A Map of Spring

Spring, the sweet spring, is the year's pleasant king
--From Summer’s Last Will, Thomas Nashe (1600)


Most people in southern part of China would think that it would be easier to find the traces and beauties of spring from literatures. Where can we find spring around us, especially in this city, where we always can view so many flowers and green leaves through out the year? Just read the map of spring, and capture the bits’ of spring in the everyday’s scenes of Shenzhen!

Nantou Street is an ordinary street in Nanshan district, Shenzhen. If I don’t happen to live on this street, I won’t know the name not to mention this long and narrow street. Both sides of the street, which is connecting the Qianhai Road (前海路) and the Lixiang Park (荔香公园）, there are two rows of tall big trees. Local people call these trees Dayerong (大叶榕), while botanists call them Ficus Lacor.

In late winters or early springs, walking down the street, you will find yellow leaves from Dayerong trees are drifting down from their home, and piling up at the feet of their mothers. Don’t take this as an autumn scene. Just look up at the black branches and twigs, tiny pale green buds are poking out! Those are the brand new leaves sleeping inside the buds for a new year. They are the new, young, and fresh generation of the tree families!

Autumn leaves falling in springs, that’s the way that Dayerong trees bring us the messages from spring every year.

As the new season developing, the pale green little buds keeping growing up, too. One day the moment we never can predict, billions of the sheer peels will shed from the leaves buds, floating, drifting, and reeling in the air. That’s a way for us to remedy the regret that we can not enjoy the snow in the winter of this city.

Almost one day later, probably after just one night’s sleeping, all the bare twigs and branches will be covered by brand new leaves. Looking at the fresh, tender, and thin leaves swinging in the occasional agreeable sun light, you will read the message from somewhere mysterious, ‘Spring, the sweet spring, the season’s pleasant king is right here.’

That’s the way we Shenzhenese can learn the message of spring.

Where can we find the Dayerong trees? You don’t have to follow the map I drew. Probably they are right there at the corner out of your home or office. But they are too ordinary to be noticed. The problem is that we always turn a blind eye to the everyday’s scenes.
So you had better just save this map and wait for the next spring.