Ma Jian - Beijing Coma

‘Hello, Auntie, I’m Yu Jin,’ a voice says to my mother. ‘I was at Beijing University with Dai Wei. I work in Shanghai now, for a financial company.’

I imagine him ignoring Granny Pang and walking straight into our flat.

‘Yes, we’ve met,’ my mother says. ‘I just couldn’t put a name to you. Please come in.’

‘How long will you be?’ Granny Pang asks. I’m sure she’s put her foot on the threshold. Perhaps she’s even stepped inside.

‘Not long,’ Yu Jin says. ‘Have you hobbled all the way up here on your weak legs just to spy on me? Don’t worry, I’ll make sure I’ve left before you have time to report my visit to the police.’

‘Who says I’ve got weak legs? I made it up six flights of stairs, didn’t I? All right, you can have a quick word, but don’t stay too long.’ I hear her turn on her heel and prepare to leave.

‘Careful you don’t slip on your way down, Granny Pang,’ my mother says sarcastically. ‘Who would pay for your medical treatment?’

‘All right, enough of your jibes,’ she says. ‘Just take care. I’m only doing this for you, you know. If the police were to come round, who knows what might happen…’

‘Nothing’s going to happen as long as you keep your nose out of my business. I warn you, I’m short of money. From now on, if you dare set one foot inside my flat, I’ll charge you ten yuan.’ My mother slams the door shut. ‘That old bat’s lost her mind,’ she grumbles. ‘As soon as anyone visits, she phones the police, then asks them to reimburse her for the cost of the call. Even they’re fed up with her now.’

‘Let me have a look at Dai Wei, Auntie.’

‘Yes, yes. Come in. You were in the same dorm together. Mao Da mentioned you when he came round.’

I can feel Yu Jin looking at me.

A scent of tobacco and women’s perfume drifts from his down jacket.

I used to tower over him, but now I’m lying shrivelled beneath him on this iron bed. I can’t ask him any questions. I’ll just have to wait patiently, hoping he’ll tell me something I don’t know, just as I did when Mao Da and Zhang Jie visited, and I learned that Old Fu and Ke Xi have set up a China Democracy Front in Paris and that Shu Tong and Lin Lu have been featured in a foreign television documentary and have had their memoirs published in America.

‘Dai Wei! My God! How could you get like this? Back in ’89, you were our great general. You kept us all in line. Huh! I can’t believe it.’

‘Sit down,’ says my mother. ‘I remember Tian Yi talking about you…’

‘Don’t mention her name to me! The photos she took in the Square got hundreds of us into trouble. The printers sent the negatives to Beijing University’s Party committee. I know it was an innocent mistake, but many students suspected her of working for the government because of it.’

What a disaster! I remember taking those rolls of film to the printers for Tian Yi. I didn’t tell them which university I was from. How did they know where to send them? They could have destroyed the negatives. They didn’t have to pass them on.

‘He looks dreadful now, I know,’ says my mother. ‘But for a couple of weeks in the autumn, he suddenly looked like a young boy again. His skin became smooth and soft. His whole face glowed. It was very strange.’

‘He must have just had a visit from Tian Yi.’ Yu Jin’s voice hasn’t changed. Voices always stay the same. When I first heard him speak a minute ago, I knew straight away that it was him. ‘I’m sorry I haven’t visited before,’ he continues. ‘I must be the last of his classmates to come and see you. But this is the first chance I’ve had. I was in prison for two years, with Zhuzi and Fan Yuan. After my release, I wasn’t allowed to continue my PhD, so I moved down to Shanghai and got a job in a securities company in the Pudong District. I’ve just about managed to get myself together again. I never talk about politics any more. I’ve come up to Beijing on business. I arrived yesterday, and got your address from Mimi.’

So the little chap’s a financier now, is he? I heard on the radio that the government has set up a Special Economic Zone in Pudong, similar to the one down in Shenzhen. Many graduates with a Master’s or PhD have gone there to look for jobs in foreign companies.

‘Mimi hasn’t visited for months,’ says my mother. ‘Tian Yi only comes twice a year. Everyone’s focusing on their careers. I suppose Dai Wei was lucky to escape with his life. But it’s so hard looking after him, sometimes I wish he was dead. If his American cousin didn’t send us money, we’d be out on the streets by now.’

Zhou Suo was jailed, but I don’t know what happened to any of the other Qinghua University students. I know that at least thirty-six Beijing University students were killed. I’m not sure who all of them were, but some were definitely from the last batch of marshals I sent out to defend the intersections.

‘I’ve brought a thousand yuan for you, to go towards Dai Wei’s medical costs,’ Yu Jin says. ‘I haven’t been in this job long, but it has good prospects. The Pudong Special Economic Zone has great growth potential. I’ve persuaded many of my old university friends to move down there.’

‘I can’t take that much money from you,’ my mother protests. ‘You haven’t been out of prison long. You need to look after yourself. Are your parents both well?’

‘Yes, they’re fine. They live in Wuxi. They were both sacked from their jobs when I was sent to prison, though.’

I hear a phone ring. The noise startles me.

‘Hello,’ Yu Jin says. ‘Yes. Fine. Seven o’clock, then. Get your brother to come too. Don’t worry, it’s my treat. We’ll meet outside McDonald’s on Wangfujing Street. Me? I’m at Dai Wei’s home. Ha! All right, all right. See you later, then.’ I hear Yu Jin press a button.

‘What’s that?’ my mother gasps. ‘It’s bigger than the ones the police carry.’

‘This isn’t a walkie-talkie, Auntie. It’s a cellphone. It’s like the telephones you have at home, but you can carry them around with you.’

‘Oh, I’ve read about them in the papers. They’re called Big Brothers. Apparently all the rich entrepreneurs have them now. When they go out for a meal, they only have to plonk their phones on the table and immediately the restaurant managers grovel at their feet.’

‘Pagers are old hat now. That’s the way things go. Information is a commodity. If you don’t have one of these, no one will respect you.’

‘How much do they cost?’

‘More than 10,000 yuan,’ Yu Jin says breezily.

‘I don’t believe it! That’s more than three times what it costs to get a landline connected. You’ve done really well for yourself. You’re the first person I’ve met who owns a Big Brother.’

‘It’s no big deal. Lots of people in Shenzhen and Shanghai are using them now. Tell me, how is Dai Wei’s treatment going?’

‘Sit down. I’ll get you a cup of tea. Here, you can sit on this chair.’

As I listen to my mother remove the bottles of pills from the chair and place them on top of the sideboard, I try to guess what the young financier Yu Jin looks like. I imagine him in a suit and tie, with clean socks and shiny leather shoes. His hair is short, or balding, perhaps. In the morning, he struts confidently into his office and nods a greeting to his colleagues, or shakes them firmly by the hand.

While my mother goes to pour the tea, I feel his eyes fix on me. After a while he says, ‘Dai Wei, they may have split us up, but we must struggle on. When they arrested me, I refused to plead guilty. I just told them what happened. I said that you were the ringleader, of course. I knew you were in a coma by then, so you wouldn’t get into trouble. Everyone with foreign connections has gone abroad. Those who’ve stayed have given up academia and gone into commerce. If you want to live your life with a bit of dignity these days you need to make money. Beijing University has lost its spirit. No one wants to study there any more. The students are forced to do a year’s military training before they start their courses now, so it takes four or five years to graduate.’