Chapter 57 flickering eyes

Suddenly, I received a notification from the local press officer that today is the anniversary of the founding of Baghdad, and there will be large-scale celebrations. If we want to film and report, we can get permission.We asked: Did President Saddam participate?The answer is: no one can know this.If you come, you are very lucky. Then go for it. Led by the press officer, we arrived at a stadium far from the city.The stands were full of spectators, and high-ranking officials were arriving one by one, mainly officers in military uniforms. The soldiers along the way saw the officers constantly making salutes like stomping their feet vigorously, while the officers hugged each other one by one when they got out of the car, and kissed each other's bearded faces with their bearded mouths.Their senior officers are all too fat, but their military uniforms are handsomely designed, especially the hats, whether they are large caps or berets, are eye-catching.Putting a beret on the gray hair is so powerful that even the obesity of the body can be forgiven.

After layers of sentries, our group of people were all regarded as photographers and put directly on the performance venue in the center of the stadium.My companions thought that I didn’t bring any camera, and I wore a neat suit. It’s not a problem to shake around on other people’s performance venues for three or four hours. I think this kind of free orientation is interesting.Suddenly, I saw a gentleman at the VIP seat on the rostrum waving to me while pushing down one level at a time. I took a closer look and saw that it was Mr. Zhang Weiqiu, the Chinese ambassador to Iraq.Ambassador Zhang insisted that I sit in the VIP seat, but I told him that it was my wish that I could walk freely on such a large grass field in a heavily guarded center.The ambassador immediately understood, smiled and let me go.

For such a big event today, we are the only one of the foreign media, plus Wei Dajun, Xie Ying, and Gui Ping are all wearing bright red overalls with the Phoenix TV logo on them, and a long camera is carried on their shoulders, which is the beginning of the celebration. The most important landscape in front of the audience. Suddenly I heard cheers like a tsunami. I thought Saddam had arrived. I turned around and saw, where? It turned out that it was our Wei Dajun who turned the camera in this direction, and the audience in this direction was excited.There was an overwhelming uproar over there again, nothing else, but felt that Wei Dajun stayed here for too long and was jealous.

There was a large phalanx of soldiers with guns sitting on the ground. I tentatively walked into their phalanx and wanted to take a photo. Unexpectedly, everyone from the officers to the soldiers blushed with joy. Of course, it was not for me, but for photography. A few beautiful girls who were waiting to participate in the performance came to us pushing and shoving, and asked if they could take a picture. We nodded, and they posed with expressive expressions. When the shutter was pressed, They sang and flew away like a flock of birds.They didn't think about taking pictures at all, they just wanted to take pictures.An old lady sitting in the front row of the stands kept gesturing to me to point the camera at her. It took me a long time to figure out what she meant, which was easy for Wei Dajun.Afterwards, she kept giving us her thumbs up excitedly.

It is the first time we encounter this kind of situation of longing to be photographed but not wanting to be photographed, and we are very puzzled.But I suddenly understood, and told my companions: This is like walking in the mountains, too closed and lonely, I just want to sing a few times, but no one wants to pick up the singing.To desire to be photographed is to desire to hum in one's own image. Saddam finally did not come, and the press officer explained that he was too busy.The celebration was essentially a square performance that recounted the history of Baghdad.This kind of square performance has long been perfected in China. From the venue design to costumes and props, this place can only meet the level of China's county-level sports games.However, when they traced the long history of Baghdad, when a large group of actors walked through the wide performance venue with bare feet and old clothes, you will feel an irreplaceable consistency in appearance and expression. History is made by such feet.

Next, the performances of surrender and pilgrimage to Baghdad by countries from far and near, with singing and dancing, are quite exaggerated. It is estimated that the ambassadors of various countries sitting in the VIP seats will laugh when they see it.I was afraid to see the performance of Chinese people coming to Hajj, but it turned out that there were no performances, so I was relieved. At this time, the drums were already rumbling, and the war had begun.There are many enemies, one wave after another, one battle after another. I can see clearly that they are fighting the Jews, Persians and Tartars.In some battles, I don’t know who I’m fighting with, so I hurried to find the press officer, and he answered confidently: enemy! enemy!Anyway, they are fighting with the enemy.

Suddenly the field looked better.On one side is a large group of fierce cavalry, on the other side is a large group of shirtless soldiers, meeting each other on a narrow road.A horse jumped out of the cavalry first, and galloped around the shirtless soldiers, and then the whole cavalry was interspersed with the shirtless soldiers.As a result of repeated interspersing, all the shirtless soldiers were wounded and lying on the battlefield. On the vast stadium, they were all struggling all over the ground. This scene is very bold. Once again the victor's cavalcade entered the field, trotting proudly, utterly indifferent to the struggling enemy soldiers. Suddenly, the two victor's horses fell down from exhaustion, and the knight lay down before them and stroked them mournfully.The cavalry went back, but the fallen horses and knights were still there.Unexpectedly, the two horses struggled slowly.In the applause of the audience to catch up with their own team.

Seeing this, my heart became hot. Ancient wars are not important, but in these parts, I saw my fellow artists working.My colleagues, where are you?As long as you make a little movement, I can find and capture it, no matter whether your movements are in works that you don't like as a whole.How are you doing? Soon the artist rested again, or was chased away by the self-righteous officials, and two clowns appeared on the field, one American and one Israeli, talking stupid things and dancing disco.Because of these two clowns, a new war broke out. The following performances are all simulations of modern military actions, which cannot be regarded as art.

When the show was over, we casually chatted with the audience.Seeing an elegant old man who looked like a professor, we asked: Why is your country tense with many countries?The old man replied: Because Baghdad is so beautiful, they are jealous. Grabbed a fourteen-year-old girl who asked us to take a picture and asked her: Do you think America is as annoying as the grown-ups?Unexpectedly, she replied in fluent English: Do you mean its people or its politics?People don't hate it, politics hate it.It has no reason to impose on others. You hate American politics, why are you still learning English?

The answer turned out to be: language is culture, not necessarily politics.God, she's only fourteen. Her age and vision prevent us from being too serious about whether she hates her or not, but her answer makes me happy, because a basic logic norm and rational ability are shown in it.This piece of land is now hot and dry because of the lack of this rain and dew. There is no need to pray for this rain elsewhere, it is hidden in the flickering eyes of children. November 16, 1999, Baghdad, overnight at Rasheed Hotel