‘This tea ceremony was designed to point out to you the difference between “perception”, “awareness” and “attitude”. All of us aim to be happy. But happiness is an attitude that comes from within and is dependent on a person’s perception of what is happening around her. To avoid living in a fool’s paradise, one needs to perceive correctly. True perception can only come from wu (), mindful awareness, which develops gradually through meditation. For you to become enlightened in Fu Dao, Way of Buddha, the transformation has to come from within yourself.’
She raised the teacup with both hands, and drank the rest of the tea as I stared at her. Then she turned the cup upside down and lifted it above her head. Surprisingly, the corpse of the cockroach did not fall out. Only when she gave me the cup to examine did I discover that the insect was made of the same tricoloured porcelain, baked into the china.
Grandma Wu put the cup aside and handed me an expensive-looking notebook bound in black leather.
‘This is a personal diary,’ she said. ‘As you see, it comes with a pen as well as a lock and key. In this book you will write your most intimate thoughts: secrets that you don’t wish to share with anybody else.’
Grandma Wu approached the altar and lifted the Yi Fing deferentially out of its box with both hands. Opening its cover she passed the book slowly through the incense smoke three times with a circular motion. I saw that the book’s pages were yellow with age and covered with mysterious symbols.
Grandma Wu untied the knot around the bundle of sticks protruding from the pouch next to the Yi Fing’s spine and said, ‘You will get out of the Yi Fing what you put into it. For thousands of years, we Chinese have considered this to be a Book of Magic and have treated it with reverence. I will be leaving in a few minutes. When you are alone, cleanse your mind of every distraction and concentrate on what you wish to ask the Yi Fing. Unlock the notebook I just gave you and write your question there. Take your time and don’t rush. Remember to leave space on the same page for the Yi Fing’s answer.
‘Then take the yarrow sticks from the pouch and start dividing them. Let me show you how. Our ancestors believed that the yarrow plant represents the spirit of nature and considered sticks from this plant to be particularly suitable for divination purposes.
‘While dividing the sticks, be constantly aware of the question you have written to ask the Yi Jing. Think of it all the time. When you have finished dividing the sticks you will end up with a number between 1 and 64.
‘There are 64 guas in the Yi Jing. Each gua is a separate emblem of divine guidance and wisdom. Between them the 64 guas contain the answer to every situation that might arise. There is a chart at the end of the Yi Jing. Consult this chart after you receive your numbered gua from dividing the sticks. Turn to the page corresponding to the gua you have been given. Read its meaning and significance. Copy it down in your black notebook below your original question on the same page. This is the Yi Jing’s answer to your question.’
She handed me the Yi Jing and I received it with trembling hands. ‘You will see that each gua is a symbol made of six parallel horizontal lines, one on top of another,’ she said. ’Some lines are divided in the middle. Others are whole. Think of them as seeds containing all the answers to every question in the universe.’
Gua No. 1 The Creative, or Heaven
Gua No. 2 The Receptive, or Earth
Gua No. 13 Fellowship with Like-minded People
‘How is it possible,’ I asked doubtfully, ‘that a bunch of divided and undivided lines can represent everything in the universe?’
‘A German philosopher named Leibniz, who lived in the seventeenth century, thought.this possible. While reading the Yi Jing, he came up with the idea of a new number system and called it “binary mathematics”. He thought of each divided line as o (zero) or yin, and each undivided line as 1 (one) or yang. He wrote that every situation in the universe can be represented by using the numbers o and 1 only. My son, Master Wu, tells me that American and British scientists are developing a miraculous new machine called a computer, based on Leibniz’s theories.
‘But now let me show you the proper way of dividing the yarrow stalks. Then I’ll leave you alone.’
Grandma Wu showed me how to start with fifty stalks and to place one stalk in a prominent place on the altar. This was to be the observer stalk, representing Heaven or a person’s conscience. ‘Even though we may think we are alone,’ she said, ‘our conscience is with us at all times. When you’ve finished, always thank the observer stalk for its participation.’
As soon as Grandma Wu left the alcove, I got up and placed the Yi Jing back in its box on the altar table. I went back to my cushion, unlocked my black leather diary, inscribed the date and time on the first page, and began to write:
I am going to confide everything to you, including my feelings about my father, Niang and Big Aunt In return, I hope you will give me comfort and consolation.
I closed my eyes and thought of my aunt, wondering whether she would be proud of me for being invited to join the Dragon Society of Wandering Knights. A pang went through me when I thought of the English lessons at her flat and the delicious snacks she used to make every afternoon, just for the two of us. Then I remembered my stepmother, and the sensation of Niang’s sharp fingernails digging into my throat. This was followed by the memory of my father lifting me by the back of my uniform and throwing me into the street. Last of all I thought of my companions at the academy: Grandma Wu with her wisdom and understanding; Master Wu with his skills and intelligence; and the three boys. Beneath their carefree exterior, how they had all suffered! Marat with his brother, Ivanov, in jail; David witnessing his parents’ murder; and Sam being vilified and expelled from his own country. By becoming a member, would I recover the family I lost when my mother died and my aunt went away?
The yellow silk banner appeared again in front of my closed eyes and I saw the final message left by Sam’s mother: ‘You are in China at this moment in history for a reason. You are here to make a difference. The future belongs to you.’
I turned to the second page of my diary and slowly wrote my question:
I would like to join the Dragon Society but I don’t want to leave my aunt I can’t live with my stepmother but I’d like to see my father again. I want my aunt and my father to be proud of me. Should I take the oath and become a member?
Then I placed one yarrow stalk in front of the Future Vision Box, took the other forty-nine into my hands and divided them the way Grandma Wu had done, thinking of my question the whole time. During the forty-five minutes it took to arrive at the number of my gua, I tried to visualize the faces of Big Aunt, my stepmother and my father. I thought of leaving home permanently, becoming an expert in kung fu and accompanying Grandma Wu and the three boys on their missions throughout China. Would my aunt and father be proud of me then? What if I was arrested? Would I cause trouble for my relatives?
Eventually, I arrived at the final number. The answer to my question was gua number 13. I took the Yi Jing from its box and turned to the last page, where I found the meaning of gua number 13. With mounting excitement, I copied the Yi Jing’s comments in the space I had reserved for it.
Gua number 13 (Tong Ren ()). Like-minded people are gathered together to be trained. Surroundings are dangerous and wild. Nevertheless, it is favourable for you to join with the others and undertake this worthy endeavour.
I felt the hair rising at the back of my neck as I read and reread the Yi Jing’s answer to my question. It was clear and definite. The Yi Jing was advising me to take the oath, join my friends and become a member of the Dragon Society.
I thanked the observer yarrow stalk and bowed three times to the scroll marked Tao of Buddha, hanging behind the altar. Then I stashed all the yarrow sticks back in the Yi Jing’s pouch. I changed into my normal clothes, blew out the candles and went back to my room with my black diary.
Grandma Wu was waiting for me there. She smiled. ‘What have you decided?�
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‘I would like to join.’
‘No doubts at all?’
‘None whatsoever!’
‘Good! It’s getting late. But before you go to sleep, I want to tell you something. Do you remember the day we first met?’
‘At your bookstall in the bazaar behind the park? Of course I do.’
‘If you had come to the stall one day later, we would not have met.’
‘What a coincidence! How is that so?’ I asked.
‘Members take turns staffing the society’s businesses around the city. After twelve months, my term of duty at the bookstall was over. The bookseller who replaced me is Grandma Wang, a wonderful artist. The day we met was my last day there.’
‘How lucky I am! One day later and my life would have been different!’
‘That’s called fate, CC,’ said Grandma Wu, ‘and there is nothing you can do about it. However, consulting the Yi Jing is a different matter entirely. Can you tell the difference now?’
‘Yes! When I consulted the Yi Jing, I had the opportunity to make my own choice and decide my own future.’
‘That’s right! Have a good night’s sleep. Tomorrow is Saturday. There is no school, but I have called a meeting at seven sharp.’
She did not ask and I did not tell what had transpired between the Yi Jing and me.
11
The Password
Next morning, after a quick breakfast of steamed bread and soya milk, Grandma Wu called a meeting around the kitchen table.
‘I wish to congratulate CC on becoming the newest member of our Dragon Society,’ Grandma Wu began. The boys clapped and cheered while Master Wu leaned across the table to shake my hand. ‘All four of you have suffered through no fault of your own. CC has been thrown out by her father and you three boys have been orphaned by the war.
‘Unfortunately, there is a lot of prejudice in Shanghai against Eurasians and orphan girls. But should any of you encounter hostility or rejection, seize the negative energy you feel coursing through your veins and use it for a positive goal. Prove to the world that you are worthy of respect. Don’t mess up your lives by being bitter and self-destructive!
‘From now on, the six of us will belong to the same family. No one needs to be alone again. You four children have been chosen to be part of an elite corps of secret agents embarking on a daring mission. One by one, please place your left hand on top of mine with your palm facing downwards. You first, Master Wu, followed by David. Since David is the oldest among the four of you he will be your Big Brother (da ge()). Place your hand on top of David’s, Sam. You are Second Older Brother (er ge ()). Your hand above Sam’s, Marat, as Third Older Brother (san ge()). CC’s hand goes on the very top. Being the youngest, she is everyone’s Little Sister (xiao mei()).
‘Let’s now squeeze our left hands together to make a giant fist! In unity there is strength. At the same time, place your right hand against your heart and repeat after me:
‘I swear to be loyal and true to the Dragon Society and to my fellow members, with whom I am united from now until the end of my life.
‘I promise to practise mindfulness, awareness and true perception through meditation daily.
‘I will turn negative emotions into positive qi (energy) and achieve great deeds by following the Tao of Buddha at all times.’
As I repeated the words after her, I thought how radically my life had changed. Under Grandma Wu’s guidance, my future was now full of hope. I closed my eyes and made a silent promise to her that I would always try my best to be mentally alert, morally upright and physically strong.
‘This ends CC’s initiation ceremony,’ Grandma Wu said. ‘Congratulations.’
‘You did it! You did it!’ Sam cheered.
‘You may not realize it at this stage of your young lives,’ Master Wu said, ‘but one of the most difficult things to find in life is true friendship. Now that the four of you have the opportunity of becoming close, you should do so. As the years go by, little friends will grow up to be great friends.
‘But now that we have sworn the oath we need to tackle the task at hand. The Americans have asked us for help. At this very moment in San Francisco, sixteen B25 bombers are being loaded onto an aircraft carrier, the USS Hornet. Each plane has a crew of five so there will be eighty American airmen altogether. When the USS Hornet is 450 miles from Japan, the planes will take off from the ship and fly towards Tokyo. When they have completed their raid, the pilots will refuel their planes in eastern China.
‘Chuchow in Zhejiang Province is only 100 miles inland from China’s coast. That’s where the Americans will refuel. Afterwards, they will fly west to Chungking, and then on to India via Burma on their way home. Our help is needed in Chuchow.’
‘When will they bomb Tokyo?’ Marat asked, his eyes shining. I knew that he was thinking of his brother, Ivanov, locked up under Japanese guard in Bridge House. Since receiving the letter on the back of the poster, Marat had heard nothing from him.
‘The USS Hornet is scheduled to leave San Francisco tomorrow, 12 April. It will take the ship about six days to cross the Pacific Ocean. They plan to launch the planes on the evening of 18 April and reach their targets in the dark of night, to avoid Japanese anti-aircraft fire. Hopefully, they’ll land in Chuchow on the morning of the nineteenth.’
‘Why don’t they land on the Chinese coast? Wouldn’t that be closer to Tokyo?’ David asked.
‘China’s coastline is in Japanese hands,’ Grandma Wu answered. ‘It’s true that Chiang Kai-shek’s troops are in control of Chuchow but the Japanese army is not far away. In addition, the Japanese are using Chinese puppet troops under the collaborator Wang Jing-wei to patrol that area. But I believe the hearts of many of Wang’s soldiers really belong to China. They may be willing to help the American pilots in secret.’
‘How can we help?’ Sam asked.
‘We have been training you for exactly this type of task,’ Grandma Wu said. ‘Because you all speak fluent Chinese and English, your help will be essential when the Americans land in Chuchow. The pilots probably won’t be able to tell a Japanese from a Chinese.’
‘Except one is an enemy and the other is a friend!’ Sam added.
‘That’s right!’ Master Wu agreed. ’Sometimes we have difficulty telling the difference between enemies and friends ourselves. Grandma Wu is using passwords to determine who is on our side.’
‘The passwords come from our history,’ Grandma Wu announced. ‘Twenty-two hundred years ago, China was divided into warring states and the king of Chu had been killed by the king of Qin. The people of Chu mourned the loss of their king and made the following vow: Chu sui san hu, wang Qin bi Chu(), even if there are but three families left in Chu, the Qin empire will be toppled by a native son of Chu. Over the years, this saying has become a proverb symbolizing the undying qi of a conquered nation. It is the code for our mission.’
‘Secret agents will identify themselves by uttering the first half of the couplet twice: Chu sui san hu, even if there are only three families left in Chu,’ Master Wu said. ‘You will respond by repeating wang Qin bi Chu, the Qin empire will be toppled by a native son of Chu, four times in rapid succession. Repeating this phrase will replenish your qi and strengthen your determination.’
‘In the case of a dire emergency where action needs to be taken immediately, you will give warning by repeating the first half of the couplet, Chu sui san hu, four times in rapid succession,’ continued Grandma Wu. ‘You will dress and behave like local peasant children.’ Here she paused and handed us four cone-shaped bamboo hats, the black warrior jackets we had tailored for ourselves, four black loose peasant shirts, four pairs of cotton trousers and four pairs of straw sandals. ‘It’s important for you to blend in with the crowd and not be noticed.’
‘But these shirts look like they’ve been worn by someone else!’ Marat complained. ‘In fact, there is a hole in the elbow of mine!’
‘Come on!’ David exclaimed indignantly. ‘We�
�re not going to a fancy dress party! This is a mission to save the lives of American pilots! Do you want to save lives or look nice?’
‘Sorry!’ Marat mumbled. ‘You’re right!’
‘Since you’ll resemble local peasant children when dressed in these clothes, the Japanese are unlikely to bother you,’ Grandma Wu said. ‘Keep your eyes and ears open at all times. You will be staying with secret resistance fighters, but spies are everywhere and the Japanese are powerful. When the time comes, I’ll be phoning your teachers to excuse you from school.’
She gave each of us a small box containing a battery-operated radio transmitter through which we could receive and send short-wave radio signals. ‘I’ll teach you how to intercept and decode radio messages,’ she said. ‘These are the secret codes. By dialling into the following radiofrequencies, you’ll be able to hear coded messages being transmitted by the US as well as the Japanese Navy. Marat, I’m appointing you as our chief radio operator on this mission because you’re fluent in Japanese.’
‘Who’s the American leader of the raid?’ David asked.
‘Colonel Jimmy Doolittle.’
‘Doolittle?’ David said. ‘I’ve heard of him. Isn’t he the one who holds all those flight records? For speed, endurance, distance and altitude combined?’
‘That’s right! He is one of die volunteer airmen on this mission. We have to hope that the US aircraft carriers aren’t spotted by the picket boats patrolling Japanese waters,’ warned Master Wu. ‘You children must listen very carefully for radio signals and decode them as fast as possible. We need to warn our American allies at once if their carriers are spotted by the Japanese.’
‘When are we leaving?’ Marat wanted to know. ‘There are only eight days left before the pilots are due to land in Chuchow. Today is already the eleventh.’
Chinese Cinderella and the Secret Dragon Society Page 9