本地，并不是一个准确的地理概念。所谓本地，就是以我为圆心向外延伸，其外延既清晰又模糊，是一处所在之地。这个所在，以及所在之上的一切，山川，河流，城市，乡村，人，事，物，其整体之和，构成了本地。在中国，城市化进程的速度，超过最富有想象力的想象，也超过最令人担忧的担忧，即将消失的景致，即将湮没的历史，往往来不及回望，就灰飞烟灭。本地，不过是试图捕捉即将消失的当下，记录刚刚过去的过去。本地，是一个以“我”为中心的坐标体系，是个人的，也是民间的，因人而异，因时而异，以鲜活的个体方式，观察及研究所在之地，从中整理出变迁的脉络，虽然难免有盲人摸象的尴尬，却不重复他人经验，更不愿转述，而是凭借自己的触摸，完成所有的认知与表达。

The “local” is not an exact concept in geography. It is a circle that extends outwards with the “I” as the center, thus a locale with boundaries that are paradoxically both clear and blurred. This locale, inclusive of the mountains, plains, rivers, cities, villages, people, events, material conditions and everything else within it, constitutes a sense of the local. The current pace at which urbanization in China is moving forward is so astonishing that it is beyond the wildest imagination and beyond the gravest concerns. Before anyone could turn around to see what is happening, sceneries disappear and evidence of history vanishes. The Local, therefore, is an attempt to capture the present before it is gone and to record that past that has just passed on. The Local, a system of matrix with the “I” at the center, is private and societal, varying with the individual and with time. Yet, with refreshing individualistic manifestations, this locale is observed and studied, and its changing trajectory is traced out. Even though there is the occasional awkwardness akin to the blind men touching the elephant, the individualistic expressions have the advantage of not repeating the experience of others and of refusing narrative duplications. They accomplish their sense of cognition and narration by solely relying on their own sensory experiences.

文　/　宋群  　英文译者　/　童明