Half of a man is a woman

Author: Zhang Xianliang
Publisher:
Publication Date: 1998-03-01
Features: I have wanted many times to record this experience, but either felt guilty about it or ashamed of realizing that I was hiding certain things from it, and ultimately gave up writing. I am often my own opposite. Sunlight streamed through the window, casting slanting shadows on the east wall, drenching it in brilliant gold. An insect that had landed on the landscape scroll suddenly took flight, spinning silently through the room. The sun was about to complete its path, but she would rise again tomorrow, following the same ancient and unchanging cycle; perhaps I had seen her before but had not noticed, or perhaps I had never seen her at all. In any case, this time, she left a very deep impression on me. Two months ago, I was transferred out of the main group to manage the rice paddies. In the labor camp, I was the head of the main group, and when transferred to the paddy management team, I remained the head of the paddy management team. The team leader who transferred me, an elderly local cadre of farmer origins, was smoking a self-rolled trumpet-shaped cigarette as he said to me, "Promoting you to be the team leader is the leadership's trust in you. Bear with it! Those twelve people are hard to manage! Everyone is capable, but everyone has their flaws. If you, a bitch, can manage those twelve rascals well, you'll be able to lead a factory with thousands of people outside."