Dragon’s Gate
Vivian (Xiyan) Bi has a PhD in literary criticism and is a published author of several novels and memoirs (including Bright Swallow, Hybrid Publishers, 2019), short stories, translations and textbooks. She is a Chinese teacher in Ascham School, Sydney, and was a lecturer in Chinese Studies at the University of Sydney. She has received four grants from the Australia Council for the Arts. She lives in Sydney.
Also by Vivian Bi
Memoir
Bright Swallow
Clouds Chasing the Moon (Cai yun zhui yue)
Novels
The World through Eyes of Two Colours (Shuang se mou)
Born to Be a Concubine (Tian sheng zuo qie)
Green-Coloured Dream (Lu ka meng)
Novellas
Walking the Dog (Liu gou)
Lady Peishan (Peishan)
Short stories
A View from the Bridge (with Liu Haiou)
Nonfiction
Creativity and Convention in Su Shi’s Literary Thought
Gateway to the World, volume one: The Gate Swings Open (cultural reader with Asher Skowronek)
Gateway to the World, volume two: Surprises at Every Corner (cultural reader with Asher Skowronek)
A Classical Chinese Reader (textbook in collaboration with Dr A D Syrokomla-Stefanowska)
Published by Hybrid Publishers
Melbourne Victoria Australia
© Vivian Bi 2020
This publication is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced by any process without prior written permission from the publisher. Requests and enquiries concerning reproduction should be addressed to the Publisher, Hybrid Publishers, PO Box 52, Ormond, VIC Australia 3204.
First published 2020
A project assisted by the Australian Government through
The Australia Council for the Arts
ISBN 9781925736328 (p)
9781925736335 (e)
Cover design: Gittus Graphics www.gggraphics.com.au
Illustrations: John Huang & Michelle Zhang
List of Characters
| Shi Ding | the storyteller, son of Shi Wangcai and Lin Guiru |
| Shi Wangcai (Old Shi) | Shi Ding’s father, works at Beijing Turbine Factory |
| Lin Guiru (Little Lin) | Shi Ding’s mother |
| Shi Ding’s neighbours: | |
| Sun Lanfen (Aunt Sun) | residential compound leader, chairman of the neighbourhood revolutionary committee |
| Ruan Qiling | literature professor at Beifang University |
| Dong Ermei | high school love interest of Shi Ding, daughter of Mr Dong |
| Mr Dong | Dong Ermei’s father |
| Dong Pingshun | son of Mr Dong |
| Li Mei | Pingshun’s girlfriend |
| Wang Tong | director and political leader at Beijing Turbine Factory |
| Wang Lixin | Wang Tong’s son and Shi Ding’s classmate, a bully |
| Xu Yongcai | “The youngest reactionary” in Beijing, nine-year-old son of doctor parents |
| Uncle Ma | old friend of the Shi family |
| Chen Zuojun (Colonel) | Ruan Qiling’s former husband |
| The “big fellow” (Old Gao) | a storyteller, Chinese–Korean |
| Yan Tao | director of the Red Flag Tree Farm |
| Yan Zhu | Yan Tao’s mute daughter |
| Liang Shan | director of the Brothers Plantation, “The Buffalo Boy” |
| Master Kong (Driver Kong) | head of the truck fleet |
| Little Yu | a young man from Hefei, artist |
| Yang Sheng | a quiet man from Chongqing, singer |
| Old Li | a Chengdu native, tailor |
| Chief (Old Han) | policeman |
| Mingyue | PA announcer on No. 42 express train |
| Little Bai | train attendant, from the Beijing Bureau |
Prologue
The peaks behind Red Flag Tree Farm turned gold as the sun broke through the dark clouds. Yan Tao stood at Elephant’s Ear lookout, gazing down into Bewitching Valley.
The sun rose quickly, revealing the valley floor 600 metres below, a few early autumn leaves fluttering in the breeze. There was no sign of fog.
Turning, he nearly collided with a group of loggers right behind him, looking down into the valley. “What are you doing here?” he demanded. “Go and get ready.”
One young man fired back cheekily as they retreated, “Why are you here, Director Yan? Looking for the fog? I thought you hated the fog.” Yan Tao pretended to chase him and the men scattered, laughing.
“Damned fog!” Yan Tao murmured.
It’s so dark it can blot out the sky and swallow up the earth. It’s so solid you can hold it in your hand. It’s as tough as cotton. That’s how the local Sichuan people talked about the fog on Wawu Mountain. It was also cripplingly cold. It seeped into the dormitories, soaked the furniture, dampened the bedding and caused terrible arthritis.
Still, Yan Tao had been looking forward to the fog rolling in ever since young Shi Ding had bewitched the whole farm with the stories he told on foggy days when everyone could skip work and come and listen to them.
The local people of Sichuan had named it Wawu, the tiled-roof house, because Wawu Mountain was out of reach, like the tiled-roof houses that the common people could only dream of. It had all the beauty of its famous neighbours – Mount Emei and Qingcheng – on the Sichuan–Tibet border, but no visitors ever attempted the steep climb to its summit. Even powerful vehicles struggled, and if a tree-farm truck and a car met on the narrow sections, it took ages of painstaking reversing and shifting to resolve the impasse. At its steepest,