The Wall
Justin Chi Ho Chan Tang, Group 4: Fiction, St. Joseph's College
he Pacifist
Indulgence was intoxication – even more so for the unfortunate mouth with a most fastidious taste
for excellent wine. Intoxication was the eternal dweller of our pacifist’s mind – not a direct cause of the
ethanol, of course. It was quite improbable for alcohol to be of any misdirection to his rather sedated
mind; there existed a number of other causes of relentless insobriety, after all. It might have been that pleasing
silk suit from Chang Xingkui for the Cuitaizi lands development tender, or the exquisite Qing vase from
whosoever for a certain electroplating plant; but it could certainly not be this 1978 delicacy delivered especially
from Heixin Caterings, just for our heroic pacifist to suffer the slight mishap of letting the unpleasant petition
for an enquiry into the company’s tainted foodstuff accidentally slip into his faithful paper shredder. Tainted
foodstuff! He could have almost heard himself double over with hysterical laughter as the sound of paper
grinding into oblivion reverberated inside his head. Why should people care about tainted foodstuff when they
have double tourist figures from the elaborate reconstruction of the Laolongtou – the Old Dragon Head of the
Great Wall? The pacifist heaved his bear gut off the handy leather chair (yet another benefaction) and proceeded
to board his pet car, nothing less than a black Maserati. Uncanny extravagance, an inexperienced commoner
with the simplest of minds might conjecture; but a certain level of intelligence would have been sufficient to
acknowledge the necessity of materialism in the lives of those sharing a social stratum with our dear pacifist.
Why, he deserved recognition for all he had done, in particular his refurbishing the Wall itself – the Wall which
had always been, and would always be, dividing the city of Shanhaiguan into the East and the West. And here
he was, travelling in his precious vehicle, musing over his competence and the multitudinous words of praise he
shall receive in the opening ceremony shortly.
These thoughts, however, had hardly been scrutinised enough when the automobile halted ceremoniously in
front of a specially tailored red carpet, with children in oddly coloured uniforms lining both sides as trees would
along a boulevard, waving tufts of plastic flowers and chanting, ‘Huanying huanying, relie huanying!’ in precise
monotone. Our pacifist stepped out with a flush upon his turgid cheeks, simply unaffected by the paraphernalia
surrounding his welcome, but rather the result of the disagreeably hot weather. This, however, hardly deterred
him from receiving the scene with great ease, and he strolled casually but importantly along the scarlet walkway
to the podium kindly reserved at his disposal. His speech had been succinct enough, and he left the podium with
no less than a generous dose of courteous applause and self-righteousness. In that effect, our pacifist stepped
across the faithful carpet again, and was about to enter his car when he heard a thunderous crash and a
harrowing cry. He paused for an instant, perhaps wondering what the source of such a commotion may be; but
he knew better to close the car door aside him and remain ignorant – and that was what he did.
So much for our pacifist.
* * *
The Absentee
That our absentee and her kind were the Omnipresence here, was almost an oxymoronic overstatement;
however, they were the very blood, the very crux of the Wall – that flowed like viscous water along the elevated
stones and disappeared spontaneously into thin air as water vaporises, never pausing enough for anything of
insurmountable interest, never halting their hasting steps, never perhaps stationing their feet upon the rows of
granite to ponder over the eternal separation of the two sides, East and West. For a giant portion of absentees
like ours, the easy side was the East – their attention dutifully attracted by the mechanical lure of, ‘… And here,
from the top of the Laolongtou, you can see the Gloria Holidays Villas which we will be staying in tonight. In
the distance you may find the Shanhaiguan Shipyards. It is the largest shipyard in the region …’ which was
followed by the stereotypical recital of figures nobody but our pacifist (if he had been alive, peace be with his
poor soul) would have had the slightest interest. Our absentee, by nature, also followed the irresistible
temptation and leant over the strangely well conditioned castellation, entirely absorbed by the radiant side of the
East: how pleasing the highly organised neighbourhood of Nanjiangzhuang, how poignant the seamless sands of
the Laolongtoutan, how warming the scenes of the streaming marine traffic! Such a vista of development, such a
demonstration of civilization reached the retinas of our absentee that she felt nothing less than gratification.
This outburst of mild sentiment, however, was short-lived. No longer had our absentee glanced upon the
wonders of prosperity when she was herded along by the temperamental tour guide forward along the Wall
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