Apartments under construction, Taiyuan, China (Photo: M Griffiths)
“I used to love Spring Festival.” Yang said as he frowned at his glass of beer. “Now I am starting to hate it. Every time I go back my parents tell me I must go home to the farm and get married.”
“Bummer.” said Josh. “At least I don’t have my parents on my case. Just a huge debt hanging over my head.” He brushed his hair back from his face and stretched his legs out under the Formica table. Beside them on the wall of the small restaurant faded posters advertised various brands of drinks. Bottles of Tsingtao beer and two small glasses stood on the table between them.
Yang pulled out a cigarette and lit it. He slipped the packet back into the pocket of the thick jacket draped over the chair. It was designed to keep the cold winter of North East China at bay. It was more than adequate for the milder temperatures of coastal Jiangsu province, just north of Shanghai. “What about you? When will you go back to your home?” he asked Josh.
A previous set of stories was published in 2012 in a book entitled After Oil: SF Visions of a Post-Petroleum World, available from Amazon (Amazon) or in Australia from Fishpond (Fishpond).
[Also see my new story: Beijing Private Eyes - A foreign teacher in Beijing meets an unexpected and attractive visitor in need of assistance. He offers to help and things begin to get complicated.
Read Beijing Private Eyes - Part 1 Arrival here ]
Winds of Change
By Matthew Griffiths
Three days before Spring Festival (Chinese New Year), February
2022
“I used to love Spring Festival.” Yang said as he frowned at his glass
of beer. “Now I am starting to hate it. Every time I go back my parents tell me
I must go home to the farm and get married.”
“Bummer.” said Josh. “At least I
don’t have my parents on my case. Just a huge debt hanging over my head.” He
brushed his hair back from his face and stretched his legs out under the Formica
table. Beside them on the wall of the small restaurant faded posters advertised
various brands of drinks. Bottles of Tsingtao beer and two small glasses stood on
the table between them.
Yang pulled out a cigarette and lit it. He slipped the packet back into
the pocket of the thick jacket draped over the chair. It was designed to keep
the cold winter of North East China at bay. It was more than adequate for the
milder temperatures of coastal Jiangsu province, just north of Shanghai. “What
about you? When will you go back to your home?” he asked Josh.
“When I can get a job to pay back my student loan. Serving coffee and
delivering pizza won’t do it, and environmental graduates are not particularly
in demand. The job market back home is
like here Yang, bad. The Environmental Protection Agency sacked another ten
percent of their staff last year, more government budget cuts. Teaching English
here is about all I can do. One good thing though, it means I get to stay
another year to drink beer and improve my Chinese with you.”
“And I get to practice my English
with you my friend. “ Yang raised his glass. “Gan bei.”
“Gan bei. Cheers!” Josh drained his glass and filled it
up again.
The restaurant owner rushed over and scolded Yang, pointing to a sign
on the wall. “No smoking in the restaurant. It’s a new law.” Yang reluctantly
stubbed it out.
Yang looked out the window at the
row of nearly identical restaurants and shops on the other side of the road. The
walls were clad in white tiles, large signs over the doors advertised the shop
names, and the doorways had newly pasted red and gold New Year calligraphy
around them. “My dream is open a shop,
or maybe a little hotel. Somewhere with lots of tourists, foreigners too, so I
can use my English. Near a famous mountain maybe. The village is not so good. I
want my children one day to have better life…and there are no single girls my
age left in the village, just too many boys. So I save my money and make
plans.” said Yang
“Can you get a hukou to start a business outside your
home county? ” asked Josh. “I thought the household registration system meant
that you can’t get legal residence or any public benefits in the city?”
“Maybe I can get a fake one.” Yang grinned. “The government promised to
change the law years ago to make it easier to move to the cities but it
didn’t.”
Josh nodded. “Too expensive for them I think with all the new houses,
schools, and hospitals they’d need to build for people moving into the cities.
Especially with companies closing down and all the other economic problems.”
“Maybe.” Yang shrugged. “City people think we are all country
pumpkins.”
Josh almost coughed up his beer, “Bumpkins, country bumpkins.” he said laughing.
“Oh.” said Yang.
“So when do you go home?” asked Josh.
“Tomorrow morning I will collect
my pay from the factory and then go to the train station.”
Josh nodded. “You and millions of
others. Good luck with that.”
“Not so many as before.” said Yang.
“Speaking of the factory, how is Dr Sun? Is he still smiling?” The solar
panel factory was named SunShine
Technology, founded by an overseas educated engineer called Sun. A bill board
at the factory site declared in English, under a beaming picture of the man
himself, “Sun is my name and SunShine is
my business.”
“The factory is fine I think. But
some people are making rumours that something bad will happen.”
“I hope not.” said Josh.
“Maybe just some more workers go. More machines now and less people.
Maintenance department is ok. We still have to fix machines.
“There are lots of factories closing down buddy. Too many were built in
the good times and now…” He looked down at the menu. “Let’s order some
dumplings.”
“How is your family?” said Yang as they waited for the food to arrive.
“Good. I skyped them yesterday. My parents were visiting my uncle and
aunt on their farm. My cousins were there too. One of them had their 21st
birthday. It’s a big thing back home. How is your family?” He poured more beer into
Yang’s glass.
“Good. My parents are well. My sister and her baby are fine.”
“Excellent. Gan bei!”
said Josh and raised his glass again.
The next morning Yang slouched in the middle of a row of uncomfortable
plastic seats in the over-crowded station waiting room staring into space. Chinese
and American hip hop blared through his ear phones. His brand name sports shoes
rested on a large blue and red striped bag, filled with gifts and supplies for
his family. He glanced at his cell phone for the twentieth time. He looked up
as a figure brushed past his bag. Her face looked familiar. She was slender,
even under her warm clothes, and her pretty face was framed by long hair,
loosely tied into a pony tail. He smiled at her. She smiled back shyly.
Yang stood up and pulled out the ear phones, running his hand quickly
through his short black hair. “You work at the solar panel factory, yes?”
“Yes.”
“Me too. I’m in the maintenance
department.”
”Yes, I know. I have seen you.”
“Please sit down.” he said
pointing to his seat.
“Oh no. I’m fine.”
“Please. Sit. I am going soon.” He moved his bags.
She sat down placing a large bag at her feet and a smaller bag on top.
“Where are you going?” Yang
asked.
“Hunan province. And you?”
“The opposite direction, the North
East. Twenty six hours on the train, and then a bus.”
“You will need that jacket.”
“Yes.” He laughed. “Have you been there? The ice
festival in Harbin is beautiful.”
She shook her head. “No. I haven’t.”
“You have lots of gifts for your family.”
said Yang.
“Yes. My father is ill so I have medicines and other things to help him.”
“Oh. I’m sorry. I hope he gets
well soon.”
“Thank you.” A loudspeaker
announcement cut across the babble of dialects that filled the waiting room. She
cocked her head to listen. “This is my train, I must go. Thank you for the seat.”
She stood and gave him a polite smile.
“Don’t mention it.” said Yang.
“Good bye.”
“See you.” said Yang. He watched her as she picked up her bags and turned
to walk away. He grinned and waved as she joined the crush moving toward the
platform gates, until he lost sight of her in the crowd.
Spring Festival
The house was solid brick with a grey tile roof, coated in snow. A satellite
dish protruded from one corner and a bundle of wires stretched up to a nearby
power pole. The front gate faced a main street in the village, its pavement
cracked and potholed and covered in slush discoloured by dust and grit.
Lao Yang (Old Yang) had the weather-beaten face of a farmer, his hair
beginning to show speckles of grey. His wife, Lao Wu, was also greying but
energetic and quick in her movements.
They sat on the sofa in their living room watching the flat screen TV
their son bought for them the several years before. The traditional New Year Gala
special was playing, watched annually by hundreds of millions, with singers,
dancers and a myriad of other performers. Year
of the Tiger was emblazoned across the back of the stage. In honour of the
occasion the couple dressed in colourful clothes and the low table in front of
them was loaded with snacks.
“Ba, Ma.” Father, Mother. “More food? Drinks?”
“Thank you son.” Lao Yang father
reached out for some dried sunflower seeds. Yang lifted the bowl toward him. “Your
mother wants to know when you are going to come home and stay.”
Yang glanced over at her. She sat ramrod straight on the edge of sofa, as
she always did, looking at the TV and pretending she was not listening to them.
Lao Yang continued, “Now we have rationing and fertiliser costs keep
going up. We could do with more hands to spread the waste and process the harvest. And it is difficult these days to get a good
price for the crops the government lets us keep without travelling a long way.”
“Ba, the money from the factory is still good, even though we don’t
get pay rises any more. Brother-in-law can get you things on the black market
if you need. He has contacts. I can send him the money. Is the waste digester
still working properly? Did the new gas parts fit?”
“Yes, the gas is good.” Lao Yang
said as he cracked open a seed between his teeth. “Think about it. Your mother
misses you.”
The telephone rang. Yang’s mother
answered it. “It’s your sister.” she said, covering the mouth piece. Under the
old one child policy farmers like Yang’s parents had been allowed to have
another child since their first was a daughter. The policy was completely gone
now but things were so tight that few, except the well off, had more than one
or two at most. “Ok, see you tomorrow.” She hung up and sat back down on the
sofa. “Your sister and your brother-in-law are coming around tomorrow with the
baby. You will see how much the little one has grown. She’s walking now.”
Qingming (Grave Sweeping) Festival, April 2022
Yang stepped out of the factory dormitory and walked toward the front
gate. He recognised a figure ahead of him. He had spoken to her briefly a few
times in the factory since the day in the station. He broke into a jog and
caught up with her under the bill board. The spring winds had ripped a small angular
hole in Dr Sun’s head and a bottom corner flapped loosely.
“Hi. Where are you going?”
“I’m going to a temple to pray for my father. He died last month. It is
too far to go home for this day.”
“Oh. I am very sorry.” said Yang. He was silent for a few moments as he
walked alongside her. “Could I come with
you? I can pay respects to my grandparents.”
“Are you Buddhist?”
“Maybe, a little.”
“My uncle says all Chinese are a little bit Buddhist.”
Yang turned to face her. “My name is Yang Guomeng.” He held out his
hand.
“I’m Fan Lanhua.”
“Why did you come to work in the factory?” Yang asked as they sat on the
bus heading back to the factory.
“My father got sick when I was in university. The medicines were very
expensive for my parents. When their savings ran out I had to earn as much
money as I could. My degree would give me only a low paying job so I when I
graduated I came here. What about you?”
“I didn’t go to university. I wanted to study English but the year I
finished high school the government raised the entry scores again to reduce the
numbers and I didn’t get in. Too many unemployed graduates with useless degrees
already I think.” He shrugged. “I spent a year on the farm but my family needed
more money too. I started on the assembly line at first, and then they needed
someone to help fix things.”
“You are from the North East right? Why did you come here? Why not a
city up there, like Shenyang or Harbin or Dalian?”
“I wanted to explore and get away from home. And I heard that southern
girls were pretty.”
Fan looked down.
Yang continued. “A family friend had a contact in the factory. I’d like
to have abusienss somewhere better but this doesn’t give me much chance of
that.” He pulled his hukou card from
his pocket and held it up.
“Let me see.” She snatched it out of his hand. She looked at the photo
and looked back at him. “You look so young.”
“Yes, that was six
years ago, after I left school. It’s strange, I’m not sure where I belong now.”
He looked out the window as they passed a cluster of tall concrete apartment
towers, half-finished and abandoned. “I feel a bit like those buildings.”
Later Yang
flopped down in a seat at the back of the Starbucks in the centre of the city. Josh was surfing the net on a battered old Lenovo
tablet, a Chinese language textbook open beside it. “Hey. How you doin’?” said
Josh, looking up.
“I am fine. Did you see the news? SunShine
is having trouble. The company could not pay money back to the bank. We have a
new chairman already, Dr Sun is gone. More workers going home too. My department
boss says Dr Sun spent too much on the new battery research and USA and Europe increased
the tax again.
“Is your job ok?” said Josh.
“Yes, my boss says the government doesn’t want the company to close. We
are a national strategic industry”
“You are lucky.”
“Yes. It is more difficult for my
parents and my sister, and my brother-in-law with his truck.”
“Why is that?” said Josh.
“Diesel is very expensive now, and fertiliser.”
“Ahh, right. The world oil price is very high and the government can’t
afford to subsidise it any more. It’s because of peak oil, Yang. There is less
oil being produced now than there used to be and so the price rises.” said
Josh.
“What do you mean? That can’t be
right. There is lots of oil in the world.”
“Well, yes and no. Think about it. China used to have enough of its own
oil. Now it imports from Russia, the Middle East, Sudan, all over the place. You
produce more coal than anyone else but it’s still not enough so you import that
too, but it gets more expensive as it gets harder to dig out. Look at this.” He
tapped his finger a few times on the tablet.
Global Energy Decline Continues to Impact on Economy
Times Online, 5 April 2022
The International Energy Agency (IEA)
today released oil production projections indicating an expected decline rate
of 4.5% per year over the next five years. With many easy to pump oil fields in
decline the world now relies on more expensive and difficult to access reserves.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF)
simultaneously announced its update for global economic contraction. Cheryl Wong-Stephenson,
IMF chief economist, said that it was a misnomer to call the current situation
the second great depression as the causes were not cyclic as in the 1930s, but
were due to increasingly severe constraints on energy and other natural
resources.
“Basically it’s saying that there is going to be less and less oil and other
resources so the economy will shrink.” said Josh.
“What about solar panels and windmills? My factory makes lots of solar
panels.” said Yang.
“Yeah, sure. But what drives the machines that dig up the raw
materials? And what does it use to make the panels? Oil and coal.”
“We have panels on all the factory roof.”
“Yes, and maybe they run the lights, and some other things, during the
day. But the factory itself is run on fossil fuels. Maybe you can run it with
solar panels but it wouldn’t be easy. You’d need a whole lot of them. Solar and
wind power are great, but oil and coal have much more energy in them and are
more versatile. Modern industrial society runs on fossil fuels, despite all the
pollution they cause. And when they start to run out, which they are, things have
to change.”
Yang shook his head.
Josh stretched and rubbed his back, “Ai ya. Wo beizi teng.” he
said in Chinese.
Yang frowned and looked at him. “Shenme?”
What?
“Beizi teng.” Josh repeated,
“I’ve got a sore back.”
Yang grinned. “Oh. You mean houbei
not beizi. You just told me you
had sore blanket!”
Duanwu (Dragon Boat) Festival, June 2022
Yang and Fan watched the dragon boat races from the riverbank park.
Each held a stick of candied fruit in one hand, their mouths sticky with sugar.
The sounds of drumming, chanting and cheering washed over them as another race
finished. A summer shower blew over and sent them racing for shelter in an old orange
tiled pagoda with a crowd of others.
“I was thinking,” said Yang
between mouthfuls, “We’ve been friends for a while now. Maybe we could, umm,
you know, be boyfriend and girlfriend. If you want to.” He waited nervously for
her to reply.
Fan continued to eat slowly and
thoughtfully. “Well, Mr Yang, if we do there is one condition.”
“Yes, Miss Fan, what is it?” he
said smiling.
“You stop these.” She poked the
packet of cigarettes in his shirt pocket with her finger.
He stared at her. “Stop smoking?”
“Yes. I don’t like it.”
When he got back to the dormitory
he thought about Fan. She was definitely different than other girls he had
known. He searched the internet on his phone for information on how to give up
smoking. “I hope this works.”
Lao Yang and eight other villagers climbed into several cars and drove
to the county offices. They stood in the waiting room, chatting quietly amongst
themselves. Eventually Mayor Chen came through the large doors of his office
and greeted them. He was dressed in the uniform of a local government official,
polo shirt, dark grey slacks and black slip on shoes, his jet black hair tidily
combed.
“Old friend. Great to see you.”
He shook Lao Yang’s hand and then the others in turn. “Come in.” He waved them
to the plush seats around the walls of the office. He signalled to an assistant
to bring tea. Lao Yang presented a bag of gifts to Mayor Chen, a selection of
local produce, fresh and preserved. He had wanted to give cigarettes, as he had
done for many years, but was reminded that they, along with alcohol, were no
longer considered acceptable for government personnel to give or receive.
After the tea was served and the
obligatory small talk over Mayor Chen brought the meeting to a point. “I’m sure
you have not come here just to drink tea, Lao Yang. What would you like to
discuss?”
“Mayor Chen. As their leader, the
people of the village,” he gestured to the others around the room, “have asked
me to raise some issues with the county government.”
“Tell me your concerns, Lao Yang.
It is my duty to do what I can.”
“There are several, Lao Chen. As
you know the government has for several years been promising to repair the road
leading to our valley and to the villages further north. The school still has
no teacher, and Grandma Zhao is struggling to fill in. She is too old now. Also
the replanting of the hillsides above the village, started three years ago
after the new development stopped, hasn’t been finished. The people are
concerned about landslides and…”
Chen raised his hand. “Lao Yang,
we are old friends, from primary school are we not? I will be honest with you.
I know about these problems. We all know about these problems. The simple
answer is that we have no money. The government makes promises but the money is
not there to implement them. The financial scandals and foreign economic crisis
have affected us greatly. The money we have…we must make it go as far as we
can. Bitumen is very expensive now so roads cannot be fixed easily. The trees
we were promised have not arrived. I will try myself to see if we can get them
for next planting season. Everything is difficult in this time of adjustment.
The government knows the countryside lagged behind during the period of
industrial development, but it will take time to rectify the situation.”
“I see. We thank for your efforts
on our behalf Lao Chen.” Lao Yang made no move to get up.
“Is there more?” asked Chen.
“Yes. One more thing. Lao Zheng’s son has returned from agricultural
college with some new ideas for our village.” He indicated the woman next to
him and her son sitting beside her wearing a baseball cap and running shoes,
“We would like to implement them.”
“What are your plans?”
“We want to form a cooperative to market our produce and also reduce
the costs of fertiliser and other inputs. We feel working together we can be
more efficient and get higher returns. The farms and villages of China have
been its strength for centuries and we can help build a stronger China by doing
our work better.”
“This sounds like a good idea Lao
Yang, very good. I have been thinking along similar lines myself. As the county
representative of the party I will be chairman of the committee…”
“We thank you for your support Mayor Chen.” said Lao Yang. He hesitated
slightly. “With all due respect you are no longer a farmer. We have studied the
relevant laws and policies and already had our first meetings. The members have
elected a leader. Deng Xiaoping decided forty years ago that the government
should not tell farmers what to do, and that policy should not change now.” He
looked him in the eye, unblinking.
After a pause Chen spoke. “Very well Lao Yang. Make sure you obey the
laws to the letter. My officials will be checking.”
Yang parked his electric scooter outside a traditional wooden tea house
and went inside to find Josh. Scrolls of
Chinese calligraphy and ethereal landscapes hung from the walls. “I will miss
these places when I go home.” said Josh. “I will have to live near a
Chinatown.”
“How is your family? asked Yang.
“Good. My parents are fine and
my uncle’s farm is doing well. The farm has good water and they have been lucky
with the weather the last few years, not like some places. My uncle asked me if
I want to go back there to live and help out.”
“Will you go?”
“I’m not sure. I’ve done it before. It’s hard work.” He sipped his tea.
“Are you going home for the summer holidays?”
“No, the air tickets are too
expensive. Maybe for Christmas or next summer.”
“Everything is expensive now. Hey,
did you hear the president’s announcement?” said Yang. “He said China has achieved the Xiaokang, all around well-off society.
We will no longer strive for economic growth; the new policy is ‘quality before
quantity’.”
Josh smiled. “We are starting
down the slope. The president announced what is happening anyway. He just made
it sound like it was intentional. A few other countries have done the same.
Most are still blaming the depression though and trying to reverse it, but it’s
all a waste of time. They should be planning for a different future not trying
to get old style growth back again.”
“Maybe you are right.” Yang
contemplated his cup for a while. “My father says that the past is coming back
to our village. Our neighbour used oxen to pull the plough this year, instead
of the tractor. I’m not sure what my father will do next year. We have no oxen
and he has a sore leg.”
“It is not easy in the cities
either.” said Josh. “There are fewer jobs and people are leaving. Overseas is
just as bad. Some of my students said their families’ immigration visas have
been cancelled. Countries are increasing the amount of money they require or
just closing their doors and trying to look after their own.”
Mid-Autumn (Moon) Festival, September 2022
Fan shook out her hair as she and Yang walked hand in hand through the
park in the centre of the city. The sun shone brightly, the grass was green and
lush, and flowers bloomed in the gardens. Yang picked one and presented it to
her.
She smiled. “You will get us into
trouble.”
Yang pulled her close and kissed her.
Later in the afternoon they sat on a park bench under a tree and ate
ice cream. They watched the groups of mostly middle aged men and women doing
tai chi, dancing and singing old songs. She frowned. “There are rumours in the
factory. More workers may go or maybe the whole factory will close down.”
“Don’t worry. We are strategic. The
world needs solar panels.” said Yang.
“If I lose my job I will have to move to another company.” she persisted.
“That’s ok. I can ride my scooter to see
you wherever you are.”
“That will be very inconvenient. You should not go to so much trouble.”
Her eyes focussed on her ice cream. “You can find another girlfriend.”
“It will never be too much trouble for me Fan.” said Yang. His face
reddened. He looked down at his own ice-cream for a few seconds. “How is your mother?”
Fan sighed. “She was supposed to retire at the end of this year but the
government raised the age. Her job is ok and she is not too old but I worry
about her.”
“We will have to be one hundred before we can retire.” Yang joked.
“I feel a long way away.” said Fan.
“Parents worry about children and children worry about parents, it
doesn’t matter where they are.” said Yang.
Fan shook her head.
Yang sipped his beer and looked at Josh. “I’ve been thinking. If the
economy cannot grow then what happens? It cannot go away to nothing. We can use
less energy and still do things.”
“True.” said Josh. “Yes, you can be more efficient, use less energy for
doing things, and find alternatives like your solar panels, but overall the
industrial economy depends on lots of energy and when it’s not available, the
economy will shrink.” He stopped for a few moments, thinking. “What will
happen? Well, the alternative to growth is some kind of steady state, eventually.
“But if you are right, I still can’t see what the new economy will be
like.” said Yang.
“Me neither.” said Josh shrugging. “We will have to find ways to do
things without oil.”
“There will still be tourists, right?” asked Yang.
“I guess so. Just not so many.”
Lao Yang fumbled with the phone in his pocket, pulled it out and
punched a button with a calloused finger. He preferred the old style to those
fancy touch things. “Wei.” Hello.
“Ba, it’s me Yang Guomeng.”
“Son, it is great to hear from
you.”
“Happy Mid-Autumn Festival. How is Ma?
“She is good.”
“Sister and the baby?”
“Your sister is good and the little girl is growing big. Your
brother-in-law spends half his days at home now. Not enough diesel. I have put
him to work on the farm.”
“Oh.”
“Let me tell you about the village, son. The cooperative has been very
successful in selling the crops in the city. All the members are very happy and
now more people want to join. And we have more plans. We will share oxen and
machinery and if the government can’t fix the school and other problems then we
will keep our tax money and do it ourselves.”
“Mayor Chen will not let you get away with that.” said Yang, shaking
his head.
“We will see. If he can take the
money and spend it on other things, then he can give it back too. We will just
save him the trouble.” He paused. “Here is your mother. She wants to talk to
you about a girl in the next village.”
“Hello son.”
“Ma. I have some news…”
National Day, 1 October 2022
Fan sat with Yang on the bed in his dormitory room listening to music
and eating snacks. Outside patriotic red flags fluttered in the autumn breeze above
the company billboard. Dr Sun had been replaced by a picture of gleaming solar
panels and a new slogan “SunShine
technology. A new dawn.”
“The rumours about the factory are getting worse. Maybe they will close
it and move the machines to another city.” Yang began. “I’ve been thinking about
going home. To stay I mean. I think I can be useful there.”
Fan listened without speaking.
“I think there are things you could do there to, if you wanted to
come.” he said glancing at her nervously.
“Like what?” she asked.
“You have a degree. Of course you can do something. Maybe work in the
town? You can ride my scooter. What did you study anyway, you never told me?”
She interrupted. “The North East is
too cold in winter. My friend says ‘If
you are not born there, you will die there.’”
"It's not that bad," Yang protested, "Summer is nice. And
anyway, I will make it my job to keep you warm.”
Fan looked away. “Have some more food. We can talk about this later.”
“My foreign friend Josh says he
is thinking of going back home too. His uncle has a farm. At least in the country
there is food and family to look after you. Here in the city prices keep rising
and maybe the factory jobs are not so secure after all.”
She nodded.
“Josh says nothing can grow
forever and we should accept it and adapt to the new situation.” Yang quoted an
old saying. “‘When the direction of the
wind changes, some build walls, some build windmills.’ Or solar panels.” he
said smiling at his own joke.
She did not respond. He
looked at her. “Are you all right?”
“There are some things that grow and grow and never stop.” said Fan
quietly.
“Oh?”
She looked up at him. “My father
had cancer, lung cancer. None of the medicines could stop it. He was educated but
he couldn’t give up smoking even though he knew he should.”
“My father is the same.” said Yang and his hand went to the nicotine patch
under his shirt. Yang sat quietly for a while. “If you are worried about what your
mother will say, maybe I could visit her with you and take her some gifts.”
suggested Yang. “We can send her money and she could come and visit us in the
summer every year.”
“I will think about it.” said Fan
Spring Festival, January 2023
Leading up to the holiday Fan was very quiet. She would not tell Yang
whether she would go with him or not. All she would say was “I don’t know.” Was
it about her mother? About him? About what her mother might think of him? Why
were relationships so complicated?
He phoned his sister for advice. All she had said was ‘don’t pressure
her, just wait and see’. He tried to stay optimistic and resist the urge to
demand an answer. That was even harder than giving up smoking. At least there
were patches for that.
Fan booked her ticket to Hunan and Yang busied himself organising
things for his trip home. When the day came Yang helped her pack up her things
and carry them to the taxi. She had a large bag of gifts for her mother and her
small suitcase. When they arrived at the station they got out of the taxi and
walked across the crowded square to the security gates. Yang stood awkwardly
beside her in the queue.
“I must go home to my mother. You know that.” said Fan. Yang nodded
silently. She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. “Zai jian.” See you.
“Bao zhong.” he replied. Take
care. He watched her until she disappeared inside the building. Then he turned
and trudged to the bus stop.
“I wish you good luck buddy.” said Josh. “I hope everything works out back home. Maybe
your girlfriend will change her mind? And I hope you don’t miss that hotel dream
of yours too much.” said Josh.
Yang was silent. “Maybe it will happen.” he said eventually.
“I’ve decided that I’m going
home too, next summer.” said Josh. “I’m going to work on my uncle’s farm over
the holidays to pay my way through teacher training. Then I’ll get a job in a
school somewhere close to my parents or my uncle and live with them until I pay
off my loan. They’re changing the geography course in schools and calling it Human Ecology. Right up my alley.”
“I think you have a good plan.” said Yang. “Please come and visit my
family before you go. You must see our village. I will contact you and tell
when it is good time to come.”
“Definitely. I’d love to. Make it in the spring though. I don’t have a
jacket like yours.”
“You’re late.” Lao Yang shouted over the noise of the heavily laden truck
as it idled outside the house. “Six days late.”
“We had to make a detour.” Yang said as he climbed down from the truck
and stamped his feet on the fresh snow, his breath white in the frigid air. He
waved to his mother and sister standing in the doorway. His brother-in-law
turned off the engine and jumped down to untie the ropes and pull the cover off
the load.
Yang turned around and helped Fan down, clad from head to ankles in a
brand new padded coat. “Ba, Ma, Sister,
this is Fan Lanhua.”
Fan smiled nervously. Yang’s mother and sister rushed forward, took an
arm each and guided her inside, both talking at once.
Yang walked around the truck with
his father as he pointed to the equipment. “Solar hot water heaters for you and
Sister – we should have gotten these years ago, solar cookers, solar panels, batteries
- a new type, very efficient, invertors for the panels, spare parts. We can
also use the panels to power the village corn processing machine at harvest
time if the power goes off, and other things. And I will make biodiesel, at
least enough so we can transport the crops to the city and bring back supplies…”
“What is biodiesel?”
“Ba, we can make diesel out
of vegetable oil and alcohol. We can grow canola here in the spring, before the
main crop. I know they do it in other areas. I will go with Brother-in-law to get
some tanks and pipes from an old factory on his next run into the city and we
will set up the process in the empty shed. It will work. I promise. I have
other ideas too. I still have some money saved and the cooperative might be interested.”
“What happens when the solar
panels break down?”
“That will be a long time Ba,
they’re top quality. I checked them all myself.”
“Nothing lasts forever. Hopefully by then you and your brother-in-law
will learn how to use the oxen.”
Yang’s sister and Fan came to the
doorway and called them in to the house to eat.
“Ba.” Yang smiled and nodded toward Fan. “I found us a new teacher
too.”
********
If you enjoyed this story read:
Seeds of time - China in 2055 and beyond....rural China prospers again after a period of dramatic changes, then things are complicated by a strange visitor and a hidden object. (Sequel to Outside In)
MORE STORIES....
The Nature of Love - A couple in love enjoy a day out in nature but something is amiss...
The Nature of Love - A couple in love enjoy a day out in nature but something is amiss...
My Crazy China Trip - (Humour) A novice traveller gets more than he bargains for during 15 days in China. (10 Parts)
Love at First Flight - A foreign teacher arrives in China and falls in love with a local, but the path of true love is anything but smooth. (5 parts)
Trial by Fire - When a woman in Tibet self-immolates two witnesses face a dangerous dilemma. (4 parts)
Arrested Development - A development consultant in China finds life getting out of control. [Rated R] SHORTLISTED for the Lord Grimdark Award. See the list here.
Beijing Private Eyes - Drama, Romance, Karaoke, Kidnap! A foreign teacher in Beijing meets an attractive stranger and offers to help, then things get complicated. (A long story in 8 parts)
Tell him he's dreaming - An engineer has an environmental epiphany but things don't work out as planned. GAINED 5th PLACE in the New Zealand Writers College Short Story competition. See the list of finalists here.
Entries in the post-industrial / peak oil short story competition:
My story 'Promised Land' has been selected for the forthcoming anthology "After Oil 2: The Years of Crisis". You can read the other entries here.
A previous set of stories was published in 2012 in a book entitled After Oil: SF Visions of a Post-Petroleum World, available from Amazon (Amazon) or in Australia from Fishpond (Fishpond).
Stories set in China:
Winds of Change – In 2022 a migrant worker struggles to realise his dreams and fulfil his family obligations.
Outside In – It's 2050, the country and economy have changed. A recycler studies for an exam to improve his prospects, and an indentured servant plans her escape.
Seeds of Time – (Sequel to Outside In). In 2055 rural China prospers again after a period of dramatic changes, then things are complicated by a strange visitor and a hidden object.
Stories set in Australia: A North Queensland Trilogy
Robots on Mars – 2025. A space-mad city boy adjusts to life in the country and tries to solve a mystery. (Note: no actual robots or Martians involved)
Promised Land – (Sequel to Robots on Mars). It’s 2050 and development threatens the rural district. Is it what they really need and if not, how can they stop it?
Heart of Glass - (Sequel to Promised Land). The year is 2099, high school graduates prepare to step into adulthood and the community prepares to celebrate the turn of a new century.
Tell me what you think. Constructive comments welcome.
If you like the story share with it with your friends.
If you like the story share with it with your friends.
No comments:
Post a Comment