Rebirth 2004: A lone figure in the literary world

Chapter 299 Compatriots
Nevada ranks seventh in area among the 50 states of the United States, but has a population of only over 300 million. It is truly a sparsely populated state. The California Zephyr only makes three stops in Nevada, the least among all the states along the way.

Not long after the train departed from Reno Station, it plunged into the Nevada Basin. The afternoon sun shone on the vast land, and as far as the eye could see, large tracts of desolate salt-alkali land and sparse vegetation formed a monotonous duet.

In the distance, the slightly undulating horizon is intertwined with the skyline, as if the earth is falling asleep in the gradually dimming light, quiet and solemn.

Occasionally, I would pass by a few small towns that seemed to be populated, but upon closer inspection, I found that they had already become dilapidated and deserted. Only the abandoned railway tracks and some buildings that had not completely collapsed told of their former glory.

"These are basically small towns that emerged during the gold rush. Once all the gold was dug up, all the people left," Susan introduced.

"Is this the place Chaplin's The Gold Rush is about?" Zhang Chao asked curiously.

Susan said: "The Gold Rush tells the story of the Klondike Gold Rush era, which is set in Alaska and the Yukon Territory of Canada, not in Nevada."

Xu Ruiya added: "There have been several eras of gold rush in American history. California, Nevada, Alaska, Montana... all had gold rushes, and they even directly changed the local population structure.

For example, the California Gold Rush had a large number of Chinese participants. Why is San Francisco also called San Francisco? It was originally a "gold mountain". When all the gold was dug up, the Chinese gold diggers went to other gold mining cities, and it became San Francisco.

Zhang Chao smiled and said, "You are really familiar with the history of Chinese in the United States. - By the way, how long does each gold rush last?"

Xu Ruiya thought for a moment before answering, "The longest is no more than 8 or 9 years, and the shortest is probably only 2 or 3 years. Most gold rush towns are uninhabited a few years after the gold resources are exhausted, and the shortest may only take a few months.

For example, in California's Sutter River, 2 people flocked in within two years after the gold mine was discovered; after the gold mine was exhausted, only a few thousand people were left in the next two or three years.

Zhang Chao sighed: "Its rise was rapid, and its fall was sudden."

Susan suddenly said excitedly: "I heard this sentence when I was learning Chinese! It describes the rise and fall of dynasties, right?"

Zhang Chao nodded and said, "Yes. Isn't it a bit like these gold rush towns?" Then he asked Xu Ruiya, "Were there many Chinese gold diggers at that time?"

This is exactly what Xu Ruiya is good at. She sorted out her thoughts and then said, "During the gold rush in the 19th century, at least 3 Chinese immigrants landed on the west coast of the United States and went to different gold rush towns.

As I just mentioned, there were at least several thousand Chinese people in Sutter River, but not all of them were gold prospectors, many of them were engaged in other businesses, such as laundries, restaurants, grocery stores, barber shops, etc.

Some of those who were engaged in gold mining also became 'leaders' and 'engineers'. "

Zhang Chao asked with great interest: "Can you tell me more about it?"

Xu Ruiya said with some embarrassment: "It was not explained in such detail in the elective course. However, it was mentioned that Chinese gold diggers participated in the construction of infrastructure in the Sutter River Gold Rush Town, including roads, bridges, warehouses and public buildings.

Some Chinese miners also brought advanced water conservancy engineering technologies, such as building dams, channels and turbines to flush gold mines. These technologies significantly improved gold mining efficiency and extended the production life of the mining area.

Some of the water conservancy projects such as dams and channels built by Chinese miners have been preserved and have become tourist attractions, while some have been turned into museums.

Of course, the Chinese who grew vegetables and fruits also provided fresh food for the gold rush town.”

Zhang Chao said with emotion: "This is probably the nature of the Chinese people. They can't forget these skills no matter where they go."

Xu Ruiya said: "Do you know Anna May Wong? She was the first Chinese star to become famous in Hollywood. Her grandfather was a 'Gold Rush' immigrant, and her father ran a laundry in the Gold Rush town.

After the gold rush, the anti-Chinese tendency of the white people in these places became more and more serious, and many violent incidents against the Chinese occurred. Her father had to flee from the gold rush town to a big city like Los Angeles.

In order to survive, these Chinese were forced to live in small, dilapidated neighborhoods, which gradually formed what we call "Chinatown."

Susan then added: "...and Chinatown novels."

Xu Ruiya glanced at Susan and said, "Yes, and Chinatown Novel."

Both young girls discovered that Zhang Chao seemed to be very interested in the history of Chinese immigrants in the United States - for a writer, this is often the embryonic stage of a work.

Both of them were excited at the thought of being able to participate in the creation of such an influential writer as Zhang Chao.

Zhang Chao asked: "'Chinatown novels'? Does it mean that there are writers among these Chinese immigrants who write about life in Chinatown?"

However, Xu Ruiya still gave the opportunity to introduce "Chinatown literature" to Susan. Susan also cheered up and said: "Chinese people entered the American literary world relatively late. In fact, "Chinatown novels" refer to those novels that describe Chinese people as narrow-minded, difficult to assimilate and stupid. "

Zhang Chao didn't find it strange at all after hearing this, but Susan's next words were a little surprising: "Mark Twain and Bret Harte are almost the first writers to literaryize this stereotyped image of Chinese people."

Both of them are famous American novelists. Mark Twain needs no introduction; Bret Harte is a representative writer of American Western literature, famous for his descriptions of miners, gamblers, and prostitutes in California.

Susan said: "The Chinese in their works are either casino cheats, suspicious human traffickers, or other bad guys with a bad record. They use the 'Chinglish' they heard from the Chinese to mock them in their works.

Of course, Mark Twain's attitude changed after the Chinese Exclusion Act. In "The Ascetic Life of a Young Man", the image of the Chinese is "gentle and harmless" and "hardworking and able to endure hardships".

In one of Hart's plays there is a professional con man named 'Ah Xing', who is described by him as 'a slack-jawed, narrow-eyed son of a yellow man', 'a vicious miner's thief', 'a chattering idiot', and 'a moral cancer'.

These were basically to cater to the anti-Chinese sentiment in society at the time, and as the anti-Chinese sentiment rose, the descriptions of Chinese people in American literature became increasingly unbearable. "

As Susan spoke, she looked at Zhang Chao and found that his face was as pale as water, and he didn't seem to have much emotional reaction. For a moment, she was not sure whether Zhang Chao was angry or sad about the experience of his compatriots, so she stopped talking.

Xu Ruiya is obviously well-versed in this field, and added: "In fact, Americans' attitude towards Chinese immigrants at that time was very complicated. On the one hand, they tried their best to belittle Chinese people in terms of appearance and morality, but on the other hand, they showed an attitude of appreciating Chinese people's wisdom and talent.

They seemed to know that the Chinese simply lacked opportunities, so they suppressed the development of the Chinese in all aspects. For example, at the end of the 19th century, the vegetable supply in Los Angeles was almost monopolized by the Chinese. "After listening to the two people's introduction, Zhang Chao said in a somewhat concluding way: "At the end of the 19th century, the American Civil War had already ended, and slavery was abolished, but discrimination did not stop.

Mark Twain could describe Jim, an honest black slave, in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and he could also criticize the American society for not giving black people "real freedom" in Pudd'n Wilson.

But even such a writer who is full of sympathy for the lower classes cannot avoid portraying the negative image of the Chinese. Simple discrimination means ignoring; deliberate denigration is mixed with anger and caution.

Why is this happening? Is it because they feel they can’t control the Chinese?”

Susan fell into deep thought, while Xu Ruiya said, "Maybe the Chinese immigrants have too strong a sense of superiority?"

Zhang Chao asked, "Oh?"

Xu Ruiya further explained: "Chinese are different from other immigrants. Although other immigrants also formed some settlements after coming to the United States, none of them is as stubborn as 'Chinatown'.

Even if the early Chinese immigrants made a fortune in the United States, they always wanted to return to their hometowns to marry and build a big house. For example, Anna May Wong's father had two wives, one in his hometown of Taishan and one in Los Angeles.

He traveled back and forth between China and the United States, but stayed in the United States most of the time. He only returned to China when he got married, and came to the United States again after his wife gave birth to a child - without bringing his wife with him.

They do not worship the United States, believing that their souls will eventually return to their homeland; but during their lifetime, they rarely return to China. This emotion is very complicated, like a struggle between rationality and sensibility.

Oh, and Chinese immigrants at that time looked down on immigrants from other Asian countries, thinking they were all barbarians. Chinese also attached great importance to education. Even if they were very poor, they would send their children to good schools to study and become "superior people".

......"

Xu Ruiya talked a lot, and Zhang Chao thought about it and finally grasped a key point, saying: "This so-called 'superiority' is actually a spirit of continuous striving and continuous progress, right?
There is a Chinese saying, "Are kings, dukes, generals, and ministers born in the same family?" In essence, it means that we do not believe in "bloodline", "race" or "origin". We believe in our own efforts and seizing opportunities.

Maybe this is different from other immigrant groups in the United States?"

Susan interrupted at this time and said, "It seems to be true. The Chinese classmates I know and their parents seem to be more inclined to break away from their original class through their own efforts.

So they mostly study subjects like doctors, lawyers, and software engineers. They are not keen on participating in public activities, unlike other ethnic groups. They just try to improve their class as individuals, bit by bit.”

As Xu Ruiya and Susan spoke, a story began to take shape in Zhang Chao's mind - he did not want to describe the Chinese immigrants who were looking for gold in the United States. He believed that no matter how much he knew about this aspect, he could not surpass the American writers who had first-hand information and could even interview the parties involved.

But what he wanted to describe was the story of Chinese immigrants on the other side of the ocean, the "Chinese side". Among the details that Xu Ruiya told, one caught his attention -

How many years did the wife of Anna May Wong, the father of the first generation of Chinese actresses in Hollywood, wait for her husband to return after he left? This rather strange family relationship not only connects two countries and two cultures, but also two eras.

Zhang Chao was quite touched by this, mainly because both Changfu and Fuhai are famous "hometowns of overseas Chinese". In a sense, Changfu or Fuhai is not a geographical concept, but represents a special ethnic culture.

For many writers with immigration experience, the most popular subject is "life between two cultures." They use their pens to describe how new immigrants in this unfamiliar land of the United States try to integrate into the new social environment while maintaining their traditional culture.

The conflict and fusion brought about by this dual identity has become a tried and tested theme.

Both the American and European literary criticism circles are happy to see generation after generation of immigrant writers reveal the harm they have suffered to them time and again.

After a long conversation with Stephen King, Zhang Chao became more clear about his own literary path - writing stories for himself and for the Chinese people, rather than trying to please certain critics, no matter what country they are from.

So the story in Zhang Chao's mind did not take place in a bustling gold rush town in the United States, nor did it take place in the mixed Chinatown of Los Angeles, but rather it took place in a coastal village in China, nestled between the mountains and the sea, and in an ordinary family.

This is a story about watchfulness and betrayal, love and loss, searching and conversion, pain and redemption.

The protagonists of the story are a mother and son - the mother, as a traditional woman, is waiting for her husband to return; the son, on the other hand, has extremely complex and subtle emotions towards his father, about whom he has no memory.

At his son's engagement party, a mysterious man suddenly appeared...

Before they knew it, the three of them had been chatting until the evening. The sky outside the car window had gradually darkened, and soon there was only thick black.

After dinner, Zhang Chao asked the flight attendant to help him lay down the sofas in the private room to form a large bed. Then he lay on the bed and began to plan the novel for which he had only a rough outline today.

Before I knew it, I closed my eyes.

When Zhang Chao woke up the next day, he was told that the California Zephyr had entered Utah. Zhang Chao only had two impressions of this state - the NBA's Utah Jazz and the Mormons, who could marry many wives.

But his attention was not on this, and he was tired of the scenery outside the window. After lunch, Zhang Chao welcomed his second guest, the Chinese writer Li Yiyun.

Li Yiyun was probably in his 30s and had a serious expression.

Zhang Chao thought for a moment and greeted her in Chinese: "Senior Sister Li, good afternoon, nice to meet you." Li Yiyun was a graduate of Yan University in the 90s, so there was nothing inappropriate about Zhang Chao calling her senior sister.

Unexpectedly, Li Yiyun said, "I hope you can speak English. This is in America." - She used English.

Zhang Chao was stunned for a moment, not knowing how to respond, and could only say awkwardly: "Just saying hello..."

Li Yiyun ignored Zhang Chao's explanation and repeated, "You have to speak English. I can only speak English to you."

(End of this chapter)