文革时， 广东受摧残最严重的院校是广东工学院。一千多亩的 校园原在广州东山东风路，院长为留德的水利专家麦蕴瑜。听说文革时林彪要来广东另立中央， 看上了广工的校园， 以备战备荒之名， 逼学校搬往粤北曲江的小县城马坝附近的南华寺，大雄宝殿当教学大楼， 藏经阁为图书馆， 学校易名为广东矿冶学院。谁逼广工搬离广州我不清楚， 她在东山的校园后来大半被羊城晚报和省高教局占用。大约在74年， 广东矿冶学院在南华寺东边的山坡上建了新校园， 从此离开了大雄宝殿和藏经阁。
我67年入小学， 76年高中毕业， 基础很差，连求两个分数的最小共分母都不会，77年高考自然名落孙山。 78年春节过后，我得到我人生中最大的贵人指导， 好好的读了六个月书。我当年最想去华工读与电有关的专业。 但志大才疏， 只好进广东矿冶学院的电气化与自动化专业。那时， 矿冶学院的教师常常向省委请求把学校搬回广州，恢复 广东工学院之名。我们78级也成了广东矿冶学院的最后招收的一批学生。我离开学校出国时， 她还在曲江。84 年左右学校终于回去广州东山了，复名广东工学院 (现在的广东工业大学)。 在南华寺的校园也卖给广东韶关钢铁厂, 后来办成广东松山职业技术学院。
在美国生活三十年， 南华寺的日子魂牵梦萦。 可是一直没机会回去看一看， 因为地方太偏僻。
2012 年春天，我终于有幸重访南华寺， 回美后用英文写下这段文字给我女儿.
因为她们无法理解爸爸为何冒著寒风冷雨， 去一个那么遥远， 鸟不下蛋的地方， 看一座破旧的校园。
如今， 他们知道， 那个地方在爸爸心中的分量。.
Revisit the Nanhua Temple I was in Shunde for a 2-week business trip from late February to early March this year and had the opportunity to meet close to 20 of our classmates.
At the end of the trip, 挚斌drove me to 南华寺 in a chilly and drizzling morning. Due to the heavy fog and mist, there was not much to see along the freeway except for a few scattered farming villages. But I was not a bit disappointed at all. We had non-stop conversations, reminiscent of our youthful days in 南华寺 some thirty years ago.
The hills around the temple are still lush and green, the trees majestic, and the temple tranquil. But the river (漕溪)is beautiful and pristine no more, years of uncontrolled development, sand mining, and rampant illegal dumping have ruined it. Numerous hotels and restaurants are built outside the temple. A huge flat-panel TV was beaming in front of the main gate. Next to the temple, a Zen Buddhism college occupies a huge parcel of the land that used to belong to our school in the old days.
The buildings in the old campus have aged but everything was still familiar to me. It had been almost 30 years from the day I left. We took a walk on the campus, visiting the old dormitories (and urinated in the restroom), the lecture hall, the library, the lab building, the factory, and the basketball courts, and lingering in the pine grove next to the library. The campus has been encroached by local farmers and merchants, who have built nondescript shops and homes next to our dorms. The courtyard in front of our dorm has shrunk dramtically, enclosed by a red brick wall. Standing in the balcony of our dorm, we can no longer see the green rice field and the highway in distance, all blocked by the farm houses. The cafeteria is nowhere to be found.
Naturally I was a little bit sadden by the fact that the old school campus has been sold to a vocational school (广东松山职业技术学院). It was a small school in a remote and rural area. Yet it gave us our first taste of college life and is our alma mater, where we spent almost four of the best years in our life. And for those of us who hailed from the villages or small towns, it was our first window to the world. Today, the old campus seems like the first girl you fell in love with but ultimately did not marry. Years later, she wed another man, but was unloved, unappreciated, and neglected. Time and the burden of life has left her face wrinkled. But in the corner of your heart, there is always a special place, a tender spot for her. You miss her, dream of her, and long to see her, at least once more in your life. But you may not have a chance to talk to her, knowing that she is now another man's wife---the vocational school. However, looking at her, even looking at her back from afar will still melt you away. This is my feeling toward our campus in Maba. I cannot say the same about the campuses in Guangzhou.
After the visit to our old school, I stayed overnight in Shaoguan 韶关. It was cold and wet so we canceled our plan to go to 南雄珠玑巷. Instead, I took the train by myself from Shaoguan to Shenzhen in the afternoon the next day. The views of the North River, the mountains and hills along the railroad, and especially the sights of timber rafting in the river, brought back all those memories of riding the train to and from Maba 马坝 long ago.
It was almost 9:00Pm when I arrived in Shenzhen. The next morning I had breakfast with 欢, who then took me to tour the city and his his electronic factory. We had dinner wit h 峰, 平,and 伟 at night.
The next day, I crossed the border to Hong Kong, where I stayed two nights before flying back to the sunny and warm silicon valley.
重访南华寺
今年二月下旬到三月上旬，我去顺德出差2周,有机会见到近20位同学。
公干结束后，在一个下着毛毛细雨的寒冷早晨，挚斌开车陪我去南华寺。由于大雾，沿路没有看到太好的景色,除了一些零星的村庄外.但我一点没有失望。我们车上不停的交谈，追忆30前年我们在南华寺的日子。寺庙周围的山
丘依然郁郁葱葱，树木雄伟,寺庙宁静。但漕溪不再美不再清了,多年无控制的开发, 盗砂, 和猖獗的垃圾倾倒, 已经把河毁了。寺庙外建了许多酒店和餐馆。庙的正门前挂着一部巨型的平板电视, 播放著禅佛广告. 庙旁新建的禅学院，占用了过去属于我们学校在的一大片土地.
校园旧了,一切依然熟悉。我离开已30年了。
我们在校园里散步,重访旧宿舍（还在厕所撒泡尿），教学大楼，图书馆，实验室，校办工厂, 以及篮球场,萦绕在图书馆旁边的松树林下, 那是我们当年早上背英语单词的地方。小部分校园已被当地农民和商人侵占了, 在我们的宿舍旁边建了丑陋的商店和住宅。我们的宿舍门前的院子已经缩小了许多, 给一道红砖墙包围住。 站在宿舍的阳台上，再也看不到翠绿的稻田和远处的公路，全部给农庄挡住了. 饭堂更是无处可寻。
旧地重游, 我有一点难过,伤心. 我们的校园已被卖了。她是一间坐落在偏远农村地区的小型学校。然而，她给我们第一次体验大学生活的机会. 她是我们的母校. 在这里我们度过了几乎4年, 人生中最好的4年。对我们这些从乡村或小城镇来的，她是我们看世界的的第一个窗口。 如今，老校园好像是你第一个爱上但最终没有与她结婚的女孩。多年后，她嫁给另一个男人，但不为人赏识, 爱，或关心。时间和生活的重担已在她的脸上留下深深的皱纹。但在你心头深处，总会有一个特别的地方，一个温柔角落,为她留着。你会想念她，会梦到她，渴望看到她，一次也好。但是当你果真看到她时,你不知道该说些什么. 你知道，她现在是另一名男人的妻子了---广东松山职业技术学院。 然而，看着她，甚至从远处看看她的背影，仍然会融化你。这是我对我们马坝的校园的感情。对广州的校园, 我可不能说相同的话, 尽管它比较气派，摩登，和漂亮。。
重访老校园后，我在韶关过了一夜。因为寒冷和潮湿，我们取消了去南雄珠玑巷的计划。第二天下午，我独自座火车从韶关到深圳。沿线的山丘, 景物, 特别北江水上的漂筏，把我带回当年乘坐火车去马坝上学的日子。
当我到达深圳时，已是夜晚9点。早上起来，欢来与我共进早餐。并与峰，平，林一起吃晚饭。
第二天，我越过边界到香港，在那里住两晚，然后飞回晴朗和温暖旧金山。
[ 此帖被lums在2013-01-16 21:46重新编辑 ]
