Explore Chapter 38 of 'Moment in Peking' with the original Chinese text, English translation, detailed Chinese vocabulary explanations, and audio of the Chinese original. Listen and improve your reading skills.
On July 7, 1937, the Marco Polo Bridge Incident occurred, marking the beginning of China's full-scale war of resistance against Japan. When the news reached Hangzhou, Yao Mulan was in her garden admiring the lotus flowers. She was forty-four years old, the mother of three children. Her eldest son, Ah Tong, was nineteen and studying at National Central University in Nanjing. Her second son, Ah Lao, was fourteen, and her daughter, Ah Mei, was nine. Mulan's husband, Zeng Sunya, managed a tea shop in Hangzhou, and they lived a stable and comfortable life.
The war came too suddenly. The Japanese army was pressing forward step by step in North China, and Shanghai was also in danger. On August 13, the Japanese attacked Shanghai, causing panic in Hangzhou. People began to flee inland, and the trains and boats were packed with people. Mulan hesitated at first. She was reluctant to leave the home where she had lived for so many years. But Sunya said, "We have to go. Once the Japanese soldiers come, nothing will be safe. Where there's life, there's hope."
In September, they decided to flee to Hankou. Ah Tong came back from Nanjing and said that school had been suspended, so he would go with his parents. Mulan's younger sister Mochou and her brother-in-law Kong Lifu also prepared to join them. Lifu had been teaching at Beijing University. After the fall of Beiping, he had fled with his wife and children to Hangzhou, and now they would all travel westward together. They hired two trucks, loaded them with luggage and food, and also with some antique books that Mulan had collected.
On the day of departure, the whole family got up before dawn. Mulan looked at the house where she had lived for so many years, feeling deeply sad. She recalled her father Yao Si'an's words: "Everything has its owner. No one can possess a thing forever." She thought, perhaps this is fate. It's time to leave. She locked the door, handed the key to the old servant who was looking after the house, and said, "If the Japanese soldiers come, give them whatever they ask for. Whatever you do, don't resist."
The vehicles drove from Hangzhou to Anhui, heading west along the highway. The road was filled with refugees. Some were walking, some riding donkeys, some pushing wheelbarrows. Children cried, adults shouted, and dust flew everywhere. Mulan's daughter Ah Mei was only nine. After a while she began to complain of tiredness, so Mulan had to hold her in her arms. Sunya sat next to the driver, constantly studying the map, worried that the road ahead might be blocked.
When they reached Wuhu, they heard that the road ahead had been destroyed by bombing, so they had to switch to a boat. The boat was wooden and very old, but there was no other choice. Mulan, Mochou, and the children boarded the boat. The men loaded the luggage. The boat traveled upstream along the Yangtze River. Along the way, several Japanese planes flew overhead, and everyone was terrified, lying flat on the deck. Mulan held Ah Mei tightly, praying that the planes would not drop bombs.
Two days later, they arrived at Anqing. The wharf was crowded with refugees, and soldiers were maintaining order. Sunya went to inquire about the situation and came back saying that Jiujiang was also under attack, so they couldn't go that way. They would have to take the mountain road further west. They hired two oxcarts, loaded the luggage onto them, and walked on foot themselves. Mulan had her feet bound, so she walked very slowly, but she gritted her teeth and persevered, determined not to fall behind.
The mountain path was difficult to traverse, and coupled with the rainy weather, the road was extremely muddy. Mulan lost her shoe, and her foot was cut by a stone, bleeding profusely. Mochou took out her own cloth strips to bandage it. Mulan said, "It's nothing. Let's go." Sunya offered to carry her on his back, but she refused, saying, "You have to look after the children and the luggage. I can walk on my own." She thought to herself, this is what it means to be a refugee. One must endure any hardship.
After walking for three days, they arrived at a small town. Most of the houses in the town had been destroyed by bombing, leaving only ruins and broken walls. They found a dilapidated temple and spent the night there. It was cold at night, so they huddled together for warmth. Mulan watched her sleeping children and recalled her father's words: "A person must be able to adapt to circumstances, to be rich or poor, and that is the true life." She felt her father was right.
After passing Huangmei, they finally reached Wuhan. The three towns of Wuhan were crowded with refugees from all over, making it very difficult to find a house. Sunya managed to rent a small house through a friend, and the family finally settled down. Mulan opened the luggage and found that the box containing the antiques was still there. She breathed a sigh of relief. Although these things were worthless now, they were her father's relics, the possessions she cherished most.
After living in Wuhan for a few months, the Japanese troops approached once more. The Nationalist government had already moved to Chongqing, and Wuhan was also in danger. They decided to flee further south to Changsha. One of Lifu's friends was teaching at a university in Changsha and might be able to help. This time they took a train, which was packed so tightly that even the toilet was filled with people. The children cried from hunger. Mulan distributed the meager dry rations she had to them, enduring hunger herself.
In Changsha, they temporarily settled down. Sunya found a job at a tea shop, and Lifu also found a teaching position at a middle school. Ah Tong said he wanted to join the army. Mulan initially disagreed, but Ah Tong said, "Everyone has a responsibility for the rise and fall of the nation. All my classmates have gone. I must go too." Mulan shed tears and nodded. She remembered her own youth during troubled times, when she was luckily saved by the Zeng family. Now her own child was going to war, and her heart was filled with reluctant sadness.
In October 1938, Wuhan fell, and Changsha was also in danger. They had no choice but to flee once more, this time to Chongqing. The hardships along the way were even greater than before. Mulan's hair had turned much whiter, and she had grown thinner. But she never complained. She always said, "As long as we're alive, it's good. As long as I can be with my family, I can bear any hardship."
Finally, they arrived in Chongqing. Chongqing was a mountain city with heavy fog, and Japanese planes frequently came to bomb. Every time the air raid siren sounded, everyone would run to the air-raid shelters. Mulan listened to the explosions outside in the shelter, silently praying. She thought of her home in Beijing, the jujube tree in the garden, and the bronze vessels her father had buried underground. She wondered if those things were still there now.
They lived in Chongqing for two years. Life was hard, but the family was safe. Ah Tong wrote letters from the front, saying he was still alive and telling his parents not to worry. Every time Mulan received a letter, she would cry, but she also felt comforted. She believed that one day the war would end, and one day they would return to Jiangnan, to that home with its lotus flowers and osmanthus trees.
This was the experience of fleeing. On this long and arduous journey, Mulan had learned to endure and to find hope amidst suffering. She recalled a saying her father often repeated: "Blessings do not come from without. They are born from within." She felt that although she had lost much, the safety of her family and the peace in her heart were the greatest blessings.