A Century of Dreams (1916-2016)

A Century of Dreams (1916-2016)

This book is dedicated to all women, especially my mom, whom I failed to show any understanding and sympathy. I want to shout my apology out loud, “Mom, I am so sorry! I wish I could have understood you earlier!”

This book is also inspired by my grandma, who experienced so many ups and downs in the past century but is still alive today in China. To me, she is a woman full of mysteries; a living witness of the dramatic changes undergone over the past hundred years.

The stories in this book are the stories of ordinary Chinese people, for I have always believed that ordinary people can do the extraordinary things.


“Ｗatch the winds and the clouds coming,
Ｃhat and smile in the storm,
Pursue the dreams in a century, and
Fulfill them over several generations. ”

坐看风云起，
笑谈风雨中。
百年追寻梦，
几代寻梦人。

Main Characters of Centurial Dreams:

喦　Yan was born in a rich landlord family in northeast in 1916. She had a high education at that time. She worked in a bank in Manchuria in her early twenties, subsequently she was married to a general of the Nationalist Army.

小玉　Xiaoyu, Yan’s daughter, was born in Beijing in 1946.

依凡　Yifan, Xiaoyu’s second daughter and Yan’s granddaughter, was born in a valley in Heilongjiang Province in 1969．

雨晴　Yuqing, Xiaoyu’s first daughter and Yifan's half-sister, was born in 1966 in another small village closed to where Yifan lived. After Yuqing was born, Yuqing’s father left Xiaoyu and Yuqing, and he never came back. Xiaoyu was forced to give Yuqing to a neighbour.

Prologue

If we look at the people around us, it is not hard to see that each of us has her own stories to tell. Ordinary person like you and me, believe it or not, can sometimes even make the headlines with our stories with all our different views and values. Each one of us is playing the leading role in our own lives. In an ideal society, people are supposed to have the rights to do certain things within the legal framework and according to the rules of ethics. People can choose where and how to live their lives. They can marry whomever they love, and pursue happiness in the way they see fit. However, does reality always work like this?

The answer is “No, Reality doesn't alway work that way!"

Just recently, a recurring scene almost like a short movie has been playing out in my mind. At dawn in early spring in northeast, my mom is busy preparing several barrels of zhushi (pig feed) for the pigs in the shed. She has to carry two barrels, a fairly heavy load for a 12-year-old girl, on each trip she makes from the barn. The pig shed is about a thousand meters away from the barn. Thus shouldering her heavy burden, she slowly makes her way against the cold wind of the Northeast Prairie. Not far from the pigs’ shed is Bawuqi Prison, situated in Heilongjian Province, near the Chinese-Russia border. There, my grandpa spent 17 years, imprisoned for the so-called "political reason". The surroundings are quiet, and most of the people in the small town have no doubt still lying comfortably in their beds, busy dreaming. From outside the prison, you can hear the sounds of prisoners’ running and guards’ shouting. My Mom has had to drop out of school in order to earn enough money to support her family and her older brother's study. Her happiest moments at the time, she recalled fifty years later, come when she could distinguish her father’s voices from those of the other prisoners. As you shall see in this novel, My Mom is someone who, for reasons relating to family, was not able to control her own destiny in a very special time in China's history. In the worst case, she could not choose whom she married.

A Century of Dreams is a novel -part fiction, part fact- based on the true story of three-generations of women living in an ordinary family as they play out in those special years of China's history. It relates to the stories of their loves, their marriages, the misunderstandings they encountered as well as their dreams, struggles, and moments of happiness. It is not only a novel, but also is a hundred year history of the people of Northeast China, our values, our way of thought, and our anxieties. What is important is not merely the individual stories of these people,but indomitable spirit that drives them on to realize thier dreams and pursue their happiness.


Chapter 1

Yan's Home, 63 Taishan Road, Shenyang, 2016

Yan sat quietly next to the window; looking out at the grapevines she had planted over these many years. In the summer, those grapevines were her companions, and they covered half of the big window with strings of medium-sized green grapes. Yan looked up at the sky,now almost dark with clouds, and sensed the oncoming storm. She was waiting anxiously for the telephone to ring. Yan murmured to herself, "Has the doctor finished Xiaoyu's operation? Where is Yiying? Why hasn't Yiling called me to let me know what is happened to Xiaoyu?"

She stood up and looked around her room, which was about 10 square meters. Either it was because the house had not been painted for so many years or just due to the cloud-covered sky outside the window, her room looked a little gloomy and the furniture and furnishings old-fashioned. It was now already a decade since Yunli, Yan's husband(Yan always called him Laotou), had passed away! A decade had flown by in a flash.

In that time, Yan had pretended not to hear anything she hadn't wanted to listen to. She knew very well what her children and her grandchildren were saying behind her back. She just pretented to be a deaf. Sometimes, she wondered what they quarrelled about.

China had undergone so many changes since Laotou had gone. She could see this from watching TV. Occasionally, Xiaoyinzi, Yan's second son, forced her to go outside. Whenever the car drove down Chongshan Street or Qishan Street, Yan was so amazed by those skyscrapers and the many cars that crowed the streets. She couldn't count how many new high-rise buildings had been built in her neighbourhood over the past decade. She just thought to herself, "Hopefully, they won't come to my Taishan Street before I die!"

After Laotou passed away, Xiaowei, Yan’s third son, had repeatedly asked to have Yan's room renovated. Yan, however, refused to do so. She always told them, "I might die tomorrow. Why don't you wait until I die?"

In fact, Yan's children didn't know what she was thinking and why she would get so upset whenever they suggested making changes to her room. All she wanted was to keep it just as it had been when Laotou was still alive. Because, in this room in its every corner, she could feel his presence. He never left her. was always there by her side during those lonely days. Again and Again, she seemed to see Laotou sitting there on that old sofa, reading his "Chuang Tzu" with his right handas he stroked his long white beard with his right, his face expressing a deep satisfaction.

Yan walked slowly to the door. To the right of the dark brown door was an old-fashioned calendar hanging on the wall. Yan liked to use this old calendar. When her children came to visit her and complained, "Ma, why don't you get a new calendar?", she would sigh,

"I've gotten used to this old one."

Yan looked at the calendar, whispering, "Today is the fourteenth day of the lunar year in June. In a few more days, it will be my 100th birthday." As she reflected on this, she slowly made her way back to the window and looked up the dark sky. Outside, A brisk wind started to blow.

Then, she sat back on her bed next to the window. “Xiaoyinzi, XiaoWei, and Xiaoyu have been discussing my birthday, and they told me, all the relatives and all my grandchildren would be here to celerate no matter how far away they were. Yifan called me from Canada last night and spoke so loudly that she would be on her way today. I am sure she thought I couldn't hear anything, but I could. Unfortunately, Laotou and Xiaozheng no longer with me. And, Xiaoyu is in the hospital."

Once Again, Yan went back to her boundless meditation.

Chapter 2

Montreal Pierre Trudeau Airport, Montreal, Canada 2016

Yifan rushes into the Montreal Pierre Trudeau Airport. On her face is full of anxieties. She looks like about 40 years old, wearing a dark purple T-shirt and a pair of long black pants. Perhaps she is distracted; she spends about 10 minutes to check in on the aero-check machine. At last, she has her boarding ticket and luggage labels printed.

For a long time, Yifan hasn't travelled on her own. She hardly remembered when the last travel was. But she can feel that the great tension of being traveling alone and her worries about her mom. She can not squeeze them off.

"Have the doctors finished Mom’s operation? Is Mom fine?" The more questions she asks herself, the more nervous she is.

Before she packed her belongings last night, she had spoken with her Laolao (Grandma). She could repeat every word Laolao said last night. Laolao’s voice was trembling, “Yifan, come back quickly, and I have something to tell you.

Yifan have been planning this trip for several years. Inside her heart, she hopes its coming soon, but she tried to put it off for some reasons.

The reason Yifan kept on postponing this trip is that she doesn't know how to deal with it. It likes that you are watching the sky falling down to the ground but you don't know how to avoid it. She could not anticipate what will happen.

Besides visiting her mom and her grandma, Yifan has been always thinking to look for Yuqing, Yifan's half sister, whom Yifan's mom was forced to give to mom’s neighbour in another small valley in 1966.

While standing on the airport escalator, Yifan looks around and spots a duty-free store on the right of the escalator. On the shelves must be the nineth book of Harry Potter, she thinks, despite of looking at it from a long distance.

In the year 2007, J.K. Rowling published her seventh book, Harry Potter and Deathly Hollow. J.K. had decided to stop writing, and J.K. told the readers that she wouldn’t continue on it. Many Harry Potter readers and movie fans were so disappointed. However, five years later, J.K. returned on the stage.

“Did I buy Harry Potter 7 on the way to Toronto in the Montreal Airport?.” She is muttering, " I did!"

Perhaps either she came from the different cultural background or Yifan was too in that time, she read only the dedication on the first page. Then, the book of Harry Potter became a decoration of her bookshelf. Before the seventh book of Harry Potter published, a lot of the readers guessed Harry Potter would have been died in the battle with the black evil. But as the book came out, Harry defeated the Black evil and survived. The book ended with a happy note.

Surprisingly, AL grew up so quickly and started to read the books of Harry Potter . Harry Potter 7, in the end, is worth what Yifan paid for.

Thinking about AL, Yifan just remembered that AL had asked Yifan a few days ago, “Mom, a lot of my friend is reading Harry Potter 9. Could you get a copy for me?”

“I will, but you have to wait until I am free!” For the past ten years, Yifan always responded so.

Yifan feels that she owns a lot to AL. She always has her own excuses.
This is no wonder why AL has complained, “Mom, when do you think you will have time?”

As she passed the book store on the escalator and walked toward the book store.

Chapter 3

Shengyan Sujiantu Hospital, Shenyang, 2016

Yiling stood by the big white hospital bed, where her mom Xiaoyu was sleeping right now. Yiling looked very tired and anxious. Mom just had the operations done and seemed fine at this moment. Yiying was watching the big monitor beside mom's bed and listening to the sounds beeping. Sometimes she could get very nervous when the monitor had some irregular sounds. She thought she would be crashed if Dajie Yifan and Erjie Yijie could not come back from abroad
as soon as possible.

A thought came across Yiling mind. She just suddenly realized that she forgot to call her Laolao and let her know that mom's operation. She walked out of the room and turned on her cell phone.

Chapter 4

Shenyang Sujiatun Hospital, Shenyang, 2016

Xiao couldn’t open her eyes because there are some white lights in front of her. She soon found out that actually what made her suddenly sightless were sunlights. It was a sunny outside, but she felt rather chilly.

Trees were covered with snow, so was the ground. In the end of a long and quiet alley stood a ramshackle, thatched cottage. Following along the footprints on the ground and across the train tracks, Xiaoyu walked slowly toward the cottage.

“Have I been here before? I must have been here before, but how come I could not recall?”She asked herself.

As Xiaoyu got closer to the cottage, she could overhear someone inside the house talking since the door was left ajar.

“Niang (mom), some classmates are joking with me that I am not your real daughter. They said you found me in the garbage bin. Is it true? ” A 12 year-old girl wept and asked her mother.

The mother inside the house did not immediately answer her daughter; she saved her breath, then she cleared her throat, "Yuqing, who said that? Don’t listen to the gossip and nonsense! Who said that?”

Looking at her mom, Yuqing lowered her voice, “ Xiaoping and Wenwen told me that.”

Even the little girl haven’t finished her talking, the mother had walked out of the house!

Seeing a vague outline of the little girl from a distance, Xiaoyu was really curious to get closer to that girl. Nevertheless, Xiaoyu could not move her numb legs.

“Wu……”

Suddenly, a train has run like split with a long and depressed whistling from a distance, Xiaoyu was horrified.

When Xiaoyu woke up, she found himself lying on the hospital beds. Outside the room, she could hear some people talking.

Chapter 5

Legends of Phoenix

“One day in the beginning times, the sun looked down and saw a large bird with shimmering feathers. They were red and gold--bright and dazzling like the sun itself. The sun called out, "Glorious Phoenix, you shall be my bird and live forever!" Live forever!”(The quote is borrowed from the story of Phoenix). In China, Phoenix is a symbol of pursuit of happiness and desire for a better and harmony lives. It was said that phoenix can builds its own funeral pyre and throws itself into the flames. After it dies, it can be reborn again.

Yan was still sitting there by the window and immersed herself deeply in her memory...

The year (1946) when Xiaoyu was born was the year after that Japanese was defeated in war. It was a mild winter. In the New Year Eve, red couplets and red lanterns were displayed on the doorframes of almost everyone's houses lighting up the atmosphere. The air is filled with strong and happy emotions. People were happy because Japanese finally gone back to Japan although there was still a civil war going on between Nationalist and Communist.

In the afternoon of Sanshier, one day before Chinese New Year, Wu Ma, Yan’s servant, was busy cooking in the kitchen to prepare a lot of food for the night of Chuxi, New Year Eve. Wu Ma just had given Yan’s home a through cleaning. Yan stayed in the living room to prepare the baby clothes. Because the baby was in her tummy, Yan felt difficult to breath. Yan knows that she could not stop her preparation before the baby was born.

Wu Ma rushed into the living room and spoke to her in a hurry, “ Taitai, Laoye(the master) comes back, and he is at the entrance of our house. Pu Shu (Wu Ma’s husband) is helping Laoye to move Laoye luggage.”

In Yan’s heart, she could not describe how excited she was. But Yan is a person who used to hide all her feeling all the times. She felt something coming out from her eyes, hot and salty, but she quickly took out her plum blossom silk handkerchief to wipe it off.

Yan opened the door. Just in front of her stood Yuli who are smiling at her. Yun Li tried to hold Yan, but he could not get closer to her because of her big tummy. He smiled, "Yan, I won’t leave you and our children again"

Yunli’s army moved back from Zhangjiakou to Beijing. This time, he could stay at home for the Chinese New Year.

Three-year-old Xiaozheng run from the outside into the living room. He looked up the man wearing the uniform holding mom. Yan bent her body, patted Zhenger’s back, and hold his warm and soft hand saying: "Zhenger, Call you daddy. Your daddy just returned home. He will be with us for the new year."

Xiaoyu was born on the seventh day of the first moon of Chinese lunar year of 1946. In Chinese old sayings, the seventh day of the first month is traditionally known as renri 人日, the common man's birthday, the day when everyone grows one year older. This saying is kind of similar as said in Genesis of the Bible. Bible says that God created men and women. However, Chinese said, the first few days of the first month of lunar year are the birthdays of the animals, and the seventh day is the day for human beings. Usually, families in the north prepare noodles to eat in that day.

Because of the Chinese New Year, there were incenses burning in the room where Yan stayed. At the moment that Yan tried to push her baby out, everyone in the room sensed that the smells of incenses are more fragrant than ever before. As the Jieshengpo, the old lady who helped to deliver the baby, said to Yan, “Congratulation, Taitai, you are having a guinu (a girl) this time. See how lucky you are! Now you have a boy and a girl. Taitai, Did you smell the incenses in this room very special? This girl must become a phoenix in the future!” Yan sighed.

Yunli hold his tiny and crying daughter and told Yan, “Let’s call her Xiaoyu!, what do you think?”


(Continued)[/b]
_________________
坐看风云起，
笑谈风雨中。
百年追寻梦，
几代寻梦人。