Tide

Author: Cheng Jiming / Country: Mainland China
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-01-01
Features: A shop assistant named Xiao Lu said excitedly, "Little Japanese want to invade and occupy our country, but they can't. Our territory is so vast, and we have forty-five million people, we will definitely defeat the little Japanese." Xiao Lu was only 19 years old at that time, his name was Lu Tongyi. He was an orphan and a distant relative of the Lin family. At the age of 10, he came to Nanjing and was taken in by Grand Uncle Lin Mingqing of the Lin family. From then on, he served as an apprentice for three years, according to Nanjing people's way of saying, "eating three years of radish-dry rice." Later, he became a helper in this cloth shop. He was tall and well-featured, with a long face, as if carved by Michelangelo. Though not as handsome as David, he was still considered a handsome man. He had only a primary school education, but he studied hard, enjoyed reading newspapers and books, listening to the radio, staying informed about current events, and often discussed the situation with the young shop assistants. Everyone called him "Little Broadcaster."
Xiao Lu usually had a flat-top haircut and wore a blue long gown, changing to a blue cotton robe in winter. As a helper in a cloth shop, the boss had the employees dress neatly, which was also a form of advertising. He also liked to exercise and would go to an open space nearby every morning to practice martial arts with some people. He had strong muscles and could easily carry cotton bales weighing over 200 pounds, moving swiftly. At this time, another shop assistant, Xiao Liu, disagreed with Xiao Lu's view. He was slightly older than Xiao Lu and lived on the left side of the shop. His family consisted of only his elderly mother, as his father had passed away early. He was stout with a round face and big ears. He said, "Don't think that just because our country is large and has a large population, we will definitely defeat the little Japanese. Let me ask you, how did the Japanese manage to occupy our three provinces in the east? Their planes and tanks are simply more than ours, and we can't beat them."
Xiao Wang then chimed in, "I don't think we should be so pessimistic. I believe in the Committee Chairman. He is the successor of Mr. Sun Yat-sen. He knows how to build the army." Xiao Wang was an absolute admirer of the Committee Chairman. He believed that the Committee Chairman was the rightful successor of Mr. Sun Yat-sen and would always call him "the Committee Chairman." When speaking standing up, he would sometimes instinctively stand at attention to show respect for the Committee Chairman. Xiao Wang was a year older than Xiao Liu and was the child of a relative of the Lin family. His family was very poor, and his father had once been a shop assistant. He was a frail scholar but still had strength and could carry heavy packages. His family now consisted of his mother and a 15-year-old sister, and he was the sole breadwinner.
While the young shop assistants were discussing the Sino-Japanese War, the two older shop assistants remained silent on the side. They were thinking, the war had finally broken out. Would the Japanese invaders reach Nanjing? If the war broke out, would they lose their jobs, and how would they support their wives and children? If the war broke out, where would they flee? They had no relatives or friends in other provinces and no acquaintances in the countryside. Seeing the young people discussing so passionately, they thought, "You might also be sent to fight on the battlefield. What will the situation be like then? No one knows."
Xiao Bao ran to the accounting office on the right side of the hall to listen to his father and two uncles discussing. Xiao Bao's second uncle, along with his father, ran the cloth shop. His name was Lin Xiuru, with a buzz cut and wearing a long gown, but he wore high-quality leather shoes. He said with a worried expression, "If this war breaks out, we don't know what the outcome will be, or how long it will last?" Xiao Bao's third uncle was much more modern, with a neat suit hairstyle and a penchant for wearing well-tailored suits with polished leather shoes. He worked as a senior staff member in a private bank and said optimistically, "Our country is led by the Committee Chairman, and we have no reason to fear defeating the little Japanese. Nanjing will be secure, and soon we will hear news of victory."
Xiao Bao's father, Lin Mingqing, was already nearly 50 years old. He usually had a "monk's head" haircut, meaning a bald head, and wore a small hat, always dressed in cotton shoes. Unlike his third brother, he was not as optimistic. He didn't speak but thought deeply. He believed that the Committee Chairman was capable of fighting internal wars but had no courage to confront the Japanese in the three provinces, allowing them to occupy the entire northeast. Could he resist the Japanese? His second uncle remained pessimistic about the prospects of resisting the war. He said, "The Committee Chairman's government is too corrupt. His troops can oppress the people, but dealing with the Japanese is a different matter."
Lin Mingqing slowly said, "Our country is being bullied and invaded. We should unite and fight back bravely. We are such a large country with 450 million compatriots. We won't end up like Abyssinia, will we?" His second uncle replied, "Our national quality is such that we are a disorganized mass. Can the Committee Chairman turn them into a solid fist overnight? His own Kuomintang is divided into various factions and will never unite into a fist. I don't believe he can resist the Japanese!"
Xiao Bao didn't quite understand what was right or wrong in their discussion, but he believed that China would definitely defeat the little Japanese. He was a primary school student, and his teacher had told them that the three provinces in the east had been occupied by Japanese imperialism, turning the local people into subjects of a foreign country. They were forced to learn Japanese and forced into labor, and a puppet state called "Manchukuo" was established, with the last emperor of the Qing Dynasty, Puyi, forced to become a "puppet emperor." This was a humiliation for the Chinese people. The teacher had also read them the famous French essay "The Last Lesson" and asked the children if they would be willing to become subjects of a foreign country. Xiao Bao and all his classmates shouted loudly, "No!"
After returning home, Xiao Bao asked his older sister, Xiumei, to read "The Last Lesson" to him again. As he listened, tears streamed down his face. He thought of the French at that time and the Chinese in the three provinces who were now subjects of a foreign country. P3-5