Memories of Peking 《城南旧事》

The first-person autobiographical novel depicts the life of a primary school girl from middle class at early 20th century. A naive girl she might look like, the girl is actually so precocious. It's kind of twisted to me, though.

Cruelty lies in inurement*. Child-selling/-dumping was so common at that time that it stirred nothing. It reminds me of the dead baby dumped at the garbage station outside of my primary school campus. Apparently the baby was newly borned because it was too tiny and had dark red blood-like thing all over its body. My friends and I were too young to understand it, and there was no inspection at all even though all kinds of rumors went around. Several days later, the body was cremated by a waste picker, together with the gabage surrounding it. At that time (around 2002), inspection in such cases might be difficult because genetic assay hadn't been established as a forensic method and public space was poorly monitored. Nowadays, such cases become pretty rare with the improvement of contraception methods, social welfare, and economic position. It would be a huge shock to the community if child trafficking/dampting occurs nearby.

While childhood is commonly characterized by happiness and pleasure, I identify with the author in that childhood is actually happiness or pleasure blended with sorrow, confusion, etc. Ideological description of childhood is kind of religious, just like the fairy tales about Santa Claus. But it's never factual, nor educative. Both childs and adults feel joy and sorrow. They might in distinct forms, but they are factual.

*inure: to habituate to something undesirable, especially by prolonged subjection; accustom.

Dec 12, 2018