兩旁種四五排樹也很常見;夏天時，市中心一些區(qū)域的溫度甚至比外圍的還要低;公共汽車以及不少私家車都是電動的，所以基本沒什么聲音……這里基本不用擔心困擾諸多大城市的空氣污染、噪音污染。

在這座城市中“奔波”了兩年之后，我挑選了兩個地方作為我定居此地的選擇：一個是杭州市中心的東河，一個是歷史悠久、古建筑眾多的西興古鎮(zhèn)。最終，我選擇了后者。

西興古鎮(zhèn)位于錢塘江南岸，西興老街西端就是浙東古運河的源頭，是全長250多公里的浙東古運河的起源地，經(jīng)蕭山、紹興、上虞、余姚、寧波注入東海。西興歷史上是一個南來北往的中轉(zhuǎn)碼頭，客商云集，絲、茶、瓷等奢侈品經(jīng)由海上絲綢之路，運往日本、越南、斯里蘭卡、中東國家以及西方世界。

我很幸運，只花了一兩個小時就在擁有千年歷史的西興老街上找到了一間小公寓。友善的鄰居一開始對一個外國人居住在這里表示驚訝和好奇，問了我很多問題。后來，新冠疫情暴發(fā)了。疫情初始階段確實給生活帶來了一些不便，但是它也讓我見識到中國人民的團結(jié)一致、中國政府戰(zhàn)勝肆虐全球的新冠病毒的決心。

起初，有關(guān)部門要求我們不要隨意離開家門，不過每天都會有社區(qū)志愿者來詢問我們的最新情況，并幫助購買生活用品和物資等。僅僅幾周之后， 在遵守防疫規(guī)定的前提下，人們基本上已經(jīng)可以自由活動了。而僅僅幾個月之后，當?shù)氐慕?jīng)濟已經(jīng)開始復蘇，游客們也慢慢開始重新返回這座美麗的城市。

大概兩個月前的一天凌晨4時30分左右，鄰居的一幢房子著火了。盡管每個屋子旁邊都長期配備了滅火器，我們很快控制住了火勢，但是不幸的是，屋頂?shù)囊徊糠诌€是受到了損害，因為它正好處于可用滅火器滅火的范圍之外。

我順手把這次事故的一些照片和視頻發(fā)到了微信朋友圈：要是我們學過如何使用消防水帶和水槍，也許能夠?qū)p失降低到零;如果附近的居民能夠經(jīng)常接受專業(yè)訓練，會有很大的益處。結(jié)果沒多久，消防隊就為附近居民組織了專業(yè)滅火演習，還邀請我這名外籍人士參加。他們甚至在附近建了一個小型的消防站！

鄰居們很快就把受損的房屋修補好了，修補房屋的一位工人當時非常仔細地粉刷了外墻，特意繞開了墻上的一個燕子窩。據(jù)說，在中國，燕子只在非常友善的人家筑巢。前兩天，我看到燕子寶寶們已經(jīng)能夠飛出自己溫暖的家開始獨立翱翔了。

（作者系法國作家，出生于非洲，目前定居杭州，致力于促進中法兩國之間的文化交流。）

The World behind Another Door

By Christian Fardel

When a door opens， if you do not go through and explore the world which it may open for you， you will never know what you have missed.

This story began in 2017 as I was about to travel to the USA to take the final exam for the advanced ground instructor certificate to train much needed airline pilots. However， I have been in constant competition with my young daughter， who has been able to speak three languages since childhood and who began to speak fluent Chinese when she was 19. I could not let her win because I was getting older…

This is why I decided to head toward the unknown one last time： I chose to learn Chinese at the prestigious Zhejiang University in Hangzhou and to discover a country which I did not know yet but which my daughter （who had studied there） had been praising.、

After one semester， I was supposed to go on to travel to the USA and to put my long years of teaching and experience at the service of commercial aviation， which was running out of instructors worldwide. Instead， I overextended my stay in Zheda （a shorthand for Zhejiang University） for two years， during which I wrote a book about aviation in Chinese titled “奇妙飛行100 問” （Fantastic Aviation： 100 Questions Answered）， with the help of one of my Chinese teachers. This new experience led me to meet Xi Longfei， an eminent Professor of Maritime History， and to translate and publish in France his wonderful book “中國古船圖說” （A Pictorial History of Ancient Chinese Shipbuilding） about ancient Chinese shipbuilding. While I was invited to present this book to the Chinese authorities during the Beijing International Book Festival in 2019， a publisher asked me to translate an excellent book about the history of the ancient Maritime Silk Road （“我們的廣西， 海上絲綢之路”， or Our Guangxi， Maritime Silk Road）， which will be published in France any time soon.

Again， instead of proceeding to the USA， I decided to stay for another two months to guide a sailing school for an international event.

That was two and a half years ago.

Now， my four-month "university studies" in China have turned into four and a half years of incredibly rich discoveries and unlikely encounters.

Many people have asked me why I chose Hangzhou： for its climate and its beauty， which have been profusely described in ancient poems， by illustrious travelers and tourists， and for its reputation as a dynamic and ecological city.

For me， Hangzhou is a huge forest where skyscrapers grow between trees： there is a tree every seven to eight meters， and sometimes four or five rows of trees are planted in the main arteries. In summer， the ambient temperature is even lower in some areas of the city center than the outside.??? Cars and buses are mostly silent， and therefore people are far from the pollution plaguing the world's major cities.

After having crisscrossed the city for two years， I selected two places where I would like to settle if I had a choice： either along the East River， in the center of Hangzhou or in Xixing Ancient Town， a town with a rich past and beautiful architectures， the prosperity of which dates back to the sixth century. Ultimately， I chose the latter.

Located on the south bank of the Qiangtang River， at the entrance of the Eastern Zhejiang Canal which connected Hangzhou to Ningbo， one of the starting points of the ancient Maritime Silk Road， for over a thousand years， Xixing has been a transshipment dock for porcelain， tea， silk productions which were delivered from the interior of China to Hangzhou， and which would go on their way to Japan， Vietnam， Sri Lanka， countries in the Middle East， and later to the West.

I was lucky and within in literally an hour or two， I found a small apartment right in the Xixing old street， a street with more than 1，000 years of history.

My neighbors， initially surprised to see a foreigner settle there， were all very friendly and asked me many questions. Then COVID-19 struck. While the pandemic certainly made life a bit difficult in the beginning， it also enabled me to discover an exceptional national solidarity and the determination of a government to stop a scourge that would ravage the rest of the world in a dazzling way.

At first， the authorities asked us not to leave our homes. But three times a day， a group came knocking on our doors to see if everything was fine and help buy provisions. A few weeks later， we could move almost freely again while respecting fundamental rules to contain any contagion. The inhabitants planted their garden on the banks of the canal， and life resumed. And only a few months later， the economy was already recovering， and tourists were gradually returning to this beautiful city.

One morning， about two months ago， at around 4：30 a.m.， one of the neighbors houses caught fire. Armed with the fire extinguishers which are permanently hung near each house， we could control the fire， but part of the roof was still burnt， because it was out of the reach of our fire extinguishers.

I put some photos and videos on WeChat， indicating that if we had learned how to handle a fire hose， we could have saved the roof. It would be beneficial for the inhabitants to be trained regularly. And voila： Two weeks later， I was invited to a fire drill in the old street， and the authorities even built a mini fire station！

My neighbors quickly repaired the damaged house， and one of the workers carefully repainted the front wall around a swallows nest which had been spared by the fire. I was told that in China swallows make their nest in the houses of extremely good people. The other day， I saw the baby swallows left their nest： they have already been able to fly on the own.

Born in Africa， educated in Europe， Christian Fardel progressed professionally in the Caribbean and Americas. He discovered the charms of Asia in 2007. After over 60 years of learning in five languages and with over 50 years of teaching experience in sailing and flying， he discovered the rich maritime history of China. Based in Hangzhou， he works as a consultant to promote cultural exchanges between China and France in the field of modern sailing.