The Longest Distance in the World
Summary: Beijing supposed that he'd always harbored a special sort of feeling towards Shanghai. Beijing/Shanghai, various other cities (in China) and countries mentioned
I translated this piece from here: tieba . baidu . com / f ? kz = 1046726802. Unfortunately, the original author is no longer known (the poster there is not the author). :/ I'm also trying a new footnotes system (this is only on my livejournal), it should make things much easier.
—
The first time he saw Shanghai, the man was at a coffee shop, listening to an antiquated phonograph play song after song. Shanghai's youthful face held a bout of beauty and sadness, and he let his eyes wander out the window, Blue Mountain (4) in hand.
At the time, Beijing was still filled with youthful wanderlust, so he shoved open the wooden door to the café and walked over. He smiled at the other man, taking into account the contrast of his long eyelashes and distinct lack of femininity, and introduced himself. "Hey," he said, "Beiping (5) here."
Of course, he was well aware of the other man's background - because only the ignorant would've passed over Shanghai's life story - and he understood that standing before him was an economic powerhouse, the east's "devil capital" Shanghai. Was it any wonder, then, that he felt a bit shy, a bit out of place in speaking to the man?
"Are you prepared?" Shanghai asked, giving Beijing an assessing look, "When your students take to the streets in protest, my businesses will be prepared to offer them support." The words, however, were spoken coldly, emotionlessly, and Beijing was unable to make out the other man's true sentiment.
"You know what, for China's sake, even if we have to do it alone, my people will still be protesting in the streets tomorrow." Beijing's tone held distinct disapproval of Shanghai's attitude, and besides, he could hardly feel safe around the city who'd had no problem crawling into bed with England, with France, with Japan(6), could he?
"Is this a threat?" Shanghai asked, leering, "Or are you just trying to test my loyalty?" Then he lowered his coffee cup, leaving the unfinished contents to waver about at the edge, as if a metaphor for his grace while angry. "Do you really think that the government will relent just because your pathetic students circled Tiananmen Square a couple times? You really think that they'll let you pull them by the nose, let you lead them? How naive."
"I - that's not what I meant," Beijing said, suddenly at a loss of words.
But Shanghai was no longer interested in listening to this man who was still no more than a student at heart stammer out an explanation. Instead, he lit his pipe and finished dismissively, "Wasn't our last discussion on this matter clear enough? You really should head back now - there's only 24 hours left and you need to prepare."
And so Beijing got up, pulled open the thick wooden doors, and prepared to leave. The clear skies and spring rain blocked off the smoky pretentiousness permeating the coffee shop. He turned back for a moment to look at the young man with the lit cigarette, then he put on his white scarf and left without further hesitation.
The day was May 3, 1919 (1). And a month later, Shanghai would keep his promise - his workers and businessmen would go on strike in support of the movement, and help create a new page in China's history.
—
When Beijing met Shanghai again, he had become China's right-hand man, while Shanghai had retreated into a once-was wasted luxury. The man had retained his pride, however, and his haughty, put-upon air.
"I'm only here to discuss the joint public private venture," Shanghai said.
Beijing disliked Shanghai's arrogance, but he nonetheless got up from his desk to shake the man's hand. "Thank you for your service to the new China."
Shanghai pulled his hand back with indifference, and said, "Think nothing of it. Helping each other - it's a mutually beneficial arrangement, after all." He sat down across from Beijing, and after handing over the material, he stared at Beijing, as if the emblem of modesty, though his entire body reeked of arrogance.
Beijing faced Shanghai - still graceful but entirely lacking in beauty - and laughed a little in his heart: What right do you have to such arrogance? Your lovers, they all played you quite nicely, didn't they? They used your body, robbed it of its glory and promptly left - especially Taiwan - she took your capital and now she's independent, a queen of her own wealth, and you - you're just a shell of what you once were. You have no right to pride.
Still, he was no longer the "Beiping" of yesteryear, that hot-blooded student with a radical streak. Instead, after multiple years of fighting, of rolling about in the mud, he'd become slick and sly, and now it was he who would have the right to arrogance.
He glanced at the documents and told Shanghai, "I'll look at these later. Just put them down and go home and rest. After all these days of running about doing this and that, you must be exhausted."
Shanghai said in a low, indifferent voice, "Alright then," and he got up to make his departure. Beijing watched as he left, saw a sort of desolation forming in the man's shadow, and thought of the afternoon rain in that coffee shop, with Shanghai and his lit cigarette, and thought to himself: Yes, go home. Because this time, it was Beijing would have the sweet taste of revenge.
That day was December 31, 1955 (2). The next day, Shanghai formally turned over all of his privately owned businesses to the government.
—
Since then, Shanghai continued to follow closely in Beijing's footsteps. Even though he vowed loyalty to Beijing, he still silently mocked and ridiculed the man at every corner. It was as though he'd seen through everything, even if he would never openly turn against Beijing.
When Beijing made decisions that threatened to ruin China's economy, China's future, still Shanghai remained loyal; he was perfectly content to let himself waste away for ten years under Beijing's rule.
Then, Beijing began to reflect on what he'd done. He had hated Shanghai for some ten years now, and Shanghai - Shanghai knew what he'd done was wrong, so why didn't the man point it out? Even if they ended up screaming at each other, throwing fists at each other, that would at least be better than this.
As he reflected on his policy mistakes, Beijing felt himself becoming more and more estranged from Shanghai. He couldn't stand how Shanghai saw through him and yet continued to follow him slavishly, as though resigned to his own destruction.
He decided to put Shenzhen and Zhuhai into power, and push Shanghai even further off to the side, watching as the capital and good fortune once bestowed upon Shanghai flowed instead to the Pearl River Delta (3). The youngsters Shenzhen, Zhuhai and Xiamen did not disappoint; they rose quickly, and after a few short years had changed from naive farmboys to centers of major commerce.
For a while, Shanghai continued to stay stagnant - as if he could not see anything worthwhile around him. His former lovers came back to renew their relationships, but he refused allow them to get close to him, and interacted with them only on the most superficial level.
—
But then former enemies became business partners, and Shanghai found his economic strength on the rise again, paving the way for China's economic revival. And Beijing, after having experienced his share of calamities, had learned to look at things differently - rationally, and felt ashamed of his former stubbornness.
Because even though he'd given Shenzhen the resources for expansion, Shenzhen was still young, lacking in experience and power. Shanghai, on the other hand, had the right network, the right background, and every possible economic advantage. Beijing had no reason to not make use of Shanghai - he told himself it was for the country, always for the country.
And so Beijing found Shanghai, explained his thoughts and his reasoning.
Shanghai looked straight at Beijing and said with a tired sigh, "Thank you."
He'd been robbed of all his grandeur, but somewhere in between, Shanghai had learned to express thanks.
—
Beijing had not found the wrong person. Because in a short few years, Shanghai had taken back all of his lost glory. He had his methods and was able to mend his relations with his former friends and lovers - with America and England, with Germany and Japan. Hell, even Taiwan had come back to make amends.
Later, at a business drinking party, Beijing, being the leader, had wanted to say a few choice words. He saw a large crowd surrounding Shanghai, who was being offered drink after drink. Shanghai's tipsy smile reminded him of that wealthy youth of yesteryear, cradling his coffee cup with cold laughter. The smiling face was both beautiful and vile, and Beijing held his champagne cup tightly, eyebrows knit together.
Through the years, Beijing supposed that he'd always harbored a special sort of feeling towards Shanghai. Though he hated Shanghai's business shams and empty arrogance, he'd found himself unable to stop the man.
Then he saw it - after alternating rounds of wine, Taiwan left a light kiss on Shanghai's lips, and Beijing found himself stomping up to the city.
"Congrats," Beijing spat, "Seems like it's not just your reprisal of the economic throne that deserves congratulations - you also deserve praise for having reignited your love life, no? But while working together with your lover, please do keep in mind that in the end, we're doing this for China's growth."
But after having said those words, even Beijing himself felt sickened at the dour tone of it all.
Shanghai raised his champagne cup, for the alcohol in his bloodstream had blurred his worldview. His usual cold indifference had been taken away by the champagne, and all that was left under the shadow of alcohol was a dirty charm.
"Ah, thank you." Shanghai closed his eyes lazily, leaned against the wall, and Beijing could smell a certain fragrance emanating off the man.
"So," Shanghai said, "I heard that you and Tianjin are getting married next month. Childhood sweethearts - isn't that nice? Except, you know, I won't be congratulating the two of you."
"Well, what a coincidence," Beijing replied, "My list of invitees certainly did not have your name." He found that he was no longer angry at Shanghai's provocative speech; the ridicule and bickering was mutual, after all.
Beijing raised his cup to Shanghai symbolically, and then turned to leave.
In the midst of his departure, Beijing heard words floating past him - "Did you simply never trust me, or were you unable to trust your own feelings?"
He chose to pretend he hadn't heard a word, crushing the last hopes of the man behind him.
Afterwards, Beijing busied himself with state affairs, and Shanghai with business and money-making. When the two of them met, they would wave and give the occasional polite greeting, sometimes flattering in nature, other times mocking.
But some feelings, once missed, can never be found again.
—
PS [this is the author's notes, I didn't translate all of it, only bits and pieces. brackets are my comments]:
Hong Kong was Shanghai's former lover; they broke up in 1949 [this is the year the communists took over China]. Taiwan is Shanghai's current love. (cue Taiwanese investment in Shanghai) Shanghai and Beijing can only be in love at night, while drunk, but they remain in denial during the day. [Then the author had a long spiel about who should top...but I'm too lazy to translate that. Conclusion was that they should switch off.]
—
translator's notes (please see my livejournal for links and a better footnoting system):
1. 1919 - May Fourth Movement (五四运动)
2. 1955 joint private-public enterprise (公私合营, no English article, sorry) - basically it marked transforming China from a capitalistic society to a communistic one. The general idea was: to "promote" and "encourage" the transformation of capitalistic industries to joint public-private ones (aka, govt-owned industries). The "encouragement" was obviously more than a little forced.
3. Pearl River Delta (珠江三角洲) - Due to the changed economic policies of late 70s China, this area flourished economically. Shanghai was not allowed to initiate these policies until 1991 because it paid the highest taxes of all regions in China, and thus its economic stability was vital to the survival of the federal government. The Pearl River Delta, however, paid almost no taxes, and thus was the perfect spot for experimentation.
4. Blue Mountain - I'm guessing it's Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee...it's kind of sad that this was originally in English and I had no idea what they were talking about.
5. Beiping (北平) - In 1928, Beijing was renamed to Beiping by the Kuomintang government. This also happened once back in the Ming dynasty.
6. This might be referring to the various concessions in Shanghai - the International Settlement (a joint British-American effort) and the French Concession. I'm not sure how Japan plays into this, it might be due to the first-Sino-Japanese war treaty, which gave Japan certain influences in Shanghai.
A bit about the translation: I tried to stick closely to the original, but I did add some words to mitigate the choppiness. The breaks and emphasis are also mine.
Also, it would be interesting (depressing) to see Shanghai lamenting the loss of his language due to the state-mandated Mandarin. Haven't seen it in fic, but have certainly heard people talk about it a lot...if I ever write something about this, well...more research is needed. ;D