(中文翻译在英文正文之后)

Recently during a discussion with students it became clear to me once again what I actually already knew. “Most of my classmates’ parents come straight from the countryside,” said someone. “Every year we go to our hometown with Spring Festival. During Qingming we visit the graves of our ancestors. When our parents were twenty years old, they left the countryside to work in big cities. Only those from my grandmother’s generation stay in villages.”

In short, most students in the heavily urbanized Yangtze River Delta have close ties with the rural. This is an essential difference with many in Western European cities. Knowledge about rural customs, let alone how certain crops are called or how they grow, is minimal there. This knowledge is also considerably less among young people with Shanghainese parents. Moreover, the countryside is not appreciated equally by everyone; some people associate it with concepts such as backward or underdeveloped, or even conservatism.

Most of my walking fellows were born in the countryside and proud to show their home. It strikes me that among Shanghainese people the enthusiasm for walking in the countryside is considerably less. People are used to comfort and sometimes excuse themselves with “walking in the mountains is dangerous”.

What is perhaps generally known, but is once again underlined during my walks, is that a major difference between urban and rural is mainly in manners. In rural areas people are more dependent on neighbors. People are usually extremely hospitable and helpful, even to a stranger like me. In the city, on the other hand, where there are more facilities, individualism is easier, even in a collectivist-oriented society like China.

This also came up in my previous research into rural living in the Netherlands (Exurbia / Wonen buiten de stad). In particular tensions between an ‘exurban’ lifestyle and the rural context. There is much more to say about this (to be continued).

最近，在与学生的讨论课里我确认了以前的猜想。“大多数同学的父母都来自农村，”一位学生告诉我，“每年春节我们都会回老家。清明也会回去扫墓。父母们二十岁左右，离开农村，到大城市工作。只有我祖母那一代的人留在村里。”

总之，在高度城市化的长江三角洲区域，大多数学生都与农村有着直接的联系和经历。这与西欧许多城市有着本质的区别。那里城市居民对农村用途的了解甚少，更不用说某些作物的名称或种植方式了。上海本地的年轻人，对农村知识也同样无知。此外，农村并不被普遍积极看待，它往往与落后或不发达等概念联系在一起，甚至保守主义。

我的大多数徒步伙伴都出生在农村，并以展示他们的家乡为荣。相对而言，上海人到乡下徒步的热情要低得多。人们习惯于把“在山上徒步很危险”作为安慰和借口。

也许总所周之，我的徒步最明显的经历是，城市和农村之间的巨大差异主要在于人与人之间的相处方式。在农村地区，人们更互相依赖 。他们通常非常好客和乐于助人，即使对于像我这样的陌生人也是如此。另一方面，在城市里，设施完善的地方，更显个人主义，即使在像中国这样以集体主义为导向的社会中也是如此。

在我早期对荷兰农村生活的研究中也提到了这一点（参见“Exurbia”一书）。特别是农村背景下各种“郊区”生活方式之间的紧张关系。关于这一点还有很多要说的（未完待续）。