The understatement central to British tourist attractions—美而低调的英国风光

Standing on ahilltop overlooking Cliveden Gardens on a bright wintryday, its dark-green lake surrounded woodland stippled with red and gold leavesand centuries old trees took my breath away.

Cliveden is nofamous holiday destination, but a “local park” Auntie Zhao took me for a casualafternoon walk. Located just 30 miles west of London, the 350-year-oldstately home and its 150 hectares of garden is a hidden gem that I never heardof during my eight years living in the UK.

As I stood atthe heart of this tranquil garden, I understood why the English countryside hasinspired generations of artists and writers.

It also taughtme a lesson about the British culture of understatement,a certain modesty linked to confidence, evident in Auntie Zhao’s casual remarksabout the walk, which has become a natural part of her relaxed life inBerkshire.

Despite itshistory as the home of an earl, three countesses, two dukes and a Prince ofWales, Cliveden is hardly known to the hundreds and thousands of Chinese visitors arriving in the UK every year.

“The Englishlandscape is more beautiful because its beauty is understated,” my friend Willsaid to me later as we walked through a Paul Nash exhibition at Tate Britain.

He pointed outa Nash painting of a pastoral Buckinghamshire scene featuring expansive field of green woodland and goldensunshine in the distance. “This is the landscape I grew up with,” said Will.

I looked atthe simple painting and reflected on its tranquility which is utterly differentfrom the magnificence of the roaring Niagara Falls or the wild beauty of theAmazon rainforest. The Buckinghamshire woodland does not sing its own praisestoo loudly but the more I looked at it, the more its elegance came alive forme.

I wonder ifthe hundreds of thousands of Chinese tourists coming to London every year will increasingly venture beyondLondon, beyond the famous university towns such as Oxford and Cambridge, andbeyond the well-loved Lake District National Park, to discover a piece of lesswell-known English landscape.

Over theyears, I also became familiar with British reticence and modesty. I remember astraight-A classmate once telling me he “survived exams” and another friendfrom Oxford introducing himself as “studying in the countryside”.

This modestyalso has its mirror in Chinese culture, as I remember my parents’ telling me towork hard but restrain from talking too much about my achievements. Chineseculture is full of proverbs such as “good wine needs no bush” and “real goldwill shine sooner or later”, to encourage long-term dedication to one’s chosen area ofexpertise.

This mindsethas helped me to appreciate the English way of understatement. I have learntthat the wild and open uplands in Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights and the lushand unspoilt meadows in John Constable’s beautiful paintings are not justscenes in English history but are very much a part of British life today,waiting to be discovered by every one of its visitors.