Walking Storyteller Begins Historic Trek Through China’s Heartland徒步中国腹地，开启历史之旅

YUSAN， YUNNAN， CHINA—My walk restarts at a crossroad.

中国云南省雨伞村——我的徒步之旅从一个十字路口重新开启。

The crossroad is charred by a subtropical sun. It quarters a village of tiled roofs called Yusan. Yusan means “umbrella” in Chinese. It is located in Yunnan Province， in far southwest China， close by the Myanmar border. How old is the village？ Like many things Chinese this is difficult to know. Yusan once straddled the antique frontier between Ming dynasty China and the outside world—the bazaars of Southeast Asia and India. But roads are older than empires2 in Yunnan. A hundred generations of long-legged3 mountaineers have hauled jade， tea， copper， and ivory atop the crooked lanes of Yunnan. Centuries of mule caravans have carved divots4 into the roads’ grey basalt. Roman emissaries to the Han may have passed through this crossroads. Marco Polo， if you believe him， might have walked here. Majestic 20-foot walls once girded5 the nearby fortress town of Tengchong. American bombers， targeting Japanese， ground them to dust in World War II.

这个十字路口被亚热带的烈日烤焦了。它将瓦片屋顶的雨伞村切分成四部分。在汉语中，Yusan义为“雨伞”。该村坐落在中国西南边陲的云南省，靠近中缅边境。这个村落的历史有多久远？像中国的许多事物一样，我们很难知晓。雨伞村曾横跨明代中国与域外世界——东南亚和印度的集市——的古老边界。然而，相比云南的古滇国，这里的道路则有着更为悠久的历史。上百代快腿脚夫依靠肩扛手拉，带着玉石、茶叶、铜器和象牙，行走在云南蜿蜒曲折的山间小路上。片片草皮刻入古道灰色的玄武岩里，那是数百年来骡马商队留下的凹痕。罗马帝国遣往汉朝的使节可能途经这一十字路口。马可·波罗——如果你信他——或许也在这里留下了足迹。附近的要塞腾冲城，四周曾筑有高达20英尺的雄伟城墙，在二战期间美国军机轰炸日军时，这些城墙被夷为平地。

I am walking the world. Yet I stand hesitating under the white sun of Yusan. （I think： I could use an umbrella.） I squint down， sweating， at my new shoes. I have not walked in 20 months.

我在徒步走世界。可此刻，我站在雨伞村的白日下，心生犹豫。（我想：或许我该打一把雨伞。）汗涔涔的我瞥了一眼脚上的新鞋。我已经20个月没有徒步了。

For more than eight years， I have trailed the first human beings who roamed out of Africa during the Stone Age. My storytelling journey， called the Out of Eden Walk6， has been stalled for more than a year in Myanmar. The novel coronavirus， a life form one thousand times thinner than a human eyelash， has blocked thousands of miles of Asian land borders. For the first time since 2013， I have boarded a plane and hopscotched7 ahead—into China. How to describe such an experience after spending a sixth of my life at boot level？ Drunkenness. Intoxication. Unearned speed has pressed on my chest like the gravity of an alien planet. Drubbed by advertising—the forgotten torments of industrial hucksterism8 assault my ears and eyes—I tottered through ghostly airports. I aged. The wrinkles on my brow deepened， creased into a crossroad.

八年多来，我一直在追寻石器时代首批人类走出非洲的足迹。我的故事之旅被称作“走出伊甸园”，它已在缅甸拖延了一年有余。新型冠状病毒，这一生命体的大小不及人类睫毛的千分之一，却封锁了绵延数千英里的亚洲陆地边境。2013年以来，我第一次登上飞机，如跳房子般一路前行进入中国。仅凭双脚走过了六分之一的人生之后，我该如何形容这一航程呢？是酩酊醉酒，是昏醉不知。这种不劳可得的速度像地外星球的重力一般压在我的胸口。工业化时代商品推销叫卖带来的折磨本已渐至遗忘，现在却又侵扰着我的耳目。在广告的猛烈冲击下，我踉跄着穿过幽灵般的机场。我老了，眉头的皱纹深了，皱成了一个十字路口。

CHINA IS a crossroad of memory.

中国是记忆的十字路口。

I will traverse at least 10 of its provinces. The route stretches about 3，600 miles， incorporating at least seven million footsteps. I’ll pace off the footsteps of ghosts. The first Yunnan nomads who hunted red deer as early as 14，500 years ago. The conquering grandsons of Genghis Khan. The tireless 17th-century walking geographer Xu Xiake. The early 20th-century explorer Joseph Rock， who traveled with a collapsible Abercrombie & Fitch9 canvas bathtub.

我将徒步穿越中国至少10个省区市。整条路线绵延约3600英里，至少要走700万步。我要用脚步丈量先人的足迹。这其中既有14500年前云南第一批猎杀马鹿的游牧民族，又有成吉思汗征服天下的子孙后代；既有17世纪不知疲倦地游走中国的地理学家徐霞客，又有20世纪初随身携带阿贝克隆比&费奇牌折叠帆布浴盆出行的探险家约瑟夫·洛克。

Yunnan province， my Chinese starting line， is a crossroad within a crossroad.

云南省是我入境中国后的起点，是十字路口中的十字路口。

On one axis： a north-to-south length of 560 miles， or the latitudinal variation between Mediterranean Rome and chilly Frankfurt. On the other axis： Elevations that range drastically between 22，000 and 250 feet above sea level.

从经度轴看，该省的南北纵距为560英里，相当于地中海沿岸的罗马与阴冷的法兰克福之间的纬度跨度。从海拔轴看，该省海拔相差悬殊，最高点可达22000英尺，最低点为250英尺。

The Indian and Asian plates collided in Yunnan. That tectonic energy has knuckled up the easternmost ramparts10 of the Himalayas. Glaciated peaks alternate with sweltering valleys cut by brown rivers that drain into the jungles of southern Asia. Yunnan contains over 19，000 higher plants11. This is more than half the botanical riches of China. The province harbors nearly 2，000 vertebrate animal species. Again， this represents roughly half the higher fauna12 in China.

印度板块和亚洲板块相撞于云南。这种地壳碰撞所释放的能量将喜马拉雅山脉最东端的山壁像指节一样拱起。这里冰峰林立，闷热的山谷穿插其间，褐色的河流切入山谷，流入南亚的丛林。云南有19000多种高等植物，包含了中国一半以上的植物资源。该省还有近2000种脊椎动物，同样，这涵盖了中国近半种类的脊椎动物。

“Any wild animals left here？” I shout into the ear of an 88-year-old muleteer13 near the Lancang River， which is better known as the Mekong when it flows out of China.

“这里还有野生动物吗？”在澜沧江附近，我冲着一位88岁的骡夫的耳朵大声喊道。在中国境外，这条江叫湄公河，一个人们更为熟知的名字。

The old man’s watery eyes soften. But his answer is muddled. A local translator translates the old man’s words for yet another Putonghua-speaking translator： Yunnan’s diversity extends to Homo sapiens14. A puzzle-board15 of more than 50 ethnic groups， many speaking their own dialects， inhabit the province.