5/2014 The Sino Sea, Pistol Prohibition, Online Obsession, and DNA Dominance
F
arewell and adieu to you fair Beijing ladies, farewell and adieu you ladies of 北京, for we’ve received orders to—ahem—sorry about that. We’ve been somewhat preoccupied of late with the sea. Indeed, so has China in general. China’s newfound wealth and power puts the nation in an interesting position to give the planet a whole new heading in the wet parts of the world. To start with, Xi Jinping’s opaque announcement of a new maritime Silk Road has put all hands at the ready in coastal cities throughout the world in the hopes of resurrecting a 2,000-year-old lane of maritime economic traffic to link Fuzhou to Europe. For now, the idea seems like nothing more than a propaganda pipedream, but big investments in China and throughout Southeast Asia mean that, given a chance, the maritime Silk Road could be a boon to coastal economies the world over, from Sri Lanka to Kenya. However, China’s influence on the world’s oceans has not been wholly positive. In fact, China’s endless hunger for the oceans’ ecosystems is wreaking havoc on the environment; overfishing is a major problem, a difficulty China should be in the vanguard of fixing. There is, also, an area where China is changing the oceans far below the surface, very far in fact. China’s Jiaolong deep sea submersible, a marvel of engineering, is breaking records, able to reach over 99 percent of the planet’s oceans—7,000 meters straight down and below the abyss itself (see page 30). Also this issue, you can learn about China’s internet addiction epidemic. Charlie Custer brings us “Internet Internment” (see page 38), where you can learn why China is at a particular risk for online obsession and what’s being done about it. Some of the consequences of internet addiction have been startling and gruesome, but it may pale in comparison to some of the things Chinese parents are doing to cure their kids of the broadband monkey on their back. The cure, for some, may be worse than the disease. You don’t often see guns in China, and there’s a good reason for that. Besides the obvious downside of everyone shooting one another, the authorities have their reasons for keeping firearms out of public hands. Nevertheless, a small but growing gun and hunting culture does exist in China—whether they are tycoon hunters bagging a polar bear or hobbyists with their BB guns. And, while the punishment is severe for owning an illegal firearm, some people just can’t resist the pull of the trigger. Find out more in “Trigger Taboo” (see page 50). We also found room in this issue for a bit of scientific navel-gazing. It might surprise you to know that China is on the frontline of changing the world of genomics. Indeed, the Middle Kingdom doesn’t find itself lumbered with the annoying ethical questions found in many genomics players in the West. “China’s Gene Dream” (see page 44) looks at how China has shot to the forefront of genomics and what it means for the rest of the field. If you’re tired of all this serious hogwash, head on over to Street Talk (see page 11) to pinpoint what kind of male undesirable you are, or, if you’re a woman fed up with male chauvinistic rubbish, check out Made in China (see page 26) for a look at the history of the hated virgin complex. If you’re feeling a bit lonely, head on over to Group Think (see page 70), where we discuss the leftover men and women of China. However, if you’re in the mood for a bit more culture, check out our Dragon’s Digest (see page 12) section for a superb existential fiction about the one-child policy, a wise monkey trainer, and a terrifying tiger. You can find some very feminine high art in our Gallery (see page 60) section, some historic cinema in Zoetrope (see page 80), and some sci-fi literature from China’s tumultuous past in Bookmark (see page 86)—all that and more inside. From all of us here at TWOC, we hope you landlubbers have had a fantastic summer.
Managing Editor Tyler Roney Issue 5 /2014
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5/2014 38 INTERNET INTERNMENT “网瘾”的黑暗世界 The Middle Kingdom finds itself in the midst of an internet addiction epidemic; however, in some cases, the cure can be worse than the disease
44 CHINA’S GENE DREAM 中国的基因梦 The science and ethics involved boggle the mind, but, whatever the consequences, China is at the forefront of understanding and discovering the most complex facets of genomics
50 TRIGGER TABOO 禁枪令下的枪支文化 China has some of the toughest gun laws in the world, but a burgeoning gun culture can still be seen through the eyes of hobbyists, lawbreakers, and the super rich
COVER STORY 0 3 CHINA RULES THE WAVES 海上的中国 From economics to exploration and environmental degradation, China is having a massive—and in some cases extremely costly—effect on the planet's oceans
Issue 5 /2014
3
GALLERY
60
THE FALSE AND THE FRAGILE 虚幻的和脆弱的 We sit down with up-and-coming young artist Yuan Yuan to take a look at how the post-80s generation is changing the world of modern art
12
DRAGON’S DIGEST
TO TRAIN A TIGER 《驯虎》
Wu Chun brings us a stream of consciousness tale about a man, his family, and his tiger; it's a story that tries to get to the heart of loneliness and the very nature of man
0 7GROUP THINK
IT’S NO FUN BEING LEFTOVER
中国为什么有这么多“剩男”？ Carlos Ottery takes a closer look at what it means to be a leftover man (shengnan)
4
18
WORKIN’ ON THE RAILROAD 铁路人生
A group of stunning photos from South China featuring the rare beauty and hope that can be found in everyday industrial drudgery
56
SAVING CHINA COAL-TO-GAS NOT A POLLUTION SOLUTION
煤制气真的会让空气更好吗？ The process of turning coal to gas to reduce Beijing’s smog issues, at first, seems like a great idea, but this solution may be making things worse
76
SOCIAL CHINESE CCTV NEWSPEAK POLITICO CABBIES
CCTV在说什么？ 怎样像北京的哥一样侃政治
Get to grips the no one Cynical and with gossipy, pandering propaganda of like likes to talk political shop the China state-media news Beijing cabbies, and this guide program is here tothat helpnever seems to end
1 EDITOR’S LETTER 卷首语
6 MISHMASH 多棱镜
8 WEIBO WHACK 微亦足道
11 STREET TALK 街头俚语
26 MADE IN CHINA 中国制造
74 OBJECTIFIED 杂货铺
84 CHI LE MA 吃了吗
86 BOOKMARK 好书有笺
64
(railroad),
liu jue
(horse
statue
)
90 PIONEER ON THE ROAD
ORDOS FABLE
by meng qingchun
鄂尔多斯神话
Photographs
The coal boom is over, but this area still has a lot to offer history buffs, architecture nerds, and those with love for the Inner Mongolian plains
对话先锋
92 ON THE CHARACTER 魅力汉字
94 AGONY AYI 麻烦阿姨
96 COMICS 酷漫
WANT MORE LIKE THIS?
80 ZOETROPE COMING HOME 《归来》
Terence Hsieh takes a look at Zhang Yimou’s Coming Home, a film about a family fighting to survive the aftermath of the Cultural Revolution
Issue 5 /2014
You can find more written, visual, and audio content on our website, theworldofchinese.com, which is updated daily with recipes, travel tales, language lessons, and more!
5
MISHMASH
MINING THE MOON There has been some discussion of what China has been doing in the Antarctic, discussion possibly mixed with a little fear and trepidation, as seems almost inevitable when resource-rich territories come into the equation. Well, people viewing China’s activities in Antarctica will likely be little comforted by reports that it may be setting its sights on the resources of the moon. Now, if you were under the impression that the moon was just a hunk of useless rock and abrasive dust where you can play golf and drive a go-kart, think again. Various valuable substances like platinum and titanium are supposedly to be found there, in addition to something called Helium 3, a rare isotope of helium dumped on the moon by solar winds. It is unclear, however, how China proposes to “mine” the moon for this substance or indeed if it would be permitted by other countries or by international law. China is a signatory of the United Nations Outer Space Treaty, which stipulates that moon resources are for all mankind. - TONY HAN (韩欢平)
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LEGALLY BLINDING The Shenzhen traffic police seem to fancy themselves as more of a friendly, community support-type organization rather than an ironfisted branch of the government apparatus. It has to be said that they seem to be making excellent efforts in engaging with the public; their official Weibo account features sympathetic comments on things as diverse as British triplets and moon photography. It can’t all be fun and games, however, and recently they wrote a post directed at drivers who use high-beams unnecessarily. More specifically, they threatened to make those using high-beams at inappropriate moments stare into high-beams for five minutes in a bid to try and teach them a lesson, helpfully adding a picture of a man being subjected to just such a punishment. Their sincerity was however somewhat called into question by the fact that they ended their remarks with a smiley face. It’s a testament to what seems like a successful PR campaign that many netizens responded in equally good humor. - T.H.
SURROGACY SHAKEDOWN Surrogacy in China is something of a risk for all parties involved, with the whole process beset with potential problems you’d never have even thought of—much of that down to lax regulation and legislation. For example, a truly appalling story recently surfaced in which a married man, who we’ll call Mr. X, suddenly received a phone call one day from a relative who told him how surrogacy could be a major payday. Having reportedly “dreamed” of buying a house in Changsha, the prospect of money obviously exerted something of a pull on Mr. X’s imagination, although when he broached the idea with his wife, she was none too pleased. Financial necessity, however, seems to have won through. At the meeting they had in Changsha with their client, Mr. Y, they were told, oddly, that a divorce would be necessary for payment to be made. Presumably after much agonizing, the couple divorced, although this could have been a mere formality. Mr. X went to work while his wife headed to Changsha for the conception. Eventually, Mr. X’s wife told him to try and refrain from phoning her anymore, saying that she had been told that the radiation could damage the fetus. When, on one occasion he called her, he heard a male voice in the background, and was subjected to a scolding from his wife. As the delivery date arrived, however, Mr. X phoned her again, but was met with no response. Worried, he then phoned Mr. Y, the client, who informed him that she had given birth the previous week. It transpired that, during the childbearing period, Mr. X’s wife was moved by the care and attention Mr. Y treated gave her—so much so that she developed feelings for him. The married Mr. Y refused her advances, stating that the care he was showing was for the unborn child. Fully informed, Mr. X has stated that he is indeed willing and hopeful to take his wife back, but no repentance appears forthcoming. For now, Mr. X is sans child and sans wife. - T.H.
THE GREAT BUS SHELTER CAPER The City of Nanjing was recently rocked by a spate of burglaries of breathtaking audacity and technical skill. Under cover of night, the culprits made off with property costing 1.4 million RMB, with a report speculating that the heist could have been pulled off by a gang of professional welders (imagine Reservoir Dogs with blowtorches). It’s enough to send a shiver down your spine. What exactly, you ask, did these dastardly fellows make off with? Bullion? Diamonds? Chemical weapons? Not quite. The thieves spirited away 24 bus shelters. The sophistication of the operation itself, however, was rather impressive if reports are to be believed—each shelter weighing over 200 kilograms, each and requiring a 12-ton truck and crane. The company that built the shelters claimed that several people and heavy trucks would have been needed. Quite understandably, the motivations might be a little hard to pin down, but the Telegraph soon noted that suspicions were turning toward some kind of commercial sabotage between advertising companies, who were in a dispute over the management of the 24 shelters—a sort of Oceans 11 meets Mad Men. - T.H.
Issue 5 /2014
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WEIBO TIDY FOOTBALL FANS
You may have, in the not too distant past, heard about the behavior of those Japanese football fans who, after attending their national team’s fixture against the Ivory Coast, decided to pick up the rubbish left lying around in the stands. Now, those of us who like to consider ourselves civilized might just think: “Oh well that’s jolly nice of them”. You do have to bear in mind though that this might well seem more striking in China, where things such as forming orderly queues are far from common practice. Perhaps influenced by their example, the fans of Guangzhou Evergrande decided to do the same after watching their own team play. Japan’s general excellence in and reputation for public sanitation may, however, take a little longer to learn. While most enjoyed this display of tidiness, others took umbrage with the comparison to Japan. - TONY HAN (韩欢平)
朱宜：听着就不舒服，为啥是效仿日本球迷。我觉得这种事 情大家都能做到，不存在谁效仿谁，只是越来越多人做到后 会带动更多的人。
Just listening to this makes me uncomfortable; why is it “imitating Japanese football fans”? I think everyone can do this, so there’s no such thing as someone “imitating” someone else in this respect. It’s just that some people doing it can encourage others.
不忘初心：真的很好，中国人的素质就在这一点点中进步。 Truly very good; this is how Chinese peoples’ moral fiber will improve bit by bit.
宸汐：说不说效仿日本都无所谓，这是应该弘扬的，很棒！
Call it an imitation or not; this should be encouraged—it’s great!
LUXURY WIVES You may have heard about China’s gender imbalance, and some have thought it through quite thoroughly. So much so, in fact, that a rather popular Weibo topic deals with a possible future in which wives will become “luxury items”. As the topic page puts it: “China’s single man crisis exploded in 2014. The male population will far exceed the female, the disparity reaching in excess of 30 percent by 2016. The total number of single men will rise from 10 million in 2014 to more than 30 million by 2017, approaching 40 million by 2020. Marriage will henceforth be the hallmark of the successful man! Therefore, gents, value those around you! In the future, wives will be luxury items.” Tongue in cheek though this may be, it is something of a serious problem that may well worry many. - T.H.
8
卖闺蜜不值钱：一不小心成了奢侈品，看来不用担心 嫁不出去了。 Accidentally becoming a luxury item—looks like I won’t have to worry about marriage ever again.
火迅科技：哈哈！光棍儿们，要小心了！不是光棍儿 的也要小心了！今后，娶上老婆将成为成功男人的标 志；各位男同胞们，珍惜你们的女性朋友吧！ 肥水不 流外人田，赶紧先娶个老婆回家吧！ Ha! Single people, it’s time to be careful! Even if you’re not single, you need to be careful, too! From now on, marriage will be the hallmark of a successful man. Gentlemen, value your female friends! Keep your valuables to yourself, and bring a wife home sharpish!
老熊家的笨熊：这么多光棍儿可以组织成一支大军像 成吉思汗那时一样横扫欧洲。
So many single men could be organized into a horde like Genghis Khan’s and sweep across Europe.
WHACK ARMLESS DRIVER
A man from Hubei was recently caught after having apparently driven 99,500 miles without a license. Boring, right? Wrong. The man had no arms. According to China Hush, police saw that the man was supposedly steering with the big toe on his left foot but operating the gear lever and subsequently removing the keys with his right foot. The man is reportedly something of a local celebrity, maintaining a high degree of independence despite his misfortunes and serving as breadwinner to his wife, two children, and extended family. He is also said to have purchased the car himself. Of course the police couldn’t allow the driving situation to go on, but given the particulars of the man’s situation, they only fined him 500 RMB for driving without a license, but not without expressing their admiration for his driving skills. – T.H.
Licpppp：这样也太危险了吧！遇到紧急情况怎么办？不能拿 大家的生命开玩笑啊! This is too dangerous! What happens if there’s an emergency? People’s lives shouldn’t be taken so lightly.
一直很晴朗的小格子：作为湖北天门人必须要赞一个，我跟 你们说我们老家那块牛人多得去了！ As a native of Tianmen, Hubei, I’ve got to “like” this; there are scores of supermen where I come from!
猫小姐sx：让我这个驾照考试总过不去的健全人情何以堪！ As able-bodied and yet consistently a failure at driving exams, I’ve got to say, I don’t know what I should feel about this!
SEGWAY-DOG Some residents of Shenzhen were recently somewhat surprised to witness a dog driving what appears to be some sort of Segway-like contraption on city streets accompanied by a man jogging alongside—presumably the person who trained the canine in what must surely be a rather outré act of bipedal acrobatics from its point of view, particularly if the contraption is indeed a Segway. Others were less impressed, questioning the safety of the venture. The dog, however, seems to have a fairly good grasp of what it’s doing. - T.H. 不可控的跑丫：哪个驾校的？好技能！ From what driving school? Good skills.
快乐1314我的人生：真会享受。 Clearly knows how to live.
晖：确定不是披着狗皮的人！？看到这个好搞笑啊！
Sure this isn’t a person wearing a dog costume? This is priceless!
Issue 5 /2014
MALE OUTCAST TAXONOMY
I
Hetero Cancerous
Hominis Maternalis
n oh-so-many ways China is a man’s world—Confucius made that clear right from the very beginning—but, sadly, some of its more macho citizens don’t have a very good reputation and, let’s say, aren’t known for being the most chivalrous types. Firstly, there are those that are almost seen as a disease on the nation: Straight Men Cancer (直男癌 zh!n1n'1i); this is a term thrown at that extra-manly man who is overly proud of his poor taste and lives in the all-too-narrow confines of his own world. He lives in the past and holds outdated moral values that would be more fitting in an ancient Chinese dynasty, particularly when talking and thinking about those most delicate of creatures, women. In the West, his soubriquet would likely be the now slightly hackneyed, “Male Chauvinist Pig”. Perhaps this particular man looks a respectable, homely sort, with brilliantly gelled hair of course; he considers himself a dedicated follower of fashion, but he suddenly becomes bitterly two-faced the moment a woman dares to use her sexual allure in any way. A woman getting a decent education sickens him, as he believes their singular role is to be incubators for children, unthinking wombs at the behest of men. Alas this poor creature has a litany of symptoms that betrays a lack of confidence in his own muscular appeal. Chinese women who, say, date foreign men are traitorous hussies in his mind, infidels to the great Chinese nation. Though there is, of course, one woman who remains the apple of the Straight Man Cancer’s eye: his mother, for she can do no wrong and is the fountain of all knowledge. This brings us on to the Mother’s Baby (妈宝 m`b2o) or what in the West is known as the “Mommy’s Boy”—a fully grown man seemingly incapable of making decisions for himself, instead letting his mother fully control each aspect Issue 5 /2014
STREET TALK
Sissius Maximus
of the minutiae of his life—everything from what he should wear and where he should work to even who he should date. This cocksure young man might be 30 years old, but he still lives with his mother, probably in the basement. This creature is not known for being attractive to women. In fact his relationship with women is so limited that he might well be called a撸-sir (loser, masturbator). When he is not in his own paradisiacal, private garden of Onan, he works in IT. And, even when he is not at work, he is, most likely, at home furiously bashing buttons to World of Warcraft on his PC. However, should you ask him if yes he has a girlfriend or if he has, indeed, ever slept with anyone, his swift response sings a different tune: “Yeah,” he says, “I have screwed hundreds of women.” This particular male of the species doesn’t get out much. Not all of the nation’s men are coiled springs of unadulterated male machismo. We ought not to forget the “Sissies” (娘炮 ni1ngp3o). This term, most likely an invention of the Straight Men Cancer, is for those men who, well, betray just that little too much of their feminine side. Their shower-gels have fragrant hints of lemon and lime; their clothes fit just that little bit too perfectly; and they walk with the campest of girly gaits. This is not to say they are homosexual of course, oh no. This man might even be quite popular with a certain type of woman. The niangpao is often seen as slightly more interesting than your average straight male, more subtle and delicate in his emotions—an absolute must for the girls to do lunch with, one of the so-called 男闺 蜜 (n1ngu~m#, male besties). The Straight Man Cancer must look on in shame as his bullied rival takes home the girls, somehow aghast at how sensitivity trumps the noble tradition of misogyny and chauvinism. - CARLOS OTTERY AND GINGER HUANG (黄原竟)
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DRAGON'S DIGEST
TO TRAIN A
TIGER A man, his family, and a ferocious beast in a tale of wonder and loss 在他看似尘埃落定的生活里， 没有什么力量会真的被驯服 12
1
T he newcomer was a Bengal tiger. He took the liberty of naming her Bangladesh. After a tiresome day of training, he led her back to the cage. He took the bus home, had dinner, checked his daughter’s homework, and
Peng Yue by
Illustration
watched the news on TV. The arrival of a tiger hadn’t really affected his routine. Turning off the TV, he crept quietly to bed, expecting Meiyun to have fallen asleep. “If she and I were both drowning, which one would you save?” What was this persistent calcified thorn in her heart? It usually happened when the midnight deep sleep began to dawn on them. She began to ramble like a drunk. Her broad skeleton grew fragile with age in the day, but when the night fell, she became like a fish experiencing a growth spurt, stretching rapidly, sharply, and rebelliously. He was astonished at her energetic inquiries, but he knew that it was due to an overtly prolific imagination. This time, the question caught him off guard, like an arrow in the dark flying through his spine. He often faced away from her, afraid that if he turned he would get a glimpse of that eerie white skeleton. He wanted to divert his mind and began to picture a piece of raw meat the Bengal tiger ate that day. It was a palm-sized slab of meat with veins all over it. He wondered if, when the Bengal tiger was devouring it, she would try to pick out the non-existent bone with her sharp spine-covered tongue. He told himself: “Remember to do a physical check up on Bangladesh tomorrow.” But who on earth did Meiyun’s “if ” question refer to? Is it his daughter who almost drowned in her mother’s amniotic fluid many years ago? Is it his estranged mother or the lover he had five years into their marriage? As a matter of fact, he was not even sure the person she spoke of was a “she”. Unclear. He wanted to turn around, but he decided to lay on his back. He stroked his forehead along the wide frontal bone to the top, where his hair grew thinner and softer; it wasn’t really something to complain about; after all, he still had his hair in his late 30s, albeit mixed with early an gray. He was tempted to knock on his forehead, just to hear the sound. How is it now? Ah, at least there’s an echo. However, afraid of producing an empty thud and waking her—the dormant fish now still and firm like a church—he decided to keep resting against her leg, listening to her peaceful snoring, a noise that resembled the sound of a broken bell. The next day, after the check-up, he led the Bengal tiger out of the iron cage. The day’s objective was to swim. He went in the water and started to train her in a swimming routine. This tiger could dive. He guided her movements with a piece of meat tied on a rope and led it through the water on curved path with carefully controlled pace and rhythm. She showed a great talent for swimming and moved like a sea monster. Bangladesh looked every bit the tiger she was despite being in water. The entire process was recorded on the pool camera. At lunch, he didn’t send the tiger to the visiting area. Instead, he brought a bag of meat to where the creature was resting by Issue 5 /2014
WU CHUN 吴纯 Wu Chun was fresh out of college when she won one of the most prestigious Chinese literary awards, the 34th Taiwan United Daily Literary Prize “Judges’ Choice” with “To Train a Tiger”. Literary critics praised the story for its variation on stream of consciousness and its creative structure and narrative. Wu Chun is currently a journalist at Cultural Weekend, a newspaper in Dongguan, Guangdong Province, and is preparing upcoming works.
WITH EVERY RISE AND FALL OF HER CHEST, HER MUSCLES TWITCHED AND HER EVERY HEAVY BREATH LET OUT A SPITTLE OF SALIVA 13
the pool licking its fur. Catching a whiff of the meat, the tiger suddenly turned, staring at him with her sharp eyes. With every rise and fall of her chest, her muscles twitched and her every heavy breath let out a spittle of saliva. This was a tiger in heat. Having no partner added to her endless anxiety. Heat radiated from her pores and sweat poured off of her body. Captured by those turquoise blue eyes, the trainer felt his heart was being strangled. He couldn’t help admiring her tense muscles and tendons, as well as the symmetrical, triangle-shaped, striped head. It’s a beauty that has to be expressed by roaring. He didn’t dare move too quickly. He was well aware that, in the blink of an eye, the tiger could jump at him and tear him to pieces. He grabbed a piece of meat from the plastic bag, tossed it 10 meters away and stood witness at the incredible pounce: a jump frozen in time, with her body elegantly stretching its stunning stripes. The tiger’s attention was entirely focused on food. He watched as she tore the pork fillet apart ruthlessly, its primal instincts and intuition to hunt unleashed on piece after piece of dead meat. They eat, sleep, and mate—all brutal but reasonable. Are not men animals as well? He lay by the pool, head resting on the light green square mica stairs, hair wet. Bangladesh finished chewing and began to pace along the pool. When she quietly passed by him, he stared into her ice-blue eyes in the shining sunlight. This time, his heart was empty of terror. The tiger crouched on the ground just a meter away. She leisurely faced the pool, but her heavy breath, undulating spine, and pheromones mixed with hot air alarmed him. He stretched his limbs. Seen from a distance, he looked like brown-skinned prey that had been crudely torn apart. He traced Bangladesh’s shadow on the glazed tile, which remained cold and quiet despite a gust of wind. The combined shadows intertwined in the water—the tiger seemed to walk right into his body. He slept calmly as if he was nestling beside a domesticated cat. A breeze swiftly skimmed the water to his cheeks. His bulging eardrum was struck with a buzzing. The smell of chlorine in the pool rose along the glazed tile, inducing dreams of hospitals, balconies, and medical powders to treat animal ailments. He also dreamt about an afternoon fit for a football game when he was a student. Freshly washed by his girlfriend and hung on the balcony to dry, his football shirt flapped in the wind. It was a piece of white cloth printed with a
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number for a strong, young body. He shivered; the pool’s cool wind was icy. He learned to train animals from an uncle who used to visit his family on the weekend. The uncle trained monkeys in a village circus and used to bring writing brushes made of a lock of monkey hair, shuttlecocks, and various other toys. It was magical. Of all his classmates, he alone had toys made of monkey hair. His uncle was a thick man with what seemed at the time like tens of thousands of monkeys under his command, much like the Monkey King he as a boy so admired. He loved his uncle’s monkeys, giving up inheriting the family business, a store, to follow his uncle to the village. The “Monkey King” passed away two years ago. He learned everything he knew about training monkeys from him. However, the monkeys in the zoo were not up for any performances. He had to start as a zookeeper for large animals. Bangladesh woke up, hovered over him, suddenly slashing out with a deadly strike at his belly. She then set her teeth deep into his throat; its spiky tongue coarsely cutting open his face. The tiger leisurely torn off a piece of brown skin, smelling the blood while the intestines tumbled out like a pile of plastic bubbles. The dream woke him. The tiger rumbled and threw herself into the water. The splash hit his forehead and eyes. He cried out loudly and jumped to his feet.
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He was watching a video in front of the computer when his daughter came by. “Is it a swimming tiger?” “She’s a newcomer named Bangladesh.” “You guys are so cruel.” “Why?” he said, looking at his daughter. “Tigers can’t swim,” she stared at him and said. “You taught it swimming and let it perform alone. It won’t be happy like that.” His daughter was only 10, a carefree and airy age. Even her strides seemed to foolishly match her childish arm movements. “When can I see the performance?” She changed the subject, forgetting her earlier sympathy. They sat together in front of the computer screen, watching the tiger swim. From time to time, she threw out questions like “Is its mommy a tiger who can swim?” “Do their bellies look like balloons when they hold their breath?” “If the
mommy tiger gave birth to 10 tigers, only one of them could swim, how many tigers can’t swim?” He held her on his lap and slowed down the play speed. The Bengal tiger on the screen became a striped butterfly in slow motion. She watched her feeding without any sign of fear. The last frame froze at a close-up shot of the tiger’s fierce stare. “The mommy tiger gave birth to a little tiger that can swim, and there are nine other little tigers that can’t swim. Of course, she will give birth to more tigers in the future.” “What about the daddy tiger? Can he swim?” “I have no idea.” “Dad, what is a secret birth?” His chin was against her soft brown hair. The slow motion allowed the tiger’s moves be broken down, which was even more terrifying than real time. But it wasn’t the tiger that shocked him. Her innocent question gave him chills down his spine, a horrifying feeling with this warm, soft little thing in his embrace. It felt like that afternoon, when the chlorine infused football shirt flapped in the wind, was always doomed. “Some bad kid said it. You don’t know what that is, do you?” She reached out to turn off the video, “Why don’t you take us to the live show? I can’t see you in the video.” “Will you?” she lifted her head and rubbed her tired eyes with her hand. Her little eyes, which once were filled with clown balloons and goldfish, was full of the images of Bangladesh. She had never seen a real tiger before. For her, a tiger was probably the same thing as Tigger in the Disney cartoon or the raccoon on the biscuit box. The black screen reflected the cuddling father and daughter. A few years ago, when they went out together, people commented on how much she looked like her father. But lately, everyone believes her to look more and more like Meiyun. He tapped her nose and forehead—a carbon copy of his own bone structure. His skin was gradually loosening, like it was falling off. There would be a day when he would wear his brown skin like that loose football shirt, wandering the street. A woman would come up and recognize him as her father. All the bystanders would turn around and confirm—indeed, it is her father. They’d stand comparing appearances: the same facial features with his body curling up like an autumn leaf and her fuzzy young cheeks shining with faint traces of sweat. Even though his skin would grow coarse and weak, he wanted this image of father and daughter together; he didn’t want anything else.
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She fell into a deep sleep and snored softly. He carried her to her little bed as always. Growing up, she became very attached to the bed and couldn’t sleep well anywhere else. That bed had been holding her thin and small body ever since, as if it was a tree that had grown into her body, but the relationship was probably more like a soothing cradle to an infant. “May the tiger stay out of your dreams,” he murmured, kissing her forehead.
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He once again recalled his monkey-training uncle in the country. He opened a drawer and dug out an old photo album at the bottom. Inside, there was a photo of them together. His uncle was a hairy man with dark skin and high cheek bones—much like a huge monkey himself. In the photo, his uncle rested one hand on his shoulders— an intimate gesture between father and son. In his other hand, he held a monkey leash. The background was an artificial hill garden, the kingdom of tens of thousands of monkeys. Uncle’s face darkened in his final years. He looked more like a respectable Monkey King, but after his hand was broken by a monkey, he gave up managing them, just strolling among the phony hills. Some of the monkeys shied away from him, some threw fruit peels directly at him. He stood among them in silence, witnessing the monkeys growing into alphas, breeding, and aging. With the ghostly shadow of the Monkey King, uncle walked among them, assuming the role of a guardian-at-leisure until the day he died. “Monkeys understand human nature,” his uncle once said; he thought his uncle was defending the monkeys. “You have to remember, when you are in society, you
MONKEY PERFORMANCES WERE OUTDATED, SO ONE MORNING, WITH A LONG CRY FROM THE ALPHA MALE, ALL THE MONKEYS WERE SET FREE TO WANDER THE THICK FOREST 15
have to learn about tolerance; everyone has their ups and downs, and they will have endless offspring that will change their luck one day. The same goes for both beasts and humans.” He pointed to a new alpha monkey on the rock with a youthful zeal. But it angrily snarled at him and spit in his face. When his uncle died, the village held the play “Monkey King’s Uproar in Heaven”. He would have liked to believe that, when all the monkeys are well cared for, in their free time, they would face the west, chattering about their dead Monkey King. He turned the page. Monkey performances were outdated, so one morning, with a long cry from the alpha male, all the monkeys were set free to wander the thick forest. He hadn’t seen them since, and they became irrelevant to him. Then, his memory wandered. As he flipped through the album from back to front, his uncle seemed to undergo a magical rejuvenation. Sixty, 40, then 35—he thought about how it was a journey through time. When his uncle was 28, he was just a newborn, wrapped in swaddling and being examined. “Hm, his bone structure is not bad; he can be a tall leading man, definitely leading man material.” He looked up into uncle’s eyes and saw a monkey shadow play. There was a photo of him and Meiyun at the back of the album. She was already three months pregnant at the time. They stood against a pristine background of white clouds and blue ocean with people wandering and fish swimming, coconut trees on the beach. It was his uncle who dragged him from his peaceful life in the city. “Come, come with me to the village.” Uncle’s tall, heavy back was an authority he couldn’t disobey. At the time, he thought it was the right decision, too. It was a troubled time for the family: his elder brother and sister-in-law had a second child, violating the one-child policy. The couple fled and hid in the in-laws’ house to avoid the familyplanning workers. With a reputation for being “diligent”, the workers threatened his family; his child-to-be would be born illegal. The words “scapegoat” could induce terror and nightmares in him even now. Back then, the circus was still open, so he inherited his uncle’s duties to make a living. By that time, family planning had made its way to their hidden village. But, because of his uncle’s connections, the seniors in the village didn’t report him, instead providing him with extra care. The pregnant 16
Meiyun, on the other hand, hated the rural life with a passion. She knew very well that she wasn’t meant for it. She sat by the dark kerosene lamp, constantly complaining. The morning sickness and night sweats almost pushed her over the edge. He caught her in his harms as if comforting a child, telling her his childhood tales of catching fireflies and stealing watermelons. He told her about the Herd-boy Star and the Weaving-girl Star in the lightless village night sky and the monkeys who tried to rescue the moon. “Monkeys, don’t you mention monkeys to me!” She pushed him away sharply. “Don’t you know how annoying they are? They sneak into the room, climbing up and down and yelling all the time. They are demons! Why on earth did you breed so many demons?” She screamed with her hands tightly covering her ears. He covered his ears as well, to block out the world. “The train, you haven’t been on a train before,” he said to her one morning. “If you don’t want to stay here, let’s take the train and leave.” “I don’t want to go anywhere. I just want to go home.” They got on the train to move back to the city. But on the way, tales of the seriousness of the familyplanning movement shattered his hopes of returning to their real home. Meiyun refused to turn back with a devilish determination. “Even if I die, I need to get home. I don’t care about the child. I won’t have it.” At the transfer station, he realized that her first trip on a train didn’t bring her any joy; quite the opposite, it was full of endless arguments and vomiting, as well as fear and terror. He went across the platform to buy her a steamed corn on the cob. When he turned around, Meiyun, who was sitting on a bench, had disappeared.
TROOP AFTER TROOP OF MONKEYS PASSED THROUGH THE HILLSIDE. THEY PAUSED AND GAZED AT HIM WITH THEIR SHARP EYES.
In front of him was the giant steam train, under which railroads extended into a corridor of steel and coal dust. Pathless mountain forests surrounded the area. Did Meiyun run into the forests? He sunk into the bench feeling weak and limp, listening to the whistle of the train hastening him to his doom. The sound resembled the screech of monkeys. Troop after troop of monkeys passed through the hillside. They paused and gazed at him with their sharp eyes. He asked the monkeys in tears: “Did Meiyun follow you into the mountains, or has she already been devoured by a tiger?”
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Eventually, she gave birth—a baby girl. Meiyun loved her deeply.
It was the day of the live show. The stadium was decorated with balloons and colorful stripes. He wore his ordinary blue uniform and his daughter wore a brightly-colored dress, which allowed him to spot her in the audience at a glance. Come, wave to father. She waved her lotus root-like little arms. The Bengal tiger was let out of the iron cage, triggering exclamations. They did a warm-up performance first: fetching a ball, jumping through a hoop. He guided the tiger through a variety of difficult tricks, feeling his blood burn with excitement. The king of all animals was kneeling in front of him. Indeed, he was the real king, forcing the beasts to bow their heads. Though the tiger seemed to still carry the scent and fury of the mountain forest; he grabbed its head, and the tiger didn’t resist. It seemed he had crushed the darkness of the mountain forest out of the beast to fill the valley with a pure, bright light. But that was only the reflection of the tiles, he told himself. Finally, there was the grand finale: water. He jumped into the pool with the tiger while the LED screen in the middle of the stadium projected their every move. Everything went really well. The tiger remembered the whole routine and carried it out with perfection. Unlike the absolute control one feels Issue 5 /2014
on land, water requires balance and coordination. With the emotional background music, the human-tiger interaction underwater even made some of the viewers cry. A final move ended the performance: the tiger lunged at him in the water. On land, the audience screamed with surprise, but he only saw his little girl. He wept joyfully in the water and embraced the Bengal tiger. He climbed out of the pool to receive flowers and applause. His daughter cheerfully pursed her lips as if to keep pronouncing the word “tiger”. Yes, I showed you the tiger. He waved to her happily. In the next moment, he felt himself collapse, as if from heat stroke—feeling an inexplicable, sharp pain. In the bleachers, she shouted at him: “Dad, the tiger!”
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His family was afraid, but he made it through the most critical period. The tiger remained in captivity to await its punishment. However, later he learned that the Bengal tiger received a successful artificial insemination and was secretly sent to another zoo to rest. “I just don’t want you dead,” Meiyun sat at his bedside and passed him a peeled apple. But he knew her true meaning. When Meiyun was leaning over his hospital bed, dreamily, she said: “So you would save me, right? But you would jump back just to be with her.” He had no idea what would happen after that jump. - TRANSLATED BY LIU JUE (刘珏 )
Author’s Note: “To Train a Tiger” is a story of a middleaged man reviewing the hidden moments of his past life. For me, it’s an attempt to write from an otherwise alien perspective and an opportunity to study the construct of a short story, which is likely to trigger invisible explosions, one after another, in a limited space. To me, writing is the closest thing to absolute freedom.
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KALEIDOSCOPE
WORKIN' ON THE RAILROAD PHOTOGRAPHS BY MENG QINGCHUN (孟庆春) TEXT BY LIU JUE (刘珏)
A look at the hardworking laborers and equipment that make China’s high-speed rails 铁道上如火如荼的日子
F
or almost seven years, workers from the China Railway Engineering Corporation have been building the GuiyangGuangzhou High-speed Railway (贵广高 铁), connecting the two capital cities of the Southwest province of Guizhou and the seaside province of Guangdong through Guangxi. Like many of its kind, this 857-kilometer railway has a design speed of 300 kilometers an hour, cutting short the almost 20-hour journey down to four. The workers are faced with mountains, valleys, and countless rivers along the way; more than half of the railroad goes through tunnels and more than one fifth requires bridges. But Guizhou and Guangxi are not to be dissuaded, sending workers to toil around the clock. As of August this year, the Guizhou and Guangxi section have already opened for testing. 18
Much like the workers on the Great Wall, the laborers on the high-speed railway have garnered fame for their painstaking efforts, undertaking various impressive projects, working their way through some of China’s most mountainous areas in the scorching summer sunshine. This series of images showing the bustling construction site and the hardworking laborers were taken by local photographer Meng Qingchun over
a month, trekking along the Nanhai section of the railroad. At times, his presence would alarm the site managers; they would chase him away for fear that he was an undercover journalist seeking to expose safety violations on their site. But most of the time, he was welcomed by the workers as an interesting stranger who added a little color to their otherwise monotonous daily life. Issue 5 /2014
LABORERS CUT THE RAILWAY LINES FOR THE GUIYANG-GUANGZHOU HIGH-SPEED RAIL IN GUANGDONG
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IN THE OPPRESSIVE SOUTHERN, SUMMER HEAT, A LABORER COATS THE INSIDE OF A STEEL TUBE THAT WILL LATER BE STUCK INTO THE GROUND AND FILLED WITH CEMENT TO SERVE AS A BRIDGE COLUMN
BRIDGE PARTS ARE TRANSPORTED ON A TEMPORARY RAILROAD TO THE CONSTRUCTION SITE
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THIS 857-KILOMETER RAILWAY REQUIRES AN ASTOUNDING AMOUNT OF RAILROAD TIES
WORKERS BRAVE CRAMPED AND SOMETIMES DANGEROUS CONDITIONS UNDERGROUND TO ENSURE THE SAFETY OF THE RAILROAD
BUT, JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE, THEY ENJOY FIDDLING ON THEIR SMART PHONES IN THEIR DOWNTIME
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THE EFFORT IN TRANSPORTING RAILROAD TIES IS COSTLY AND DIFFICULT IN THIS HECTIC TERRAIN
MACHINES CAN ONLY DO SO MUCH, AS WORKERS HAND READY THE TIES FOR THE RAILS
FATHER OF CHINA’S RAILROADS
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A 12-year-old boy with fair skin and round face from Guangdong Province embarked on an adventure as one of the first government sponsored students to study in the US in 1872. He went on to become the first Chinese railroad chief engineer and the Father of China's Railroads. Zhan Tianyou (詹天佑)
constructed the first railway in China without foreign assistance. His masterpiece, the famous BeijingZhangjiakou Railroad, has served the country for over a century and was retired this July. A bronze statue of Zhan can be found in Qinglongqiao Station, Yanqing County, Beijing. Issue 5 /2014
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HIGH-SPEED RAIL DIPLOMACY Just this year, China has taken on high-speed rail projects in Venezuela, Brazil, Turkey, Nigeria, and various South East Asian countries. China is also currently in negotiation with 17 countries concerning future high-speed railway networks to connect Central Asia, East Asia, and Southeast 24
WITH A GOAL OF 300 KILOMETERS A DAY, WORKING AND WELL-CARED-FOR EARTHMOVERS ARE ESSENTIAL
WORKERS FIT THE RAILROAD TRACKS TO THE TIES
LABORERS MAINTAIN THE TEMPORARY RAIL TO KEEP THE RESOURCES COMING IN WHEN THEY ARE NEEDED
Asia. Once complete, travelers can board at King’s Cross Station in London and arrive in Beijing in less than two days; a journey of 10,000 kilometers from Beijing to Singapore will take as little as three days.
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MADE IN CHINA
THE VIRGIN COMPLEX
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hat makes a fair and virtuous maiden? The answer some men might give would be virginity, presenting a word that awakens the feminist in Chinese women: the virgin complex. Those with the complex consider a girl’s virginity to be the one trait that defines her character: innocence, past and future. A medieval notion perhaps, but there are men who consciously or unconsciously emphasize the correlation between virginity and love, responsibility, and virtue. There’s a long history behind the emphasis on virginity for Chinese women, one that 26
exists today and one some women are all too happy to accept. However, for centuries, sex was the key to longevity and health in Taoist mysticism. Under this belief, it’s key for a woman’s yin to fuse with a man’s yang—two forces that must be kept in balance. In the book Sexual Life in Ancient China, Dutch sinologist Robert Hans van Gulik emphasized that, to ancient Chinese, sexual activity was a part of the natural order and every man and woman’s divine responsibility. Although confined to private life, Gulik contended that this was because of its
Illustration
by
Wang Ning
A MATCHMAKER NEEDED TO INVESTIGATE MANY THINGS, INCLUDING A MAIDEN’S VIRGINITY, BEFORE JOINING TWO HOUSES
seriousness rather than shamefulness, similar to ancestral worship being a private family matter. Divorcees and widows could often remarry before the 12th Century, Gulik surmised. It was only after the establishment of the Confucian moral system that a divorce or a widow remarrying was seen as shameful. But, ever since the Zhou Dynasty (1046 B.C.E.-256 B.C.E.), among the ruling class, virginity for a maiden was considered vital and a criteria for the in-laws to consider before consenting to a marriage. A matchmaker needed to investigate many things, including a maiden’s virginity, before joining two houses. However, it was more out of concern for the legitimacy of future offspring rather than morality. In the face of true love, virginity didn’t seem to be a big issue either. One of the most praised romances in Chinese history happened in the early days of the Han Dynasty (206 B.C.E.-220 C.E.) when the famous poet Sima Xiangru (司马相如) fell in love with and married the beautiful widow Zhuo Wenjun (卓文君) with no concern for her sexual history. However, things changed when Confucian morals were strictly exercised in later dynasties, when a woman’s virtue was considered more important than her life. There was even a common folk practice to confirm the deflowering on the wedding night; a white piece of fabric would be laid on the newlyweds’ bed, and only when it was stained with the bride’s blood the next morning would it prove her virginity. A Yuan Dynasty (1206-1368) poem recorded one man’s disappointment: “Spring has gone for awhile; there’s no point in asking if it’s crimson or light red. Blank, blank came back the white kerchief.” Of course, unofficial histories suggest that women would substitute the kerchief with a pre-bloodied item, or gruesomely, use a fish’s swim bladder filled Issue 5 /2014
with chicken blood as a means of deception. The most well-known and mythical method of virgin detection is the gecko cinnabar, or 守宫砂 (gecko being 守宫, or “protector of the palace”). Made famous by various dramatic plots in wuxia novels and history dramas, it is said to leave a red mark on a woman’s body, usually her upper arm, that indicates her status as a virgin. The potion calls for the powder of a dried gecko fed on cinnabar; supposedly, the mark would fade away once the woman had sex. Documents of the practice unearthed in the Han Dynasty Mawandui tombs in Hunan Province prove that the gecko cinnabar was in fact used, though to what extent is unknown. The method is also detailed in Records About Vast Topics (《博物志》) by the Jin Dynasty (1115-1234) scholar Zhang Hua (张华), and rumored to be a practice in imperial palaces to keep the emperor’s thousands of concubines in place. Today, we know that the gecko cinnabar has no scientific basis. Sadly, the virgin complex persists even today, as does women’s desire to be thought of as virtuous. In line with the ancient wisdom of the fish bladder trick, virginity is simple and affordable to fake today. Aside from surgery, women can also use one-time products to achieve the same effect. On Taobao, one can easily find an array of products that give chauvinistic men their satisfaction, from capsules to sacks of fake blood. Items like the capsules advertise to “Rid your wedding night of regrets! Let him with the virgin complex toil no more”. One customer gave a positive review along with her gratitude: “Really surprised. It was the same as real blood. I passed the test. In a few days, I will walk down the aisle with my boyfriend. Millions of thanks. My boyfriend has no suspicions.” Gulik lamented that Chinese attitudes toward sex were on a downward spiral at the turn of the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1616-1911) dynasties. However, just like any civilization, some placed a high emphasis on virginity while some believed it to be ridiculous. Even in the strict and fundamentalist Qing Dynasty, famous scholar Yuan Mei (袁枚) argued in a letter to a friend: “Think that non-virgins are not virtuous?…Think that non-virgins are not clean? Know that top delicacies need to be tasted by chefs first; mansions are first sat in by the builders. What’s the harm?” Non-virgins have been fighting for an equal place since the days of ancient China, and that battle persists today. - WEIJING ZHU (祝伟婧) 27
CHINA'S FIRST MARITIME SILK ROAD EXISTED 2,000 YEARS AGO, CONNECTING FUZHOU TO VENICE
THE SEA 7,000 METERS: world record breaking dive for China's deep sea submersible
RAINBOW FISH: a Chinese Deep Sea Submersible that can potentially dive to 11,000 meters
119 basic requirements to be an oceanaut
JIAOLONG
Took the Youth Olympics torch 5,555 meters below sea level Can dive for over 10 hours
Can withstand 10,000 tons of pressure
2828
Went on 113 missions in 2013
venice
Countries involved in maritime Silk Road: China, Kenya, Cambodia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Greece, Italy, and India
fuzhou
9,000-KILOMETER-LONG MARITIME SILK ROAD 6,200,000,000 RMB pumped into the China-Malaysia Qinzhou Industrial Park to kick start the new maritime Silk Road
MILLIONS of sharks lost
160,000 seabirds lost annually to long-line
annually to long-line fishing worldwide
fishing worldwide
SOM
E LO
NG
LIN
ES
3,000
AR
hook s long- on some lines
E1
50
KIL
OM
ETER
UP TO
S LO
NG
50%
of c a sha tches a rks in re long -lin some e fis heri e
s
300,000
sea turtles lost annually to long-line fishing worldwide
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Source: Greenpeace “Out of Line” report
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