Matthew Reilly: The Great Zoo of China

‘Take Tiananmen Square. The massacre that took place there in 1989 has been effectively erased from Chinese history. During the recent 25th anniversary of the massacre, prominent activists, artists, journalists and students were rounded up and placed in “detention centres” for fifteen days, so they couldn’t talk about it. Hell, if you Google “Tiananmen Square” on a computer inside China, you only get tourist information about the square. Tourist information! You get nothing about the massacre. The Chinese government will not tolerate any kind of dissent and it will move quickly and decisively to crush anyone suggesting change.’

Hamish nodded. ‘Yeah. Like with Bob Dylan.’

Perry paused at that, not understanding.

Wolfe did, too. ‘Huh?’

Hamish said, ‘Bob Dylan. The singer. You know: “Blowin’ in the Wind”, “All Along the Watchtower”.’

‘We are aware of who Bob Dylan is,’ Wolfe said flatly.

‘Dylan did a concert in China a few years back,’ Hamish said. ‘But the Chinese Culture Ministry insisted on approving the set-list that he would sing. And Dylan didn’t sing “The Times They Are a-Changin’”. I mean, it’s his most famous song. A song all about change. The Chinese government was afraid of a song . Don’t you guys follow the music scene?’

Wolfe coughed. ‘Well, no, not really.’

Hamish indicated the Bob Dylan T-shirt underneath his vest. ‘You didn’t think I wore this shirt by accident, did you?’

CJ smiled at her brother.

‘Still, China faces a problem,’ Wolfe said, resuming his role as information giver.

‘What’s that?’ CJ asked.

‘The construction of the Three Gorges Dam was supervised by an American company, Harza Engineering. The new Hong Kong International Airport was designed by Norman Foster, the British architect. This maglev train could only have been built by one of two German companies, Siemens or ThyssenKrupp.

‘China’s problem is that it builds nothing of its own. Whatever we are about to see, take note of the nationality of the designers and experts who built it. Few will be Chinese. That said,’ Wolfe shrugged, ‘I must confess that I really am rather intrigued. Bringing a cohort of international journalists to see some new zoo is not exactly Earth-shattering. It’s a standard marketing tool. Nor is bringing the US Ambassador, for that matter—he might have helped a US company get an important contract on the project or something like that. But the presence of Hu Tang lifts this mysterious trip to a whole new lofty height. Politburo princelings do not act as tour guides. Something is going on here. Something big. And it looks like we are about to get a front row seat to see exactly what that is.’

He nodded over CJ’s shoulder. She turned.

Hu Tang and Deputy Director Zhang—followed and filmed by the CCTV crew—were coming down the aisle toward them.

Hu stopped in front of the group.

He threw a quick glance at the deputy director, who checked his watch and then nodded.

CJ saw it. It was as if they were timing this speech to coincide with something.

‘Ladies and gentlemen,’ Hu began, ‘thank you for joining us on this most auspicious day. Today you will see a project that will be like nothing you have ever witnessed before, a $244 billion project that has been forty years in the making. It is a zoo that was built in absolute secrecy because when it is revealed to the world it will cause a sensation.

‘Now, I know what you are thinking,’ Hu Tang paused. ‘You are thinking that there are hundreds of zoos, why does the world need another one? Indeed, what can China do with a zoo that has not already been done before? Ladies and gentlemen… this is what we can do.’

At that moment, the speeding bullet train burst out into brilliant sunshine and CJ found herself staring at an awesome sight.

The train zoomed out across a vast trestle bridge that spanned a gorge four hundred feet wide and five hundred feet deep. While spectacular, however, the gorge was not the sight that seized her attention.

On the far side of the gorge sat an absolutely colossal landform that resembled a volcano, with high slanted walls that appeared to enclose an immense valley. It appeared to be rectangular in shape, its sides stretching away into the distance for many miles.

A towering mountain peak poked up out of the centre of the rectangular crater, a storybook pinnacle.

And flying around that peak, gliding lazily, their wings outstretched, were seven massive animals, animals that were far larger than any flying creature CJ knew.

Even from this distance—and the train was still at least a few miles from the crater—CJ could clearly make out their shapes: sleek serpentine bodies, long slender necks and, most striking of all, enormous bat-like wings.

Five of the creatures must have been the size of buses while two were bigger still: they each must have been the size of a small airliner.

‘Good lord…’ Wolfe said, mouth agape.

‘Holy Toledo…’ Hamish gasped.

CJ couldn’t believe it either, but there they were, lifted from myth and flying around in front of her.

She was looking at dragons.

‘Ladies and gentlemen,’ Hu grinned. ‘Welcome to our zoo. Welcome to the Great Dragon Zoo of China.’

As the train rushed toward the crater, Deputy Director Zhang quickly put on a new blazer.

It was bright red in colour, just like his old one, but it bore a different logo on the breast pocket: a gold dragon inside a gold circle, with the Chinese flag filling the background. Ringing the circumference were the words: THE MIGHTIEST AND MOST MAGNIFICENT PLACE ON EARTH.

Red information folders emblazoned with the same logo were handed out.

CJ felt both intrigued and misled. A carefully prepared switch had just been executed by her hosts right in front of her eyes.

She also felt a twinge of anger when she saw the smug CCTV reporter, Xin Xili, and her crew filming CJ’s surprised reaction. Xin’s snide remark about CJ not being one of the world’s leading experts on large reptiles for much longer echoed in her mind.

Hu Tang affixed a Great Dragon Zoo of China lapel pin to his jacket and said, ‘I must apologise for all the fake branding at our train station and on our people’s uniforms, but it has been necessary to keep our zoo a secret for so long. As you will see, it is worth it.’