1936年，老舍先生在山東濟南時寫下了這篇小品文《想北平》。作者身處異地，在戰亂的歲月中，思念他摯愛的北平。老舍是20世紀中國文壇最具代表性的小說家、戲劇家和文學家。
Fond Memories of Peiping
I have no misgivings about writing a novel with Peiping as its background because I can choose to write about what I am most familiar with while shying away from what is less known to me. But I shall be at a complete loss if I should be called upon to write exclusively about Peiping. Peiping is so big and multifaceted that very little of it, I believe, is known to me though I was born and brought up there and never went away until I was 27. Just fancy that I have neglected to visit even Tao Ran Ting, a local scenic attraction! It follows that, in contrast with Peiping in its entirety, what little I know about it is probably a mere drop in the ocean.
I do cherish, however, a genuine love for Peiping-a love that is almost as inexpressible as my love for mother. I smile by myself when I think of something I can do to please mother; I feel like crying when I worry about mother's health. Words fail me where silent smiles and tears well express my innermost feelings. The same is true of my love for Peiping. I shall fail to do justice to this vast ancient city if I should do no more than extol just one certain aspect of it. The Peiping I love is not something in bits and pieces, but a phase of history and a vast tract of land completely bound up with my heart. Numerous scenic spots and historical sites from Shi Sha Hai Lake with its dragonflies after a rain to the Yu Quan Shan Mountain with the dream pagoda on top-all merge into a single whole. I associate myself with everything in Peiping no matter how trivial it is; Peiping is always in my mind. I can't tell why.
If only I were a poet so that, with all the sweet and beautiful words at my command, I would sing of the grandeur of Peiping in as longing a note as that of a cuckoo! Alas, I am no poet! I shall never be able to express my love-the kind of love as inspired by music or painting. That is quite a letdown to both Peiping and myself, for it is to this ancient city that I owe what I have within me, including my early knowledge and impressions as well as much of my character and temperament. With Peiping possessing my heart, I can never become attached to either Shanghai or Tianjin. I can't tell why.
London, Paris, Rome and Constantinople are known as the four major "historic capitals" of Europe. I know something about London; I have been to Paris and Rome only briefly; I have never visited Constantinople at all. Of all these cities, Paris has the closest affinity with Peiping (the word "affinity" may perhaps sound a bit farfetched). Nevertheless, if should make my home in Paris, I would feel very lonely as if I had no home at all. As far as I know, Paris is too much of a bustling town. It does have quiet open spaces, but they smack of mere expanses of vacancy. Peiping is complicated and yet tangible. I can feel it by touch. I can feel the red wild jujubes growing on its ancient city wall! I can spend a whole day enjoying myself sitting on a rock to observe tiny tadpoles in the water or tender dragonflies on reeds while facing me lies Ji Shui Tan Pond and right behind me rises the high city wall. I can thus enjoy a perfect inner clam, free from any desire or fear, like a child sleeping peacefully in the cradle. There are also bustling places in Peiping, to be sure, but like the traditional Chinese shadow boxing Tai Ji Quan, the city retains its stillness in the midst of motion. While Parisians have to turn to coffee or wine for the relief of boredom caused by so many wearisome places in their city, the mild beverage of jasmine tea will be more than adequate for dwellers of Peiping.
Though Paris has a better layout than London or Rome, it nevertheless cannot compare with Peiping, one always finds the natural in the midst of the artificial. The city as a whole is neither too crowded nor too secluded. Even houses tucked away in very small lanes have their own courtyards and trees. Even the most secluded places are situated within a stone's throw of business or residential districts. Such a layout is, to my mind, without equal all over the world. However, what distinguishes Peiping is not the perfect layout, but the open spaces here and there where people can breathe freely; not the many beautiful buildings, but the open grounds around each building which add to its architectural beauty. Each gate tower of the city wall and each pailou (decorated archway) can been seen from afar. And the northern and western hills are visible to people in the open streets.
Those who are fond of studying or collecting curios will naturally be drawn to Peiping, which is remarkable for its rich store of books and curios. Personally i am not given to studying, nor do i have spare money to buy curios. But i am keen on the flowers, vegetables and fruit which grow in rich abundance in Peiping. Gardening is something very expensive. but since flowers of herbaceous plants in Peiping are very cheap and each house has a courtyard of its own, it does not cost very much to plant a whole courtyard to such flowers which, though humble, are nevertheless lovely to look at, such as morning glories on the wall, China pinks at the foot of wall and marvels-of-Peru. Yes, cheap as they are, they attract butterflies! Green vegetables, cabbages, hyacinth beans, young soya beans, cucumbers, spinach, etc. are often carried straight form the suburbs to your residential quarters for marketing. Often, leeks from rural farms after a rain still have specks of mud on their leaves. The vegetables stalls are so colorful that they present a scene of poetic charm. Fruits come mainly from the western and northern suburbs, such as crab apples and cherry apples from the western hills, and jujubes and persimmons from the northern hills. Look, how they are still covered with frostlike bloom when they are put on the market! Indeed, America's paper-wrapped oranges will pale beside Peiping's plums bearing a thin coating of frostlike bloom!
The city of Peiping brings its residents into closer contact with nature by growing flowers, vegetables and fruit in large quantities. The city proper is not plagued by factory chimneys such as you find in London giving off volumes of smoke all day long. On the outskirts of the city lie numerous flower gardens, vegetables farms and villages. An ancient Chinese poet by the name of Tao Yuanming says aptly in one of his famous poems, "Plucking chrysanthemums under the eastern hedge, I calmly view the southern hills." To adapt it to life in Peiping, I might as well substitute the word "western" or "northern" for the word "southern" in the line. Peiping is probably the only place for a man of limited means like me to live an easy and carefree life in.
Now, let me leave off writing, for I am on the point of shedding tears. How I miss Peiping.
想北平
設若讓我寫一本小說，以北平作背景，我不至於害怕，因爲我可以揀着我知道的寫，而躲開我所不知道的。讓我單擺浮擱的講一套北平，我沒辦法。北平的地方那麼大，事情那麼多，我知道的真覺太少了，雖然我生在那裏，一直到廿七歲才離開。以名勝說，我沒到過陶然亭，這多可笑!以此類推，我所知道的那點只是“我的北平”，而我的北平大概等於牛的一毛。
可是，我真愛北平。這個愛幾乎是要說而說不出的。我愛我的母親。怎樣愛? 我說不出。在我想作一件事討她老人家喜歡的時候，我獨自微微的笑着;在我想到她的健康而不放心的時候，我欲落淚。言語是不夠表現我的心情的，只有獨自微笑或落淚才足以把內心揭露在外面一些來。我之愛北平也近乎這個。誇獎這個古城的某一點是容易的，可是那就把北平看得太小了。我所愛的北平不是枝枝節節的一些什麼，而是整個兒與我的心靈相粘合的一段歷史，一大塊地方，多少風景名勝，從雨後什剎海的蜻蜓一直到我夢裏的玉泉山的塔影，都積湊到一塊，每一小的事件中有個我，我的每一思念中有個北平，這隻有說不出而己。
真願成爲詩人，把一切好聽好看的字都浸在自己的.心血裏，像杜鵑似的啼出北平的俊偉。啊!我不是詩人!我將永遠道不出我的愛，一種像由音樂與圖畫所引起的愛。這不但是辜負了北平，也對不住我自己，因爲我的最初的知識與印象都得自北平，它是在我的血裏，我的性格與脾氣裏有許多地方是這古城所賜給的。我不能愛上海與天津，因爲我心中有個北平。可是我說不出來!
倫敦，巴黎，羅馬與堪司坦丁堡，曾被稱爲歐洲的四大“歷史的都城”。我知道一些倫敦的情形;巴黎與羅馬只是到過而己; 堪司坦丁堡根本沒有去過。就倫敦，巴黎，羅馬來說，巴黎更近似北平一一雖然“近似”兩字都拉扯得很遠一一不過，假使讓我“家住巴黎”，我一定會和沒有家一樣的感到寂苦。巴黎，據我看，還太熱鬧。自然，那裏也有空曠靜寂的地方，可是又未免太曠;不像北平那樣既複雜而又有個邊際，使我能摸着一一那長着紅酸棗的老城牆!面向着積水灘，背後是城牆，坐在石上看水中的小蝌蚪或葦葉上的嫩蜻蜓，我可以快樂的坐一天，心中完全安適，無所求也無可怕，像小兒安睡在搖籃裏。是的，北平也有熱鬧的地方，但是它和太極拳相似，動中有靜。巴黎有許多地方使人疲乏，所以咖啡與酒是必要的，以便刺激;在北平，有溫和的香片茶就夠了。
論說巴黎的佈置己比倫敦羅馬勻調的多了，可是比上北平還差點事兒。北平在人爲之中顯出自然，幾乎是什麼地方即不擠得慌，又不太僻靜;最小的衚衕裏的房子也有院子與樹;最空曠的地方也離買賣街與住宅區不遠。這種分配法可以算一一在我的經驗中一一天下第一了。北平的好處不在處處設備得完全，而在它處處有空兒，可以使人自由的喘氣;不在有好些美麗的建築，而在建築的四周都有空閒的地方，使它們成爲美景。每一個城樓，每一個牌樓，都可以從老遠就看見。況且在街上還可以看見北山與西山呢!
好學的，愛古物的，人們自然喜歡北平，因爲這裏書多古物多。我不好學，也沒錢買古物。對於物質上，我卻喜愛北平的花多菜多果子多。花草是種費錢的玩藝，可是此地的“草花兒”很便宜，而且家家有院子，可以花不多的錢而種一院子花，即使算不了什麼，可是到底可愛呀。牆上的牽牛，牆根的靠山竹與草茉莉，是多麼省錢省事而也足以招來蝴蝶呀!至於青菜，白菜，扁豆，毛豆角，黃瓜，菠菜等等，大多數是直接由城外擔來而送到家門口的。雨後，韭菜葉上還往往帶着雨時濺起的泥點，青菜攤子上的紅紅綠綠幾乎有詩似的美麗。果子有不少是由西山與北山來的，西山的沙果，海棠，北山的黑棗，柿子，進了城還帶着一層白霜兒呀!哼，美國的橘子包着紙，遇到北平的帶着霜兒的玉李，還不愧殺!
是的，北平是個都城，而能有好多自己產生的花，菜，水果，這就使人更接近了自然。從它裏面說，它沒有倫敦的那些成天冒煙的工廠;從外面說，它緊連着園林、菜圃與農村。採菊東籬下，在這裏，確是可以悠然見南山的;大概把“南”字變個“西”或“北”，也沒有多少了不得吧。像我這樣的一個貧寒的人，或者只有在北平能享受一點清福了。
好，不再說了吧;要落淚了，真想念北平呀!