关于细节

Detail is the key to success, a principle that’s approve by all, but wisely observed by very few, for detail is always easily overlooked, as my recent personal experience showed.

A group of media organized a tour to Fujian Tulou, famous mud towers in Fujian, China, a fascinating attraction to the culturati. Tulou is the masterpiece of the Southern Fujian culture, on which a lot of researches have been made from its formation to its influence on the folklore. It would take a whole day to visit Tulou because it was distant from the nearest major city, and it was impossible to make the tour in one day after a half day drive from major surrounding cities like Xiamen. So we were all prepared for this trip to Tulou and delayed our flights back home for an extra day to travel between Xiamen and Tulou.

We left the hotel at 7:00 a.m. for Zhangzhou by way of Haicang, and our spirits were high in spite of the rainy and muggy weather. Time flew so quickly while we were telling jokes, laughing and looking forward to our destination that suddenly we found the green fields and emerald mountains outside the window were already way behind us. At first we thought the three hours’ drive would be exhausting, yet not until after three and a half hours did we realize that our bus was already speeding to Shantou. We’d missed the Tulou exit thirty minutes ago. Feeling totally lost, we all went quiet. Judging by the distance to Tulou, it would take another three hour drive to get there and there would be no time left for sightseeing before rushing for our flight back to Beijing from Xiamen.

The silence in the bus made us began to think about the importance of detail, we took it for granted that our driver who had only been to Tulou once should know the way, so nobody brought any map or GPS navigator. We didn’t bother to plan our route before we left, either did we check our direction during the drive, or had the contact of a local guide. All these details were neglected, which cost us the trip we’d anticipated for long. One detail can decide whether a spaceship can have a smooth liftoff, or whether we can maintain a strong inbound readership, of course it’s relevant to the quality of our journey and everyday life. Our little attention on the detail had made a whole day wasted in vain on the way.

人说细节决定成败，每个人都懂，但实行起来就不那么容易。原因是细节太容易被忽略，前不久即有切身经历可与分享。

组织媒体去参观福建土楼，此乃许多文化人期待已久之事。土楼是闽南文化的奇葩，从其生成原因到民俗学原理的影响都值得研究，但毕竟土楼离大城市有段路，必须专门腾出一天方可到达目的。想能做到前半天就从厦门等土楼附近大城市出发然后半天解决问题是不大可能的，因此为组织这次土楼参观，大家都早早做了准备，推迟返家。用整一天往返厦门至土楼之后晚上飞机返家。

清晨七时离开酒店出海沧，奔漳州。一路虽有降雨，天气闷热，但大家都仍很期待，情绪高昂，伴随着各类段子故事，车厢里笑声阵阵。原以为三个小时的路程会很辛苦，转眼已是三个半小时过去，车窗外绿色的田野和苍翠的山峦转眼逝去。望着在大城市少见的蓝天白云人们觉得土楼行程实在小菜一碟。忽然大家发觉，飞驰的中巴已是向汕头方向急驰，早过了往土楼的出口。顿时车厢里一片寂静，人们有种不知所措，此刻根据去土楼的路程计算，即刻向回赶也要另外三个小时，根本不可能有时间参观土楼，大家就必须赶回厦门乘返北京的飞机了。