video

[gochuugoku]

[China's all smiles as he gives a wave.]

Nihao! It has come to my attention that this year, or rather, in the year of 2012, the date for the Dragon Boat Festival is June twenty-third.

Activities for the Dragon Boat Festival include eating zongzi, drinking realgar wine, and racing dragon boats. There is also a game where one tries to make an egg stand at exactly noon, and if you succeed you will have luck for the next year.

I would like to bring this traditional Chinese holiday to Fortuna, especially the boat races if it is safe to go rowing on the lake, aru. Then of course I will prepare plenty of zongzi for others to eat.

Comments

[video; Cantonese]

[bauhinia]

That's my point. Especially if you have your chip out, things should be like they were at home, yeah?

[video; Cantonese]

[gochuugoku]

I believe so. That is what I was told. I'm sure my loss of sound from the pollen was just another one of those bizarre events. I remember there was another time where I just wanted to sleep all day. [When he was filled with sloth.]

[video; Cantonese]

[bauhinia]

This kinda weird stuff happens way too often.

[video; Cantonese]

[gochuugoku]

Well, this is a foreign planet.

[video; Cantonese]

[bauhinia]

Most of it isn't exactly natural though. Pretty sure the scientists have something to do with it most of the time.

[video; Cantonese]

[gochuugoku]

I was thinking the same. Perhaps they have a machine that controls the weather, or the planet's ecosystem itself.

If they have enough technology to bring people from multiple worlds and different times, then I would not be surprised if they such a device.

[video; Cantonese]

[bauhinia]

Yeah, something like that. But if they do, you kinda have to wonder why this place is in such bad shape.

Unless that's the point, y'know?

[video; Cantonese]

[gochuugoku]

They say they want us to return life to this planet, yet if they have such a machine... Why can't they do it themselves? They could make the plants healthy again, clear the monsters out. The animals would come back and, if there are any surviving natives, so will the people eventually.

...Perhaps they really do only want to toy with us.

[video; Cantonese]

[bauhinia]

The only other thing that makes sense is if they're not really in control of all this stuff and just want us to think they are.

[video; Cantonese]

[gochuugoku]

That's another possibility.

It's no use complaining now, though. Besides, I feel... somewhat calm here, despite everything.

[video; Cantonese]

[bauhinia]

Yeah, I bet. You don't wanna leave, d'you?

[video; Cantonese]

[gochuugoku]

Well... I... I can't just abandon my country or my people back home and I do miss the familiar sights. However, here... I feel... free? [Is that the right word to use.] Surely you feel it too.

[It's a half-answer.]

It's a bit difficult to put such a feeling into finite words.

[video; Cantonese]

[bauhinia]

[ Unfortunately, that's the last thing Hong Kong wanted to hear. He doesn't want to say anything unkind, because he feels like that's sincere on China's part, but it's not what he was expecting, nor does it seem to make sense with his actions. From Hong Kong's perspective, the reason China should want to stay is Stocking, not to mention his other friends here.

The friends he was willing to rely on before he came to his own family. The friends he told things instead of the people that (in Hong Kong's mind) he should have cared about equally. He doesn't want a "special place," but he has a hard time figuring out who he is when China is having the same problem. None of that is going to come to the surface here and now though, because he knows it's rude and besides, it's just hard to talk about it. He merely averts his eye for a moment, as if distracted by something off-screen. ]

I've never had that feeling, sorry.

[ It's true too. He's never been "free" - he's always belonged to someone or been subordinate to someone. He could declare some kind of independence here, but that would just make this situation worse. He knows it would hurt other people too. Taiwan, for one. He doesn't want to hurt his sister or create a rift between them. There's been enough fighting among this family, between basically everyone but Hong Kong and China.

He's trying not to add them to the list. ]

[video; Cantonese] in response to that plurk, it's no problem!

[gochuugoku]

[That's when China realizes he's said the wrong thing. His expression goes blank as he thinks of what to do and say next. Not sad, but blank, though his own heart was trembling this moment. It feels like an hour later when he's able to think of a reply, but in reality it was only a minute or two. Rather than becoming solemn, he places his tea down on the table so he can fold his hands in his lap. A soft, warm, smile makes its way to his lips. He tilts his head to the side.]

Did I ever tell you how I felt the very moment the officials brought me indoors after discovering I was the personification of China?

[ He keeps his voice gentle. He knows a direct approach may not be the best way to approach Hong Kong now, so he takes an indirect approach instead.]

[video; Cantonese] thanks! :)

[bauhinia]

I don't think so, no. [ He looks over at China, like he's trying to figure out what that reaction means. He'll reserve judgment for now, waiting to see what China says. ]

[video; Cantonese] 1:2

[gochuugoku]

[China hums to himself before speaking.]

I was still only a small child at the time, so it was frightening. I'd been so used to living outdoors under the sky and caring for myself. To have all these people suddenly take me indoors, and into a beautiful home no less, was shocking.

There was also loud music being played, which I was not used to either. I was so shaken that I cried.

[With that gentle smile of his, you'd think he was going to talk of how grand it felt to finally know who he was, why he was born, but no... It was a description of a small, frightened, child. Yet the smile never leaves his face.]

[video; Cantonese] 2:2

[gochuugoku]

They told me who I was, but no matter how many times they told me then... I could not wrap my mind around it. Because all that time before, I was a boy with no name, no family, no proper education. I could not write back then and I could barely read. I only knew how to survive. I did, however, know all the dialects of our country. I was born with that gift.

After they brought me inside, they kept me there and I did not like it. I even cried to my nursemaid on several occasions that I did not like being in that place, that I wanted to go home.

[He stops only to reach for his cup and take another sip of his tea.]

[video; Cantonese]

[bauhinia]

So it took you awhile to get used to things. [ That's what he's getting from this. Well, that's part of it, but that's the observation that he voices now. ]

[video; Cantonese]

[gochuugoku]

Yes. When I finally accepted my new fate, I spent most of my time studying vigorously. I wanted to become a great nation for my people.

Yet, despite having a life full of luxury and education, there was one question I did not know how to answer. Who was I? I did not refer to my two names China and Wang Yao. Everyone called me by those titles, but I still did not know who I was.

Whenever I asked others that question, everyone would either avoid it, or they would change the subject, or they would call it a silly question and tell me that I was China, or Wang Yao, of course. Then one of my nursemaids gave me a hint. "You're not a bad person," is what she said, but that was all.

[video; Cantonese]

[bauhinia]

That's pretty cryptic, yeah? [ He gets it, on some level, but he's still trying to figure out exactly where China's going with this. ]

[video; Cantonese] 1:2

[gochuugoku]

[He only nods, still keeping a calm, relaxed face. His smile, however, though it was still warm, now had a tinge of sadness to it. As did his eyes. But he wasn't sad this very moment, it was more like he was remembering a sorrow that was long passed.]

I thought so long on what my nursemaid said, but because I was still too young and busy at the time, I gave up in the end. Instead, I turned all my thinking to the prosperity of my country and people. For a long time, I was... not content, really, about not knowing who I was. It was more like I had accepted my own defeat. I believed myself to be happy and I truly was. I now had a name, a purpose, and a family.

However, after things came to pieces, I found myself lost again. When my new boss came into power after driving the nationalists off the mainland, I felt that I was given a purpose again, that I would be happy again. But... well, you saw the state I was in when I returned to Fortuna from 1967. [Then... his smile finally disappeared. But his calm atmosphere did not.]

[video; Cantonese] 2:3 need one more

[gochuugoku]

[He decides to get to the point here. He knew Hong Kong wouldn't feel comfortable discussing the events that were now past. He also didn't wish to spend much time on such a topic.]

During those times, I had two dreams in which I was sitting face to face with a large golden dragon. In one of them, I was crying. In that dream, he asked me what I had sought in the world of man. As I tried to control my tears, I answered that I had just wanted someone to acknowledge me, not as China, but as Wang Yao. To tell me that it was okay for me to exist... as a human being, even though I myself was not human.

I woke up before the dragon could reply, but I believe he communicated to me through other means than dreams, because after awaking from that dream and thinking over it, the fog from my eyes cleared. I was able to grasp the answer that had actually been in front of me all along. Who I was. I certainly was both China and Wang Yao, but they are also certainly two different personalities. [The warmth in his eyes and his warm smile returned to his face.]

[video; Cantonese] 3:3

[gochuugoku]

China is a caged bird, Wang Yao is not. China is a country owned by the people and the government, but Wang Yao is his own person, he just shares one body with China. Unfortunately, back home I have to be China most of the time. So even I, someone who is my own country, do not have much freedom as individual people do.

Wang Yao, on the other hand, does. Here, I can be the part of myself that is human. So, that is why, when I return home, I am going to continue to carry out my duty as China, but at times where I am given the little precious free time I have, I am going to try and act more as Wang Yao, especially around my family.

[After all these centuries of conflict, they had all forgotten that they did not have to be countries, or districts, or cities, around one another. As long as the government was not watching, they could be the part of themselves that was human around each other. Of course, such a thing is easier said than done, but China's not naive. He knows that, he says it so with his eyes. That warm smile that had been there in the beginning and for most of the conversation, was still there.]

[video; Cantonese]

[bauhinia]

[ Again, Hong Kong listens quietly while China speaks, nodding only once or twice. ]

So you'd rather be Wang Yao here. [ It feels like that hurts worse, but also makes things better at the same time. It's more and less confusing, too. He's still not sure what to make of everything, but this does help his understanding a little. ] While you can, yeah?

[video; Cantonese]

[gochuugoku]

Yes, but I'd also like to be Wang Yao at home too. Unfortunately, I am not given such a privilege there. Another point of my story, however, is that... Even an independent country, like China, myself, is not truly free. [He stares straight into Hong Kong's eyes with that statement.]