The Forbidden Game by Dan Washburn

Author:Dan Washburn
Language: eng, eng
Format: epub
Tags: Current affairs, Sports, Business, China, Golf, Chinese Dream, Corruption, Revealing, Witty, Bizarre
Publisher: Oneworld Publications
Published: 2014-05-19T16:00:00+00:00

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Little Tiger’s brother, Xiao Long, or Little Dragon, walked past the old tobacco smokehouse, past the terraced fields that would first produce potatoes and then corn, past a tall evergreen tree the family used for pine oil. His father had planted it two decades ago. “Down the hill, there is a big walnut tree,” Little Dragon said. “It’s so big it takes seven or eight people holding hands to circle its trunk.” He was going to a landing overlooking the valley, which was still partially obscured by fog. The terrain was dry and brittle: tall yellow grass, white rocks, naked trees. As a child, Zhou would take the family oxen to graze on this spot. This was where he once played the golf-like game with a wad of paper and a long-handled sickle.

On this day, four village boys were taking part in a much more primitive pastime. One would hold a lighter to the land until something caught fire. They’d wait a few moments for orange flames to appear. And when the blaze got to about knee high, they attacked, pounding the fire with tree branches until all that was left was a patch of black grass and smoke in the air. This activity kept them occupied for quite some time.

The boys, who ranged in age from seven to eleven, looked like a gang of Chinese Huckleberry Finns, “fluttering with rags,” long blades of grass held between their teeth. They all recognized the name of the village’s famous son – Zhou Xunshu – but none of them had heard of golf. Nor had they heard of soccer, basketball, Yao Ming or the Olympics. The only sport they really knew was the calisthenics they performed at school each morning.

So, what do you want to do when you are older?

The boy who appeared to be the leader of the little group thought for a moment, and then, straight-faced, recited the Mao-era slogan, “Wei renmin fuwu” – “Serve the people.”

The other boys were uninterested and started playing leapfrog in the meadow.

What did they want to do in the future?

They didn’t stop their game to answer, “Learn jumping from the frog!” They all laughed.

At home, First Brother was preparing a chicken for slaughter. This was a special gesture, to honor the visiting American guest. Normally, the family would only kill a chicken for Spring Festival. Meat was even more of a luxury when Zhou was growing up. If the family did not slaughter a pig for the new year, there would be no meat until the next year. Mostly, Zhou’s family lived on vegetables, cornmeal and rice – which was also a scarce commodity in the village. Families traded two pounds of corn for one pound of rice. And while Zhou’s family raised chickens that laid eggs, they rarely ate either, because they needed to barter the eggs for salt. No family would kill a chicken for meat, because no chickens meant no salt. Only when chickens could no longer lay eggs, would they be killed and eaten.

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