https://v.qq.com/txp/iframe/player.html?vid=s0385uh62tc&width=500&height=375&auto=0

Prelude

序

Orphaned at the age of six, unaware of his real name or origins, this 88-year-old man has dwelt in a forest near Guangzhou, one of south China’s economic hubs, for 11 years. 

He has decided to live this life till death descends. 

在广州都市边缘，住着一位“野人”。

他无名无姓，不知家在何方。自从流浪到广州，便在树林里住了11年。

他说，他要老死在这里。

Life in the Raw 

荒野生存

Traveling through a tunnel alongside Tianhe Coach Station, a pinhole view of thick vegetation coiling into distance slowly expands, drawing a path across which none intrude. 

从天河客运站出发，穿过高速路的涵洞，有一条无人小径。芭蕉树在这里蓬勃生长，深的、青的绿笼罩着这座山林。

In the shallows of a slope where bushes entwine, a patch of land flickers on the blue horizon. Fertile soil lies unprotected on the left, with poles dug deep and chillies dotted. An airer of slim bamboo sticks stands alone on the right, empty. Banana leaves sway against the grey sky, straining to reach a trail of smoke curling up high above.  

路旁，一道斜坡爬了上去，低矮的灌木林里枝丫交错。拨开草莽，眼前豁然开朗。左侧是一片菜畦，一些木条插在地里，红辣椒星星点点。右侧，竹竿上，挂着几只单薄的晾衣架。硕大的芭蕉叶从后面耷拉下来。路的尽头，一缕炊烟在灰白的空中若隐若现。

In the foreground of a deserted fort, a ragged shack sits, plastic bags covering top and sides. To and fro, the wind blows. The bags move up and down with the breeze. 

那里有一座碉堡，还有一座不足1米6高的窝棚，用塑料片搭的顶，做的窗。

An aged man with a middling build walks out, back slightly bent. He wears a flat cap, a brown sweater and over-sized trousers in purplish blue. A growth nestles to the side of his left eye, hanging like a falling tear. 

一个矮小的老人，微驮着背，走了出来。他头戴一顶报童帽，穿着咖色的衣服，深蓝色的裤子，裤脚拖到地上。老人眯缝着眼，端视前方，左眼眼窝里凸起一颗肉粒，像一滴泪。

He picks up a bundle of sticks and bales a cup of water from the backyard, before retreating to the dim kitchen. No electricity runs, but two oil lamps glow dully on a desk. Everything is cramped inside. A yawn and long, free stretch of the body is a luxury the space does not afford. 

他走出来，在屋后拾掇了一些木柴，舀了一瓢水，又走进黑闷闷的屋里，在土灶上生火做饭。屋里没有电，桌上放着两盏油灯。举目四望，棚里的空间狭窄极了，身子完全无法舒适地伸展。

Run! Follow the Crowd

乱世孤儿 

In 1994, the man arrived in south China’s Guangdong Province, after a long and hard trek from the mid and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. He traveled in search of a new beginning. But tribulations did not cease. This lonely man continued to suffer. His belongings, savings and work certificates were ransacked by local rogues. Once again, life had dealt him a cruel blow.

1994年，他从江浙沪一路辗转到了广东。命运多舛，钱财两空，从此成为一个彻彻底底的时代孤儿。

“During the Anti-Japanese War, my mother was shot dead. I was four. Everyone was fleeing. When I was six, one day, my father snuck out to find food. He was spotted by the Japanese. They fired at us. I was scared and ran away. A rain of bullets cut through my father’s chest. He was barely breathing, but whispered ——

‘Run! Follow the crowd. Run!’ 

I saw him die.

I staggered up, stumbled towards the train station and the streams of people. I ran to them but fell, I got up again and ran.. and fell.. A man dressed in a military uniform approached ——

‘Boy, where are you from? Shanghai? ’

‘I don’t know. I’m starving. My father was shot dead by the Japanese.’

‘What is your name?’ 

‘I don’t know, they call me Mao Mao.’

That officer was surnamed Wang, so he named me —— Wang Zhifang.” 

“抗日战争时期，母亲在我4岁时去世了。日本人打来了，我们四处逃难。6岁那年，我父亲去找吃的，被日本人看到了。他们开枪就打，子弹从我的脑后飞过，穿透了父亲的胸膛。父亲说，看到有人的地方，你就跟他们走，走出去。后来，他也死了。我看到前面有人往火车站走，我跑过去，跌倒了又爬起来追，又跌倒又爬起来。一个穿军装的人，向我走来 ——

‘小孩，你是哪里的？上海的？’

我说，‘我不知道，我肚子饿。我好几天没吃饭了，我父亲已经被日本人打死了。’

‘你叫什么名字？’    

‘我不知道，人家叫我毛毛。’

那个军官讲，叫我跟他姓，他说他姓王，叫我王志芳。”

After getting a little money from the officer, Wang Zhifang began a life on the train, making ends meet on the tracks until he was 12. He then learnt construction skills from a master. And when he was 14, he began to make a living on a construction site. 

这位王姓军官给了他一些钱。自此，王志芳便在火车上生活。直到12岁时离开火车，作为一名学徒跟随一位做土木建筑的师傅学习手艺，14岁时正式在工地上做事。

“In 1945, I was 15. The country won the Anti-Japanese War. I could make a living by myself. I traveled to many places by train: Shanghai, Hangzhou, Jiangsu, Quzhou, Fujian…mostly I did work in construction and hydraulic engineering. The country needed it after years of war. Decades later, when the reform and opening-up policy was introduced in China, many rich people came to Guangzhou in search of a better living.”

“那一年，全国抗战胜利。我15岁了，一般的东西都会做了。我跑到上海，又到杭州、江苏、衢州、福建...辗转于城市和农村，做一些建筑工作和水利工程。那个时候房屋和水利建设最多。改革开放后，富裕了，很多有钱人都往广州发展。”

So in 1994, 66-year-old Wang Zhifang followed the crowd again, this time to Guangzhou. But upon his arrival, he was robbed - the certificates and 15,000 yuan (about 2,000 US dollars) in savings were gone. Suddenly, he was a man with nothing. Picking up rags to sell was his only means of survival, because he was too old to be employed.

于是，1994年，66岁的王志芳乘坐火车来到广州，刚到火车站就被流氓抢去了包裹，里面约一万多积蓄以及用工证明。王志芳自此失去了能够证明其身份的文件，加之年龄过大，在广州无法工作，无奈之下，流浪于街头。

“After the robbery, I waited and slept in the train station every day. My clothes were cut up by thieves using blades. I had nothing. Even to go to the loo, you had to pay 0.2 yuan. Once, I was terribly starving, so I drank a lot of water at the bathroom. A man saw me and asked ——

‘Are you sick? Why do you drink so much water?’

‘I’m hungry.’”

…

Such things happened every day. 

“那时，我天天在火车站等。在火车站过夜。身上的衣服，全被人家用刀片弄破了。没有钱，也没有水喝。上厕所要2毛钱。有一次，我实在是太饿了，就到厕所里喝水，喝了很多水，一个穿公安制服的人走过来，问我——

‘老人家，你得了什么病啊，吃这么多水。’

我说，‘我肚子饿。’

天天都是这样。后来没办法，就靠捡破烂赚一点钱。”

After two years, he finally found a shelter he could call home. A fire hydrant nearby provides water for him. 

王志芳花了两年找到现在的栖身之所。山林底下，有一个消防栓，解决了水源的问题。

Dawn at Twilight 

绝地逢生

By 2012, Wang Zhifang was too old and sick to take care of himself. A man named Shang Binghui, known for helping vagrants, found him. The care and love from Shang and other volunteers  breathed new life into Wang. They often come to help him tidy his place and give him some money. Shang said he gives Wang 500 yuan (70 US dollars) every month.

2012年，王志芳因受病累，无法外出捡破烂为生，恰在此时偶遇以帮护流浪人员闻名的尚丙辉。尚丙辉和志愿者的加入，给了老人生活的希望。他们常来帮忙，打理窝棚，给老人经济上的帮助。尚丙辉说，他每月会给老人500元的生活费。

(Above two photos by Wen Jianmin, Yangcheng Evening News)

（上二图片来源：温建敏，羊城晚报）

Some urge him to leave the wilderness and return to a life with others. Local government workers came to his place and tried to help him move to a nursing home. But Wang refused. 

“This is my life”, he said. “I will live it till death descends.” And he waved us goodbye, tears coursing down his cheeks.

虽然有人劝他搬离，当地民政部门的工作人员也到山林探访，商量办理入住老人院的手续，但是王志芳仍表示，他要老死在这座城市的边缘。

他一路目送，挥手作别，笑容挂在嘴角，泪水早已噙满眼眶。

根据“Creative Commons Attribution”许可 ()使用Kevin MacLeod创作的歌曲“Laid Back Guitars”

来源：

艺术家：

往期回顾：

她不是你想象中的台湾萌妹子 | Meet Taiwan’s first pro female MMA fighter

这世界只对漂亮的人温柔吗？| A better self? Girls seek beauty under knife

爱是永无止息 | Till death do us part

七分之一的榫卯艺术 | Reproducing Ming-era heritage

“疯狂的面包”| Bake on track: Mental patients run bakery in Beijing