In tracing the memories that lie between the lines of a journey, one can find unique kinds of door-to-door salesmen who toured our cities of old. They ran their small businesses with much in common; tweaking only meagre profits borne from polite and patient service, and free delivery.
在追寻旅程之间的记忆时，人们可以找到独特的门到门推销员，他们参观了我们古老的城市。 他们经营着小企业有很多共同点；只从礼貌和耐心的服务和免费送货中获得微薄的利润。
With no need to travel far, people would emerge from their hutongs to purchase household items and daily essentials right outside their own doors. The produce came to them, preceded by the tradesmen’s bracing and melodious calls that treated both young and old with honestly and integrity.
不需要走远路，人们就会从胡同出来，在自己门外购买家居用品和日常必需品。 在商人的振作和旋律的呼喊之前，农产品来到他们面前，他们以诚实和正直的态度对待年轻人和老年人。
The price of progress has come to mean that such scenarios are little more than a memory; often the subject of conversation among China’s elderly or the setting for a television period drama series.
进步的代价意味着，这种场景几乎不过是一段记忆；通常是中国老年人对话的主题或电视时代电视剧的背景。
The Flower & Shoes Pattern
花和鞋子图案
It is early summer. At this time each year people know to look out for ladies sporting a blue shoulder bag; coming from the countryside villages, neatly dressed, they are referred to as “the peddlers of flowers and shoes pattern”. From their bag come forth beautifully decorated pieces of fabric. Butterflies, floral designs or depictions of Chinese society have been impeccably embroidered upon them. Young and old alike surround this travelling saleswoman, snapping up the patterns in all their wonderment of sizes; some useful as neck scarves, others for adorning tables, yet more to be fashioned into stylish waistcoats or shoes. Our adorable entrepreneur then gracefully retires from the alleyways, destined for another year of stitching.
现在是初夏。 每年的这个时候，人们都知道要寻找穿着蓝色单肩包的女士；她们来自乡村，衣着整洁，被称为“花和鞋子图案的小贩”。 从他们的包里拿出了装饰精美的布料。 蝴蝶、花卉图案或中国社会的描绘被完美无瑕地绣在它们上。 年轻人和老年人都围着这位旅行的女售货员，抢购了各种尺寸的图案；有些可以作为围巾，有些可以装饰桌子，但更多可以做成时尚的马甲或鞋子。 然后，我们可爱的企业家优雅地从小巷里退休，注定要再做一年的缝制工作。
The Tinker
修补匠
Mender of pots and pans and sharpener of knives, the tinker may be renowned as a bit of a jack-of-all-trades, yet in the China of old, tinkers came with a greater skillset.As the echoes of his cries carried forth through the alleyways, not only would the women and children come out with their pots, bowls and scissors, but so would the replies; “Tinker, come here!” For this was one itinerant in great demand; in addition to fixing up a leaky bowl he would also often be able to perform precision work on delicate ceramics. Such miraculous work is worthy of being upheld as a national skill.
修补锅碗瓢盆和磨刀器，修补匠可能以多才多艺而闻名，但在古老的中国，修补匠拥有更强的技能。随着他的哭声在小巷里发出，不仅妇女和儿童会带着他们的锅、碗和剪刀出来，回复也会出来；“修补匠，过来！” 因为这是一个需求量很大的巡回活动；除了修理一个漏水的碗外，他还经常能够在精致的陶瓷上进行精密工作。 这种奇迹般的工作值得作为国家技能得到支持。
Wood Fired Wonton
柴火馄饨
All year round delicious scents can be detected hanging in the air. In these cities of old there are countless and charismatic delicacies such as maltose, baked wheat cake with duck’s oil, jiuniang osmanthus, stinky toufu and ruyi toufu, duck’s blood and bean starch vermicelli soup. Yet, it is the wood-fired wontons that stand head and shoulders above them all. This small snack is enjoyed by the entire nation, but now sadly their stands are few and far between. Negligible profits and environmental concerns over the scarcity of wood have pushed the wood fired-wonton between a rock and a hard place.
一年四季都能感觉到空气中瀰漫着美味的香味。 在这些古老的城市里，有无数富有魅力的美食，如麦芽糖、鸭油烤小麦饼、九洋荻、臭豆腐和如意豆腐、鸭血和豆淀粉粉丝汤。 然而，是燃木的馄饨站在他们所有人之上。 整个国家都喜欢这种小零食，但遗憾的是，现在他们的摊位很少。 微不计的利润和对木材稀缺的环境担忧将烤制的馄饨推到了岩石和坚硬的地方之间。
In Nanjing we are lucky; here people from all over China can still visit Fuzimiao for a taste of the genuine wood-fired wonton.
在南京，我们很幸运；在这里，来自中国各地的人仍然可以参观福子庙，品尝真正的柴火馄饨。
Sugar-coated figurine
糖衣小雕像
Children from up down the alleyways are thronging excitedly together; something is definitely up! Their being accompanied by a unique syrupy fragrance can only mean one thing; sugar coated figurines! Then our gypsy enters, with his marble-topped workbench, ready to do his magic with the simplest of ingredients; boiling sugar and glutinous rice dough. Our gypsy is adept; heaped upon an iron ladle a thick pale yellow transparent liquid overflows with precision. With hands and simple tools he works hard at this traditional folk art; toning different colours, shaping various life-like figurines, forming delicate patterns as the syrup cools. Such are these figurines’ colour and lustre that they form a beautiful memory for Chinese children across the Motherland.
小巷里的孩子们兴奋地挤在一起；肯定有事情要出事了！ 它们伴随着独特的糖浆香味，只能意味着一件事；糖衣小雕像！ 然后，我们的吉普赛人带着他的大理石顶工作台进来了，准备用最简单的材料施展魔法；煮糖和糯米面团。 我们的吉普赛人很熟练；铁锤上堆着厚厚的淡黄色透明液体精确地溢出。 他用双手和简单的工具努力制作这种传统的民间艺术；调色不同的颜色，塑造各种栩栩如生的小雕像，在糖浆冷却时形成精致的图案。 这些小雕像的颜色和光泽如此之高，它们为祖国的中国儿童留下了美好的回忆。
The Mobile Barber
移动理发师
Barbering may have its origins in Sicily, dating back to 296 BCE, but in China, the history of the mobile barber can be traced back further. This tradesman made his way from house to house with a pole over his shoulder, on one end of which was a bench, razors and other haircutting tools; on the other a bucket of boiled water. In traditional society the barber’s skill was greatly admired. Upon the orders of elders, apprentices began by honing their cutting and slicing skills by practicing on white gourd, one of the first crops to have been commercially harvested by humankind.
理发可能起源于西西里岛，可以追溯到公元前296年，但在中国，移动理发师的历史可以追溯到更远的地方。 这位商人肩上扛着一根杆子挨家挨家挨家挨家，一端是长椅、剃须刀和其他理发工具；另一端是一桶开水。 在传统社会中，理发师的技能备受推崇。 在长辈的命令下，学徒们首先通过在白葡萄上练习来磨练他们的切割和切片技能，白葡萄是人类最早被商业化收获的作物之一。
