My youth is gone.
A person in Dongguan, it's almost N years in a blink of an eye. For me, these years are the transition from boy to man, the end of adolescence and the watershed of life. But for Dongguan, a young city, it may just be a moment of turning around.
When I came to Dongguan with my classmates n years ago, I carried not only simple luggage, but also confusion and expectation for the future. Now that n years have passed, there is still confusion, but the degree is different. At the age of twenty, I was confused because I didn't know the direction. Now the confusion comes from experience, because I already know the cruelty of reality, which level I am in the social pyramid, and that the world is not what I imagined, which implies helplessness after seeing through it.
Now sometimes standing in the CBD of Cheng Nan, you can see the Yulan Grand Theatre and Dongguan Administration Center on the left, and the World Trade Center, the tallest building in Dongguan, and the World Trade Center under construction on the right. Thinking of the desolate scene here n years ago, I feel that time can really make love.
Dongguan Zhengqingchun
N years ago in Dongguan, the bus terminal was still at the intersection of Guantai Avenue and Chuangye Road. It is the first stop for many foreigners to settle in Dongguan. The noisy, noisy and mixed crowd was my first impression of Dongguan. Please don't be surprised if your mobile phone or wallet is stolen here. This is a gift from Dongguan. If you haven't been stolen, how can you live in Dongguan?
At that time, Dongguan was like a melting pot, and countless people migrated to this city like migratory birds with ideals or desires, eager to get what they wanted. On the streets of the city, the traffic is heavy and passers-by are in a hurry. Further Town, Houjie, Liaobu, Da Lang, Humen, Chang 'an ... There are many factories, and countless workers are busy on the assembly line, just like workers moving. This is a chaotic and dynamic city.
N years later, Dongguan, which has been restless and barbaric, has gradually become orderly. The former world factory is slowly changing, and more and more it presents the scene of a modern city. High-rise buildings have sprung up, and subways extending in all directions have been continuously built. Songshan Lake in spring is charming with flowers, and Qifeng Mountain in the four seasons is just so-so. In the evening at the Yulan Grand Theatre, some people seriously enjoyed Meng Jinghui's plays. Some people watch Yukio Mishima while drinking lattes in the bookstore. Many abandoned factories have become cultural and creative industrial parks.
The public security in Dongguan is really much better. The bus terminal has been moved to John Wan for a long time, and Metro Line 2 has been opened. It takes only 20 minutes from Dongcheng to Humen. Now I pass the Zhitong talent market by car, and I think of the scene of buying tickets and squeezing in to find a job for several days. Everything is like a dream.
Dongguan, 30, is young and full of energy.
Their youth is gone forever.
When I first came to Dongguan, I often walked in this city with my head down. Now, I like to stand on a high place and overlook the city at dusk. Looking at the sky getting dark, the bright headlights are on, and the taillights of cars meander into beautiful arcs on the road, including BMW and Mercedes-Benz. A white-collar worker who just walked out of the towering office building on Hongfu Road turned and got into the village in the city behind the tall building. He lives in Dongguan.
Sometimes I miss the friends I met in Dongguan over the years. The relationship between people in this immigrant city is difficult to maintain. Maybe we are still drinking together today, but tomorrow we will go our separate ways.
Friends who accompany me to eat cheap and spicy pirated VCD in the commercial street of Banhu Industrial Zone in Huangjiang, friends who accompany me to Chiling Internet Cafe in Houjie, friends who accompany me to talk about my ideal friends in Qifeng Road Village, friends who accompany me to walk in People's Park, friends who accompany me to catch up with the plan in Cheng Nan office building all night, friends who accompany me to eat at Hongfu intersection, friends who accompany me to play in Cheng Nan badminton hall, friends who accompany me to watch movies in Dongcheng Wanda, and their friends.
Dongguan has a permanent population of more than 8 million, of which more than 6 million are foreigners. If we add the floating population lost in these years, it will be an incalculable figure. Dongguan is a transit station, which repeatedly handles people from all directions.
The miracle of Dongguan is created by these migrant workers. The vice president of IBM Asia once said: If there is a traffic jam on the expressway from Dongguan to Shenzhen, 70% of the computer products in the world will be out of stock. But that's a legend in the past, and Dongguan needs to be upgraded. Dongguan tries to change again and again, but every time it changes, there is an unknown pain behind it.
Now no one in Dongguan has mentioned the once-resounding slogan of the world factory. After many factories closed down or moved, Dongguan no longer needed so many people. Those over-used cheap laborers, with broken dreams and tired bodies, once again embarked on the road to return home. They used to think that Dongguan would be their new home, but it wasn't. The myth of getting rich overnight in Dongguan has something to do with them, but it has nothing to do with them.
Will Dongguan remember these people? I'm afraid not. After all, every day, people still pour into the city ambitiously, and every day, people pack their bags and leave sadly.
Who got drunk in John Wan in the middle of the night? Who modifies PPT in Dongcheng's office? Who works overtime all night in Chang 'an's workshop? Who is sighing in Dalang's rental house? Some people have realized their ideals here and returned to their hometowns with splendor. Some people have degenerated into young people here and have no face to return to their hometowns.
But more people, like you and me, work hard and live seriously here, which is neither profit-seeking nor elite. No matter where we come from, Hunan, Guangxi, Sichuan or Jiangxi? No matter where we live in Dongguan, whether you hate it or like it, we have dedicated our youth to this city. She is not just a geographical term, but our second hometown. Perhaps the future we want today has not yet arrived, but we will continue to struggle in Dongguan.
What kind of city is Dongguan, a civilized city written by the media? Or the private capital of desire? Is it a world-famous factory or a new first-tier city that is determined to forge ahead? No matter which side you see in Dongguan, I will tell you that Dongguan is a city built by countless foreigners with their youth!
If you dedicated your youth to Dongguan, please forward this article, thank you!
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