AN HONORED GIFT

The morning after the shopping expedition at Wangfujing (王府井) in Beijing wherein I bought 7 books, I received a surprise gift from of all people, Lionel Wang, our Beijing tour guide. Well, it started the night before when Lionel saw the books I’ve bought and was impressed that I could actually read Chinese and is also a book lover as well as a history enthusiast. And at the following day, he presented to me as gift, the manuscript of his written work, part one of his historical fiction/romance short story. You see, Lionel is not your typical tour guide. He is actually an amateur writer. Ok, he is a writer wannabe. He probably liked fiction, the historical romantic type with settings in China (judging from the topic of his choice). And he writes during his free time, which in itself is a tough act considering that he is married and he has a day job. Writing is no easy stuff. Anyone who likes to write can attest to that. Inspiration to write can’t be turned on as pleased like that of turning the tap water faucet on. There are many a times when one would be staring blank at the screen and can’t figure out what to write much less how to. This is further aggravated when you’re tired from working your ass off the whole day taking a bunch of giddy and demanding tourists around Beijing and coming home having to fulfill familial responsibilities. Anyway, a bit about Lionel. He is probably in his early 40s. He is a Manchu (滿族), the ethnic group that constitutes the ruling elites during the Qing dynasty (清朝), China’s last imperial dynasty. His ancestors belong to the blue banner (正藍旗), one of the Eight Banners (八旗), a socio – politico – military organization of the Manchu during the Qing era. Since his surname is Wang (王, the Fookien – Chinese pronunciation is Ong) and he is a Manchu, I surmised that he is probably of royal decent since Wang is a Han Chinese (漢族, the ethnic majority) surname and not an ethnic Manchu surname and in many cases in the past, the imperial descendants of former dynasties usually adopted the surname Wang as an emphasis that they are of royal lineage. It is either that or that his ancestor maybe actually a Han Chinese surnamed Wang and that they are “incorporated” into the Manchu Banner system during its early phase of conquest of China sometime in the 17th century. At any rate, it is safe to say that his forebears are of aristocratic descent. Lionel is actually quite fluent in English and he could actually speak a few words in Filipino, which is very rare. He would always belt out the words, “Dito Tayo” whenever he wants the tour group to assemble. At times, he would call out, “Kain Tayo”, to enthuse the group to either lunch or dinner. A perennially jolly guy, Lionel would always amuse us with his wise cracks about his “tigress” of a wife (we actually have the opportunity to meet his wife and inform her about his wise cracks about her, hehehehe). He is a Catholic and is a native of HeBei (河北省, the province wherein Beijing is situated), which is only logical given that his banner ancestry (most of the Banner people lives in and around Beijing for the most part of the 200 year Qing rule) and he lives in Beijing for a long time now. Anyway, the very instance that I received the manuscript of his work, I was to be quite honest dumb struck. I simply don’t know what to do. It is then I remembered my history (that I studied). In times past, aristocrats (the only ones who can afford a good education in ancient times) both in China and in Europe would host a party and invite friends and peers to the party and hand out his latest written works be it, a poem, a prose to everyone in the gathering. It is a marked sign of honor to actually receive such a personal gift from the gracious host and the guests would go about reading “the work” of the host and offer their opinions and suggestions on the latter’s work. Although time has passed and things have undoubtedly changed over the years, this practice is still being continued in literary circles. Having remembered this, I graciously accept his “gift”, set aside the book I was reading that morning and began to assiduously read his work. Lionel’s work is a 12 page historical romance fictional short story. Though historical fiction/romance short story is not really my forte or more aptly, a book that I don’t want to be caught dead with, I nevertheless plough through (my favorite fiction books are all Science Fiction and a few Wuxia novels, 武俠小説, a.k.a. Kung Fu novels and the books that I like the most are those laden with analysis, scholarly works of immense knowledge). Lionel’s short story is all about concubinage, a detestable practice; illegal because Chinese family laws throughout history doesn’t recognize it but is socially and morally acceptable in Chinese societies. The historical setting of the fiction is set right after the fall of the Qing dynasty and into the early period of the Republican era. The title of the fictional story is 暖被窩兒, which loosely translates to as “Warming the Bed and Blankets”. The protagonist of the story is a sweet, young innocent girl from the province who is never named in the story. Lionel told me the reason that the protagonist is not named is because he wants to put emphasis on the lowly status of women like her in Chinese society at that time (that however would prove to be a weak point in his writing because one has difficulty to ascertain as to when the protagonist is in the conversation or has entered the picture). The story begins with the protagonist being “bought” by a wealthy but childless jade merchant in Beijing who also happens to have 2 wives (still living), ostensibly to “warm” his bed at night (to be unambiguous about it, the protagonist is his sex slave) whenever he is on business trips away from home. Eventually, the relationship evolved and became one of affection and love. Later in the story, the protagonist bore the wealthy, childless lover of hers, 2 sons. The wealthy guy dies near the end of the story and she is left with the care of their 2 children, which she successfully manage to rear to adulthood. The story ends when the children turned into teens. Well, at least that is the first part of the story. Due to the nature of the story, the content is a bit sensual. Ok, sexually explicit at times (graphic in some parts?) but the idea of the story, the theme is pretty rich and powerful. As such, it could be elaborated further into a novel instead of a simple short story. Too bad, Lionel, the author probably don’t have enough free time to write because though the piece is well written, it needs further development, I mean, the story needs further development to become much more vivid than it is. Anyway, in keeping with the literary tradition, I gave a few suggestions and comments of mine to Lionel in a polite and nice way of course. Not that I’m a literary critic of some sort but as a responsibility that comes attached to the receipt of the gift of his manuscript, I felt I had to. Whether or not he accepts my suggestions and comments, well, that is his prerogative. At the least, I fulfill my part. Besides, I don’t have plans to take up literary criticism as a career. Well, it is my hope that someday I would be able to read a complete version of the story written by Lionel as he plans to publish his work sometime in the future. By then, I’ll probably ask his permission to translate and publish it in English, perhaps; that is of course, if I have time to write at all by then.
POST SCRIPT
It is during the time when I was reading Lionel’s work that I came to realize how much I owe my readers (of my blog) my sincerest gratitude for their patronage. I write to share my thoughts, my ideas, my views, my feelings. And honestly, I never well, didn’t care much if somebody actually read what I am writing. I just publish it. If people want to read it, so they read it, it’s free anyway. I never went out of my way to track the readership of my blog nor promote it nor advertise it. However, over time, I do get responses in the form of messages and comments from friends and strangers alike indicating their appreciation of what I’ve written on my blog and I felt I’ve haven’t thanked them at all. So here it is, I want to thank everybody who read my blog, those who have send me messages expressing their appreciation of my writings, those who posted their comments on my blog, their very helpful and to all those who just silently read my blog over the years. I thank you all. You may never know it but it feels GREAT to be appreciated. Thank you again.