Last Kiss in Tiananmen Square (28 page)

“Yu Gang, I don’t think that we can make any difference,” said Little Pea while putting the last pork bun into the steamer. She was making dinner for her family and wished that her parents would come back soon. “Since so many people have participated in the movement, I don’t think we will be punished for being involved,” she continued.

“Well, we can’t control that either.” Yu Gang stood up and pulled Little Pea toward him. He gave her a forceful kiss. “Let’s go in.”

Little Pea pulled her head back, stared at him for a second and gave him a beautiful smile. They walked into Little Pea’s apartment, shoulder to shoulder.

This was the biggest benefit coming out of the student’s movement. They could use Little Pea’s empty apartment to enjoy the greatest joy in the relationship --- intercourse, in bed instead of in the bushes.

Zhang Ping was helped into the yard by Pumpkin and Marshmallow. She was shouting in some Cultural Revolution slogans.

“Red Guards, Red Guards,

Stand Up.

Sweep, sweep

The capitalist’s running dog,

Into the historical garbage!

Long live Chairmen Mao!

Long live Cultural Revolution!”

Potatofeet trailed behind with a cup in hand. The water was swooshed around due to his unsteady hands and bouncing steps.

“Ok, Zhang Ping, be quiet. Here we are. We are home now.” Pumpkin patted Zhang Ping while trying to restrain her from waving her arms. But Zhang Ping struggled forward, stamping her feet hard on the concrete yard floor, glad to have the platform to perform on.

“Poor girl. What can we do?” said Pumpkin. Then she turned toward her husband Marshmallow who was trying to calm Zhang Ping down by holding her arms.

“Hi, old man, why don’t you say something?” said Pumpkin.

As soon as they stopped in the yard, Zhang Ping started struggling even harder. She kicked Pumpkin and Marshmallow on the legs and hit their faces with clenched fists. “You arrested the revolutionary red guard. You are the capitalist’s running dog.”

“See, what can I do? She is a wild animal. We can’t stop her. Nobody can stop her. Besides the whole town is crazy,” said Marshmallow.

“You’re useless!” said Pumpkin, “let’s bring her into our apartment and tie her on the bed.”

“No, don’t. Please let her go. She will be tired in a while,” said Mrs. Wang.

As soon as they released her, she leaped onto the corridor in front of Mrs. Wang’s apartment. She was jumping while singing. She waved her fists forcefully into the air while shouting “Long Live Chairman Mao! Long Live the Cultural Revolution!” Pushing her sleeves high and arms akimbo, she was marching forward on the corridor that was all along the apartment. As she was marching along, the flowerpots and the wash basins on the corridor railing fell down one by one along the way.

“Planting flowers is stinky capitalist’s idea. We should dig them out of their roots.” Mr. Wang, his four boys and the cat looked out of their window nervously. Their eyes flinched as Zhang Ping passed by.

Lao Liu rushed out of his door and threw his arms into the sky. “Help! Help! Help to stop this crazy woman.”

Before Lao Liu could get a hold of her, she jumped onto the top of the railing where the flowerpots used to be. She danced and sang in rhythm. Her style was between a marching band and the acrobat. She showed an incredible ability to balance on this narrow strip of the platform. Not knowing what to do, Lao Liu along with the rest of neighbors was watching her. Little Pea and Yu Gang had come out of their apartment and joined the crowd. It was like a mad woman finally conquered the world. The people were worshipping their newly crowned queen even though their queen was in a rage. In their hearts, they actually agreed with Zhang Ping. They were all crazy in the last few weeks. Nobody was working. They were throwing a tantrum over their government. Zhang Ping was a performer who was demonstrating what was in each of their minds, a mirror in which they could see themselves. Was this an outpouring of her insanity or her pent-up energy accumulated after years of living under an oppressive regime? They were watching her as they were questioning themselves.

“Mom and Dad!” Broomstick, Little Pea’s brother broke the silence. He came into the yard accompanied by the noise of a scooter.

“Mom and Dad, what are you doing here? There are tanks, even missiles moving toward Beijing. I just saw four yellow jacket airplanes over my head. And truckloads with more soldiers have already started moving into the square.”

Pumpkin, Marshmallow and Mrs. Wang turned around and stared at Broomstick as though they could not comprehend what he was saying. Zhang Ping hypnotized them all into such a trance that reality did not matter anymore. This had scared Broomstick who did not know what had happened to them. Looking numb and lost, he joined the crowd.

“Aaeh…… Comrade, let’s march forward!” In a fraction of second, she jumped off the corridor railing and galloped toward the gate. At the same time, she threw her fists into the sky and shouted, “Long Live Chairman Mao! Long Live the Revolution!” The spectators followed. But nobody could go as fast as she could.

As they passed the alley, Little Pea’s brother Potatofeet found his water stand where he used to sell tea.

“Mother, someone tip over…over my wa…ter can, mother.” He cried. Tears and snot covered his face. He tried to walk faster but his deformed feet did not help. He was in no way going to catch up with everyone. Pumpkin stopped and wiped his face with the corner of her sleeve.

“Wait here, Ok! I’ll be back in a few minutes.” Then she ran away toward the street where the crowd gathered.

Zhang Ping just reached the end of the alley where the wide Changan street began. It was full of people confronting a column of army vehicles. Hundreds of people including citizens and students locked their arms and tried to stop the arm trucks loaded with soldiers going forward. As soon as Zhang Ping arrived, they gradually opened a pass way for her. Her loud voice and hysteria had an unspeakable command over them.

“Hey, this is a real brave one.”

“Let her go forward.”

“I think she must just come out of the psychiatric ward.”

“So what is wrong with that? Even the mental patients know what justice is.”

Zhang Ping rushed in front of the first truck that was packed with soldiers in green uniforms with rifles in hand. Her perm hair was dry and pointing up which made her head resemble a male lion. She locked her arms against her waist like an angry animal. Her excited face was like an eggplant, long and purple.

“Hey, soldier, you want to harvest the revolutionary fruit? No way!” Then she was doing the revolutionary dance again. This time she was doing Yong Ge, a harvest street dance in which one had to swing their arms and hips while walking.

Soldiers were dumbfounded. They stared at her and did not know what to do. It was not that they felt helpless in front of a mentally ill woman. They were confronted with a whole square full of crazy people. They were worried about their own sanity. They asked themselves why they didn’t join the crowd.

“The People’s friends are my friends!

The People’s enemies are my enemies!”

After reciting that saying of Chairman Mao’s, she turned around and faced the crowd. She sat down cross-legged. Then she started conducting with her arms.

“The east is red.

The Sun is rising.

China had gotten a Mao Zedong…”

She was singing one of the oldest communist’s songs and China’s most popular song. Like magic, the crowd started singing too, then the troops.

Dagong, who tried to go home but stuck in the crowd on the square, had been watching Zhang Ping for a while. It was clear in his mind that his wife was crazy. He fought hard to get through the heavily packed crowd in order to get closer to her until the crowd started singing along with her. The crowd’ patriotic attitude had moved him. He stopped moving forward and joined the singing. Like many people around him, he could feel tears rolling down from corners of his eyes. He shared others’ passion and frustration. During their desperate move --- using their bodies to stop government’s army trucks and tanks, they still tried to worship their dying god --- Mao Zedong. They did not ridicule him. They just wanted government officials to hear their voices and understand that they still loved China just as much as they did. They just wanted to voice their demands more openly. Now they wished that Chairman Mao had heard it. Maybe he would have reacted differently.

Chapter 18

When Baiyun heard that Martial Law was going to be imposed, she did not react at all. It seemed that she had already known everything. That was what Dagong said. Actually that was not the reason. The real reason was that she had become fearless. Then she heard a girl from the Federation Headquarters coming to the broadcast station to announce that the hunger strike was over. Since the surrounding area was so noisy, it turned out that her speech was not effective at all.

“Why don’t we go to the square to be messengers ourselves?” Someone suggested.

“Ok, I would like to do it.” Baiyun jumped up immediately. She felt bored. Since the Martial Law was declared, everyone had a feeling that the movement was going to be over. Students began eating the reserved food and signing paraphernalia for each other. Baiyun offered her white broad brimmed hat for others to sign. Very soon, her hat was full of reddish signatures and comments like “A hard working girl”, “A good writer”, and “Baiyun, you are wicked.” Baiyun folded her hat and put it in her jeans pocket carefully.

Yumei came over. “Baiyun, do you want to walk around the square?”

“Yes. You have read my mind.” Then Baiyun looked at Dagong who just was sitting and staring at students. They were fighting to get an autograph from the woman student leader who made the announcement to suspend the “Hunger Strike”. Dagong did not join the autograph crowd. Baiyun thought that maybe he was too shy or maybe just deep in thought.

“Hey, what are thinking about?” Baiyun hit him on the shoulder. “Do you want to walk with us on the square?”

Dagong looked at her and nodded. Then he stood up slowly and wiped off the dust on his bottom with his hand. “I’ll walk with you for a while. But I need to stop at home soon when I still can,” said he slowly trying not to make Baiyun jealous over his wife.

“Oh, that’s what you are thinking about. You are different, a man with a family. You have to think twice before facing death,” said Yumei teasingly.

“You kids don’t understand!” Dagong walked away from them, but the two girls followed.

“He just lost a son.” Baiyun whispered to Yumei. “I really feel sorry for him. But I don’t know how to comfort him. I’m so inept at such things. What do you think?”

Yumei smiled, “I don’t know,” said she, pretending not paying much attention about it.

“Come on, Yumei. Even though you’re younger, you are much more experienced in such matters. I’m a book worm and you are not.” Baiyun nudged Yumei.

“What experience? What are you girls whispering about?” said Dagong. He suddenly stopped walking and turned around.

“We are talking about you.” Both girls answered in unison.

“Ok, you can talk about me all you want. I have to go,” Dagong resumed walking toward his home while Baiyun and Yumei walked toward the center of the square.

“Do you love him?” asked Yumei.

“Yes.”

“That’s the best comfort you can offer,” said Yumei.

“I’m a Marshal here. Who are you? Everyone has to show her pass in order to pass through here.” A short guy wearing a red armband and a white headband spoke with heavy southern accent. He tried to block Baiyun and Yumei.

“Ok, here it is.” Yumei showed him her pass.

“No. This is yesterday’s pass. We just issued new ones,” said the Marshal seriously.

“This is absurd. We’ve just come from the Broadcast station,” Yumei pointed her hand toward the Monument of People’s Hero. “We have an important message for the hunger strikers.”

“Ok, there is a tent full of ‘Dare to Die’ hunger strikers over there,” he waved his arm toward his back. “You can talk to them but don’t go any further.”

“How come they suddenly changed the passes and even the Marshals are brand new,” said Baiyun as she and Yumei were walking away.

“Power struggle. The hunger strike leaders have been fighting with the Federation leaders in controlling the square for a long time. I work for the Federation so I know. It’s terrible that people are fighting for their own jealous needs while everyone is facing life and death decisions. They even fought over who was going to announce the ending of the Hunger Strike. If we fail the movement, I think they are to blame.” Yumei sounded much more mature. Since the movement had started, she had lost some weight, especially after she recovered from her illness. Her original dancer’s slender figure had been trimmed down to almost a child’s body.

“Don’t talk about failure. It sounds like a bad omen.” Baiyun hated to see the movement to be over. In a period of month, she had gotten used to this lifestyle, sleeping under the sky, and running around the square all day long and sharing the company of like-minded friends. She could no longer be satisfied with a life consisting of the library, dorm and cafeteria anymore. She wished that this lifestyle could go on forever. If not, she was ready to die. She thought about death a lot recently. The more she thought about it, the less frightening it became. She should have been dead a few times already, she was telling herself. She was living on the borrowed time, which would not run forever. Now the “Martial Law” had been declared. The government had tightened its grip. She could almost envision tanks moving in and soldiers opening fire on students and citizens. She was no longer afraid. Before she wished if she could die with Dagong, she would be fine with it. Now as long as she could sacrifice her life with some of her friends like Longfe or Yumei, she could be very happy.