Yu Hua - Brothers

As Baldy Li was struggling to learn Russian he also started to train his body. First he would train in the gym, and then he started running and swimming, followed by Ping-Pong, badminton, basketball, tennis, soccer, bowling, and golf. His training routine was constantly changing — he would grow tired of each new routine before two weeks had elapsed. By this point Baldy Li was leading a pure and celibate existence, having even become a vegetarian, like a monk. Apart from his Russian studies and his physical training, he would often reminisce about the excellent rice Song Gang had cooked when they were young. At the mention of Song Gang, Baldy Li would forget to speak Russian and, with an orphans pathos, he would burst into Liu Town vernacular and recite that final line of Song Gangs suicide note: "Even if we are parted by death, we will still be brothers."

Baldy Li owned eleven restaurants in Liu Town, so he tried out each of them but couldn't find in any of them rice as good as that first successful pot of rice that Song Gang made. Baldy Li also went to other people s restaurants but couldn't find any there either. Being a generous tipper, he would still place one hundred yuan on the table before getting up and walking out when each time he found that it wasn't Song Gang rice. The people of Liu would all cook rice at home and invite Baldy Li to come over and see if it compared to the legendary Song Gang rice. For a while he went from house to house trying them out, but after a while he could tell at a glance that it wasn't Song Gang rice. He would then leave the money on the table, stand up shaking his head, and say, "It's not Song Gang rice."

Seeing how much Baldy Li reminisced about his Song Gang rice, a few townspeople with a nose for business saw an opportunity. Like archeologists, they unearthed Song Gang's relics and tried to sell them to Baldy Li for a good price. One lucky youngster even found the travel bag with SHANGHAI printed on the side that Song Gang was carrying when he left Liu Town with Wandering Zhou but that Wandering Zhou had thrown in the garbage. When Baldy Li saw the travel bag, he recognized it right away, and memories started rushing back to him. He felt a wave of loneliness as he grasped the bag and then bought it back for twenty thousand yuan.

With that, Liu Town exploded, and countless Song Gang relics, both real and counterfeit, were quickly unearthed. Poet Zhao found a Song Gang relic and carried an old, tattered pair of yellow sneakers to all sorts of different ball courts until he finally found Baldy Li training at the tennis courts. Zhao devoutly held out the sneakers and warmly called out, "Boss Li, Boss Li. Please come take a look."

Baldy Li stopped and glanced at the tattered yellow sneakers, asking, "What is the meaning of this?"

Poet Zhao said ingratiatingly, "This is a Song Gang relic!"

Baldy Li took the shoes and studied them for a second, then handed them back to Poet Zhao, saying, "Song Gang never wore these sneakers."

"It's true that Song Gang never wore them," Poet Zhao hurried to explain. "I wore them, don't you remember? When we were little and I gave the two of you my leg-sweeping kicks, I was wearing these shoes. I primarily leg-swept Song Gang and secondarily leg-swept you, and therefore these shoes also count as Song Gang relics."

When Baldy Li heard this, he cried out in fury and proceeded to give Poet Zhao eighteen leg-sweeping kicks right there on the court. The fifty-something Poet Zhao tumbled head over heels eighteen times, leaving his entire body racked with pain. Baldy Li kicked him until he was breathing heavily and covered with sweat and kept shouting out, "Damn, that feels good!"

In the process, Baldy Li unexpectedly discovered that leg-sweeping kicks were actually his favorite form of physical training. He looked down at Poet Zhao moaning in the grass and gestured for him to get up. Zhao didn't stand but sat up, moaning, and Baldy Li asked him, "Would you like to work for me?"

When Poet Zhao heard this, he stopped moaning, jumped up, and asked delightedly, "Boss Li, what kind of work?"

"Physical trainer," Baldy Li replied. "You would receive the salary of a mid-rank employee in my company."

Therefore, while Poet Zhao didn't succeed in selling off his old shoes, he did manage to secure a high-paying position as Baldy Li's personal trainer. From then on, Poet Zhao would wear knee and elbow pads and even on hot days would wear a padded jacket and pants. Rain or shine, he would stand in the grass of the tennis court and obediently wait for Baldy Li to come and leg-sweep him.

Baldy Li studied Russian for three years, during which time his Russian improved dramatically. During his three years of physical training, his physical fitness also improved daily. In six months he would go to the Russian space-training center to receive the basic training to be a cosmonaut. The day he would get to see outer space grew closer and closer, and Baldy Li began to let his thoughts run wild. Often, while sitting on the sofa in his living room, he would forget his own rule and begin alternating between speaking in Russian and in the Liu Town vernacular.

As garrulous as an old man, he began addressing the two Russian students as though they were both Song Gang. Counting on his fingers, he said, "When that American, Tito, went into space, he took with him a camera, a video recorder, a laser disc, and pictures of his wife and children. When Shuttleworth went into orbit, he took with him photos of his family and friends, together with a microscope, a notebook computer, and a disc." Then Baldy Li held out one finger and said that the Chinese Baldy Li would take only one thing into space with him. And what was that? It was Song Gangs ashes. Baldy Li looked through his french windows, saw the bright, distant sky, and, with a romantic look in his eyes, declared that he wanted to place Song Gangs ashes in orbit, so that every day they could see sixteen sunrises and sixteen sunsets. That way Song Gang would perpetually be traveling between the moon and the stars.

"From that point on," Baldy Li suddenly declared in Russian, "my brother Song Gang will be a space alien!"

Born in 1960 in Zhejiang, China, Yu Hua has published four

novels, six collections of stories, and three collections of

essays. His novels To Live and Chronicle of a Blood

Merchant were named two of the last decade's ten most

influential books in China. Yu Hua lives in Beijing.

ABOUT THE TRANSLATORS

Eileen Cheng-yin Chow and Carlos Rojas both teach modern

Chinese cultural studies, Eileen at Harvard University and

Carlos at Duke University. They are also the editors of

Rethinking Chinese Popular Culture:

Cannibalizations of the Canon.