Tattoo era

Author: Su Tong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-08-01
Features: Su Tong, a native of Suzhou in Jiangnan. In 1980, he enrolled in the Chinese Department of Beijing Normal University. It is said that he spent four unforgettable years there, yet his name was still repeatedly mentioned in this renowned institution. In 1983, he devoted himself to writing fiction and has since been unstoppable, leaving an indelible mark on the contemporary Chinese literary scene. He enjoys "new trends," having immersed himself in them. He also appreciates "tradition," delving into the historical vicissitudes of China. One day, A Chinese Odyssey: The Story of a Painted Fan was published, and later, under the direction of the acclaimed filmmaker Zhang Yimou, it was transformed into the famous Raise the Red Lantern, which went on to compete for the Academy Award. Although the outcome was not entirely satisfactory, it gave both the Chinese film and literary worlds a considerable "shock." The Chinese public became acquainted with A Chinese Odyssey: The Story of a Painted Fan through Raise the Red Lantern, and subsequently fell in love with the charming Su Tong. Su Tong, in turn, embarked on a unique literary path, once again inspired by A Chinese Odyssey: The Story of a Painted Fan.
Su Tong is an exceptionally talented writer, possessing a rare sensitivity and imagination. Due to some of his works, he gained sudden fame and became, in effect, a celebrity. However, this early success did not turn him into a popular writer.
A boy named Xiao Guai was born on a night in January, coinciding with the first snowfall. The north wind whistled through the icicles hanging from the eaves, and the stone-paved streets of Xiangchun Street were muddy and treacherous. The moat parallel to the street was frozen solid. Xiao Guai’s mother was unaware that her long pregnancy was coming to an end. She awoke to the shrill ringing of the alarm clock and prepared to go to the chemical plant for her night shift.
In the dark room by the river, Xiao Guai’s mother fumbled in the darkness for a moment before lifting a bamboo basket and opening the door facing the street. The snow on the street had turned into pale ice, and except for a few dim streetlights, the street was deserted. Xiao Guai’s mother wanted to tie two ropes around her rubber boots to prevent slipping, but she couldn’t bend down. She returned to the room to wake up the man in bed, hoping he would help her tie the ropes.
The man, however, was still snoring loudly and could not be woken. Xiao Guai’s mother suddenly grew anxious, fearing she would be late. She muttered curses at the man in bed and decided to take a shortcut to the chemical plant. She chose to cross the frozen river because the plant was on the other side. She unlocked the back door by the river, dragging her heavy body onto the ice and waddling across like a goose, the sound of ice chips breaking under her rubber boots.
Suddenly, Xiao Guai’s mother felt a sense of fear. She saw a black diamond-shaped shadow cast by the railway bridge in the moonlight—a nighttime freight train seemed to be rumbling toward the bridge and the frozen river below. She wrapped her green scarf around her face and neck and hurried toward the earthen embankment on the other side. She heard the ice beneath her feet suddenly crack, and the bamboo basket flew from her hand. Only when her lower body abruptly plunged into the river water below the ice did she realize the true danger lay beneath the ice.
So, Xiao Guai’s mother shouted for help while kicking the icy water with her feet. Her cries were disordered and desperate. The people in the windows by the river could not tell whether the sounds came from a human or from the legendary river spirits. No one dared to open the back window to look at the river.
The next morning, someone found the woman from Wang Deji’s family lying on the frozen river, wearing a red sweater. She held her quilted coat, which contained a newborn baby. Xiao Guai had been born only a few days earlier, and his mother had already died. In the eyes of the women on Xiangchun Street, Xiao Guai’s survival was a miracle. They felt full of pity and love for this motherless child. Three women who were breastfeeding took turns feeding Xiao Guai. Unfortunately, this beautiful scene lasted only two or three months.
The problem lay with Xiao Guai’s father, Wang Deji. He never shied away from anything in such a constrained setting and often lingered around the women who were feeding the child. The three women, when they gathered together, complained about Wang Deji’s lecherous eyes. They felt he shouldn’t take advantage of the opportunity, but they didn’t know how to drive him away.
Finally, one day, when Wang Deji reached for his son from the woman’s hands, he made a clear, lewd gesture—his hand slid over the breast of the woman surnamed Gao. The woman surnamed Gao screamed, "Damn it!" She shoved the baby into Wang Deji’s arms and said, "You feed him yourself." Enraged and humiliated, she ran out of Wang’s house and never returned. The women surnamed Chen and Zhang also left.
Three months after Xiao Guai was born, he stopped eating. Many years later, Wang Deji recalled his son’s upbringing and astonishingly forgot how he had fed Xiao Guai. He frankly told his drinking buddies that his home was like a dirty stable, and the children he and his late wife had borne were like little pigs and sheep, rolling and tumbling in and out of the stable. They grew up gradually and eventually became adults.
In the early 1970s, a game called "nailing copper wire" was popular among the boys on Xiangchun Street. The boys bent copper wires into loops and brought them to the railway, placing them on the tracks before a train arrived. When the train passed, the copper wire loops magically grew thicker. The boys usually played this game on red bricks. If someone succeeded in nailing an opponent’s copper loop to the ground, they could take it.
There was a boy named Da Xi who died from playing this game. While trying to steal copper from a copper material factory by climbing over the wall, he was startled by the factory’s guard dogs and fell from the wall, his head hitting a pile of copper ingots. Da Xi’s death caused a stir in Xiangchun Street, and people began to ban their children from playing the game. However, the boys had enough ways to evade their parents’ interference. They even moved the game to the sides of the railway, continuing to play on the sleepers.
Every pocket was filled with copper wire. If they lost, they would temporarily place it on the tracks to be flattened by a passing train. During that time, the train drivers traveling over the railway bridge had no way to deal with the group of children by the tracks, so they repeatedly blew their loud whistles to warn the boys.