This article is a work that shows Yu's "shifting his position" and writes an article "Going to the atmosphere" (see the article "Chatting with Yu Travelers"). He walked out of his study and paid attention to the fate of the city with a scientific spirit of on-the-spot observation. Through the excavation and display of the cultural accumulation in Kaifeng, Nanjing, Chengdu, Lanzhou and Guangzhou, he sought and discovered the reality from the past years and tried to find some experience from the historical tunnel, providing reference for today's economic construction and cultural trend.

The full text is naturally divided into five parts according to the writing of five ancient cities.

The first part, write Kaifeng.

The author first points out Kaifeng's long history and glorious past, saying that it once "set foot on a Song Dynasty". Then, instead of writing about scenery and feelings in general, the author compares the ancient city of Kaifeng with the ancient city of Pompeii in Italy by analogy, which highlights the vigorous vitality of the ancient city of Kaifeng. "Kaifeng, the ancient city, has been refreshed again and again by the brush of disaster." And the behavior is closely linked with the indomitable and tenacious creativity of our nation, because "Kaifeng, like our whole nation, stands in the desert of disaster again and again." However, the long river of history has advanced to modern times. "The accumulation of layers of silt has deeply hidden the dense footprints of the Song Dynasty" and it has "become a faded site". Therefore, while lamenting the ancient style and glory of the ancient city, the author wants to express his concern for reality and call for modern glory. He explained the fate of the city, especially the process of human development, by climbing the Kaifeng ancient pagoda, just like climbing a pagoda. "The spire at the top of the pagoda is the supreme call" and "There is a relay race between youth and life in the pagoda", which enlightens us that only by "climbing into the pagoda" and climbing to the "two commanding heights of physics and psychology" inadvertently left by the ancients can we truly become the descendants of our promising and capable ancestors.

The second part is about Nanjing.

The author outlines Nanjing with a view to its unique geographical area, forming a unique urban style and cultural form. The fate of Nanjing is colorful. It has a prosperous economy, colorful political and cultural history, and modern wars, all of which have built an unparalleled charm of Nanjing. This is rooted in the strong collision between the Yellow River civilization and the Yangtze River civilization, and it is "a heterogeneous convergence of a huge nation". The author then highlights Nanjing's extraordinary urban features and cultural forms by contrast: other ancient capitals concentrate history in palaces, while Nanjing dissolves history in nature. Therefore, in Nanjing, "there is no pure academic visit, and there is no drama that can abandon history." It "generously opened up a landscape to let people know about the great topic of China history". This gives Nanjing a charming charm that will never decline, so the author makes no secret of his love for Nanjing, and even says at the end: "With 1000, Nanjing City is really suffocating."

The third part is about Chengdu.

The author feels the profoundness of Chengdu. He believes that the profundity of Chengdu is first manifested in its lush green natural scenery. It was the loess plateau where people looked at it for a long time, "even their eyes were yellow", so they woke up and rubbed their eyes hard, and the creator who was ashamed of his negligence made up for it here. The monotony and lack of vitality of the high-altitude plateau reflect the vitality of Chengdu and the hardships of thousands of miles into Sichuan. Secondly, and most importantly, it is "the rich history and culture of China". Although it is in a corner, hiding in the southwest with dense mountains, far away from the southeast and the sea, its unique geographical location makes it seldom dissipate anything, only know that it gathers tightly, and with its powerful precipitation power, it gathers everything of Chinese civilization. But in contrast with the mountain city of Chongqing, the author reveals the future of Chengdu's development, that is, how to move from deep to wide.

The fourth part is about Lanzhou.

The author uses two delicious beef noodles and white melons in Lanzhou to express the unique charm of Lanzhou: thick sweetness. These are two opposing charms, but they are integrated here, creating Lanzhou's unique cultural features and its strong casting of chivalry, sincerity, loyalty, liver and righteousness; Its sweetness also comes from Yu Congrong, which is broad and open. Taking Master Ma's experience and Lanzhou's folk customs as examples, the author shows the cultural characteristics under the charm of these two harmonious examples. The author feels that the Chinese nation has dug a deep well with a fountain of life in a distant place with strong physical strength.

The fifth part is about Guangzhou.

The author's brush strokes fell on the flower market and morning tea, and with the help of discussion, "mainlanders usually decorate the Spring Festival with red paper firecrackers, and the spring and auspiciousness here are artificially paved." Only in Guangzhou, it is difficult to let the floats transport for a season and introduce the real spring life into the house, so it is the most honest and thorough celebration. " The author revealed the heart song of seeing the big from the small. He showed the contradiction between Guangzhou's nature and China's thousand-year-old feudal tradition with a little embellishment of life. Guangzhou is located in the south. Most people living here long for a peaceful and elegant life, but subconsciously they will rebel because they are dissatisfied with the dirty social reality. Due to the yearning and hope for a better and reasonable order, people can easily see the crux of society, have strong indignation at all kinds of unreasonable things, and then have all kinds of ambitions to transform national quality and social customs. Why can't their troubled country repair its riddled situation, get rid of poverty, ignorance and filth and go to a beautiful, rich and civilized place? So, "When the post horse really annoyed people, Kang Youwei, Liang Qichao, Huang Zunxian and Sun Yat-sen stood up here and spoke in the face of the northern voiceless voice. When the fire starts, I will pack my bags and go north to do things indiscriminately. " Its concern for life is close to the original busy, open and brave nature of life. When it breaks out in social events, it will open up dazzling brilliance, attract people's attention and shock their hearts. Now, what it should devote itself to is to make its creation step less hasty and make its effect not only meet daily and seasonal consumption.

Throughout the full text, the technique is unique and exquisite, which is quite impressive. The author has been committed to creating a kind, relaxed and pleasant atmosphere. He himself, as well as we, participated in the conversation; It's like three or five friends, standing around the stove on a snowy night, enjoying the club and talking about the past and present, making five famous cities with different endowments, different smiles, different talents and different clothes become five common friends, and making everyone comment on them, including many good intentions. In the discussion, it is inevitable to touch on various cultural forms and cultural profiles. These excavations and exhibitions of cultural accumulation are not deliberately made by Yu, but the heat that is automatically released as the crystallization core of China local culture. Space is small and energy is large, which is a description of the development trend of China's urban destiny.