Sun Empire

Author: Ballard
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2007-01-01
Features: Two months later, as Jim was about to depart for England, he came down the gangway of the Arava, his last time stepping back on Chinese soil. He recalled Dr. Lancelot's words. Dressed in a silk shirt and a tie, with a gray flannel suit bought from Sincere Company over his shoulders, Jim waited politely for an elderly British couple to descend the wooden stairs. Below them lay the Bund of Shanghai, and the bustling night of the city. Tens of thousands of Chinese crowded the wide streets, squeezed between trams and cars, between American jeeps and trucks, between pedestrians and pedicabs, pushing and shoving, bustling with activity. Together, they watched British and American soldiers entering and leaving the grand hotels on the Bund. At the small dock next to the Arava, under the shelter of its bow and stern, American sailors disembarked from the battleship anchored in the middle of the river. The moment they stepped off the landing craft, the Chinese swarmed forward, a procession of pickpockets and rickshaw pullers, prostitutes and bar promoters, vendors selling homemade Johnnie Walker whiskey, dealers in gold and opium—all these Shanghai gods, dressed in black silk, fox fur coats, and elaborate attire.