The Golden Era (黃金時代)

I'm Xiao Hong

My real name is Zhang Naiying

I was born on June 1st, 1911

It was the day of the Dragon Boat Festival

My family were land-owners in Hulan County, Manchuria

At 11 am on January 22nd, 1942...

...I died

I was in a makeshift hospital

in Hong Kong

I was thirty-one

"Blossoms appeared in our back garden in May"

"Then the fruits In June"

"Cucumbers, eggplants, corns, kidney beans..."

"...watermelons, tomatoes..."

"...and pumpkins with creeping vines"

"But the mood in our place was desolate"

How old were you when your mother died?

Eight

I was only seven months when my mother died

My father beat her

So she took opium to die

I heard that when she died,

she was only 19 or 21

I don't know what she looked like

There were no pictures

"I'll probably never understand

people like my father"

"To servants, to his own children"

"and to my grandfather. .. ”

"...he was mean and aloof"

"It was my grandfather who taught me that"

"life includes love and warmth..."

"...as well as coldness and hatred"

Hurry and grow up!

Things will be fine when you're grown up

"I ran away from my father's house when I was 20"

"Ever since then, my life has drifted"

"I've grown up, but things are not fine"

"ZHANG XIUKE Xiao Hong's brother"

When my sister was about to finish high school...

...father arranged

a marriage for her

My sister resisted

She was in love with our cousin, Lu Zheshun

And he was already married

When they ran away to Peking together...

...Lu Zheshun was pressured by his family

and soon abandoned her

My elopement

made me notorious throughout the county

Our family felt disgraced

I got back from Peking in the middle of the night

My father responded by ordering the whole household...

...to move to our place in the countryside

Xiao Hong was locked up for ten months

Then she fled to Harbin

"SHU QUN Xiao Hong's friend, a writer"

Later, Xiao Jun asked her many times how she escaped

She didn't answer

We know nothing at all...

...about what happened to her in Harbin

But her later writings show that she was almost destitute

Cut off from everyone she knew

"In early winter..."

"...while walking in the bracing cold..."

ran into my young brother"

”The coffee-shop Windows... ”

. . were frosted up"

"I hung my coat with its worn-out collar on a hanger"

You should come home

It's so cold!

You still play basketball at school?

How's it going?

You still like it?

I'm better at it now

I wish you still came to watch us

Sister...come on home

You look unhappy

You'll get ill before long

Why do you say I'm unhappy?

Your hair's grown long

You should get it cut

Are you going to go on drifting?

It's getting colder and colder

"My young brother's eyes are pitch black"

Since sister ran away, our family was ruined

My father was fired by his Department

...on the grounds that he'd brought up his daughter badly

I couldn't stand being mocked by my classmates

So I changed school twice

I ended up in Harbin Second High School

That chance meeting with my sister...

...became the subject of her essay "Early Winter"

She never saw our father again

before she died

Not long after our meeting...

...she rejoined the man she was supposed to marry

His name was Wang Enjia,

a primary school teacher

Brother...

Where's your dignity?

You may not care, but your family does

Why have you taken her back?

This bitch all but ruined us!

And you sit here, eating and drinking with her!

Aren't you ashamed?

Show some backbone!

Come back, don't run!

Welcome!

You from one of the brothels ?

- Are you? - Come on in!

What is it?

I'm coming

That summer evening,

Wang Enjia walked out of her life

He was never heard of again

"BAI LANG literary editor"

They had moved into...

...a swanky hotel in November 1931

"LUO FENG writer"

They stayed there for seven months,

until they were broke

They owed the hotel more than $400

It was $600

A huge sum at that time

Later, the hotel locked Xiao Hong...

...in a storeroom

She hoped that Wang would reappear

She wrote...

"In May last year

I tasted green apricot"

"In May this year, the misery of my life..."

"...tastes like that green apricot"

But Wang Enjia never did come back

Stranger yet, the whole Wang family disappeared too

Yet another unsolved mystery in the life of Xiao Hong

Excuse me, are you Zhang Naiying?

I'm the editor of International Gazette, Lao Fei

He writes for us

We received your letter

In her letter, she said if she couldn't pay the bill...

...the hotel owner was going to sell her to a brothel...

...in lieu of payment

It turned out to be true

The woman has guts

It was smart of her to write to us

We must help her!

Really help

Damn it!

I'm a woman too

And the money?

Where do we find that much cash?

If we pooled all we have...

...it wouldn't come to $600

We could publish her letter

Appeal for assistance

You think anyone would donate a cent?

San Lang hasn't said a word all evening

I have nothing...

Except the hair I can't afford to cut these past few months

If I could turn my hair into cash...

...I would go bald

San Lang is drunk

Write something and sell it!

The only ones who'd buy my stuff are ghosts!

I can't write stuff that sells

The evening of July 13th, 1932...

Xiao Jun and Xiao Hong were destined to meet.

Xiao Jun mentioned that first meeting twice

in his writings

"Her pale, round face was framed"

"by long, straggly hair"

"She seemed nervous"

"and her voice

sounded frightened"

A letter for you

So you're Mr San Lang

I'm reading one of your articles

Haven't finished it yet

This one... The Orphaned Child

I like it

Here are the books you wanted

Lao Fei asked me to bring them

I'll be going

Can we talk?

All right?

Let's talk

Who drew this?

I did it in an idle moment

And the calligraphy?

Yes

You copied a master?

We did it in class

And the poem?

I wrote it

"At that moment, I felt the world was changing”

"The season was changing"

"People were changing"

"My thoughts and feelings were changing too"

"Right in front of me"