Dialogue

Chapter 11

11 After more than ten hours I flew into Sydney, Australia, the largest island nation of the south Pacific. Leaving the airplane, I saw through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the airport a deep blue sky, without a shred of white cloud. I had seen this kind of blue in Lhasa in Tibet. A friend came to meet me. When the car entered the built-up area, there were rows of houses on either side of the streets, painted in various colours. The vegetation and the flowers were luxuriant. It looked just like the world of children’s storybooks. There were lots of cars coming and going in the streets, but not a single pedestrian. “What about the people? Where have they all gone?” I asked, puzzled. “They’re all either in their cars or in their houses.” In 1989, the streetscapes of China were still dominated by pedestrians and bicycles mingling among the various types of motor vehicle. The absence of these was very striking. “It’s hard to believe that every Australian has his or her own car.” “Just about! I saw some statistics in the paper: there’s approximately one car for every three Australians.” “What’s the size of Australia’s population?” “A bit more than seventeen million.” “Is that all? It’s about the same size as China, but the population is less than that of a Chinese province.” “Many people here don’t want to have children.” “Do people really want less offspring the more civilized they become? I really want to have a child.” “I’m just telling you about a general phenomenon. In Australia, if you want to have children, the government will encourage you. The more children you have, the more child support money you get. But that’s just how it is, the Australians still don’t want to have children. Oh that’s right, if you’re a sole parent, the state will give you a special allowance over and beyond that, mainly Dialogue 124 because they fear that these people will be discriminated against by society, and that they will destroy their children.” “The Australian government is really too kind.” “That’s because the population has been declining all along in recent years, especially the whites.” “Why?” “How to put it? There are many reasons. A Chinese friend of mine who has lived in Australia for many years told me that twenty years ago, his greatest worry was that his children would come home with foreigners. Ten years later, he said it was OK with him whatever kind of people his children found. Do you know what he says now?” “What does he say?” “As long as a son of his doesn’t come home with another man, and a daughter doesn’t come home with another woman, he’ll be over the moon!” “Do you mean homosexuals?” “That’s right! Homosexuality is legal in Australia. You’ve just arrived and you’re very curious about everything. Afterwards you’ll slowly figure it all out, I suppose!” His words made me feel totally confused. My first feeling about Sydney was one of novelty. At the time the difference in material terms between China and Australia was very great. Supermarkets and general department stores didn’t exist in China. The first time I walked into a department store, my eyes couldn’t take in the display of goods on sale and their enormous variety. Could this really be the capitalist society that we used to talk about? After more than a week in Sydney, I received a phone call from Lan Jun: “I’ve arrived in Hong Kong!” When I heard his voice coming out of the receiver, I simply didn’t dare believe it was true, and I wondered whether I had misheard him. “Are you really in Hong Kong?” “Right now I am ringing from a hotel in Hong Kong.” He paused for a moment, then a strange voice said with a Hong Kong accent: “This is Wanchai, Hong Kong, this really is Hong Kong!” I believed it then. Lan Jun had really been freighted to Hong Kong as “water goods”. “Tell me, how did you get to Hong Kong?” “Too hairy, I don’t feel like telling you over the phone. I’ll write you a letter.” “Then hurry up, I want to know as soon as possible.” 125 Chapter 11 When I...