Literary Master 1983

Chapter 172: Unspeakable and Unspeakable

At that time, the British Governor of Hong Kong, Youde, Ambassador Collins, and Secretary Butler were all in Yanjing. They lived in a high-end hotel prepared for foreign guests. The overall outcome of the negotiations had been decided. Apart from chatting and talking nonsense every day, they also talked about their views on China.

Either traveling around, or making friends, holding private gatherings, or reading Chinese novels.

But to them, contemporary Chinese novels are boring and seem to imitate too many techniques of Western novels. Sometimes, to them, pure Westerners, it feels a bit like watching the spirited young man from Yenching University imitating Michael Jackson's dance - fashionable yet out of date.

Ambassador Kelida often said: "My biggest regret is that I didn't have the chance to see a John Lennon concert. He was with a Japanese woman, left the Beatles and ran away to New York. I don't know if he was crazy or had a crush on the band, but his nerves started to become abnormal... After I came to China, I heard that he was assassinated by a madman on the streets of the United States."

"And not long ago, he just performed "Image". Think about the lyrics..."

Colida couldn't help singing:

"It's easy to imagine that there is no heaven. Just try it. Imagine there is no country. It's not difficult to do that. I hope that one day you can join us. Then the world will be one... Then, he was shot and killed by a madman!"

"Isn't this too ironic? We British are not like we used to be. Now there are many more crazy artists who forget that we didn't achieve the empire on which the sun never sets through love and peace."

"I hope to see something serious. The Chinese are realists in this regard. Their generation is more reliable than ours."

One day in early September, Ambassador Colida brought back a box of Coca-Cola: "This is Coca-Cola made in China, my friends, let's have a taste."

Several leaders of the negotiation teams took a bottle, opened the lid and took a sip.

The first sip of this Coke really tastes the best.

Colida asked: "Is there any difference if Coca-Cola is made in China?"

"Well, there doesn't seem to be any difference." said a security guard.

"That's true. In Time magazine, there was an article about Chinese people drinking Coca-Cola. Behind it was the Badaling Great Wall where we had been. It seemed that someday the Chinese would go there exactly like us... But I feel that after being in China for two or three years, I don't really understand China."

"I mean, Coca-Cola has canning and bottling facilities in China, has a dedicated factory in China, sells in China, uses concentrate from the United States - but I guarantee that the Chinese think we are different, and you will never understand China."

"Today, my Chinese negotiating partner proudly handed me a novel called "The Way Out". I plan to read it. Chinese is the most difficult language, but I already know a little bit of Chinese."

At this time, Colida discovered that Butler was writing in his diary.

"Have a Coke... Bro, what are you writing?"

Butler said: "I am writing about my observations on China. As you said, I have been in China for two years, but I don't understand it."

"So what did you observe in your diary?"

"I wrote some of my experiences. For example, in the hotel, every time we arrived at a floor, there were security guards and waiters smiling at us. They looked different, but their movements were almost the same, like robots. Then, you have heard about the splendor of China's military parade. Here you can see their privates practicing, with less than one person between their bayonets, but they marched in step without fear..."

"——But are they as rigid as the Germans? No, the Chinese go to developed countries to study every day. Sometimes I feel that they hate their hometowns, but at the Los Angeles Olympics not long ago, I saw people queuing for visas participating in the parade and singing the national anthem... Man, I'm confused. They seem to be an indescribable thing, part of a huge limb, sharing a neural network, sometimes able to act separately, and can be summoned in times of crisis."

Kelida said: "It is indescribable and ineffable. Isn't this a monster?"

"Yes, this is the monster."

So, this group of people spent several days reading the novel "A Way Out" and managed to understand it by guessing.

Colida said: "What kind of novel is this? They dislike their hometown, flee, and then come back in their old age, bring back as much money as possible, and cry to their children. Is this a kind of romanticism?"

Governor Youde of Hong Kong said: "I recently heard that the author of "A Way Out", Cot, wrote this novel after visiting Kowloon Walled City."

Kelida immediately said, "Yes, the Chinese are using the process of writing this novel to criticize us for not doing a good job... But we have already owed a lot of blood debts, and this one thing won't make us any less."

Butler said, "I heard that college students in Beijing are participating in goose-step training, and the Japanese have also come to Tiananmen Square. Why don't we go and take a look?"

go!
Riding on a Rover 800, several people arrived at Tiananmen Square, and they quickly found the college students - because their goose-step movements were deformed and obviously different from those of the soldiers.

Of course, these actions were "accompanied" by Chinese personnel. "Hello, foreign friends!" the college students greeted them.

Colida said proudly: "I told you, they will be extra enthusiastic towards us because of our skin."

Then, the college students began training under the national emblem and the red flag. It was noon, the sun was scorching, and the white people were soon dizzy from the sun. The malnourished college students did not look very good, and looked like they were about to faint at any time.

After practicing for a while, they would take a break and drink the cheap salt water they made themselves.

When Kolida sent someone to deliver Coke to college students, he learned that some of them were "Yanshan University students". He vaguely remembered that Yu Che, the author of the novel "A Way Out", was from Yanshan University.

"Do you know Yu Qie?"

"I know him. We have greeted him. He is a well-known figure in Yanda University. He is kind and generous. He always loses money when playing cards. We all like him."

Colida said: "Of course, his books have been on the diplomatic table... I am asking you a question now, it is completely personal, don't make any associations, and I also hope that you can answer truthfully."

The students agreed.

"——If you have the opportunity to study in the UK, would you go?"

"go."

The answer came without hesitation. The group of Yan University students participating in the National Day are from the Department of Biology, and it is difficult for them to find jobs in the country.

"Are you willing to obtain UK residency and live in the UK for your entire life?"

The students looked at each other, but most of them gave non-negative answers.

Colida was very happy because these students were extremely eager for British culture and this sample was beneficial to him.

He finally asked: "If at the last moment of your life, you only have one chance, and the 22-year-old John Lennon sings a song for you, or Yu Qie plays cards with you and he continues to lose money, who will you support?"

The answer was in unison: "Yuqie."

There was absolutely no hesitation in that answer.

Several people were confused: Why?
The students didn’t know why, but as new training was about to begin, they said goodbye to several people and continued to repeat the training under the scorching sun.

Yoder, Colida and Butler wrote about this incident in their diaries.

They each have something to say.

Youde wrote: "If the Kowloon Walled City had been demolished in the early 1980s, our diplomats would not have to face this embarrassment today, but this is not my fault. Everything had already happened before I came, and when I wanted to do something, it was too late."

"Is it because Yu Qie shot someone and John Lennon was shot and killed that the Chinese think John Lennon is an unlucky guy who will go to hell and is unlucky?" Colida wrote.

Butler's thoughts were the most profound: "At that moment, it was a cultural victory. Yu Qie was a young literary idol like the Beatles in his generation. But there are many people like Yu Qie in Chinese history, and there are many more great people than him. The list is as long as the stars... That is to say, we have only made people admire us temporarily in terms of material culture, but in terms of spirit, we still have a long way to go."

"Considering that Yu Qie is not a lunatic who would marry a Japanese wife and live in the United States for ten years, he might have a longer-lasting influence on literature. I always hate and admire such people."

"The more people like this there are, the prouder they are."

At this moment, the Iron Lady's most trusted penman, the person closest to power in the British Empire, suddenly thought of "Coca-Cola" and the salt water made by Yan University students.

He eventually wrote in his diary: "Moreover, when everyone drinks Coca-Cola made by themselves, it means that the material gap between us is evened out. Won't they discriminate against us in turn?"

"At that time, they might be so proud that they want to overwhelm us. Fortunately, I am 44 years old this year. In the second half of my limited life, I don't have to witness this tragic scene."

(End of this chapter)