Their marriage was a peaceful comradeship. But he did not love her. Without him having even a desire to kiss her, they somehow had a son that ended everything. Zhang Ping did not like sex. A son was what she wanted. For a while he was content with his life. He let day go one by one and prayed for peace and stability. He thought he was really lucky. He had a job in a big city like Beijing, and so was envied by the nine hundred and ninety nine million people in the other parts of the country. He had a wife and a son and lived in the center of Beijing, one kilometer from the Tiananmen Square. What else would he want?
The book became blurry in front of him. The dark lines on the white paper turned into many beautiful faces, long straight hair, permed hair, big bright eyes and joyful smiles. He loved those college girls. The sky suddenly turned colorful, not dull grey color anymore. He felt energetic. He wanted to join the students to disperse his energy. Life is going to be interesting, he said to himself. Then he got up and joined Zhang Ping and little Turnip in their bed.
Chapter 3
Several hundred people assembled in front of the men’s dormitory, #41, near one of the campus gates. The red Beijing University flag was billowing in the wind. Some windows of the dorms were open and newly getting up students yelled, “Wait for me. I will be down in a second.” Some came down with a piece of bread in their hands.
When Baiyun, Yumei and Li Yan, another roommate, arrived at 7:00am, each girl had a different feeling about being there. Baiyun, who wore blue pants and a faded jacket, hoped her appearance would attract no attention. Yumei’s bright orange sweater indicated she wanted to be noticed immediately. As a stout girl with two bushy pigtails, Li Yan’s approach to life was more realistic. She loved sports and politics so she was just happy to be a part of it.
Their decision to skip class on Monday was a big one. The liberal arts students organized the march. Since the girls were chemistry majors, Baiyun, Yumei and Li Yan could be the only people there from their class. Besides, most chemistry majors would not have a friend like Longfe, an economics major, to inform them about the march. Math class was important but easy to skip. Physical education wasn’t as important but much harder to skip because as soon as they lined up, the instructor would notice immediately who was missing. The physical education teacher was reasonable. Everyone loved to skip the Political Science class. No one listened during those lectures anyway. Everyone read either their math textbook or a novel right under the instructor’s nose, who swung his arms, and sprayed saliva through spaces between his teeth, trying to politically indoctrinate his students.
The sky looked gray on this spring morning, for the sun hid behind thick layers of clouds and seemed far, far away. Occasional gusts of wind blew the dust into the air, a familiar scene in Beijing. Yumei, a girl from Shaanxi, an ancient capital and a province southeast of Beijing, began to sing loudly, even though they hardly knew anyone around.
“Beijing, our great capital,
Beijing, a beautiful city.
But in the spring,
Ladies cover their faces with gray scarves.”
Li Yan was a news addict, and kept informed on everything through her radio. She was carrying a Walkman right now. “It might rain today. I heard from the broadcast.” Li Yan informed them.
“Come on, I never believe the weather forecast. They are rarely correct,” said Yumei, absent-mindedly.
“But it rained yesterday,” said Baiyun, pushing her glasses up a bit on her straight nose.
“Maybe God is weeping for Hu Yaobang’s death,” said Yumei, looking around to see if anyone had noticed her.
“Have you heard anything interesting on the BBC?” asked Baiyun. She knew Li Yan listened to the BBC short wave broadcasts every day.
“Yes, all kinds of strange predictions about China’s future. Some say Hu Yaobang’s death is a sign that the conservatives will come back. Some say his death could stir up a full-scale student movement, which would begin to turn China into a more democratic society.”
Longfe approached the girls. “Hi, Yumei! It’s nice that you are here already.” He wore a tan blazer and a pair of blue jeans. His big eyes were beaming behind his square-rimmed glasses.
Baiyun felt ignored after Li Yan left to join students from other departments. She found Longfe very attractive. She liked his big tall body, the deep set of his eyes and his smooth round face. But every time he was around, she was too nervous to open her mouth. She felt embarrassed just standing there, and an idea dawned on her.
“Yumei, I’.. .m going back to pick up our raincoats or an umbrella for us.” Baiyun interrupted Yumei and Longfe’s conversation. Longfe stared at her and frowned. Baiyun turned and ran away.
On her way out, she saw Li Yan along with Xia Nan, a communist party member and the head of the student association in the economic department, talking to a group of students with a megaphone.
Baiyun quickly got back to the dorm, and after looking through the suitcases, drawers, and under the beds, could not find any raincoats or umbrellas. Then suddenly she realized that she had left hers at home and Yumei had probably had lost hers as usual. She decided to go to the campus grocery store to buy an umbrella. If she was late, she could always ride her bicycle to catch up with everyone. In any case, she wanted to be truly part of the march this time instead of being just a bystander as she had been on previous occasions. She was famous for always missing exciting events by staying in the library and studying. As she walked toward the store, she heard a voice accompanied by the noise of a motorcycle behind her.
“Baiyun, what’s the rush? Let me give you a ride.”
Lao Zheng, fully equipped with a helmet, leather jacket and goggles, had stopped his motorcycle behind Baiyun. He had a big grin on his face. Yuck, what is he doing here? Baiyun asked herself. She quickly composed herself and faked a smile. “You’ve come to the wrong place to find Mother.”
“Well,” he set his left foot on the ground. “Are you going to Tiananmen Square? I can give you a ride. . It’s such a long way to walk.”
“How did you know about the march?”
“I saw a group of students marching out of the gate when I came in. I asked them where they were going.”
“Have they already gone?” Baiyun felt bad. What would her friends think of her if she wasn’t there? They would think she had missed another important event again. Baiyun could just imagine how the others would talk about her: “How clever, that Baiyun. Going back to get an umbrella is just her excuse. Do you remember how she got out of the march last time? She stayed in the library overnight and came out once everyone was gone.”
“Ha… You really need a ride now?” Lao Zheng smiled like a victor.
“Would you?”
“Let’s go”
Baiyun jumped onto the back seat of the motorcycle. Although she hated the cigarette smell on his jacket, she had to hold on to it tightly and bury her head in it, because she did not want others on campus to see her riding on a motorcycle with such a man.
The streets were full of busy people going to work on bicycles, buses or occasionally on motorcycles. The ringing of bicycle bells and honking of bus horns awakened the city like a rooster’s crowing at dawn. At every street corner, there was a little yellow cylindrical station painted with red stripes. Policemen wearing white summer uniforms and sunglasses, either sat in the station looking out, or stood in the center of the intersection of two streets, directing the busy traffic with a little blue and white stick. Sometimes a policeman would stop an unfortunate bicyclist because he was carrying his son or both his son and his wife on the bike fender seat. They usually got a warning from the policeman and were told to walk to the bus station to let the wife and son take the bus. But as soon as they were out of the policeman’s sight, they would get back on the bike and fly. Violating traffic laws was not considered a crime in China.
Lao Zheng and Baiyun found the marchers stopped in front of a big farmer’s market, two kilometers from the campus.
&nbs
p; “Hey, Baiyun, we caught up with them in no time at all. Let’s ride along with them. What do you think?”
“Would you let me get off? Would you let me get off?” She pointed toward the market. “So I can buy an umbrella and find my roommate.”
“Don’t you want to march with me? We have a motorcycle, the modern transportation.” Lao Zheng stood by his motorcycle proudly. With his sunglasses and shining new leather jacket, he almost looked like a movie star.
Baiyun, however, was not impressed. “Please let me off!” She screamed.
“Actually your mother asked me to come here and pick you up. She worries about you,” Lao Zheng’s tone changed.
“I don’t believe you. Mother never bothers me at school. She trusts me.”
“Ok, I came here to find you myself. I think you’d enjoy going out with me. We’ll spend some money and have a good time. This demonstration is boring. What do you think?” Lao Zheng put on his charming mask again.
Baiyun jumped off the slowly moving motorcycle and ran to the other side of the street where the students were, trying to hold back her tears.
“Baiyun! Baiyun!” shouted Lao Zheng, dumbfounded.
“Baiyun, why are you so late?” Baiyun could hear someone in the crowd yelled at her.
As Baiyun was crossing the street, she saw that Yumei, Longfe, Li Yan and the other students were staring at her. She blushed. How shameful! She said to herself. But to the others, she was speechless. There was a lump in her throat.
“How do you know someone who owns a motorcycle? How exciting!” said Yumei. Then she took Baiyun’s hands and smiled charmingly, which cheered up Baiyun a little.
“According to the BBC, motorcycles are the practical modern transportation for the future in China. I’m proud of you, Baiyun. You’ll be a pioneer motorcycle rider on campus,” said Li Yan.
“I didn’t know there is another side of you, Baiyun. Your hidden side is really exciting,” said Longfe, looking impressed.
Yumei hit Longfe on the shoulder. “Stop!” Then she took Baiyun to the side.
“What’s the matter with you?”
“I feel awful.” Tears streamed down Baiyun’s face.
“So, that’s your mother’s boyfriend? What does he want?”
“He wants me to spend the day with him.” Baiyun stared down on the ground as though this was the most embarrassing moment in her life.
“Oh, my God. He’s really interested in you,” said Yumei, half teasingly.
“Yes, is that awful?”
“I don’t know. If you don’t like him, yes.”
“I’m not going to go back home anymore.”
“Ok, stick with us.”
“Sure,” said Baiyun. She couldn’t think of a better way to spend the day.
The wheat field around the Qinhua University, a top engineering school in Beijing, and about 3 kilometers from Beijing University, soon appeared. Behind the field was a huge broad gray concrete building — the main building of the University. In front of it, there was a statue of Chairman Mao, his body erecting, his right hand waving as though he was inspecting the sea of worshippers. Now a voice from a loudspeaker reached them.
“Students of Beida (Beijing University), the Qinhua students are not participating in your march. Go back to your school and to class. Do not create chaos on our campus.”
The gate of Qinhua University was locked and a truck equipped with a loudspeaker followed them from gate to gate, repeating the message.
The heavens gave them an additional warning. Thunder clapped. Lightning almost broke the sky in half and waves of dark clouds rolled toward them like a flock of sheep running madly. The gusty winds blew dust into the air darkening the sky even more. Baiyun covered her face with her hands to prevent dust from getting into her eyes. Yumei ran toward Longfe to seek refuge behind his thin and tall body. Then the rain started pouring down from the sky.
There was a voice in the crowd. “If the Qinhua University student can’t go, we’ll go ourselves!” Baiyun saw a figure wearing a green Mao jacket and a green hat tightly to his skull. He was a prominent person on campus, a graduate student in political science and a veteran activist. Tears began to swell up in Baiyun’s eyes. She suddenly felt as if she was becoming a part of a powerful force.
By the time they reached the University of Political Science and Law, the rain stopped and the sun peeked out again. The students there applauded, cheered through their dorm windows, and banged on their tin plates and washbasins. They invited students from Beida to their auditorium for bread and hot water.
“We are really a group of crazy people,” said Yumei as she sat down on the concrete floor in the crowded auditorium with Baiyun, Longfe and Li Yan. “Look at my shoes, my pants. They are all soaking wet.” She moved her feet inside her wet athletic shoes, which were half full of water, generating a squeaky sound. Everyone laughed.
“Yumei, you should dance in these shoes,” suggested Li Yan.
So Yumei stood up and started dancing. She bounced around, snapping her fingers. Her freckled face was radiant; her long wet stringy hair swayed back and forth.
“Longfe, join me!”
“No, I don’t dare dance without music.” He held his knees against his chest, watching her.
“We can create our own music,” said Yumei.
“Okay. How about we sing, you dance?”
Baiyun hummed along with others. A feeling swelled up in her chest, almost suffocating her. She wanted to join Yumei in the dance. But no matter how hard the desire filled in her chest, she could not move her legs. Her face was red, and she could feel hot steam coming up from her wet clothes.
A tall handsome young man from the Philosophy Department joined Yumei. They danced a waltz. Students surrounded them, some dancing, some humming the song.
“What a wonderful way to dry out,” someone commented.
The sun had come out of the thick layer of clouds as they left the auditorium and started marching again. The air was fresh and damp. It was noon. The streets were busy again. People came out for lunch, to go home for a nap or to start a second work-shift.
The march was going at a normal pace. People on the street started cheering them.
“Hey, Beida!”
“Hey, that’s great!”
“Keep going, we support you.”
Baiyun was surprised to see so many people were brave enough to support them openly, especially when they approached the downtown area, where policemen were posted at every street corner. Since 1978 when the Cultural Revolution had come to the end, no one believed another political movement would come along because people had lost faith in the Communist party. They felt cheated by Chairman Mao. They turned from fully supporting the Communist party to simply disbelieving. Most people nowadays were interested in getting higher pay, larger bonuses and sending their children to the best universities. Even Baiyun’s romantic mother had started her own business. It was so strange that people could still be excited by a political demonstration.
“No more corruption!”
“Patriotism is no crime!”
“Long live the people!”
Baiyun chanted slogans along with others, lifting her right arm up and down. It reminded her of her primary and high school days when chanting slogans were a part of daily life. They had to do it every morning before class. “Long live Chairman Mao!” They chanted, “Down with the rich landlords!” and “Down with the capitalist’s running dog!” She even had to say, “Down with Yang Kaiming!” when her intellectual father, Yang Kaiming, was demonized on a stage along with other intellectuals. The demonized victims on the stage wore black pointy hats with their arms tied behind their backs and backs bending forward, which were called “Riding the airplane”. It all sounded so familiar, yet so foreign. A feeling of uneasiness bothered her. She wanted to stop.
“Don’t you think it’s awful that we have to chant slogans again?” Baiyun asked the self-absorbed Yumei.
“Why ?” Yu
mei seemed not to be bothered at all. She used all her strength, jumping and shouting in beautiful gestures as if she was dancing. She always did well in front of others.
“Yumei, don’t you think that we should distribute the pamphlets from Longfe?” Baiyun thought of an alternate way to contribute to the movement.
“Yes. How do you think we should do it?” asked Yumei.
“How about you climb a tree, pretending to observe the demonstration? Then you quickly tie the pamphlets to a branch.” Baiyun paused for Yumei’s reaction.
“And then……” said Yumei.
“And then you quickly come down the tree so I can shake it. The pamphlets will fly all over the square like the peace doves,” said Baiyun proudly.
“You really think this will work with me going up to the tree?” Yumei was a little skeptical.
“You are lighter. You know me. Since I’m so clumsy, I may fall off the tree and cause a big stir.”
“I think this sounds good in theory but I don’t think it will work in reality.”
Last Kiss in Tiananmen Square Page 4