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【中国面孔】功夫小子骑行非洲记
【China Face】A different fortune

[ 2013-11-20 16:46] 来源:中国日报网     字号 [] [] []  
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【中国面孔】功夫小子骑行非洲记

Du Fengyan rides in Rwanda followed by a group of children. Du has ridden through 22 countries, across most of Africa and parts of Asia, over the past two years. Provided to China Daily

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Du Fengyan resigned from a stable job to ride his bicycle across Africa and parts of Asia. He tells Deng Zhangyu that during the two years, he gained a spiritual fortune.

At a time when many urbanites around the world are choosing to ride bicycles amidst rising awareness of the environment and physical fitness, Du Fengyan has embraced a life on two wheels more than most.

He has spent nearly two years riding through 22 countries across most of Africa and parts of Asia, enjoying an experience he will never forget.

When Du cycled on country roads in Ethiopia, he was bombarded with passionate greetings from local people who called him Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan or Jet Li, the three most popular and recognizable Chinese martial art masters in the remote African countryside.

"They asked questions like whether Bruce Lee was still alive because they watched him on TV the day before," laughs the 27-year-old Du, whose skin glows with a healthy tan from the hundreds of days he has spent biking in the open air.

Such encounters were so common that after awhile Du got used to them, and sometimes he even performed martial arts for the locals.

Du is perhaps the first person who knows kung fu to ride a bike across two continents.

Three years before embarking on his African journey in August 2011, the young rider learned one of the three main Chinese martial arts of the Wudang school, baguazhang, which literally means "eight trigram palm". He also learned some Shaolin kung fu, a popular martial art form in his hometown in Shandong province.

Some men in Ethiopia had wanted to challenge Du to kung fu, but the minute he struck a pose they changed their minds and just edged close enough to touch his arm before running off.

Du often won "fights" that way. He says it was the same when people tried to steal his belongings while he was on the road.

"I only needed to put on a good pose and stare into their eyes and they'd be scared and run away, whether they were just being friendly or were real thieves."

Du started his journey in 2011 from Nanning, capital of the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. He rode from Thailand to India, then to the Middle East, and through Egypt into Africa in September last year. According to his stopwatch, Du rode about 3,500 kilometers.

The biggest impression Africa made on Du was that China was everywhere, from road construction sites to daily necessities. Most Africans, he says, knew more about China than other countries and they always welcomed him warmly.

"I was invited to people's houses as an honored guest, sometimes to attend weddings or festival parties," he says.

In Sudan and Ethiopia, people called him "China". To his surprise, they called all foreigners "China" because the Chinese workers helping them build roads and infrastructure projects were the only foreigners they had ever met.

Du's two-month stay in Ethiopia was the longest of his journey. He says in Ethiopia he went anywhere there was a proper road. He even learned a little Amharic, the local language. People there told him that China had helped them a great deal to build infrastructure, whereas some countries just wanted to take the country's resources without giving anything back.

If Du had a problem or needed somewhere to sleep in an African city, he could easily turn for help to Chinese people working there. "I loved meeting different people and seeing their various lifestyles," he says. "And I loved seeing beautiful scenes that some people may never have the chance to see."

Once when he was camping in the wild, he woke up one morning to find many deep footprints and elephant droppings in front of his tent. On another occasion he was confronted while in bed by two wolf dogs staring at him.

He even rode across a wild national park in Namibia, which the natives dare not go near because of the many beasts of prey there. "When I recall all these experiences, I feel afraid. But I felt no fear at the time," he says.

Watching movies on his laptop, collecting music from the places he visited and posting pictures online were his only entertainment on the road.

The two-year journey cost Du about 40,000 yuan ($6,560). The amount included four flights and buying a camera. About 10,000 yuan came from donations from people he met on his journey.

One man he met in Djibouti gave him $400 and bought him several meals because, he said, people had done similar things for him when he was riding a bike across Europe.

Du was born into a farming family in Heze in Shangdong province. He is the second of five children. His family and friends strongly opposed his decision to resign from a Beijing-based company where he worked as an IT engineer.

"I just wanted to realize my childhood dream while I am still young," Du says. "I didn't think too much about anything else."

He chose to spend so much of that time in Africa for the simple reason that visas to most countries there are cheap and easy to obtain.

When he came back to China from his final African destination, Cape Town, what happened in those two years felt like a dream. He realizes that he made a spiritual fortune in Africa. "No matter how desperate I might feel in the future, as long as I think of the joys of riding on all those roads, I feel recharged," he says.

By Deng Zhangyu ( China Daily)

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当大多数人为了保护环境或者锻炼身体选择骑车出行时,杜风彦已经骑着自行车穿越了22个国家,用两个车轮探索了非洲这片外人鲜有机会进入的美丽大陆。

一辆自行车,一部电脑,带着随身衣物,25岁的杜风彦踏上了两年的骑行之路,穿过亚洲大陆,骑遍了非洲绝大多数国家。亲眼看到了很多人际罕至之地的美景,也体验了非洲各地的风土人情。

在埃塞俄比亚的乡间小道上,当地的人会追着这位头发有点长的小伙子,热情地向他打招呼,嘴里叫着李小龙,陈龙或是李连杰。对于这样的问候,杜风彦已经习以为常。对很多生活在非洲偏远地区的人来说,中国的功夫明星是他们最熟悉的中国面孔。

“他们经常会问我,李小龙还活着吗?昨天看电影他还在电视上呢。”说到这里,杜风彦笑了起来。700多天的骑行生活让他皮肤黝黑,泛着健康的色泽。

经常被当地人叫做李小龙,杜风彦已经不再讶异。兴致来了,他还会为当地人表演一段中国武术。也许他是第一个骑车穿行非洲大陆的功夫小子。

2011年开始骑行前,杜风彦曾拜师学过三年八卦拳。家在著名的武术之乡山东菏泽,小时候他还学过少林功夫,长拳等。

在埃塞俄比亚,很多当地人得知他会武功,便前来找他挑战。基本上杜风彦只要摆好姿势,当地人就会一哄而散,跑得远远的躲起来。对此,杜自己也觉得很好玩。

“他们会小心翼翼的靠近我,伸出一只指头,快触到我胳膊时就自己跑开了。我只需要摆一个武术的招式,然后看着他们的眼睛,前来挑战的人就会被立马吓跑。这其中还包括一些小偷,”杜笑着说。

有时候骑行的路线很偏,去到贫穷的农村,便有人想拿走他灌水用的矿泉水瓶或是衣服,随身携带的食物等,但只要他摆一个武功的招式,基本上都会把心怀不轨的人吓跑。

2011年8月,杜风彦从广西南宁出发,途经泰国,再前往印度,然后穿过中东国家,于去年9月通过埃及进入非洲。他自行车上的码表显示,他整整骑行了35000公里。

杜风彦感叹说,在非洲他真切体会到祖国的强大,因为,在这片广袤的大陆上,中国几乎无处不在。马路是中国人修的,桥是中国人建的,基础设施也是中国公司在协助运行。而非洲人的日常生活用品,诸如电视,手机,衣服,吃饭的陶瓷碗,甚至连吃的大蒜都来自中国。

与其它非洲以外的国家相比,大多数非洲人反而更了解中国。很多时候,人们会热情地邀请杜去家里做客吃饭。

“当地人很热情,他们会把我当做远道而来的贵客,邀请我参加他们的婚礼或者聚会。”

在苏丹和埃塞时,很多人还叫他”“China””(中国人)。令他吃惊的是,他们把所有外国人都叫中国人,因为在很多地方,在那里修路和修基础建设的中国人是他们唯一能见到的外国人。

在埃塞的两个多月里,杜风彦骑遍了大大小的城镇和村庄。他甚至学了点当地的语言阿姆哈拉语。当地人说中国人帮助他们修了很多基础设施,而别的国家却只会白白拿走他们的资源。

一路骑行,杜经常在教堂、警察局或者学校里搭帐篷睡觉。吃饭就自己生火煮面,有时候也会到别人家里吃饭。而更多时候,不论在哪个城市,他都能从中国同胞那里得到帮助。

“骑行的乐趣就是可以见到形形色色的人和不同人的生活,还可以看到美景,如火山,沙漠,原始森林。很多人可能一辈子都无法见到这些美景。”

在野外宿营,一觉醒来,他会在自己的帐篷前发现一大排大象留下的脚印和排泄物;晚上睡觉前,他曾碰到过两只猎狗瞪着绿幽幽的眼珠看着他,与他对视片刻离去。他还曾在肯尼亚的森林里和路上偶遇的朋友打着伞,吃着火锅。

有一次他骑行穿过了纳米比亚的国家公园,当他来到下一个村庄时,当地人都不相信他是从国家公园那边骑行过来的。因为那里白天经常有猛兽出没,当地人一般不敢独自穿越。

“我现在想起这些才感到后怕,而当时根本就不觉得害怕,”杜说。

当完成一天的骑行,杜风彦会坐下来欣赏笔记本电脑上存的电影,听听从非洲各处收集的民俗音乐,偶尔在城市里,他也会将自己沿途拍摄的图片上传到博客上与朋友们分享。

两年的骑行,杜的花费不到四万人民币,其中还包含四张机票钱和买相机的钱。四万中约一万块钱来自路途中好心人的赞助和朋友们的资助。

有一次在吉布提,有人给了他400美元,还请他吃了几顿饭。那人说当年他骑行欧洲时曾遇到过很多好心人以这种方式帮过他,现在他要将这份爱心传递下去,鼓励更多人以骑行的方式探索世界。

杜风彦出生在山东菏泽的一个村子里,父母都是农民,家里有五个孩子,他排行老二。骑行之前,他在北京一家公司做网络部门的技术人员,辞职去非洲骑行的想法曾受到他家里和朋友们的一致反对,但他还是出发了。

而之所以选择非洲作为目的地,一是那边签证比较好拿,二则花费可能相对会便宜。

“我并没有想太多,只是想在我年轻的时候实现我小时候的梦想。乘着年轻,实现梦想。”

今年10月,杜风彦从最后一站南非首都开普敦回到北京时,两年的骑行恍如梦境。城市的快节奏让他一时无从适应。但他明白这是自己一生中最为宝贵的精神财富。

“将来不论发生什么,只要想想骑行路上那些有趣的事情,我就会再次从充满能量!”

(中国日报记者邓章瑜报道)

 
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