尋根記

童年，听长辈说，吴姓始祖发祥于江苏无锡。平时，从竹帽、谷箩等家常用具中，也常常见到写着渤海堂、延陵堂字样，但对它的来历，我知之甚少，甚至是一无所知。及至后来，随着年龄、知识的增长，才知道无锡是人杰地灵、富甲天下的锦秀之邦，向往之情油然而生，盼望有朝一日，亲自去无锡瞻仰。

As a child I heard my elders say that the founding ancestor of the Wu surname arose at Wuxi in Jiangsu. On everyday things at home, bamboo hats, grain baskets, I often saw the words 'Bohai Hall' and 'Yanling Hall' written, but of their origin I knew little, indeed nothing at all. Only later, as I grew in years and knowledge, did I learn that Wuxi is a land of outstanding people and splendid scenery, the richest under heaven, and a longing arose in me to go one day and pay my respects there in person.

开放改革给祖国带来崭新气象，使我一偿寻根拜祖的夙愿。

Reform and opening brought a new atmosphere to the motherland and let me fulfil my long-cherished wish to seek my roots and honour my ancestors.

1986年暮春，我公干出差上海、无锡，公事完毕，来到无锡近郊梅村寻根。是日风和日丽，早晨我在无锡朝阳广场，乘公共汽车来到心仪日久的梅村。得到热情好客的本地人指引，很快找到泰伯庙，它是一幢三进青砖瓦房，单檐歇山式，飞檐翘角，古朴壮观，典型的明代建筑，据说原址是泰伯故居，至东汉桓帝下令改定为祠，以纪念这伟大的开拓者的不朽功勋。

In late spring 1986 I travelled on official business to Shanghai and Wuxi. With business done, I went to Meicun on the outskirts of Wuxi to seek my roots. It was a fine, mild day. In the morning I took a bus from Chaoyang Square in Wuxi to Meicun, which I had long yearned to see. With directions from warm and hospitable locals I soon found the Taibo Temple: a three-courtyard building of grey brick and tile, with single-eaved hip-and-gable roofs and upturned flying eaves, simple and imposing, a typical Ming structure. It is said the site was originally Taibo's residence, converted by decree of Emperor Huan of the Eastern Han into a shrine to commemorate the immortal achievements of this great pioneer.

我缓步来到庙前，庙门关闭着，有个小牌子写道：庙宇修建期间，暂不接待游客。旁边正围着许多游客在看一份泰伯史料简介，我如获至宝，挤上前去，全文抄录下来。

I walked slowly to the temple front. The gate was closed, and a small sign read: 'Temple under repair; visitors not received for the time being.' Beside it many visitors crowded around a printed sheet summarising Taibo's history. I took it as a treasure, squeezed forward, and copied the whole text down.

来到偏殿，我向工作人员递上名片并说明来意。一位姓俞的管理员破例准许我一人入庙参观。殿前有明代修建的石牌坊，上书“至德名邦”四个大字。我怀着敬仰的心情，仔细端详殿内的一切设置，当我来到第三进至德殿前面，耸立一尊新铸的二丈多高的巨型香火铁塔耸立着。踏入至德殿，抬头可见后壁神台上坐着一尊高大的崭新的泰伯塑像，长长的脸型，白晰的皮肤，慈祥和善，端正安坐，他的长相和家乡长辈老人很相似，我默默地注视着，一股游子归家拜见长辈的感情油然而生，于是恭恭敬敬的在始祖塑像前鞠躬三拜。塑像两边朱红大柱上悬挂一付对联： 天伦美对千年遗范在人间； 至德无称八百开基锦世泽。

At the side hall I presented my card to the staff and explained my purpose. A caretaker surnamed Yu made an exception and allowed me alone to enter and look around. In front of the hall stands a Ming stone archway inscribed with four great characters, 'Famed State of Supreme Virtue'. With reverence I examined every arrangement within, and when I reached the front of the third hall, the Hall of Supreme Virtue, a newly cast iron incense pagoda more than two zhang high towered before it. Entering the hall and looking up, I saw on the altar against the rear wall a tall, brand-new statue of Taibo seated: a long face, fair skin, kindly and benign, upright and serene. His features closely resembled the old people of my home village. I gazed in silence, and the feeling of a wanderer returning home to greet his elders welled up in me; so with all respect I bowed three times before the statue of our founding ancestor. On the vermilion pillars on either side hung a couplet: The beauty of natural kinship: a model of a thousand years remains among men; Supreme virtue beyond praise: eight hundred years of foundation, a brocade of lasting grace.

俞同志向我介绍，这座塑像是新塑的，清明节刚刚搞过一次隆重的祭祀活动，省政府派人来主持。传说正月初九是泰伯诞辰，三月初三是泰伯的忌辰，每逢这两天吴姓宗亲后裔和梅村镇人民都纷纷前来瞻仰和祭祀，后来改在清明节这一天举行。据历史记载，泰伯庙岁时致祭奉祀，历代不废。泰伯的名字在无锡、苏州一带是家喻户晓的人物，泰伯“三让天下”的高尚品德，开发江南的伟大业绩，已成为江南人民世代相传的佳话。

Comrade Yu told me the statue was newly made, and that a grand sacrificial ceremony had just been held at Qingming, presided over by a representative of the provincial government. Tradition holds the ninth day of the first month as Taibo's birthday and the third day of the third month as the day of his death; on both days Wu descendants and the people of Meicun came in throngs to pay homage and sacrifice, later consolidated into the Qingming festival. Historical records show that sacrifices at the Taibo Temple have been kept up in every dynasty without lapse. Around Wuxi and Suzhou Taibo's name is known in every household; his noble virtue in 'thrice yielding the realm' and his great achievement in opening up Jiangnan have become a story handed down for generations among the people of Jiangnan.

我向俞同志表示要去鸿山瞻仰老祖宗的墓道，他热情地详细介绍鸿山的路程和方向，并借给我一辆自行车，我立即上路。

I told Comrade Yu I wished to go to Hongshan to visit the ancestor's tomb. He warmly described the route and direction in detail and lent me a bicycle, and I set off at once.

骑着自行车，穿过绿油油的，开阔的庄稼地，这里正是闻名于世的长江三角洲沃土、鱼米之乡。中午时分，我终于赶到鸿山。这里是一片无边的平原，右前方有一座很低的小山岗横伸向左，从高到低，从大到小，活象一只巨型的飞雁，贴着地面伸着长颈，缓缓停落在一片平原之上。在雁颈前部有一群土黄色建筑物，从地面向上，远望它象戴在雁颈上的金环。我暗暗叫好，果然鸿山是块风水宝地，老祖宗的眼力超凡，选中这里作开基创业之地。我推车步行，一步一步地踏着老祖宗惨淡经营、艰苦创业所走过的黄土地，祈望能领会老祖宗的“友让于内、开拓于外”的精神真髓……

Riding the bicycle through lush, open farmland, I was in the world-famous fertile soil of the Yangtze delta, the land of fish and rice. Around noon I finally reached Hongshan. Here is a boundless plain; ahead to the right a very low hill stretches across to the left, from high to low, from large to small, exactly like a giant wild goose in flight, its long neck stretched close to the ground, gently alighting on the plain. At the front of the goose's neck stands a cluster of ochre-coloured buildings rising from the ground, which from afar look like a golden ring on the goose's neck. I silently applauded: Hongshan is indeed a site of excellent fengshui, and our ancestor's eye was extraordinary in choosing it as the place to found his enterprise. I pushed the bicycle and walked, step by step treading the yellow earth over which the ancestor had laboured and struggled to build, hoping to grasp the essence of his spirit of 'friendship and yielding within, pioneering without'.

走近墓道，又是一番雄伟景象：整个建筑群建在山坡的南面，从下而上，四周用土黄色高墙围着，占地0.2公顷。墓地门前是用花岗岩砌成的三大孔门牌坊。石阶拾级而上，顶点就是老祖宗长眠之地，它用青色大理石砌成圆成，高二米、直径三米，墓顶铺茵茵青草，前面墓碑刻“泰伯墓”古朴典雅的隶书大字，庄严肃穆。我在墓前跪拜三叩首，又沿着墓绕了三个圈。

Approaching the tomb path, another magnificent scene: the whole complex is built on the south face of the slope, rising from bottom to top, enclosed by high ochre walls, occupying 0.2 hectares. Before the cemetery gate stands a three-arched granite memorial archway. Stone steps climb to the summit, where the ancestor rests. The tomb is a mound of grey marble, two metres high and three metres across, its top carpeted in green grass; the stele in front bears the words 'Tomb of Taibo' in large, elegant clerical script, solemn and dignified. I knelt before the tomb and kowtowed three times, then walked three circuits around it.