Chapter One Riverside
On a warm June afternoon a rivulet happily murmured an endless story about the old peaceful land. It wound its way like a snake through the extensive green stretches of tall, fine grass, a pleasing velvet adorned with nameless flowers in various colors and shapes. Both upstream and downstream, the rivulet gradually became first a shimmering silver ribbon, and then a thin gray thread that disappeared into the azure skies at the horizon. To the east, a coal mine’s giant winch tower stood against the blue sky and looked over the plains of the Yellow River’s low reaches like a supreme lord. The mine, owned by foreigners, was among the first modern ones of its kind in China. The winch’s wheel turned ceaselessly; the tower was the proboscis of a mosquito, busy siphoning off the land’s blood. A mount of debris, useless rocks from the coalmine, stood beside the winch, a silent witness of the ravages of recent economic development in a place of time-honored beauty.
Posted in The Lanterns in the Dark.
– September 9, 2009
Chapter Two Railway Station
No sooner had Rong-fang had his snack than he went out. “Papa,” he said, “I’ll be waiting for you at Platform Two.”
Posted in The Lanterns in the Dark.
– September 9, 2009
Chapter Three Prawn
The moment the boy entered the courtyard he cried out, “Mom, we’re back!” and then sprinted across the yard. He expected a warm welcome, but Mother called somewhat indifferently, “Come in, my boy.”
Posted in The Lanterns in the Dark.
– September 9, 2009
Chapter Four Thunder
Preparations for the departure were soon finished.
“Please take the American candies.” Rong-fang ran out and threw the precious things onto the cart that Mr. Wei brought. “My elder brother needs them.”
Posted in The Lanterns in the Dark.
– September 9, 2009
Chapter Five Wedding
The next day shocking news swiftly filled the town. Some unidentified people had shot Sergeant Wang dead. The townspeople hated Wang, but murder struck fear in their hearts, along with speculation. Most people believed that Red gangsters had assassinated Wang.
Posted in The Lanterns in the Dark.
– September 9, 2009
Chapter Six Orator
Unusual, but not awful things happened. The Red Gang were not man-eating monsters, but ordinary people in gray uniforms who smiled gently at people. When they entered the town, they distributed relief funds and provisions to the poor, set up asylums to collect and feed paupers, helped to resume production in factories, and suppressed the hateful Kuomintang officials and officers who had had blood on their hands. Aunt Shan’s son was among the first to be arrested and immediately sentenced to death. Had he stayed with the Red army for three months longer, he would now have been a big man. Aunt Shan was woebegone again. Her family moved back to its old house, and again Rong-fang often saw her in his house.
Posted in The Lanterns in the Dark.
– September 9, 2009
Chapter Seven Outside School
A new family moved into Little Flower’s old house. Rong-fang often saw a ghastly pale and bony man lolling in the sun like a dormant snake on the steps in front of the house. One day he saw the middle-aged man yawn and weep, and occasionally give a heart-rending cry. At first the boy was startled and thought that he must suffer from a serious illness.
Posted in The Lanterns in the Dark.
– September 9, 2009
Chapter Eight Dilemma
Before liberation, the city had only two or three small-sized middle schools with a total enrollment of several hundred students. Afterward, thanks to the Communist Party, and in spite of the warfare that still raged in Korea, new schools sprung up in the war-worn country. Rong-fang was admitted to a new middle school far away from home.
Posted in The Lanterns in the Dark.
– September 9, 2009
Chapter Nine Little Flower
At school one morning the bell rang and a foreign woman entered the room, accompanied by a Chinese teacher. All the students were quiet, curiously gazing at the unusually tall foreign woman with blond hair, large blue eyes, and an exceptionally big nose. Before liberation the city had a comparatively large population of foreigners, mostly engineers or senior executives of big enterprises, but they chose to live a life separated from the native Chinese. Few children, therefore, had ever had the chance to study a foreigner at such a close range.
Posted in The Lanterns in the Dark.
– September 9, 2009
