Mulberry and Peach (15 page)

‘Oh, have all the flames gone out?' She turns over on the
k'ang
. ‘Chia-kang, where is my flame?'

‘This is no time to think about flames, Mother. The Eighth Army has entered the city.'

‘Oh, I thought we were at our old house on Li-shih Lane.'

‘That was twenty years ago, Mother. Today is 3 February 1949. Eighth Army has entered the city. We're going to the Gate of Heavenly Peace to see what they look like.'

‘Don't go. Be careful. You might run into Chia-ch'ing.' She stares hard at us for a while. ‘Chia-kang, Mulberry, Hsing-hsing, are you all here in this room with me?'

‘Yes, Mother, we're all here. You have been lying in bed too long. When you get better we'll go out for a walk with you.'

‘Good. Just like before, in the spring when we went to see the black peonies at the Temple of Reverence. They are the same flowers for which Empress Wu held a ceremony to make them bloom faster, but it didn't work. But I saw them in bloom.' She laughs and turns back to face the wall.

‘That's right, Mother. You even saw the hortensia bloom in the imperial garden. In all of Peking, there is only one hortensia flower and it only blooms once a year. The peony is the flower of wealth and nobility and the hortensia flower is the flower of peace. And you have seen them both.'

‘Yes, Chia-kang, I am one of the lucky ones. Chia-kang, with all this fighting, we didn't really celebrate the New Year. All we did to celebrate was to paste up the Gods of the Door. Next year we really have to do things right.'

‘That's right, Mother. I'll go with you to do the New Year shopping. We'll buy New Year pictures at the flower market: “Fortune and Longevity”, “Three-fold Happiness”, “Good Fortune as One Wishes”, “Wealth and High Rank Overflowing”, “Plump Pig Bows at the Gate”,
“Summon Wealth and Gather Treasures”, we'll buy them all. We'll buy some pretty lanterns and hang them in the courtyard, in the house, everywhere. We'll buy some long strings of firecrackers and set them off and scraps of red paper will fly all over the courtyard. And I'll buy you some pretty velvet flowers, red and green, to wear in your hair.'

‘You want to dress me up to look like a coquette,' laughs Aunt Shen. ‘There are many different festivals for the New Year. On the eve of the twenty-third of the twelfth month, there is the offering to the Kitchen God. On the night of the thirtieth, you must welcome back the Kitchen God and the God of Happiness. The second day of the New Year, you make offerings to the God of Wealth. The eighth day of the New Year, you make offerings to the God of Wealth. The eighth day of the New Year, you pass around lighted flames to thank the ancestors for their protection and blessings in keeping our family healthy and safe. From the thirteenth to the seventeenth is the Lantern Festival. We'll buy a glazed glass lotus-flower lantern to hang at the Main Gate . . .

‘Those students tore off one side of the Main Gate for firewood,' Hsing-hsing says to me in a low voice. ‘If she goes on talking like this, we'll miss the parade.'

‘Chia-kang, Mulberry, Hsing-hsing, sit down and chat with me. A little conversation cheers me up. You know what? I've been walking all over the main streets and the alleys. I went back to all the places I had been before: The White Cloud Temple, the Peach Palace, Yung-ho Palace, the Temple of Exalted Wealth, the Temple of the Fire God

... all the festivals at those temples. The Wen-ming Tea House where T'an Hsin-pei, Yang Hsiao-lou, and Yu Shu-yen sang opera. The Chi-hsiang Tea House where the great opera singers Mei Lan-fang and Yang Hsiao-lou sang. The tiger stalls at Tung-an Market and Hsi-tan Market. The Old Imperial Palace, the Pavilion of Sudden Rain, the Summer Palace. I visited the First Balcony overlooking the river in the northern part of the city and ate sesame biscuits and listened to the eunuchs of the Ch'ing dynasty telling stories. And I saw all the imperial parks. And the Wall of Nine Dragons still hasn't fallen down. And ...'

‘Mother, we really have to go now. If we don't go now, we'll miss the parade.'

‘Chia-kang, what you don't see can't hurt you. Why do you want to go see the Communists?'

‘Everyone's going, Auntie,' says Hsing-hsing.

‘Chia-kang, what if you run into Chia-ch'ing?'

‘If Chia-ch'ing is there, there'll be a big family reunion, won't there?' says Hsing-hsing.

No one answers. Chia-kang reaches over and turns on the radio.

‘...
I serve in the camp of the Hegemon of Western Ch'u. I am Yü-chi. I was well versed in the classics and in swordsmanship at an early age. Ever since that time I have followed my lord to campaigns and battles east and west. There have been hardships and difficulties. When will peace come
. . .'

‘OK, you may go,' the old lady says. ‘I'll listen to Mei Lan-fang sing
The Hegemon Bids Farewell to His Concubine
!'

 

A strong wind full of sand and grit swirls along the ground. Eventually, everything, everyone crumbles into sand at the touch of a finger. Peking has turned to sand. The streets in front of the Gate of Heavenly Peace, Kung-an Street, Ch'i-p'an Street, Ministry of Justice Street and East and West Ch'ang-an Street are filled with shadowy figures, moving through the sand.

‘Can you see the Gate of Heavenly Peace?' Chia-kang asks me.

We are walking on West Ch'ang-an Street toward the Gate of Heavenly Peace.

‘I can't see anything. The sand is too thick.'

Chia-kang and Hsing-hsing compete with each other to tell me, the outsider, about the Gate of Heavenly Peace.

The Gate of Heavenly Peace is the main gate into the Imperial City. Inside the Imperial City, there's a moat. The Forbidden City lies across the moat. Inside the Forbidden City are the Imperial Palaces. Each palace is surrounded by a high wall. The Gate of Heavenly Peace is a many-tiered tower on the city gate which sits on a white marble pedestal. The roof is covered with glazed yellow tile. The walls and the pillars are red. Inside and outside of the Gate of Heavenly Peace statues of beasts and dragons are standing. Prancing along the edge of the roof are dragons, phoenixes, lions, horses, seahorses, fish, fire-eating unicorns, and one Immortal. On each end is a beast with a dragon head, with a sword stuck in his back to keep him from escaping. There are also strange beasts whose tails stir up waves to make rain. The Rivei of Gold Water runs in front of the Gate of Heavenly Peace. Seven stone bridges straddle the river and on each bridge a pair of white marble pillars stand propping up the heavens. A plate has been placed on top of each pillar to gather dew. On each plate a dragon-headed wolf squats, facing south, watching for the
emperor's return. A dragon curls around each pillar, his four five-clawed. feet dance in the folds of the encircling clouds. Two stone lions squat in front of the Gate of Heavenly Peace. They have broad foreheads, curly manes. They lift their heads up and grin. Their plump glistening bodies are draped with fringed harnesses and bells. The lion on the left is playing with an embroidered ball with his right paw. The lioness on the right plays with a lion cub with her left paw. All these beasts and dragons protect the Imperial palaces. There is a lance wound on the lioness's stomach. At the end of the Ming Dynasty the rebel, Li Chih-chen, fought his way into Peking as far as the Gate of Heavenly Peace. The stone lioness came to life and leaped at him. He lunged at her with his lance and she became stone again. Even now, when it rains, blood flows from the wound on her stomach.

‘We welcome the People's Liberation Army to Peking,' shouts from the distance the woman announcer with a precise, distinct voice.

The Gate of Heavenly Peace is in front of us. We are standing beside the wounded lioness. The five-star flag, a huge portrait of Mao Tse-tung and banners with slogans are hung on the Gate of Heavenly Peace. ‘The Gate of Heavenly Peace is the sacred ground of the people's liberation!' ‘Celebration of the Liberation of Peking!' ‘At the Gate of Heavenly Peace burns the eternal flame of struggle!' A whirlwind of sand beats against the flags, the portrait, the banners.

The shadow of the parade moves through the vast expanse of the square and approaches the Gate of Heavenly Peace.

‘. . . We welcome the strong, the victorious People's Liberation Army. The People's Liberation Army is the defender of peace in our fatherland! And the builder of socialism in our fatherland . . .'

The voice gets louder. The parade is still invisible in the sandstorm. There is only the voice.

‘... The liberation of Peking is in accord with the eight conditions for peace which were laid down by the Chinese Communist Party and this is the first good example of ending the war by peaceful means. The liberation of Peking hastens the victorious conclusion of the War of the People's Liberation . . .' A procession of shadows is passing by in the sandstorm.

A giant portrait of Mao Tse-tung appears out of the sand and wind and is hoisted above the heads of a crowd of young men riding in the broadcast truck.

‘Long live Mao Tse-tung!'

‘Safeguard Chairman Mao's eight conditions of peace! Punish the war criminals! Abolish the invalid constitution! Abolish the invalid legal system ...'

The cries swirl away in the sandstorm.

Workers.

Students.

Children.

Civil servants.

 

Groups of people shouting slogans and waving banners in the blowing sand file past the Gate of Heavenly Peace.

Suddenly comes the noise of drums, cymbals, trumpets, and whistles. Children on stilts dressed in loose robes with wide sleeves appear, waving coloured fans and dancing with their instruments to the Rice Sprout Song.

The People's Liberation Army emerges from the sandstorm.

Infantry.

Cavalry.

Armoured Corps.

 

Tanks equipped with machine guns and mortars are followed by ambulances and jeeps. Hundreds of vehicles, all US-made, rumble past the Gate of Heavenly Peace. Soldiers, dressed in full uniform, their faces wrinkled and expressionless, very young yet very old, stare straight ahead as they march - six abreast, past the soaring, circling dragons and beasts which protect the Gate of Heavenly Peace. They vanish into the blowing sand. Rows and rows of soldiers emerge from the sand and wind.

‘Look, it goes on and on,' an onlooker in the silent crowd remarks as we watch from the Gate of Heavenly Peace.

‘That's him!' Hsing-hsing grabs my arm.

‘Who?' asks Chia-kang.

‘. . .'

‘Who, Hsing-hsing?'

‘Your brother!'

‘Where?'

‘There! The one in uniform, back to us, leading the troops in shouting slogans.'

The three of us stand on tiptoe to see, but we can only make out half his face. A gust of sand and wind whirls around us. When we open our eyes again, he has vanished in the sandstorm.

 

The God of the Door that we pasted up for New Year is still there on the half of the main gate that remains. He is dressed in colourful
armour. His chest is stuck out and his stomach protrudes. He has two swords. He leans on one sword and brandishes the other.

Some of the students come out of the house and tear the God of the Door off the gate. They rip him apart and throw the pieces on the icy ground.

They paste up a slogan in his place on the ruined gate:

 

PROTECTING THE PEOPLE'S PROPERTY IS THE NUMBER ONE DUTY!

 

Through the gap in the main gate another slogan can be seen on the Gate of the Dangling Flowers:

 

THE FRESH BLOOD OF REVOLUTION BRINGS FORTH BEAUTIFUL FRUIT.

 

‘Phoenix your son has returned. You have come back too. Good, you have both come to settle accounts with me . . .' I enter the room and hear the old lady talking to herself as she lies on the
k'ang.
‘Phoenix, your son has become a Communist and you're acting too proud ... you have come to take me to the Western Heaven. But I know I am not allowed to go there. “When the Goddess of Mercy was engaged in the deep course of wisdom, she beheld the Five Substances and saw that these substances in their self-nature were empty. O Sariputra, here form is emptiness and emptiness is form ...” The Wall of Nine Dragons is falling down. It's falling on top of me. I can't get out from under it. Phoenix, help me. Phoenix, Phoenix . . .'

‘It's not Phoenix. It's Mulberry.' I sit on the edge of the
k'ang
and massage her legs.

‘Ah, Phoenix isn't here.' She is still facing the wall. ‘Is Chia-ch'ing here?'

‘No, he has never been here.'

‘Didn't you see him at the Gate of Heavenly Peace?'

‘We could only see half his face, and we couldn't really tell if it was him or not.'

‘If only Phoenix were still alive. Chia-ch'ing wouldn't do anything to us in front of his own mother.'

‘Maybe he hasn't come to Peiping yet. Don't try to think too much.'

‘My brain won't listen to me. I don't want to think, but it keeps on thinking, what I owe to other people, how I deceived others. I remember it all. Mulberry, do you hate me?'

‘No, not anymore.'

‘Mulberry, I have something to tell you.'

‘All right.'

‘That year when I couldn't get pregnant, I went to the Divine Astrologer of the Imperial Polarity at the festival of the Fire God to have my fortune told. My horoscope said that if I were to conceive the child would be famous, but since there have always been few males born into the Shen family, I would have to be careful with the child. He meant that the Shen family line was about to end. Chia-ch' ing is a Communist. We can't depend on him to pass on the family name. Only Chia-kang can do that.'