Memories are memories after all, and most of the memories of the West Causeway in my mind are from seven years ago.

World War II made Li Guanyun realize the strength of the United States, and the nationalist ideology triggered by World War II made him realize that French colonial rule was in jeopardy. For the sake of the family's future, in the second year of Japan's unconditional surrender, he resolutely sent Li Weimin, who was only 16 years old at the time, to study in the United States, during which he only came back twice.

Involved in the ruffian stealing Chinese students' clothes, arrested and abused by the army sent by Pingchuan, it was the fourth day after returning from the United States to take over the family business, and he didn't know much about the current situation of Xidi.

Coming out to watch a movie with my sister is just an excuse, the main purpose is to take a good look at this largest Chinese community in Southeast Asia, which is known as "Little Hong Kong".

The brother and sister walked through the crowded streets, talking and laughing, and unconsciously traveled all over the most prosperous fifth district. Confucius Avenue, Mencius Street, Laozi Street, Guangdong Street, Sanduoli ...... Many streets and alleys are named after Chinese.

Fude Middle School, Ngee Ann Middle School, Erfu Temple, thriving open-air "Phnom Penh Market", "Metropolis Theater", "Three-legged Bridge", "Bali Bridge", "Cloth Street", "Small Hardware Street", "Antique Furniture Street", "Taiping Theater", "Da Luo Tian Restaurant", "Xin Tongqing Cantonese Opera House", "Ya Tung Restaurant", ......

Along the way, almost all of them are Chinese shops, and there are countless "food streets" and cafes on the sidewalks. The Chinese store number plaque is very traditional and eye-catching, and people's daily life and customs make people feel a very strong Chinese cultural atmosphere. It feels like the old neighborhood of Kowloon, Hong Kong, and it is reminiscent of the "Ten Mile Ocean Field" in Shanghai.

The other two main long streets on the embankment are Sailor Street and Meishan Street.

These two most prosperous long streets are more than two kilometers long, with several side streets connecting them, connecting the entire commercial and residential blocks, and on both sides of the street are either the property of the Five Gangs or the Chinese industry.

For example, the famous Fushan Hospital, Liuyi Hospital, Zhongzheng Hospital, Guangdong Hospital, Hainan Hospital, Xuangong Theater, Lido Theater, Rainbow Hotel, Bada Hotel, Hainan Guild Hall, Tianhou Temple (also known as "Grandma Temple"), Saiqionglin Hotel, Tangshan Roast La, Daguang Theater, Free Pacific Academy, Chinese General Chamber of Commerce, Jingwu Hall, Yuexiu Middle School, Chinese Bookstore, Chinese Medicine Shop and so on. Even the people of Mumbai, India, who run the cloth business here, can understand and even speak some "vernacular".

Governor Fang Street runs through these two streets, along which there are three cinemas of Daguang, Shengli and Entertainment, and nearby Laozi Street has the Wenling Hall built by the Hokkien expatriates more than 100 years ago, and not far away is the "Baitie Market", which is mainly run by Chinese vendors. Kwong Nga Secondary School, Lingnan Secondary School, William Lam Secondary School, Kai Chi Secondary School, Nan Chiu Secondary School, Zhiyong Secondary School, Ying Tak Secondary School, Yiu Hon Secondary School and Sino-French High School are also nearby.

It's not a "sparrow" Chinatown in the Western concept, unlike those that have only a few side streets.

It covers nearly half of the city of Saigon, including districts 5, 6, 7, 8, 10 and 11, while there are only 11 administrative districts in the whole of Saigon. If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, Li Weimin really couldn't believe that the Chinese district of Saigon was so big.

Today's cinemas are not like the cinemas of later generations, there is only one hall, and the people inside can only enter after watching the show.

After buying a movie ticket, I walked into a sugar water shop with the little girl, and asked for a sago dew with ice, sweet but not greasy, cool to the heart, using rock sugar, no saccharin, the taste is really good, no wonder the business is so good.

After drinking a bowl and asking for another bowl, Li Weimin sat in the corner with his back to the full of customers and asked in a low voice: "Qingqing, how many Chinese are there in Xidi?" ”

The little girl was asked, and after thinking for a while, she replied with her chin in her hands: "I heard that Mr. Qian said that there are 300,000 hipsters alone, and the guild hall counted a few years ago." If you count the Cantonese people, Hakka people, Hokkien people, Hainan people, and those who have come and been born in the past few years, I don't think it will be less than one million. ”

"So much?"

"There are a lot of them, all of them fleeing."

The little girl took a sip of sugar water and smiled casually: The proportion of hipsters in Xidi is not high, but the proportion of hipsters in Chuzhen (a province in the Mekong Delta) is high, and there are nine Teochew people out of ten. ”

Looking at his brother's thoughtful appearance, Qingqing added: "In addition to our Chaozhou people, Cantonese people, Hakka people, Hokkien people and Hainanese people, there are also Nong, Dai, Hermon, Dai, and Yao people, Teacher Qian said that they also moved from the mainland, but they came relatively early, most of them live in the north and mountains, and make a living from farming and hunting, unlike us who like to live in clusters and are not very good at doing business." ”

In later generations, some experts have investigated and argued that the Nong, Miao, and Yao ethnic groups in Vietnam all migrated from Yunnan and Guangxi in China, and are actually branches of the Guangxi Zhuang people.

Their ancestral home is in Guangxi, their language is the same, their folk customs are the same, and they advocate Chinese culture. Among them, the surname Zhao of the Yao nationality is the descendant of Zhao Tuo (Han), the king of Nanyue of the Han Dynasty and Yao Ji more than 2,200 years ago, more than 1,000 years earlier than Zhao Kuangyin, Taizu of the Song Dynasty.

Li Weimin learned a small language at that time, and he had a certain understanding of Vietnamese history, so he did not feel particularly strange, looking at the compatriots who spoke "vernacular" and Hokkien dialect outside the shop window, and muttered: "Yes, we are all Chinese." ”

To his surprise, the little girl actually corrected in a matter-of-fact manner: "No, we are overseas Chinese!" ”

There is a difference between Chinese and overseas Chinese, Chinese are foreigners, but they have Chinese ancestry. Overseas Chinese are Chinese, but they live abroad.

Thinking of his "third country" passport issued by the French colonial government, and thinking of those compatriots outside who did not even have passports and could not even speak Vietnamese, Li Weimin suddenly realized that no matter how many Chinese there were on the embankment, no matter how rich the Chinese were, no matter how much they contributed to Saigon and even Vietnam, they were always "guests" here.

Touching the scars on his face from the soldiers of the Pingchuan faction, he suddenly had a thought, if the number of "guests" grows to a certain extent, if the guests have guns in their hands, why can't they be "anti-guest-oriented"?

It is only 1954, and there are still 20 years to go before the reunification of Vietnam.

It's not easy to live again, and I'm really sorry for myself if I don't toss a little movement.

The more Li Weimin thought about it, the more he thought about it, the more excited he became, when the movie started, and how he was pulled in by his sister, he couldn't remember it, and he didn't return to reality until the movie was about to end.

The Hong Kong version of "The True Story of Ah Q", I really haven't seen it before, compared with the adaptation in the mainland, the criticism has weakened, and Ah Q's feelings for Wu's mother have been increased.

The plot is average, and I am used to watching Hollywood blockbusters in later generations, and the current shooting has no effect at all. The dialogue in Chinese sounds quite kind.

What made him laugh dumbly was that the actor was actually Guan Shan, if he remembered correctly, he should be Guan Zhilin's father.

In this era, there was an incredible interest in poetry, and even more than a dozen Chinese newspapers in Saigon had poetry columns, and bookstores had special editions of poetry. Thinking of the famous poet Bian Zhilin, Li Weimin suddenly discovered that the name of Guan Da Beauty may be related to her father's literary hobby.

At the same time, this old movie reminds him of another movie starring Andy Lau and named by Jin Yong----- "Running to the Angry Sea".

Soon after the reunification of Vietnam, the liquidation of compradors and capitalists began to carry out socialist transformation, and the Chinese, since most of them were engaged in commerce or handicrafts, undoubtedly became the targets of liquidation.

Property was confiscated, many people were even imprisoned and persecuted, and cities were denied access to them, forcing them to move to "new economic zones". The so-called "new economic zone" is actually a forest with nothing, lack of medical care and medicine, and even survival is a problem.

If you want to go, you have to hand over a few gold bars to the government, and then find a way to leave on a fishing boat.

Property has been confiscated, where to scrape gold bars, many people can only write letters to relatives and friends abroad for help, and only pay $1,500 or the equivalent of gold and silver to the government to get out.

There are not only wind and waves on the sea, but also pirates, and millions of Chinese defected to the angry sea, and I don't know how many people died in the belly of the fish.

Those who are alive have been lucky enough to immigrate to Hong Kong or Western countries and regions, such as Hong Kong director Tsui Hark. Unlucky, he was imprisoned in a refugee camp and eventually repatriated to Vietnam.

History can't repeat itself, and we must find a way to clean up the ungrateful bastards over there!

Walking out of the cinema, Li Weimin strengthened his determination to make some moves and never live again in vain. He took out a few coins, bought a newspaper casually, and while looking at the report on the battle situation in Dien Bien Phu, he said lightly: "Qingqing, brother has changed his mind, brother wants to go to the United States in a few days." ”

The little girl was stunned for a moment, took his arm and asked eagerly, "Go to the United States, will you come back?" ”

"Two months at most, of course."

"But the wound on your face is not healed yet."

Today is February 18th, and if nothing else, the French army stationed in Dien Bien Phu will be wiped out in two or three months.

The French can't hold on, the puppets that the French have raised can't hold on, and now is the time to burn the cold stove, and only by having good relations with the future president of the Republic of Vietnam can the next step be realized.

Don't miss the opportunity, and never miss it.

Li Weimin took a deep breath, patted her hand and said, "It's not a blind date, it's okay." ”

The little girl tilted her little head and asked, "Dad wants you to go to Hong Kong, can he agree?" ”

"I'm an adult, and I have something very important to do on this trip to the United States, and he will agree."

"But you've just come back!"

"It won't take long, two months at most." Li Weimin pondered for a moment, and then said with a wry smile: "Not only does he have to agree, but he also wants to give me some money." If you don't have money, you can't get anything done. ”