Zeynep Oral's Books:



14. A Chinese Fairy Tale

I was in China in my dream last night… I was on top of a Giant Dragon, passing over the Yellow River. On my right side Confucius was saying "There is logic to the situation: That dragon you climbed on was drawn exactly five thousand years ago. It can't carry you to far distances." On my left side was Bertolucci: "Nobody can show you the Secret City like I can," he was saying, persuading me, trying to seduce me… I looked neither left nor right; I embraced my dragon tightly…

I was in China in my dream last night… And furthermore I was Chinese… I looked front; I saw my grandmother in front of me. My grandmother was full of anger. "Grammy, what happened to you, what is this anger, what is this rage?"

Lightening flashed in my grandmother's slanted eyes:

"Where were you feminists until now-!? Look, my feet are ruined," she said.

I looked at her feet. My grandmother's feet were lentil sized. "They deceived us with beauty, nobleness and chained our feet, my bones bended, my toes puckered in narrow iron molds since I was a baby. I could not show any progress with those steps I could not take. What would my feet do with freedom from now on, take your freedom away, let it be yours!!!" she cried out.

I took my grandmother on my lap; I took her lentil feet in my hands and caressed and caressed and caressed them… The anger in my grandmother's slanted eyes turned to tears, tears turned to pearl grains… When she saw the pearls, she felt happy, she rejoiced… Just as I calmed her down, I heard a loud laugh behind me…

I looked behind, my Chinese granddaughter was there. Wearing a mini skirt, her eyelids darkened with kohl. Her eyelashes were like a fan; her lips were redder than cherries. She looked like she jumped from a fashion magazine; what a whim she had… I said, " What is this whim, so it was your turn to have a baby?" She started ranting and raving and told everything at once:

"Look at me, Grandma. I guess you forgot again where and at what times we are living!" (There are no morals in this new generation. Furthermore, no one can compete with their know-it-all behavior!)

"Let me remind you of the things you forgot: Our population is 1 billion and 250 million. Every minute 40, every day 58 000 and approximately 20 million babies every year are added to this population… We are sheltering 22 percent of the population of the world. Despite this, our land that can be sown is only seven percent of the world. Furthermore we loose 300,000 hectares of land every year. The water source per person is one fourth of the world average. Fifty million people in suburbs are deprived of drinking water… You know our government says, "Our first target is not to leave our people hungry, without water, naked and without shelter and provide them a decent life." If I give birth, you give birth, she gives birth, under these circumstances how could the darkness come to light!" (My minx; there is nothing that she does not know!)

Okay, okay… But she doesn't let me to squeeze a word in between…

"As for 'one child per family' policy… It is a marvelous, appropriate, a right decision. But this year they permitted four births in our workplace. And others, who were in line before, grasped those permits. That's why my giving birth is delayed to another spring."

Mercy! Once in a blue moon I am in China; not only being in China but I am Chinese and I am not going to deal with family problems there, too! "Okay," I said to my Chinese granddaughter, "You continue on your way!"

I was in China in my dream last night… I don't know if I was Chinese or not, but I was old, very, very old. I was as old as the dragon I was on top of. While holding the dragon tightly, not to fall from it, flying, we were talking about the good old days, chatting and enjoying ourselves…

Do you remember when we made the first paper on earth? It was the First century… A thousand years had to pass for Europeans to learn this technique…

Yes I remember…

You did not forget the first printing machine and printing techniques we invented, right? It was the IXth century, five hundred years earlier than Europe.

Of course I did not forget. I didn't forget earlier than that either. That we started producing silk in the XIVth century B.C., and for years hundreds of thousands of years we provided silk for the whole world…

You didn't forget about our other "firsts" in the world right?

I didn't forget them.Gunpowder?

I didn't forget.

The compass?

I didn't forget.

Matches? Pair of compasses?

I didn't forget, no I didn't.

Lock? Porcelain?

I didn't forget.

Paper money?

I didn't forget.

The first suspension bridges made of cane and iron? Side-wheel boats? The first mechanic clocks of the world? Discovering immunizations against illnesses?

I didn't forget. I didn't forget. I didn't forget.

It was the IVth century B.C. when we created our first artifacts from cast iron. Eighteen centuries had to pass for Europe to discover this art. You know that, right?

I know. I know. But stop comparing China with Europe continuously. What can we do, they were late in many things? But don't forget that they discovered capitalism first. Although it is "unique to Socialist Chinese Republic," they did not wait until 1979 to pass to liberal and capitalist methods.