scruta

On a recent trip to Kyoto in Japan, I came across a monument with a Chinese poem on it attributed to Zhou Enlai up on Arashiyama Mountain (岚山). Here’s what it looked like:

The inscription was a bit difficult for me to read, so I took a photo and then got a Chinese friend to help me decipher it. It turns out to be a poem that Zhou penned while studying abroad in Japan in 1919. In the 1970s, when Zhou came to Japan looking to establish a trade relationship, this monument was presented to him. More about the poem here on Baidu Baike. Here’s the poem rendered more legibly:

《雨中岚山》

雨中二次游岚山
两岸苍松
夹着几株樱
到尽处
突见一山高
流出泉水绿如许
绕石照人
潇潇雨 雾蒙浓
一线阳光穿云出
愈见娇妍
人间的万象真理
愈求愈模糊
模糊中偶然见着一点光明
真愈觉娇妍

Arashiyama in the Rain

I went to Arashiyama twice in the rain
Both banks were framed by green pines
Squeezing against a few cherry trees
Towards the horizon
One mountain peak stood out the most
Light green spring waters flowed out like this
Winding around the rocks, holding my reflection
Whistling winds, dense mist and fog
A ray of light peaked through the clouds
The more I looked upon this beauty –
The realities of the human world
The more I want, the more confused I become –
In the confusion I suddenly chanced upon this point of light
The more I truly sensed its beauty

—

The last five lines of the poem are the most interesting to me. I guess when Zhou Enlai wrote the thing as a young man he was reflecting a more conventional idea of nature providing grounding for human thought, aesthetics, etc. But 50 years later, when courting the Japanese over the possibility of developing China, the image of a ray of light coming though the clouds takes on an entirely different character. I wonder if the master statesman was pleased with the selection.

[Ferret is frazzled, looking for a piece of paper on his table entirely covered in crap. He’s been far too busy lately, but thinking to himself about what exactly has been taking up his time, he can’t say. He just knows he needs to find that piece of paper. It’s a receipt for something he wants to return. Or was it a receipt for registering for something? Yes, that’s it. Registration.]

Ferret

Where is it?

[Ferret finds the box he’d received ages ago. It’s full of just as much mystery as before, its faded packaging with just the words 上海 written on it are full of strange portent.]

Ferret

Damn, I totally forgot about this.

[Ferret takes a deep breath and starts to open it up, forgetting about the thing he was just searching for. Inside there is just brown packing paper, or so it seems. He continues to pull it out until he finds a small black notebook in the bottom of the box. He picks up and flips it open. There is a message scrawled on the front page.]

Notebook

捡到归还奖励

A reward for whoever returns this

[and an address below it]

王先生收

寿宁路20号

Mr. Wang

20 Shouning Lu

[Ferret flips through the rest of the pages in the notebook and finds nothing else. He sits down on his chair next to his desk and looks at the cover of the notebook, thinking.]

Sailing on and on, and on and on I’m a lost soul with his beard grown long floating over the still waters while a calm wind blows. But below me in the deep, I know that trouble is bubbling up. I can feel it.

My companions are bedraggled rum sots and dreamers. We keep our ship tidy, but rage through the evening, pulling great beasts from the brine and singing holly holly to the bright night sky. We’ll say it never ends.

We come to shore where we greet the natives. They smile at us like gods, and curse at us like them too – in moments of weakness and under their breath. I don’t know if they mean to destroy us. I suspect they don’t know either. We never stay long enough to find out.

It’s always back at sea, back at sea.

We’re heading somewhere.

Where?

I do not know.

[Ferret looks at the Box on his table and begins a conversation with it. Unfortunately, one sided.]

Ferret

What are you?

Box

…

Ferret

You’re a box. I know, but… That’s how it is, isn’t it? I’ve lived here for how long and I’m still lured into all of this bullshit. I get boxes delivered in the middle of the night and I start talking to them.

Box

…

[Ferret paces away from the Box, then paces back.]

Ferret

Who could possibly want to send me a box?

Box

…

Ferret

God. I need a drink.

[Ferret goes to the refrigerator and finds he only has some soy milk, a couple of days past the expiration date. He sighs then takes it out pours it in a glass. He sips on it, eyeing the Box.]

Ferret

You thought I meant a real drink, didn’t you? I did too.

Box

…

Ferret

I don’t have any alcohol in my house. I’m a cheap drunk anyway. I’d rather be rational about this.

Box

…

Ferret

Soy milk is high in protein. That should be good.

Box

…

Ferret

What do you want from me?

Box

…

Ferret

You know, on the phone, the girl said you “were” Shanghai. You’re all that Shanghai is in a box, huh?

Box

…

Ferret

You’re a bunch of bullshit gift certificates, aren’t you?

Box

…

Ferret

Fine, I’ll deal with you tomorrow.

[Ferret slugs down the last of his soy milk, puts his glass in the sink and goes to bed, leaving Box in the darkness.]

So… I found a card on the ground for one of those Three Kingdoms card games the kids seem to be playing these days. I didn’t recognize the character on the card, so I thought I’d dig a bit deeper.

 

First of all, I was surprised to find out that this is supposed to be a man. He looks super girly. His name is Xun You, who was one of the head military strategists for Three Kingdoms‘ bad boy, Cao Cao. I suppose that he wasn’t really a fighter, per se, so looking feminine isn’t such a big deal. The inscription at the bottom of the card reads (originally in traditional characters, but I’ve switched the script to make my life easier):

知能过宁武   德可配颜渊

Knowledge surpassing Ning Wu, character on par with Yan Yuan

I guess these have something to do with playing the card game it goes with.

Now to the back!

There’s a bit about what we know about him historically, etc. Most of interest to me is bottom where there’s stats for his “military worth” (武力值), his “strategy worth” (谋略值) and his “overall worth” (综合值). He’s the best in terms of “strategy worth” (92/100) as you’d expect. Man, he really looks like a lady in this picture though, doesn’t he? He doesn’t always look like this though. Here he is in the old school 80s TV version of Three Kingdoms:

Rock out, Xun You.

[Ferret is lying in bed, trying to sleep. There’s a knock on his door. He flicks on the lights and goes to answer it. There’s a Young Man there holding a small box.]

Young Man

唉，快递。

Hey, delivery.

Ferret

这是什么东西？

What is this?

Young Man

这是快递。就是，嗯，就是，delivery。

It’s a delivery. It’s a, um, it’s a, “delivery”.

Ferret

那我知道这是快递，但是我没有卖什么东西。

I know it’s a delivery, but I didn’t buy anything.

Young Man

你看地址吧。这不是203吗？

Take a look at the address. Isn’t this 203?

Ferret

是的。

Yeah.

Young Man

那怎么办? 你不要的话，我就带回去。

Then what do you want me to do?

Ferret

这个快递是从哪里来的？

Where is it from?

Young Man

我看一下。

Let me see.

[Ferret and the Young Man examine the package. There’s no return address. In the area on the box where it should be, it just says “Shanghai” in Chinese.]

Young Man

上海。

Shanghai.

Ferret

我知道。

I know.

Ferret

你怎么那么晚还是上班？

Why are you working so late?

Young Man

我就是加班啦！关你什么事？你要不要？

I’m working overtime. What does it have to do with you anyway? Do you want it or not?

Ferret

一个人刚刚给我打电话，告诉我你会来。

Somebody just called me and told me you’d be coming.

Young Man

当然啦！这是快递，delivery。

Of course! This is a delivery. A “delivery”!

Ferret

我知道的，但是我觉得这是开玩笑的，或者一个人就监视我，什么的。

I know, but I feel like it’s all a joke or somebody is spying on me. Something like that.

Young Man

开玩笑就是开玩笑。监视你呢？我怎么知道？你到底要不要你的快递？不要收的话，我就走了！

If it’s a joke, then it’s a joke. Spying on you? How do I know? Do you want your package or not? If you don’t want it, then I’m going.

[The Young Man begins to walk away with the package. Ferret stops him.]

Ferret

回来吧！我收了。

Come back! I’ll take it.

Young Man

好的。来签个名吧。

Okay. Sign here.

[Ferret signs for it.]

Young Man

哎，你的中文好不错。你在中国多久了？

Hey，your Chinese is pretty good. How long have you been in China?

[Ferret raises his left hand and extends all five of his fingers.]

Ferret

五年。

Five years.

Young Man

Very good!

Ferret

Thanks.

[ They wave goodbye to each other. Ferret closes the door and sets the box down on his table.]

Ferret

Well, what now?

 

[It’s late and Ferret is lying in bed, reading a book, evading sleep just a bit more so that he can dig further into the world of words. The telephone rings. He picks it up. There’s a voice – female, nervous. There’s the sound of talking in the background as if it’s coming from a call center.]

Ferret

Hello?

Voice

喂？

Hello?

Ferret

Hello?

Voice

Oh, um, hello. You are a foreign person?

Ferret

Hello. Yeah. A foreigner.

Voice

Who is this?

Ferret

You’re calling me. You can’t ask “Who is this?”.

Voice

I… umm… do you want Shanghai?

Ferret

I’m sorry?

Voice

Do you want Shanghai?

Ferret

Do I want to go to Shanghai?

Voice

No. You are in Shanghai.

Ferret

Yes.

Voice

Then do you want Shanghai?

Ferret

What is Shanghai?

Voice

What is?

Ferret

Yes. What are you talking about?

Voice

I will send it to you.

Ferret

What?

Voice

One hour.

Ferret

No. I don’t want it! Whatever you’re selling I don’t want it!

[Ferret realizes that whoever was on the line has hung up.  He lies back in bed and his mind reels with thoughts of what it is that he’s been signed up for – credit card offers, free trials of hand lotion, cellphone service for a provider he doesn’t use. He sighs and turns out the light. After contemplating the darkness for a moment, he closes his eyes, rolls over and goes to bed.]

 

In the Longhua Martyr’s Cemetery there’s a tunnel full of all manner of revolutionary sayings, some of them communist, some just generally pushing the reader to fight the good fight.

This one seemed interesting enough:

 

如果人有灵魂的话，何必要这个躯壳！

If one has a soul, then one must have a body!

但是，如果没有的话，这个躯壳又有什么用处？

However, if one doesn’t have a soul, then what good is a body?

这并不是格言，也不是哲理，而是另外有些意思的话。

This isn’t just some saying, nor is it a philosophy, it’s something else altogether.

– Qu Qiubai

I am carried through these listless days

Still frantic and amazed

Crying with awe at every sight

As pink skies fly into the night

 

Still the world moves quick

And I’m full of hope

My expectations taut

Tight as rope

 

I’m a tightrope walker

Walking where I please

I feel the adrenaline

Fly through my knees

 

There are fantastic dreams

That still catch my eye

Although most of my visions

Are programmed, by and by

 

There are still adulations

To be cried to all above

Although most of life

Is lost in regular push and shove

 

I want my smile to be a touchstone

A reminder in my mirror’s gaze

That yes! yes, I am living!

Through all these listless days

There were those girls I met years ago when I first came to Shanghai, the ones with names like Xinglei, Liming, Zhang Jing… there were many. I could never remember their names the first time. The second time was hard too. And the third. Point is that I eventually got it, and when I did it was glorious!

What happened? Years later Xinglei became Cindy, Liming Linda, Zhang Jing Jane.

I feel a bit sad, almost like there’s a part of them missing now. I wonder if they feel the same.