Lung Yingtai's Great River Great Sea 1949

Thanks to KK for lending me the latest book by Lung Yingtai, a book which I have been trying to get my hands on since October.

Titled 大江大海一九四九 (or "Great River Great Sea Untold Stories of 1949") it is a compilation of stories of those who had, or who had not, survived the bloody and protracted Chinese civil war.

The book detailed how lives had been irreversibly changed by the unforgiving tides of history, and contained heart-wrenching accounts of those who had left behind relatives, friends and hometowns to begin uncertain lives in alien lands.

I sighed at the mindlessness, futilities and ironies of war.

Such as the 89 year-old former soldier who was held by the Japanese as a prisoner of war. When Lung contacted Li Weixun, Li reportedly said "I now know why all my fellow soldiers had died and I, Li Weixun, had lived till today. I am waiting for this phone call."

Such as Lung's description of a site where over 3000 corpses were uncovered, and where their "mainly 17-year old" eyes were still open "like dried fishes staring blankly into the skies."

三千多具尸体，扔在护城河里。全是四十九军的国军，胸前绣着“铁汉”二字，是王铁汉的部队。因为冷，每个被挖出来的人，虽然面色铁青，但是眉目清楚，很多没有合眼，突出的眼睛对着淡漠的天空，像腌过的死鱼。这三千多具尸体，很多，大概也是十七岁。

Such as this former soldier’s account:

印象最深？他说，哪个印象不深？说是援军马上要到，要你坚守，然后你战到全连死光，援军还是没来，印象深不深？明知往东走是个口袋，全军会被围，被歼，结果最高指令下来，就是要你往东去，印象深不深？粮食断绝，弹药尽空，补给不来，连马的骨头都吃光了，然后空军来空投，稻草包着子弹，一包一千发，直接投下，每天砸死十几个自己的官兵，你说印象深不深？伤兵成千上万的倒在雪地里，没有任何掩护体，然后机关枪像突发暴雨一样叭嗒叭嗒射过来，血浆喷得满头满脸，糊住了你的眼睛，印象深不深？

This is possibly a book that will be etched in my mind for a long time to come. And to think that I do not even like war-related books. But Lung has always been an all-time favorite Chinese writer.

In the final chapter of the book, Lung wrote:

在蒙蒙的光阴隧道里，妻子仍在寻找丈夫，女儿仍在寻找父亲，兄弟仍在寻找兄弟。那被寻找的，是天地无情中一堆破碎的骸骨呢，还是茫茫人海中一个瘦弱的，失忆的老人？ .。。。

太多的债务，没有理清；太多的恩情，没有回报；太多的伤口，没有愈合；太多的亏欠，没有补偿 。。。太多，太多的不公平，六十年来，没有一声“对不起”。我不管你是哪一个战场，我不管你是谁的国家，我不管你对谁效忠，对谁背叛，我不管你是胜利者还是失败者，我不管你对正义或不正义怎么诠释，我可不可以说，所有被时代践踏，污辱，伤害的人，都是我的兄弟，我的姐妹？

I usually try to translate, but for powerful prose like the ones cited above, perhaps I should not attempt to.