Circle

Lantern Festival

47 Lantern Festival In December 1937, the Japanese army invaded the Chinese city Nanking. Within weeks, more than 300,000 Chinese civilians and soldiers were raped, tortured, and murdered. Some open like accordions, honoring the arrival of a newborn, others hang still like moons, red ones line up in a row on a metal thread over scents of sticky rice balls smoking in soup, round ones glow in the wind, sockets firing up one after another. No! I am wrong, the round ones lash in the wind: they are human heads, gutted and plucked from bodies that were snipping stalks of choy sum, or excavating daikon, or stabbing fish in the river, or trimming pork loins for evening porridge. And they hang in a row for decoration, foreheads bumping into each other, glowing like a galaxy of holiday lights, honoring the arrival of the new, that always, always turns into the next target, the minute it is named. ...