In November 2023, a screenshot hit the homepages of various forums and social media.
The strange pigeon swimming in winter actually started live streaming to receive gifts? For a time, rumors spread on the Internet, and netizens talked a lot.
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Some people think that there is nothing wrong with Wei Ge receiving some gifts. He didn’t steal or rob, so what’s wrong with making money on his own? Some people started to get restless: Your weird pigeon with thick eyebrows and big eyes finally did it, and the weird pigeon changed. . . Why is it so divided?
Because I don’t know when, the Dongyong Monster Pigeon has gradually begun to be regarded as a saint-like existence on the Internet, a perfect totem: it seems that he does not need to make money, has no negative emotions, and only has overwhelming mental power and full of positive energy.
In the mean Hupu, he was rated as “a perfect man by millions of people”. In Sun Bar, which is full of abstract culture, he became “the only person in Sun Xiaochuan Bar who is not black.” You must know that some of the Internet celebrities who were popular when the earth-flavored videos swept the entire Internet more than four years ago are now blocked, and some have turned into clowns. The strange pigeons swimming in winter are among the few who remain standing.
Behind the rumors, people really wanted to see a saint stripped of his hypocritical mask, and they really wanted to see a monument collapse.
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What does a real strange pigeon look like? Strange pigeon, has it changed? My colleague @ Kangyowei and I went offline to look for strange pigeons four years ago, but there were so many people around at that time that we watched him run away without even saying a few words.
The person we saw at the time was no different from the person everyone saw online. But because of this “fate”, we may want to know whether he has changed more than others. In the past four years, we have not seen any other media interview him.
So, we once again embarked on the journey to Chaoyang. Can we find the strange pigeon again? Would he be willing to be interviewed if we found him? What if he runs away again? We had no idea about these issues at the time.
Originally we planned to repeat our last trip, flying to Shenyang first and then taking the green train to Chaoyang. After checking, we found out that there is only high-speed rail from Shenyang to Chaoyang, and the green train has long since faded away.
Chaoyang City, where the strange pigeon is located, actually has a glorious past. This was once the capital of the Former Yan, Later Yan, and Northern Yan during the Sixteen Kingdoms period. The capital of the “Great Yan Kingdom” that Murong Fu always wanted to recover in “The Eight Parts of the Sky” was here.
With the passage of time, the titles “Old Capital of Three Yans”, “Dragon City” and “Oriental Buddhist Capital” are no longer well known.
But when it comes to “Winter Swimming Monster Pigeon”, it is a famous name throughout the Northeast. We randomly interviewed many passers-by along the way from Shenyang to Chaoyang and asked them what their impressions were of the strange winter swimming pigeon. Almost everyone knew him.
“He is very positive and has insisted on winter swimming for so many years, which is definitely not the case for ordinary people.” “He is a very good person. I have met him two or three times by chance. He is very polite. As long as you say hello to him, he will greet you politely.” Say hello and say a few auspicious words.”
It was completely different from the last time we were here. The last time I came to Chaoyang, many locals said that he was “trendy”, “sick” and “uncivilized”.
Now, it is no exaggeration to say that it is “rave reviews”. When we were eating pan noodles in a small shop, the elder brother next to us heard us discussing this matter and started chatting with us very casually.
During the chat, we also learned about the reasons why the reputation of strange pigeons among locals has changed in recent years. Before he became popular on the Internet, he was a celebrity in the local area, but at that time, everyone had little contact with him. They just knew that there was such a “weird”, so they would look at him through colored glasses.
But over the years, his story has been gradually unearthed, and his popularity on the Internet has not “smeared” Chaoyang. Instead, he has shown many rare qualities, and his reputation has gradually reversed.
This elder brother also enthusiastically told us the location of the strange pigeon’s winter swimming place, which was right next to a nearby rubber dam.
Coincidentally, this place is only a 10-minute walk from our hotel. We observed the release times of strange pigeon winter swimming videos recently, and found that they were basically concentrated between three and four in the morning, so we decided to go there about an hour in advance.
We set off from the hotel at 2:30 in the morning, expecting to squat for an hour or two, but when we approached that place, Kangkang suddenly said, “Look, there's someone over there!”
As he slowly walked towards us, his face became clearer and clearer in the moonlight – it was indeed a strange pigeon.
“What instructions are there?” “Which platform are you on?” The two questions from the strange pigeon caught us off guard. “We work at Station B. We came to find you four years ago. Do you remember?” “Four years ago? Did you find it?” “I found it. At that time, you were still swimming in the morning.”
However, in response to the sudden interviews and footage, Wei Ge appeared wary and tolerant. He started with a set of official rhetoric:
“No, what do you want me to do now? What are your requirements now? Lao Lao? No Lao, because I don't have time. If you want to Lao Lao, then you want to be interviewed. I don't accept interviews from any units or individuals. I'm sorry. If you want to talk to I’m nagging, then I don’t have time, because my time is too precious.”
Hearing this, we both felt a little panicked, but things suddenly took a turn for the better. “If you want to make a blessing video and take photos, that's fine.” “You two have really worked hard, so what, you two come down and take pictures, don't fall into the river.”
At this time, the atmosphere gradually became normal, and the strange pigeon finally let down its guard. Afterwards, Wei Ge chatted with us while breaking the ice to prepare for the video shooting. We also showed him the video Kangkang took that year.
At the same time, he told us why he came out to shoot videos in the middle of the night – he regards himself as a professional self-media person, and he has high requirements for the quality of videos.
Because when I usually shoot during the day, there are always a group of people watching, and the voices of the people around me are sometimes recorded in the video: “You said that if you don't shoot jokes, it doesn't matter. If you shoot jokes, then (noise) will be included. No way.” After breaking the ice, the strange pigeon began to walk around with his sleeves rolled up, memorizing today's “Positive Quotations”.
During the interval of reciting the words, Wei Ge seemed to see that I was a little cold, so he took a cotton hat from his backpack and gave it to me and asked me to wear it. “Don't watch a joke that lasts only a minute or ten seconds, but what's behind it is so real,” Wei Ge said with emotion. In this environment of minus 13 degrees Celsius, he memorized it for more than half an hour before he straightened out today's lines and officially started filming.
The filming process was extremely smooth. The film was completed in one go. When it was over, the strange pigeon braved the “heat” to go ashore to get dressed and pack his things. Then, the strange pigeon unexpectedly offered to treat us to breakfast.
So, we had the opportunity to communicate face to face. During this conversation, my understanding of strange pigeons changed dramatically. He is not a saint who does not eat grains from the world as netizens say, nor is he the kind of layman who is greedy for money by unscrupulous means.
After chatting with him, I can sum it up in four words: the unity of knowledge and action. On the way to the breakfast shop, we asked Wei Ge if he knew that netizens regarded him as a “saint”? He said he didn't care, he didn't care what others thought of him.
“Now I just live one day to earn one day, and I am happy. Why do I care about so much?” As if triggering some mechanism, he began to say something, “This universe comes from nothing and goes to nothing. Everything is nothingness.” ” and other quotes.
He said that he started studying Taoism and Buddhism in 2019, and slowly began to change his mentality. A sentence he often talks about is: “The past is in the past, I only live in the present now.”
As soon as he entered the door of the breakfast shop, he greeted the boss angrily.
“Just do it, there's nothing wrong with it, right?” As expected, we got a sentence from the boss: “There's nothing wrong with it!” After placing the order, Wei Ge told us that he originally planned not to be interviewed by anyone, but since we are so persistent and really “caught” him, we will make an exception and let us interview him. What's the problem? Just ask.
Our question starts with what the outside world is most concerned about: “Kai Ge, with the number of fans you have now, it won't be a problem for you to bring goods wherever you want, and you can make tens of millions a year. Why don't you bring goods?”
Wei Ge’s answer is very straightforward, money is not important. “Because I can't guarantee that the goods sold by the merchant are 100% authentic. Even if the goods sold by the merchant are fine, if someone buys this thing, throws a handful of sand on it, and then says that this is what the goods are, then that's right. what to do?
If I find him, what if he says to me, “I'm joking with you?” What to do? I can't do anything to him then, but the impact has already been done. “
“I'm afraid of trouble, so I just don't give trouble a chance to find me.” His understanding of live streaming is simple and crude, but it also gets to the essence. But at the same time, there are still goods hanging in the window of Wei Ge’s account.
Regarding this issue, Wei Ge said that he put these products up on the APP on a whim one day, but the platform required him to communicate with the manufacturers if he wanted to sell them.
After he found out, he didn't pay much attention to it and just left it here. At the same time, he also said that he would definitely not bring the goods during the live broadcast. The strange pigeon also said,Nowadays, people on the Internet like to create gods, lift them up, and then push them down and step on them. You can do whatever you want. He doesn't make any response. He just wants to live his life.
In addition, his account has always been open for tipping, but he has never actively asked for gifts from the audience. Even if you pay more than ten yuan, you can become his top brother.
The subsequent chat became more chatty, and we also learned a lot about strange pigeons’ unknown past. He was also a “rebellious” child when he was a child. He wanted to grow his hair long, but at that time, the school and the family were in charge of him.
Now I can make my own decision, but I feel like keeping my hair long is boring, so I just shaved my head. Since he was a child, he has been envious of those children who can swim in the Daling River every day, but his family did not let him swim when he was a child.
So he had a little bit of “reverse psychology” and started swimming in 1997 and winter swimming in 2007. He must swim well enough.
But he later became a teacher and became a “rigid” person. He always stands upright, with sharp eyes, wearing big leather boots, a green military uniform, and holding a hot water bottle in his hand.
He taught students to write, but he didn't like students to use automatic pens. Instead, he taught students to sharpen pencils step by step. He taught students how to sit upright and strictly abide by “keep one punch on the chest, one punch on the chin away from the chest, do not touch the back to the chair, sit halfway on the chair with the buttocks, hold your chest up, raise your head, put your hands behind your back, use your shoulders and shoulders, and look straight ahead!” ”
And because his parents said that someone in his family was sick and that the disease was contagious, he was forced to resign. After that, he became a wedding officiant, and later worked on construction sites, did shipping, carried sacks, and picked up bottle caps.
Finally, he decided to make short videos, which would make it easier to take care of his family and give him more free time. “If a person lives alone in this world and cannot take care of his own relatives, is he still a human being? He is a beast.”
During the chat, Wei Ge basically kept smiling, but when I occasionally asked him about his family, he would always be careless and avoid talking about it.
As we chatted, it was already half past five in the morning. By this time, the strange pigeon had already drank four bowls of soy milk and eaten a basket of steamed dumplings.
After settling the bill, Wei Ge asked us to go back quickly to catch up on our sleep, and said he would treat us to another meal at noon. It was said to be lunch, but in fact it was Wei Ge who took us to meet some of his friends. It was just at Wei Ge's request, so I am not in a position to tell more information here.
But after this lunch, we finally completed the final piece of the puzzle about the “real-life weird pigeon”.
He does not make any money as many netizens think. Although he doesn't earn much, the money is enough for him to live in Chaoyang and take care of his family. He is not a lonely weirdo. He also has friends, including Fa Xiao, who he has known for decades and is still a good friend.
When Kangkang and I were filling up empty mirrors by the Daling River, I saw that many ice parks had set up stalls on the frozen river, and many people were already driving ice trucks and skating inside.
Has the strange winter swimming pigeon changed? Indeed, the quotes in his videos have been changing. He used to do six flutters during winter swimming, but now he only flutters once.
Originally he was a person bound to “Oligui”, but now he is a unique winter swimming monster pigeon. But his optimism and persistence have never changed. After spending this day together, I had an answer in my mind as to what kind of person Wei Ge was.
He is a pure person, a self-consistent person, a person who unites knowledge and action. Perhaps for many people, the words spoken by the strange pigeon are just “quotes”. After reading them, they may not necessarily remember them in their hearts.
But for Wei Ge, he actually practices these “quotations”. He is modest, cautious, persistent, brave, and honest. These words that have appeared in his quotes can all be seen in him.
He is indeed not a saint, he just insists on being himself, ignores worldly opinions, and truly practices the positive slogans he shouts every day.
Perhaps, such a person would be regarded as a weirdo in today's society. But no matter what the outside world thinks, in my heart, he has become the hero of his own life.