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2/2014 Crime Time
T
he smog chokes us, the traffic chases us, and the food kills us, but we here in Beijing are pretty safe from serious crime. That being said, China, just like everywhere else in the world, has its problems with those who flout society’s laws, from cunning street hustlers, to drug peddling websites, right through to gruesome murderers. This issue studies modern crime and some of China’s most famous lawbreakers, a look into China’s underbelly and the gray area that is legality. The old adage “if it bleeds it leads” is perhaps a cruel but honest explanation of the emphasis on crime in the media in a broader sense. However, behind both the victims and the perpetrators are the police. Ginger Huang brings us “Super Cops” (see page 28) to take a look at some of China’s most impressive police officers, tales of derring-do and good old fashioned deductive reasoning. The online sale of narcotics, their analogues, and designer chemicals in China has moved the war against drugs off the streets and onto the click of a mouse and touch of a screen. China’s legislation has trouble keeping up with all the designer drugs, and this growing industry of online drug dealing is a booming trade with little to stand in its way. In “China’s Online Drug Bazaar” (see page 36) Carlos Ottery looks at how the drugs make their way from the webpage to your front door and how it’s changing the face of narcotics in the modern Middle Kingdom. Li Hao (李浩), Wu Jianchen (吴建臣), Li Shangxi (李尚熙), Yang Mingjin (杨名金), Li Shangkun (李尚昆), Peng Miaoji (彭妙计), Yang Shubin (杨树彬)—all Chinese serial killers. These brutal, callous murderers are infamous for their brutal victimization of innocents throughout the nation, but what is perhaps more interesting is how these killers and their atrocities are treated by the authorities and the media. Robert Foyle Hunwick brings us “The Beast is Red” (see page 42), which looks at the culture surrounding serial killers in China. The kidnapping of a child is perhaps the cruelest of all crimes. Today in China, there are tens of thousands of child kidnappings every year, and the trafficking of young children shows no signs of abating. Charlie Custer explains the ins-and-outs of child trafficking and the destroyed lives it leaves behind, “Stolen Childhoods” (see page 48). If you’re still in the mood for some criminally good entertainment, check out this issue’s On the Character (see page 92), which looks at 罪 and the sordid history of crime and punishment in ancient China. If your tastes run a little more macabre, head on over to Made in China (see page 24) which looks at the ancient and mystical practice of corpse walking. If you’ve lost your taste for all things illegal, then have a feast for the eyes over at Kaleidoscope (see page 18), which looks at one of the most ancient apartment blocks in China. You’d better look now; it’ll be gone soon. Gallery (see page 60)’s got some beach shots that’ll make you appreciate your vacation more, but check out On the Road (see page 64) if your holidays hinge on the harrowing. So, with all this crime and culture in mind, from all of us here at TWOC, stay safe.
Managing Editor Tyler Roney Issue 2 /2014
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2/2014 36 CHINA’S ONLINE DRUG BAZAAR 毒品巴扎： 虚拟世界中的罪与罚 The traditional and the new, the illegal and the legal, potent narcotics now form a thriving market on the Chinese internet, everywhere from QQ to Taobao
42 THE BEAST IS RED 道高一丈终恨晚：中国的连 环杀手 These Middle Kingdom murderers provide a look into the terrifying, unhinged realm of maddened minds and the world around them
CHILDHOODS 48 STOLEN 被偷走的童年 Kidnapping a child is perhaps the cruelest of crimes, an act that destroys families and ruins childhoods; China has its own unique set of problems on the road ahead
28 COVER STORY
SUPER COPS 现实中的超级侦探
With intelligence, deduction, and science, these exceptional detectives use their very particular skill sets to solve heinous crimes around China
Issue 2 /2014
3
GALLERY
60 THE BEACH PARADOX 《海岸线》 Photographer Zhang Xiao uses his camera to paint a very different view of China’s coastline
12 DRAGON’S DIGEST
18
THE SPRING OF DONGKE TEMPLE
最后的民国工厂宿舍
《东柯僧院的春天》
Li Qiqing brings us a dark tale of spirituality, fantasy, and inner peace from the ruins of Dongke Temple and the monks and eerie sparrows that call it home
24
4
ANCIENT APARTMENTS A look at some of China’s oldest apartments and the communities that live in them. See it now; they won’t be around for long.
MADE IN CHINA THE REAL WALKING DEAD
56
SAVING CHINA SAVE THAT SMILE
78
湘西赶尸人
濒临灭绝的微笑
CCTV在说什么？
A macabre look into the past and present tradition of corpse walking in all its ancient, unnerving mystery
A few brave and tireless conservationists try to raise awareness for the desperate plight of the finless porpoise, which faces a similar fate to its extinct cousin, the baiji
Get to grips with the pandering propaganda of the China state-media news program that never seems to end
SOCIAL CHINESE CCTV NEWSPEAK
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
72 GROUP THINK 群观
76 COUNTERPOINT 锋面
86 CHI LE MA 吃了吗
88 BOOKMARK 90 PIONEER
64
BY BUCK PERLEY
(MOTORCYCLE),
YULONG
(STREETVIEW)
好书有笺
ON THE ROAD
THE GREAT RIDE OF CHINA 从新疆到西藏：一对骑友的吉尼斯之旅
PHOTOGRAPHS
Buck Perley and his girlfriend Amy Mathieson brave the winds and snows of Tibet and Xinjiang on their epic, world record-breaking trip through every province in China
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?
82 ZOETROPE A TOUCH OF SIN 《天注定》 Terence Hsieh takes a look at A Touch of Sin, a film employing gruesome ultra-violence to deal with the trials and tribulations of China’s modern underclass
Issue 2 /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!
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MISHMASH
6
HERITAGE HANDOUTS
DRUNK MEN AT WORK
Everybody is proud of their culture and heritage, none more so than the good people of Wuhan, who have decided that their spicy and famous dish, “hot dry noodles” is deserving of intangible heritage status and have applied accordingly. The noodles, known as reganmian (热干面), have been a mainstay of Wuhan food culture for at least 80 years, which by Chinese standards makes this particular dish a relative new kid on the block. Last year UNESCO added the Korean dish kimchi to its World Intangible Cultural Heritage list, leaving many Chinese wondering why more of their dishes weren’t on the list. Accordingly, Wuhaners, who are putting their money where their mouth is, are trying to put this tasty noodle dish firmly on the map. - CARLOS OTTERY
A large truck full of nearly 3,000 boxes of Moutai crashed on a motorway, spilling its load. The strong alcohol fumes left many clean-up workers completely drunk with some passing out and falling asleep for up to 20 hours on the road. The accident occurred on the afternoon of February 12 in Chongqing, and the police organized porters to clear smashed glass and sent the injured driver for medical treatment. The fumes were sufficiently powerful that cleaners had to continually stop during the clean-up. The vehicle was carrying booze estimated to be worth up to 20 million RMB and was traveling from Guizhou to Henan. - C.O.
MONGREL MEDICINE Mish Mash wouldn’t be Mish Mash without our obligatory cutesy animal story, and this issue it is provided by a dog that “persuaded” its mistress from suicide. The 22-year-old woman was suffering from depression after failing to get into the university she wanted and was all set to jump from a roof. She decided against making the fateful leap when family members brought out her beloved pet dog. Police and firefighters had initially been called to her rescue, but this only served to aggravate the woman who became more emotional. In an attempt to calm her down, her mother and father brought the dog to the rescue. On seeing her canine pal, she became calm and she decided to climb down from the roof to play with her dog instead, according to the Western China Metropolis Daily. - C.O.
DAD AND DAUGHTER TIE THE KNOT (FOR HUKOU) Earlier this year a daughter successfully married her father in an attempt to get a hukou that would enable her father to live in Chengdu, Sichuan Province and receive medical care within the city. Sadly for the newlyweds, authorities discovered the marriage. In China, like most other countries, it is forbidden to marry blood relatives within three generations. The “couple” were able to go through with the marriage as the local civil authorities do not usually require applicants to prove that they are not related. Indeed, in most cases, they are not. Once authorities found out about the marriage it was not simply a matter of divorcing her dad. Although the woman’s marital status had in fact changed, the marriage was deemed unlawful—and thus a divorce not possible. In the end, Chenghua district court, powerless to grant a formal divorce, simply settled on an annulment of the marriage. - C.O.
MANHOLE MAYHEM A man from Haikou City, Hainan was caught on security camera footage physically forcing his girlfriend into a three-meter-deep manhole, in an apparent attempt to avoid paying her the 100,000 RMB he owed her, on December 12, 2013. Initially the man is seen uncovering the manhole and replacing the lid with a large piece of cardboard. Later while shielding his girlfriend from the rain under an umbrella, he aggressively guides her over the manhole where she falls in. When the girl, surnamed Guo, fails to fall all the way to the bottom, her (presumably former) boyfriend forces her down further and covers the manhole with its original cover. Later the man returns to the scene and covers it with a slab of heavy concrete, just to make sure she can’t escape. The woman was discovered, thankfully alive, some 60 hours later when passersby heard her screams for help from beneath the ground. - C.O.
Issue 2 /2014
FIREWORKS MASK GRAVE ROBBERS’ PLOT When everyone on the ground was celebrating this year’s Lantern’s Festival, Fei, a 41-year-old local man of Xinzhuang Village in Shaanxi Province, was trapped six feet under in an attempt to rob a Han Dynasty (206 BCE-220 CE) grave. Being the fearless pioneer that he was, Fei went into a hole, which he and three of his accomplices had already blasted with explosives (cunningly disguised by all the fireworks going off outside), and starting digging in the early morning not far from his village. When the tunnel collapsed, his buddies decided to abandon him and flee. The rescue came upon the request of his family, but it was already too late. His body was found along with a shovel, a lamp, and a small piece of what was suspected to be a metal antique. - LIU JUE (刘珏)
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WEIBO KOREAN TV OBSESSION: MY LOVE FROM THE STAR
Korean TV drama My Love from the Star has proved a sensation in China. In every city, all over social media, fans of the drama have developed a cult-like dedication to the romance. The fans, mostly female, have become so engrossed that they have taken to imitating them in real life. In one episode, the female lead stated her favorite thing to do on a snowy day was to eat fried chicken and drink beer. Fans of the show soon revived China’s poultry market. Since Korean dramas are regarded as idiotic and unrealistically juvenile, many fans are too ashamed to admit to this as a guilty pleasure, but claim they can’t help falling under the program’s spell. - WEIJING ZHU (祝伟婧)
今晚网：重庆一对情侣相恋两年，女方因为喜欢看韩剧《来自星星的 你》，凌晨打电话要男友买炸鸡和啤酒。男方因为上班太累、距离太 远拒绝。女方觉得对方不够浪漫，连这些简单的小事都满足不了，于 是在情人节提出分手要求。真是入戏太深啊！ daisy322美好生活：十几年不追星了，原来是我没遇见他。泥足深陷 的脑残粉是我！幸亏相逢已嫁时，不然我肯定嫁不出去！ A couple in Chongqing were together for two years. The woman loved to watch the Korean show My Love from the Star; so she called her boyfriend in the early morning, asking him to buy fried chicken and beer for her. The guy refused because he was too exhausted and the distance too long. The woman thought it unromantic that her boyfriend could not satisfy such a small request, so broke up with him on Valentine’s Day. She’s way too into the show! I haven’t been this celebrity crazed for over a decade, it was because I had not met him yet [the male lead]. I am now a brain damaged fan that has become deeply hooked! Fortunately, I’m already married, otherwise I would never have been able to marry.
CCTV CRACKS DOWN ON DONGGUAN: WE ARE ALL PROSTITUTES NOW Following CCTV’s exposure of Dongguan’s underground sex industry, the city’s expansive networks of brothels experienced a serious crackdown. Perhaps because of the association of CCTV with state-led propaganda, many netizens and public intellectuals voiced their support for brothels and prostitutes. “Dongguan, keep strong”, “Dongguan, don’t cry”, “God bless Dongguan”, “CCTV is ruthless, but the world has love”, and “Tonight, we are all Dongguaners” soon became viral topics. Some pointed out that this was a double standard. - W.Z.
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安澜堂-晒太阳的猫：谈打击拐卖妇女儿童的时候 没见他们，谈保护被家暴妇女儿童的时候也没见 他们，谈男女同工同酬的时候还是没见他们…… 结果今天四下里都是保护妇女权益的斗士，真是 令人叹为观止。 英式没品笑话百科：那次去东莞按摩，推门进来 是个学生妹，不错；后来经常去，有时候是护 士，有时候是白领。昨晚推门进来的是一个女警 察，我“嗷”地一下扑过去，结果悲剧了。 太阳花评论：东莞能挺住，是公知挺不住了；东 莞没哭，是公知哭了；中国妓女地位可说是世界 上最高的了。在国外，政府打击或者媒体曝光卖 淫嫖娼新闻时，也没见过有这么多人为娼妓发出 如此声嘶力竭的呐喊。我不歧视妓女，但把她们 当成巾帼英雄一样来歌颂和弘扬，是不是太过 了？指责央视的就更滑稽了，你们不是说要有新 闻自由吗？
WHACK PORN BAN FOR GOVERNMENT OFFICALS Civil servants have jobs that Chinese refer to as an “Iron Rice Bowl” and enjoy lifetime benefits as state employees. To counter widespread criticisms, the government of Shenyang’s Dadong District issued regulations banning civil servants from cheating on their partners, domestic violence, and watching pornography. Violations may affect evaluation of their yearly performance, yet netizens doubt the regulations’ effectiveness. The local government claims they came up with these regulations because civil servants should have a higher moral bottomline than ordinary people. - W.Z.
背包客强子：其实公务员搞不搞婚外情看不看黄片，只要不是上班 时间，没人过于关注这些。下班后应该属于私生活范畴吧。老百姓 关心的是上门办事时把能办的事抓紧办了，不能办的事帮忙想想办 法给办了！只要别摆出一副官老爷架子就行。 杨锦麟：公务员不能看黄片，听上去荒唐，执行起来更是难上加 难。如此规定，只是在消解政策严肃性，透支政府公信力。与其监 管公务员八小时以外的下半身问题，还不如管好八小时以内的公务 员怎样更好地为人民服务吧！ Actually, no one cares if civil servants have extra-marital affairs or watch porn, as long as it’s not during office hours. After work, it is their private life. What people care about is that they get things done as soon as possible, and help to solve the difficult problems! Just don’t start out with these official state edicts. Civil servants cannot watch porn; not only does it sound absurd, but carrying it out will be more than difficult. Such regulations reduce the seriousness of governmental policy and undermines the government’s credibility. Instead of monitoring civil servants’ lower bodies when off work, it’s better to manage them to better serve the people within the eight hours!
When discussing human trafficking, they were nowhere to be seen; when discussing protecting women and children from domestic abuse, they were nowhere to be seen; when discussing equal pay, they were nowhere to be seen…and now fighters for women’s rights are everywhere. It really is astonishing. Went to Dongguan for a massage. A schoolgirl opened the door, and it was pretty good. Then visits became frequent, sometimes a nurse came in, sometimes an office lady. Last night, a policewoman entered. I flew at her, and it was a tragedy. Dongguan can hold strong, public intellectuals cannot; Dongguan is not crying, public intellectuals are. Prostitutes in China probably have the highest status in the world. Abroad, when governments crack down or media expose prostitution, [we’ve] never seen so many people objecting hysterically in favor of prostitutes. I don’t discriminate against prostitutes, but praising them like Joan of Arc, isn’t that too much? Those who criticize CCTV are even more ridiculous; didn’t you say you want freedom of press?
Issue 2 /2014
Stay Classy STREET TALK
N
ow, if you haven’t heard the rumors, apparently China is getting rich, which is all well and good. The thing is, when a nation becomes rich they want all the accoutrements that go with it. It starts, simply, with people turning up the heating and eating a bit more meat, and before you know it everyone is going on skiing holidays and getting their phones painted gold. But, at a certain point, mindless consumption no longer becomes enough; suddenly being refined and cultured becomes a pre-requisite. As such this issue’s Street Talk is 高端大气上档次 (g`odu`n d3qi sh3ngd3ngc#), which is the simple stringing together of three well known adjectives, approximating something along the lines of “high-end, elegant, classy”. Alone they are the most regular of descriptive characters; strung together they become the hottest in youth slang. Becoming incredibly popular in 2013, nobody is exactly sure of the etymology of the phrase. The most common theory is that it started on the 2005 TV soap opera My Own Swordsman (《武林外传》). In one particular episode, a harassed cook was ordered to make a moon cake that was “elegant and classy”. Frantically trying to get it right, he ended up making a hamburger. More often than not, the phrase is deployed in jest of something that’s over-elaborated or contrives to be classy, such as: I just ate a bowl of delicious high-end, elegant, classy instant noodles: lobster flavor! W6 g`ng ch~le y# w2n g`odu`n d3qi sh3ngd3ngc# de f`ngbi3nmi3n: l5ngxi` w-i de!
我刚吃了一碗高端大气上档次的方便面：龙虾味的！ Another comic effect might be to use the term where the Issue 2 /2014
terms high-class or classy are more or less irrelevant. Thus, the term is redundant and accordingly amusing: I want to make my resume look high-end, elegant, classy. W6 xi2ng r3ng w6 de ji2nl# k3nq@l1i g`odu`n d3qi sh3ngd3ngc#.
我想让我的简历看起来高端大气上档次。
Of course, the issue with irony is that it is in the eyes of the beholder (far more so than beauty than ever was). Imagine the English couple who stay at a naff four-star hotel for the first time; on coming downstairs for dinner and seeing the sheer size of the buffet (and crystal chandeliers) they proudly announce: “Wow, so classy!” Where’s the irony here? Well, it all depends of course. Like many a Chinese word, the (rather long) phrase has mutated. Nowadays it is completely fine to just drop the second character in each adjective for the abbreviated version, 高大上 (g`o d3 sh3ng), as in : How can I make a high-end, elegant, classy travel plan on a 2,000 RMB budget? W6 z0ny3ng c1in9ng hu` li2ngqi`n ku3i qi1n gu~hu3 y! c# g`od3sh3ng de l)x!ng?
我怎样才能花2000块钱规划一次高大上的旅行？
If any conclusion can be drawn, then it’s likely that if you really want to be refined, cultured, high-end, elegant, or classy (and these are questionable desires) then you be might well be better off not using any of these gaudy terms at all. - CARLOS OTTERY, ADDITIONAL RESEARCH BY GINGER HUANG (黄原竟)
11
DRAGON'S DIGEST
THE SPRING OF DONGKE TEMPLE D4ngk8 S8ngyu3n de Ch$nti`n
东柯僧院的春天
12
F
orty kilometers away from Qingcheng County stands the Dongke Mountain. With its high altitude and thick forest cover, the mountain is virtually trackless. Legend has it that the Dongke Temple is somewhere on the mountain. The monks, however, have all become anāgāmin (“non-returner”, practitioners who have reached the penultimate stage to becoming Arhats), and therefore extinguished all earthly desires. A few decades ago, a woodsman accidentally found the temple and dwelled there for several days. He returned, yet remained tight-lipped about the experience. Finally, on his death bed, the woodsman, vaguely, mentioned the “many swallows in the temple”. He went on to say that despite his pleasant stay it would be better for his family to “never seek the temple again”. On a spring day in the year 808, scholar Liu Xichu took a boat with seven or eight of his comrades up the stream to Dongke Mountain in search of the legendary temple. They found the source of the stream, only to discover untrodden woods and dark ravines. Soon, the sun
HUANG SHUO BY
ILLUSTRATION
began to set, alarming the scholars who urged the boatman to go back. The boatman, however, was not used to navigating the mountain stream and steered the boat into a rock where it foundered. The current, though not deep, was swift, and Liu had to grasp the branch of an old tree. On finally managing to lift his head above the water to search for his companions, they were long gone—their faint cries for help gradually fading away. In the end only the chirps of the birds and roar of the apes echoing in the woods remained, a heart-wrenching and miserable sound at the time. Liu breathed deeply and took a brief moment to collect himself. He crawled onto the bank along the branch. Walking around, he found an old tree to climb up and rest. Thankfully, a piece of nang bread was still safely tucked in his robe. Though it was soaking wet and had become soft, he tore a piece off and swallowed it. By this time it was dark and the moon had begun rising against the mountain. Liu, thinking of his family, couldn’t help shedding a few tears. The next morning, Liu climbed down the tree and tried to find his way back, gradually losing all sense of time and direction. Every piece of mountain rock and every branch of every tree looked exactly the same. He fed on wild fruits when he finished the nang bread. His wanderings became dull and tardy, until finally, he fell down at the foot of an old tree, exhausted, not able even to stir a limb. “I can’t believe I will die here!” he said to himself. On seeing a few mountain flowers dancing in the wind not far away, he began sobbing wildly. By dusk, he ceased crying and felt much better; his strength seemed to have returned. Standing up and looking around, he began collecting fruit for dinner. Suddenly, he noticed a faint scent of flowers in the wind. He was carried away by the scent and carefully followed it. The moon was bright and the wind refreshing. Liu Xichu kept walking till midnight, using reserves of strength he didn’t know he had. The fragrance became rich and pure, sometimes sweet and intoxicating like good wine, sometimes sharp and piercing like a blade. Enchanted, Liu kept advancing, unconsciously into a valley. In the moonlight, he entered an ancient forest, with giant trees several arm-lengths wide. No wild grass was found on the ground, just a layer of gray. The fragrance was beyond a mere scent now, becoming a flowing spring of green jade. Liu stumbled forward, suddenly noticing a shabby temple. The front gate collapsed a long time ago. There was an azalea tree, three meters tall, in front of the ruined gate. Despite the dim light, he could still see the vivid colors of its branches. Liu entered the temple shouting: “Is anyone here? Anyone?” Only a faint humming came as reply. Though he walked the whole night, only at this very moment did he notice his feet aching through to their bones. He dropped to the ground, at first sitting, then later sliding down and falling into a deep sleep. He awoke the next morning to a courtyard full of wild grass. Issue 2 /2014
LI QIQINGWEI 李启庆 While some Chinese fantasy writers are criticized for imitating their, supposedly, more mature Western counterparts, the Bucket Rider (骑 桶人) or Li Qiqing (李启庆) turned to ancient myths, legends, and traditional images for inspiration. Currently the chief editor of online fantasy magazine Jiuge (《九歌》), Li has published a short story collection, a full-length novel, a historical account of ancient Chinese fantasy literature, and a biography of famous Chinese Buddhist Monk, Master Hong Yi. His fantasy writings are said to have inherited the spirit of fantasy literature from the Tang (618-907) and Song (960-1279) dynasties. Author’s Note: Ke (柯, tree stem), in Chinese, has a particular meaning. In Tang Dynasty legend, a story called "A Dream of Nangke" (《南柯一 梦》) revolves around a man picked to marry a princess, who became a high-ranking official. He conquers neighboring states but eventually fails in a political struggle. In the end, he finds himself waking up from an afternoon nap under a big tree to the south of his house, and realises everything has just been a dream. When I chose dongke (a big tree on the east) for the title of my story, I followed tradition and plot; the fate of the characters were already determined.
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Inside the main hall, spider-webs were draped everywhere. On beams and pillars were stacks of swallow’s nests. A few Buddha statues were barely upright with broken arms or missing eyes, their heads covered with gray bird droppings. Liu Xichu was so starved, he was light headed. After searching inside and outside the temple, he found a few berries that were sour and sharp, which he gulped down nevertheless. Only when he felt better did he notice that there seemed to be many birds flying above the forest—their wings rustling together. He left the temple and labored to the top of the mountain. Endless bird droppings covered the ground. He managed to collect some forest fruit and saw a wild beehive. He started a fire to smoke-out the bees, and fed himself a hearty meal of honey, before continuing to march upwards. Fortunately, the mountain top was not so far. He moved upward, step by step. A swallow would sweep by from time to time and then lightly fly through the leaves, up into the sky. It was still morning when he left the temple, but by the time he reached the top it was sunset. The sun shone through the mountain peak on the opposite side and tinged half the valley in deep red, the other half left dark green. Countless swallows swarmed back and forth above the woods. When they flew into the sunshine, they became like the flaming birds of Zhu Rong—the fire god—a blaze of red all through. But once they were in the dark half, they turned into green fish, as if swiftly swimming underwater. The moon was bright and stars scarce when Liu arrived back at the temple. He made do by dozing off and eating some of the honey acquired the day before.
THERE WERE SWALLOW NESTS EVERYWHERE, FROM THE MAIN HALL RIGHT THROUGH TO THE DINING ROOM; THE ABBOT’S CHAMBER, EVEN THE TOILET, WERE OCCUPIED BY BIRDS 14
He brightened up again, carefully examining the temple inside and out. Though in ruins, much of the temple’s richly ornamented columns, beams, green rafters, and red tiles remained. Judging by its scale, the temple could have housed more than a hundred monks; the state of its decay was curious. There were swallow nests everywhere, from the main hall right through to the dining room; the abbot’s chamber, even the toilet, were occupied by birds. The floor covered by their droppings over the years, seemed soft when Liu first set upon them, but were solid as stone at their core. Swallows flew into the temple from time to time to feed their young, not in the least affected by Liu’s presence. Maybe they were accustomed to the monks here before; the sudden appearance of a human didn’t seem to alarm them. Liu lived on honey for several days in the temple— becoming, surprisingly, too happy to think of home. In the swallows’ nests lay many eggs, but Liu was not willing to eat them. When the honey was finished, he went into the woods to pick wild fruit. Though they were in mid-spring, Liu didn’t mind their bitter taste. Just like that, over 10 days passed until one day at noon, Liu heard a vague rustle behind one of the Buddha figures. Turning to check, he found a deep pit in the ground. It was too dark inside to see anything. On the nearby wall there was also a large hole from where the rustling noise seemed to be originating. Liu bent down to examine the hole closely and got a feeling that some kind of monster must be hiding there. He grabbed a stick and poked inside. Suddenly, a bat soared and crashed into his face, leaving him confused and
somewhat disturbed. Another bat was barely out of the hole when Liu hastily jumped aside. More dark brown bats flipped their webbed wings, scrambling to make out the opening. In a blink of an eye, these bats clouded the main hall, rendering it in a dull darkness. Only an hour later did all bats leave the hole, gliding out of the main hall to form a long line. Before Liu could recover from his shock, he heard breathing from the pit. Startled, Liu found a piece of brick and threw it into the pit from afar. “Argh!” A scream came from the bottom, sounding like a person. Liu then groped the edge, shouting back: “Are you a person or a ghost?” Some babbling rose from the pit. Liu listened for a while and guessed it must be a request: “Pull me up.” As he extended a long stick down into the pit, someone grabbed it as he expected. With much effort, Liu pulled the person out of the pit. He was stunned when his eyes met the person. Unkempt, all skin and bones with the exception of a bulging belly, on seeing Liu the man called out with great joy. Liu collected wild fruits for the man, who lowered his head to smell them but refused to take any. Instead, the man grabbed a handful of dirt and offered it to Liu. Liu shook his head and went to the forest spring to get water for the man to clean himself. After washing himself, it seemed the man was very old, with long thick eyebrows and white hair. It was probably due to the sedentary, immobile life he had spent in the pit, but his feet were both shriveled. His skin was sickly pale due to sunlight deprivation; the many freckles on his body only served to add to the weirdness of the man’s appearance. But there’s something even more unusual about the man: when he first climbed out of the pit, he was overjoyed; now, he suddenly seemed stiff, like he was indifferent to and unmoved by everything and everyone in the world. He had gone blind due to the long lasting darkness, but his hearing was acute. Liu discovered the only thing that interested the old man was the beating wings and singing of the swallows. Whenever a swallow flew inside, he would slowly turn his head to follow the slightest flapping sound, with a mysterious smile at the corner of his lips. Liu sat with him for an entire afternoon, surprisingly discovering that the old man seemed to be able to distinguish each and every swallow. Every time, one of them flew into the main hall, he would turn to the direction of its nest, listening to their twittering, as if he could understand them. He also seemed to live off the dirt. The deep pit Issue 2 /2014
could very well have been the result of his own digging. Sometimes, he appeared to wake from a dream and regain a moment of consciousness. At those times, he would speak to Liu with eagerness. But Liu couldn’t understand most of it, only vaguely learning that the old man was the abbot of the temple, with the Dharma name “Wushi”. Still, Liu was patient. He went out everyday to look for wild fruit and sat down with Wushi to leisurely appreciate the sounds made by the swallows. Gradually, Liu became intoxicated as well: the ethereal swallows gliding across the hollow main hall, their wings flapping as if they were a refreshing spring born of mountain rock. They landed in their own nests, singing so softly and elegantly that Liu believed it more beautiful than even the finest music ever created by man. Over time, he was able to follow Wushi, who was indeed the abbot of Dongke Temple. More than a decade ago, when the temple was undisturbed, all the monks kept their minds on Buddhist practice, hoping one day to become an Arhat or even reach Nirvana. One spring, many swallows arrived unexpectedly. They started to build nests and breed. The merciful Buddhists naturally let the birds be and never interfered. By autumn, all the swallows took off. But the next spring brought even more of them. Ripples were set in the formerly peaceful hearts of the monks; some became addicted to the flapping of wings and the singing of the birds, believing them to be more immensely delightful than any Buddhist teachings. By the third year, on a dewy morning, a monk transformed into a swallow and flew away. It was the year that the stray woodsman came to stay. Wushi asked for him to be sent back and instructed that nothing should ever come out of his mouth—as it was from this consideration that people would flood into the temple
BY THE THIRD YEAR, ON A DEWY MORNING, A MONK TRANSFORMED INTO A SWALLOW AND FLEW AWAY 15
LIU WAS FIRST FILLED WITH JOY AND LATER WITH SORROW. HE STRIVED TO STAND-UP BUT FOUND HIS FEET POWERLESS. on hearing of the strange event and disturb the monks’ practice. By spring of the fourth year, when the swallows returned once more, half the monks in the temple transformed into swallows and simply flew away. By the fifth year, all had become swallows except Wushi, who was left alone in the empty temple. Despair prevailed in Wushi’s mind. He no longer meditated or recited scripture, only idly sitting in the main hall, digging and eating dirt from the ground when he was hungry. Over a decade later, a deep pit had developed, and he was trapped inside. He couldn’t get out even if he wanted to. Having sat in the dark for such a long time, his eyesight had completely gone, but his hearing improved more and more over time. He began to take an interest in the flapping and singing of the swallows. He too felt that they were far more enchanting than any Buddhist teaching, especially when the baby swallows first learned to sing—heavenly. Now, his only wish was to follow in the footsteps of his disciples and transform himself into a swallow, to soar high above the forest, to carry wet mud in his beak and to build a small nest among the beams and rafters… However, Wushi’s wish would never come true. One day, he tried a wild fruit brought back by Liu. At night, an excruciating pain grew in his belly. He told Liu to bury him in the pit and, after his death, cover his body with swallow droppings. Liu did as he was told. That spring slipped away swiftly. Soon, all the azalea flowers faded, and the last swallow had left the temple. By this time, Liu had lost any desire to return home. He just sat in the main hall quietly, peace and solitude all around. The only sound was made when night fell and the bats would fly out of the hole in the walls. They sounded like bubbles bursting, breaking the long lasting silence. He no longer went out to collect wild fruit either. When hunger struck, he would simply dig the dirt and gulp 16
it down. Gradually, he became like Wushi, stuck deep in a pit he had dug himself. He became blind too, but his hearing was now exceptionally acute. Every year when the swallows came back, he would sober up from his bewilderment and carefully capture every single sound made by them and become intoxicated. No one knows how many years passed. But Liu grew old. He thought he would have the same fate as Wushi, to die and be buried in the pit. But one day, he seemed to hear words being spoken. The voice was soft and noble: “That man has sat in the pit for a long time!” Another soft and noble voice replied: “Yes! But how interesting can it be sitting in a pit? Why doesn’t he fly out and catch worms with us?” Liu’s heart twitched. He turned and listened closely, wondering why people were dropping by all of a sudden. But the sound of flying swallows followed. He could tell, they were Chuntiao and Zi’er whose nest were 10 steps away on the left, next to the nest of Huahong and Naxi. He continued to follow the sounds and realized that the main hall had become very busy. Words were thrown all around: some said that there were many insects by the pool of water in the east, some said that the mud on the south was the most suitable for nest building, some were scolding a youngster for flying badly, and some were uttering sweet promises to lovers… Liu was first filled with joy and later with sorrow. He strived to stand-up but found his feet powerless. So he stretched out both bands, trying to crawl along the wall of the pit. He wanted out but was unable to escape. Suddenly, he felt brightness in front of his eyes. He saw light radiating from above. He lifted his arm in a sharp movement, and found himself flying out of the pit and crashing into a pillar. The pain was almost unbearable, but he was ecstatic. He flapped his wings with all his strength, but quickly crashed into a wall again. He no longer cared. He fumbled his way out of the main hall, turned his tail and dashed through the green leaves. The blue sky poured in, flooding into him with an overbearing love, encompassing him… Many years later, the Dongke Temple was rediscovered. The azalea flowers were still blooming in front of the main gate, but all the buildings had completely collapsed. Swallows moved their nests to the cliffs. When the light of the setting sun beamed down from behind the mountain, the swallows flew between the bright light and the darkness. Sometimes like a flock of fiery, blazing birds, sometimes like a school of green fish swimming freely underwater. – TRANSLATED BY LIU JUE (刘珏)
Issue 2 /2014
17
KALEIDOSCOPE
ANCIENT APARTMENTS PHOTOGRAPHS BY YULONG (宇龙) TEXT BY LIU JUE (刘珏)
An apartment complex with nearly a century of history is doomed to disappear 即将消失的百年民国公寓
W
hen Tang Xiangting, the founder of Lixin Cloth Factory, built these apartments in 1919 for his senior technicians, they were the talk of the town and envy of all. Located at the flourishing Lixin Road where the biggest textile factories of Wuxi bustled with activity, these two-floor wood and brick apartments could hold up to 270 families and were a symbol of modern, industrial life in the early Republic of China. Today, these apartments remain distinct largely because of their ramshackle appearance, rendered wrecks by the mere passing of time, but this ancient apartment block still houses an active community. Consisting of the descendants of Lixin workers, now retired seniors and migrant workers seeking their fortune in the city, the Lixin apartments are home to many, including one famous 103-year-old resident. Any past glory is long gone now, with industrial upgrades and the migration of the manufacturing center in Wuxi. The low rent keeps residents here even if it means they have to walk the narrow alleys, use public 18
conveniences, and sleep under crumbling roofs that are now almost a century old. To outsiders, life here is bleak and difficult, but walking among the people reveals a surprisingly lively and peaceful side to this ancient block: birds chirp, dogs bark, and the elderly idly chat under the sun with their grandchildren playing nearby; occasionally, a motorbike carefully passes through. At dinner time, families set up tables outside when
RESIDENTS MILL ABOUT THEIR NEAR-CENTURY-OLD NEIGHBORHOOD it’s warm and talk to their neighbors—a lost community in this hurried age. Despite the optimism, danger lurks in the tranquility; these apartments are crumbling, with cracks spread across the walls, not to mention the broken windows and decayed wooden stairs. Not far away, the Grand Canal threatens to flood the whole area every rainy season. In 2012, the local government Issue 2 /2014
decided to relocate residents and renovate the area. This year, with all families having signed their relocation agreements, this near-century-old apartment area will be torn down. As the residents march toward their new life, future generations will be left with only photographs to understand the rise and fall of the Lixin apartments and the era of city history they represent. 19
A PHOTOGRAPHER WALKS THE CRUMBLING ROOFS OF THIS SOON TO BE DEMOLISHED AREA FOR THOSE LIVING IN THESE ANCIENT APARTMENTS, LIFE IS STILL SIMPLE
20
MODERN SIGNAGE AND VEHICLES BELIE THE ANCIENT INTERIOR OF THESE ONCE HIGHLY SOUGHT AFTER APARTMENTS
THE ELDERLY RESIDENTS OF THESE CRUMBLING APARTMENTS LEAD A LEISURELY LIFE
Issue 2 /2014
21
DRYING FISH OUTDOORS IS A COMMON PRACTICE HERE
CHARMING AS THEY ARE, THESE ONCE GREAT APARTMENTS ARE SCHEDULED FOR DEMOLITION 22
A LOCAL WOMAN RIDES DOWN THE NARROW ALLEYWAYS OF THESE APARTMENTS, ONCE THE PRIDE OF WUXI Issue 2 /2014
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MADE IN CHINA
L
ast November, a young Chinese man was detained while traveling across Southern China’s Yunnan Province for suspicious behavior, and it was behavior suspicious indeed: he was traveling with a dead body. The dead make for awkward traveling companions, but after some questioning, it was proved to the police that the dead man was, in fact, the young man’s 24
father. This traveler was trying to get his father’s body back to their hometown in Hebei several provinces away. He had already walked more than 600 kilometers on his “corpse walking” endeavor before being stopped by the police. Seemingly strange, the practice of walking corpses has long been a part of Chinese mourning. While the young boy in this tale is by no means a professional corpse walker,
ILLUSTRATION
BY
GAO FEI
TRAVELING WINDING, MOUNTAINOUS PATHS CAN BE EXHAUSTING, AND—AS DAYTIME IS UNFIT FOR THE DEAD—THERE WERE OFTEN “DEAD BODY INNS”
the profession and superstition still exists despite a severe decline in modern times. “Herding corpses” or 赶尸, is the tradition of transporting corpses back to their hometowns. Legend has it that, in the mountainous west of Hunan Province, one could sometimes catch a glimpse of the “dead men’s march” where the corpse walker leads a line of dead bodies along narrow roads. According to various corpse walking legends prevalent in Western Hunan, the technique was rumored to be Miao witchcraft; the Miao ethnic minority is famous for their supernatural gifts, called gushu (蛊术). Corpse walking is believed to be a form of gushu sorcery. It also invokes and borrows supernatural concepts from the I Ching (《易经》). Usually, the procession of corpses is led by two Taoist monks, one the master and the other his student. If a man were to die in another town, the dead person’s relatives would travel there and ask a Taoist monk to take the body back to their hometown, an extremely important tradition in Chinese culture as a person’s soul, body, home, and land are closely entwined. If the body cannot go home, the soul is lost forever in the world after death, suffering everlasting turmoil. Corpse walking was born out of filial piety, feng shui, and ancestor worship, and it contributes to the pervasiveness of such traditions. Written records of corpse walking are few, and oral accounts vary. It is said that when the Taoist priest arrives, he first checks the deceased’s date of birth, then, uttering spells, uses a peach wood sword (a spiritual weapon used for exorcisms in Taoism) to check whether the spirit will obey his commands. The priest doesn’t take off with just one corpse; he waits for other orders to come in so that they can all leave together. Before they set off on their journey, the priest performs a ritual; he sticks a symbolic talisman on the forehead of each dead body and utters incantations. The talisman is yellow paper with red ink depicting characters, images, or symbols that can conjure Issue 2 /2014
power and manifest energy. The bodies then rise up and follow the priest. As rigor mortis has set in, the dead can only hop; these same hopping zombies have inspired a number of Hong Kong zombie films. This, in turn, popularized the common concept that Chinese zombies hop to go forward and stretch out their arms for mobility. If making the dead walk again sounds unbelievable (and it should), what happens next is even more interesting. In order to lead the spirits, the priests shake bells with supernatural powers to lead wandering souls, striking gongs to alert travelers and residents of their passing; such a warning is believed necessary, as the dead are thought to bring bad luck and evil spirits. Traveling winding, mountainous paths can be exhausting, and— as daytime is unfit for the dead—there were often “dead body inns” for corpse walkers and corpses to rest. These inns were open for corpse walking only, and, because death waits for no one, they were open all year round. It is said that the corpses rest behind the doors lined up against the wall. And, due to the priest’s special recipe of incantations and ceremonial sword-waving, the dead bodies never decay regardless of the time traveled or the weather. While traveling, the priest lines them up with a rope, each wearing a tall hat, hopping one after another and veiled by the darkness of night. However, fun as all this is, where there’s myth, there’s always a myth buster. For those narrow-minded skeptics who are dubious about magic swords raising bodies from the dead, corpse walking is just a hoax. CCTV’s program Approaching Science ( 《走进科学》 ) proposed several methods these corpse walkers employ to trick innocent people. One method involves one walker pretending to be a corpse while the real corpse is dissected and carried in a backpack by the other walker. The impersonator wears a large straw hat that covers his face as well as bamboo plates on his joints to create the illusion of a frigid zombie. A more plausible method involves the priests tying the corpse’s arms to a bamboo pole and carrying it on their shoulders. While they walk, the corpses would bob up and down, giving rise to the myth of hopping zombies. Lovers of the supernatural and those who refuse to let science kill all the fun in the world still believe that the ancient tradition of corpse walking exists. The mystical, powerful tools of talismans, incantations, and rituals are all guarded secrets, only to be passed down to apprentices. Today, the Miao ethnic group is still believed by many to be expert in magic and sorcery, but, as the world moves on to the age of China’s space race and the quantum computer, it’s somewhat comforting to know that belief—or at least interest—in this ancient art of walking the dead persists. -BY WEIJING ZHU (祝伟婧) 25
CRIME
290,000
STATS
criminal cases per year from 1949 to 1956
Millions 2,630,000
6,551,440
The Reform and Opening Up saw a sharp increase in crime: 636,000 crimes in 1979 jumped to 1,970,000 by 1989. By 1991, it had reached 2,630,000.
1,970,000
criminal cases in 2012
636,000 1979
1989
1991
Source: National Bureau of Statistics of China
FIVE CRIME PEAKS IN MODERN CHINESE HISTORY
Source: Journal of Anhui Normal University
1950-531,000 criminal cases
First peak, the Socialist Transformation period
1961-422,000 criminal cases
Second peak, the Great Famine
1973-536,000 criminal cases 1981-890,000 criminal cases
Third peak, the Cultural Revolution Fourth peak, initial Stage of Reform and Opening Up
1991-2,360,000 criminal cases Fifth peak, the booming of the market economy
DRUGS Source: Office of China National Narcotic Contral Commission
122,000
ADDICTS
2.22 MILLION drug addicts in China 26
38%
60%-70%
61% take synthetic drugs
of drugs come from the Golden Triangle Source: Jinhua Daily
take opiates
DRUG-RELATED CASES NATIONWIDE IN ,A
2012 20% INCREASE ON THE PREVIOUS YEAR