Anonymous 無名

My grandmother has no name.  I once was angry. How can anyone have no name? Then my brother explained that it was not an insult, not a neglect. Just was. There was a place for a culture where people were known as themselves, without a label called a name. That place was not far from Cassia Forest.

我的祖母沒有名字。我曾經很生氣。哪有人沒有名字？ 我哥哥跟我解釋，沒有名字，不代表不重要，不在乎。沒有是另一種存在。從前，有一個地方，有一種文化，人就是人，不用藉一個叫做名字的標籤去了解。那個地方，離桂林不遠。

My grandmother is a Zhuang, a minority group in China. We know her last name is Ben. Tickets in hand, I am about to start a journey back to Cassia Forest.  I want to find my grandmother’s village. Without a name, how do I do a google search?   Maybe I can walk around villages with her last name, and see if I can see faces that look familiar, like my father, my aunt, brothers, sister and cousins.

我的祖母是壯人。我們知道她姓賁。機票在手，我馬上要去桂林了。我想去找祖母的村寨。沒有名字，網上怎麼搜尋？ 也許我可以走訪跟她同姓的村寨，看看村人是不是看來眼熟，長得像爸爸，姑姑，哥哥，姐姐跟表哥表姐。

I travel often, but never travel without knowing the next destination. There are some level of anxiety, and come with it more excitement than usual.  Cassia Forest is a beautiful place. Zhuang culture is fascinating, and may be I can stay long enough to learn a few sentences, a few songs and the way of living. In a place where anonymous was the norm, I’ll travel without a known destination.

我雖常常旅行，可都是清清楚楚的規劃好了要去哪裡。這回沒有明確的目的地，有一層焦慮，更有一層冒險的興奮。桂林山水甲天下。壯文化耐人尋思。也許我可以住一陣子學幾句壯話，幾首壯歌，熟習一下不同的生活。在一個人不需要名字的地方，我應該可以不需要目的地的旅行。