也斯作品中之歷史、記憶與文化身份

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(1) . . 國立交通大學外國文學與語言學研究所 . 碩士論文 . History, Memory, and Cultural Identity in Yesi’s Writings . 也斯作品中之歷史、記憶與文化身份. 研究生：林麗英指導教授：余君偉. 教授. 中華民國九十七年七月 .

(2) . History, Memory, and Cultural Identity in Yesi’s Writings 研究生：林麗英. Student: Li-Ying Lin. 指導教授：余君偉. Advisor: Dr. Eric K.W. Yu. 國立交通大學外國文學與語言學研究所碩士論文. A Thesis Submitted to the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures Graduate Institute of Foreign Literatures and Linguistics College of Humanities and Social Science National Chiao Tung University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Art in. Graduate Institute of Foreign Languages and Linguistics July 2008 Hsinchu, Taiwan, Republic of China. 中華民國九十七年七月 .

(3) . 也斯作品中之歷史、記憶與文化身份. 學生：林麗英. 指導教授：余君偉博士國立交通大學外國文學與語言學研究所文學組碩士班. 中文摘要本文探討香港作家也斯如何藉著他的作品處理歷史、記憶與文化身份的問題。分析的作品包括小說《記憶的城市，虛構的城市》（1993）、《形象香港》（1992）裡有關天安門事件的詩、以及收入《蔬菜的政治》（2006）的組詩「亞洲的滋味」。在這些作品中，也斯展現他對個人記憶及香港歷史發展的關切，也經由他的親身經驗和觀察去引導讀者思考香港的文化身份等問題。本文共分為三章。第一章集中討論小說《記憶的城市，虛構的城市》的敘事者如何在其異國旅途上回顧過去，回溯他在香港成長與接受教育的過程，並思考他和他的朋友身為作家與藝術家所面臨的困境。在接近九七回歸的特殊歷史脈絡中，主角時常深陷於文化身份危機的苦思，卻又將自身的憂慮弔詭地混雜入當時香港大眾普遍的政治焦慮之中，試圖獲得讀者的共鳴並為自己找尋出口。第二章檢視三首有關天安門事件的詩，其中也斯探討天安門事件對中國人民的心理衝擊，同時也指出受到當時影響的香港移民問題。第三章的研究對象是組詩「亞洲的滋味」，闡釋也斯如何巧妙地結合食物與記憶，並檢視當中涉及的歷史記憶和文化身份的關係。在『盆菜』與『黃飯』中，也斯回溯香港和印尼的歷史發展，試圖透過這兩個地方的在地食物來探索當地獨特的文化身份。而在『亞洲的滋味』一詩中，也斯則期盼亞洲各國既可尊重彼此之間的文化差異，也能建立某種互相關懷的友好情誼。關鍵字：也斯、歷史、記憶、文化身份、天安門事件、「亞洲的滋味」、《記憶的城市，虛構的城市》 i .

(4) . History, Memory, and Cultural Identity in Yesi’s Writings Student: Li-Ying Lin. Advisor: Dr. Eric K.W. Yu. Graduate Institute of Foreign Languages and Linguistics National Chiao Tung University. Abstract. This thesis explores the related themes of history, memory and cultural identity in Yesi’s works. The major texts included in this study are the novel Cities of Memory, Cities of Fabrication (1993), the Tiananmen poems in City at the End of Time (1992), and the verse cycle “Tasting Asia” (collected in Vegetable Politics [2006]). In these writings, Yesi shows his obsessions with personal memory as well as Hong Kong history.. His recollections and observations as a Hong Kong writer invite the reader. to reflect on the making of and anxieties about cultural identity. My thesis is composed of four parts: an introduction and three consecutive chapters.. The introduction provides the readers with the basic biographical. information about Yesi and outlines my undertakings in the three consecutive chapters. Chapter 1 copes with the semi-autobiographical novel Cities of Memory, Cities of Fabrication, attending to the narrator’s obsessions and apprehensions as a Hong Kong writer brought up during the British colonial rule and facing the handover of sovereignty back to Red China.. I try to relate his highly personal experience and ii . .

(5) . memory to the larger questions about Hong Kong identity. Chapter 2 discusses three Tiananmen poems in relation to the psychological impact of the 1989 June Fourth Incident on Chinese and Hong Kong people.. Chapter 3 analyzes how Yesi skillfully. writes about history and cultural identity through his depictions of some indigenous food.. Key Words: Yesi, history, memory, cultural identity, June Fourth Incident, “Tasting Asia,” Cities of Memory, Cities of Fabrication iii .

(6) . . Acknowledgements First of all, I am very grateful to my advisor, Prof. Eric K. W. Yu, whose knowledge, patience and encouragement were of great help in the completion of this thesis. Without his guidance and inspiration, I could not have finished this thesis on time. It has been an honor to be his student throughout the whole process. I also want to thank Prof. Ying-Hsiung Chou for his valuable suggestions which have helped improved my thesis significantly. My thanks go to Prof. Chia-Yi Lee as well, because he has provided me with insights and supports. For the past four years at NCTU, I have greatly enjoyed the company of my classmates (especially Claire, May, Adair, and Ivan) and cherished many things that I have experienced and learned here. In addition, I wish to thank my colleagues in National Feng Yuan Commercial High School for their kind supports and encouragements. I also want to thank my students in the Applied Foreign Language Department’s Class 301 who, by sharing their enthusiasm, have encouraged and cheered me up. I must not forget my friends, Lisa, Ah-Ting, Jerry, Wu, Cheng, and T. Essential to my world is my family: my father, mother, and two brothers, who have long shown me their unfailing love and support. When facing difficulties and challenges, their love is always encouraging and supportive. . iv .

(7) . . Contents. Abstract………………………………………………………….i Acknowledgements…………………………………………....iv Contents………………………………………………………...v Introduction……………………………………………………..1 Chapter 1………………………………………………………..7 Chapter 2………………………………………………………29 Chapter 3………………………………………………………53 Works Cited…………………………………………………...79. v .

(8) Lin 1 . Introduction. Leung Ping-kwan, with the penname Yesi1, was born in 1948 in Guangdong Province of China.. His family migrated to Hong Kong in 1949 and he grew up in. this former British colony. both well educated. (30). According to Li Yuan-rong (李遠榮), Yesi’s parents are They used to subscribe to May Fourth Literature journals. and attend a university in Guangdong, and they were fond of Western movies. they moved to Hong Kong, they brought many Chinese books with them.. When. Yesi’s. father could not find a good job in Hong Kong and soon died at a relatively young age because of constant overwork.. Yesi grew up in the countryside of Hong Kong island.. He lived with his mother and grandparents in a rural area called Wong Chuk Hang (黃竹坑).. During his childhood, Yesi would read the books his parents had brought. from Mainland China when his mother was away at work. Nourished by Chinese literary works, he started his writing career when he was only 17 years old. He graduated from the English Department of Hong Kong Baptist College (now Hong Kong Baptist University).. He had been a secondary school teacher and a columnist. before he enrolled in the Comparative Literature program of University of California, San Diego in 1978.. He obtained his doctoral degree in 1984.. Soon he began his.                                                         1. The penname “Yesi” is a combination of two meaningless Chinese words, ye(也) and shi(斯). Leung adopted this “meaningless” name because he did not want his penname to affect his readers’ perception before they read his works. .

(9) Lin 2 . long career of university teaching at the Hong Kong University.. He is currently the. Chair Professor of Comparative Literature in the Department of Chinese of Lingnan University. In Rey Chow’s point of view, “Leung never considers himself to be ‘representative’ or be able to ‘reflect’ Hong Kong…” (140) Interestingly, his writings do touch on important issues regarding the Hong Kong identity. He is always deeply conscious of his being a Hong Kong writer rather than a Chinese from Mainland China, Taiwan, or other Chinese communities. The uniqueness of the Hong Kong colonial experience and the anxieties aroused by the colony’s return to Chinese sovereignty, particularly after the June Fourth Incident, are prominent themes in many of his works. Related to the question of Hong Kong identity are the themes of history and memory.. The recollection of personal history rather than big political. events is the chief concern of the semi-biographical novel Cities of Memory, Cities of Fabrication. Yet through the true accounts of his own rather unrepresentative life experience as a highly educated Hong Kong writer, Yesi expresses his peculiar anxieties as well as the “larger” cultural problems of Hong Kong. poems courageously confront the traumatic history of China.. The Tiananmen. The “Tasting Asia”. verse cycle, on the other hand, evokes the colonial history of such places as Indonesia and tries to delineate cultural identity of a particular Asian country or city through its .

(10) Lin 3 . unique cultural heritage as exemplified by the indigenous food. Yesi has worked on various literary genres. His prose works include City Notes (1988), Letters Across Borders (1996), Working in Berlin (2002), and New Fruits from Taiwan (2002). The collections of his poetry are City at the End of Time (1992), A Poetry of Moving Signs (1995), East West Matters (2000), and Vegetable Politics (2006).. He has also published a collection of short stories titled Shih-man the. Dragon-keeper (1979), a novella called Paper Cutouts (1982), and a novel named Cities of Memory, Cities of Fabrication (1993). In 1991 and 1997, Yesi was awarded the Hong Kong Urban Council’s Biennial Award for Literature in fiction and poetry respectively. In this thesis, I will focus on the Tiananmen poems in City at the End of Time, the verse cycle “Tasting Asia” (collected in Vegetable Politics), and the novel Cities of Memory, Cities of Fabrication.. In these three selected works, the relevant. themes of history, memory and identity are most prominent. Chapter One will discuss the related themes of memory, history, and cultural identity in Cities of memory, Cities of Fabrication.. The novel is about the narrator’s. oversea journeys; it depicts his constant reminiscence of things past and keen observations of cultural differences in different places. In the first part, I will unfold the narrator’s memory of how he grew up in Hong Kong under the British rule, including the education he had received and the literary works he was exposed to. .

(11) Lin 4 . His unique experience led to his rather “uncommon” taste in Western avant-garde literature and art.2. The narrator also recalled the predicaments some “serious”. writers and artists like he and his friends had experienced in Hong Kong, betraying his own “elitist” leanings accompanied by a deep anxiety about not being warmly embraced by the general public.. His rather “personal” anxieties as a particular kind. of writer unable to attain great popularity, interestingly, sometimes merge with the common social anxiety about Hong Kong’s handover to Mainland China.. At some. point the narrator’s highly personal experience and memory are mixed with larger, commoner social anxieties and collective memory, giving Yesi’s novel a much wider resonance and greater social significance. Chapter Two of the present thesis discusses Yesi’s three poems regarding the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. this tragic event.. The poems were probably written not long after. The first poem “In the Great Square” stresses the psychological. impact of the traumatic historical event on Chinese people. One finds a profound sense of loss and betrayal.. In “Broken Home,” Yesi adopts a more reflective tone. and alludes to the problem of emigration of Hong Kong people, who were frightened by what happened during the June Fourth Incident. In these two poems, Yesi clearly shows his apprehension about the totalitarian government and his support for the                                                        . 2. So far as Western literary works are concerned, Yesi is particularly interested in Latin American magic realist fiction and American poetry of the Beat Generation. .

(12) Lin 5 . democratic movement.. In the poem “Refurnishing,” Yesi turns to a more. metaphorical writing skill, criticizing the Communist propaganda that tries to evade the cruel reality of oppression in a more implicit way.. Now some twenty years after. the June Fourth Incident, these poems are still very valuable as a means of helping us better understand Chinese history by recalling the collective memory of how a democratic movement was ruthlessly crushed. In Chapter Three, I will delve into three other poems in a verse cycle called “Tasting Asia,” which was originally displayed in an installation exhibition in 2002. There Yesi attempts to discuss the intricate relationship between food and cultural identity.. In the poem “Basin Feast,” Yesi tells us about the legendary origin of the. indigenous Hong Kong food and, instead of using this to consolidate a “traditional” Hong Kong or Chinese identity, he subtly expresses his “Western” democratic sentiments. In “Yellow Rice,” Yesi reminds people of the colonial and hybrid past of Indonesia, and, as a Hong Kong writer, he seems to share some similar colonial experience. He uses the poem to criticize colonial aggressions in the past and advocates his ideal of multiculturalism.. As a migrant to Hong Kong, Yesi also. identifies with the Chinese Indonesians’ diasporic past. In “Basin Feast” and “Yellow Rice,” Yesi is able to construct local cultural identity through the history of food.. Finally, in “A Taste of Asia,” Yesi attempts to promote Asian fellow feeling by . .

(13) Lin 6 . evoking Asian people’s common memory of the 2004 tsunami disaster. Although most of the works discussed in this thesis depict the unique Hong Kong experience and requires in the reader some basic knowledge about the history of this former British colony, I believe my study will be of interest to those who do not know much about Hong Kong for it may hopefully shed some light on the making of and anxieties about cultural identity in general.. .

(14) Lin 7 . Chapter One Memory and the Question of Hong Kong Identity in Cities of Memory, Cities of Fabrication. This seems to be a process of self-cure, or a process that one spends some time to clarify something.”(Cities 278; Postscript). At the first glance, Cities of Memory, Cities of Fabrication is nothing more than a detailed description of the narrator’s journey from Berkeley, through New York and Paris, and back to Hong Kong, recorded in a reminiscent way after the narrator’s return to Hong Kong.. Yesi, in his Postscript, announces his intention to study how. common people react to frustrations and try to overcome worries, especially during the turbulent period prior to 1997. However, we might argue that the characters in the novel are not “common people of the street;” instead, they are highly educated, being journalists, artists, writers, overseas graduate students, etc.. While Yesi worked. on this novel from 1983 to 1993 he witnessed a number of historical events important to Hong Kong: the Sino-British Joint Declaration (1984), the Tiananmen Square protests (1989), and the approach of the handover of sovereignty to Mainland China (1997).. Regarding this transitional period, the Hong Kong critic Ackbar Abbas has . .

(15) Lin 8 . commented, “living in interesting times is a dubious advantage, in fact, a curse according to an old Chinese saying.” (1). Whether this is a curse or an advantage,. Yesi has made good use of this experience and produced a truly interesting semi-biographical novel that offers its readers insights into his personal life as well as the larger social changes in Hong Kong history. In this chapter, I will start with a brief introduction to this novel. The introduction will be followed by the narrator’s recollections of his growing up under the colonial rule.. He argues that he has received inadequate education because. neither the British authority nor most Hong Kong people cared about history and education, so he turned to the West for cultural and literary nourishments.. Besides,. as a writer, the narrator also recalls the predicament of fellow writers and artists in Hong Kong, for he and his friend W did not confront a friendly environment for their creative works.. With his colonial experience and special taste in Western, primarily. modernist, literature and art he feels uneasy about his Hong Kong identity.. The. narrator is obsessed with his memory of Hong Kong during his journey: as his cultivation process involves the cultures of both Hong Kong and the West, which in turn contribute to his identity crisis.. Furthermore, Hong Kong people’s anxiety over. the arrival of 1997 is drawn to mix with the narrator’s anxiety of being an avant-garde writer in Hong Kong.. The Sino-British Joint Declaration in 1984 and the Tiananmen . .

(16) Lin 9 . Square protests of 1989 caused Hong Kong people’s emigration, and revealed Hong Kong people’s typical apprehension about the notion of “home.”. Liberalism and. anti-totalitarianism characterize the narrator’s political ideology.. He does not. embrace an all-powerful, united empire, but prefers pluralism and multiculturalism. Interestingly, Yesi mixes the narrator’s personal anxieties with larger social anxieties, seemingly attempting to arouse the resonance of his Hong Kong readers.. The. narrator also emphasizes the different cultural identities among Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Mainland China by highlighting their diverse historical and social developments. In fact, the narrator constantly ponders about the urgent question of cultural identity, revisiting his personal memory and social history during the journey, and hoping to find a solution. Yesi admits that the novel reveals his emotions and thoughts, and we may say the people and the events he has depicted are based on reality. But he has fictionalized the events, giving his characters alphabetical code names like N, Y, D, and W so as to ensure confidentiality. In this study, I do not simplistically identify the narrator as Yesi himself; nor will the search for the “real” identities of the characters be my concern. In the following discussion, I will confine myself mainly to the narrator, and strive to uncover the narrator’s and his friends’ memories of Hong Kong during the transitional period. So far as genre is concerned, Cities of Memory, Cities of .

(17) Lin 10 . Fabrication is not a very conventional novel, for Yesi claims that it contains fictional events, auto-biographical elements, as well as social and cultural criticism.. Through. the reminiscence and reflections of the narrator and his friends, Yesi tries to depict Hong Kong from various perspectives. Yesi attempts to recall the memory of Hong Kong during the narrator’s journey to highlight its very presence.. While the narrator is traveling overseas, he strongly. feels the presence of his hometown, whether it is real or partly fictional. “No matter how N, W, or I comment on New York, in the end we will come back to Hong Kong experiences,” (24; ch.3) so Yesi writes. I argue that Yesi seems to draw the contour of Hong Kong from other places in order to reach a greater objectivity by distancing himself from his home town.. While the main character is abroad and experiencing. foreign cultures, he is able to see Hong Kong much more clearly.. As Huang Si-han. (黃思漢) has commented on this novel, one tends to have more introspection of one’s own culture while having contact with alien cultures. (32) When the narrator and his friends have left Hong Kong, they have stronger emotions towards it.. Yesi might. want to accentuate Hong Kong’s existence within Hong Kong people’s heart especially during such changeful times through the characters’ reminiscence. As the narrator was recollecting his growing experience and the education he had received, he showed disapproval and doubts. The narrator grew up in a .

(18) Lin 11 . relatively poor family in the countryside. China.. His parents were migrants from Mainland. As a child, he read all the old books his parents had brought along with them.. However, he preferred contemporary Western literature and movies when he had grown up. Due to such dissatisfactions with the conventional learning environment, the narrator subscribed to some foreign periodicals, such as The Village Voice, TDR, and The Wire.. He did not even understand why he had translated many underground. American literary works, French novels, and contemporary Latin American novels. (39; ch.3) In any case, the narrator had already been inspired by Western literature. In Chapter Three of Cities, while the narrator, along with N and W, was wandering on the New York streets, he spotted these magazines on the newsstand and recalled his own previous learning experience. The narrator asked: “Why would a student growing up in Hong Kong grope for dissimilar literature from other cultures with a self-learning attitude while feeling dissatisfied with the surroundings?”(39; ch.3). He. criticized the educational system in Hong Kong, especially when he found “the design of the teaching materials seemed to blur the whole image of truth wittingly or not.” (45; ch.3) The narrator eventually figured out why he would feel at ease in the foreign literary world, because the education had disappointed him and the teaching materials even seemed to suppress the memory of Hong Kongers.. While he recalled. back from New York streets, he still perceived great depression.. He remembered. .

(19) Lin 12 . when he was still a high school leaver he would sometimes sit on a chair languishingly.. He would like to stand up, but he felt nameless weariness. (45; ch.3). This weariness paralleled the narrator’s feelings of paralysis caused by the defects of the Hong Kong education so clearly recognized in New York. Owing to his discontent, the narrator managed to acquire knowledge from various sources, like translational novels, poems from Tang Dynasty, May Fourth Literature, and modern movies, influencing him the ways of perceiving the world. The learning experience of the narrator probably cannot typify that of most Hong Kongers, for few have an equal access to foreign literature or are interested in it. However, his memory does highlight the problems with Hong Kong education during the British rule, particularly insofar as it prevented the truthful presentation of intellectual and historical facts.. People in Hong Kong receive distorted and. repressed knowledge, and they ultimately find themselves numb and unfulfilled. While in Paris (Chapter Seven), eating won ton noodles reminded the narrator of Hong Kong. (173). Suddenly, his Hong Kong upbringing and education came to his. mind, although he considered these unrepresentative of Hong Kongers. that there was nothing in the past he could be proud of.. He claimed. In Chapter Five, while the. narrator was appreciating artistic works in the Louvre Museum, he encountered a group of primary school pupils listening attentively to their teacher’s explanations. .

(20) Lin 13 . (89). He could not help envying them because they could learn history from artifacts. but not from pure imagination.. “WE never have such an opportunity to learn history.. I do not mean to deny OUR origin, but to face it, Worry Dolls.” (88-89; ch.5) No one has a clearer mind than he does as to what sort of environment in which he has long lived, and he totally admits it and sees through all the tricks the authority might have been playing.. He despises the denial of one’s own origin, but encourages. people to confront and examine it. We, including many friends of this generation, grow up in a colony, but attempt to know other cultures without feeling inferior or superior. Not having no psychological complexity, nor having no discrimination, but living abroad, we are willing to eliminate the misunderstanding by first impressions during the encounter and truly face prejudice. (Cities 268; ch.11) While growing up in the colony, the narrator often makes efforts to stay positive and confronts all kinds of different problems in real life. Yesi, through the narrator’s constant recollection of the educational and upbringing under colonial influence, draw our attention to the problems of colonial education. Since most Hong Kong people are migrants, fleeing from Communist. .

(21) Lin 14 . China and being practical-minded,3 many of them do not care much about the history and politics of Hong Kong.. On the other hand, the British colonial authority would. hardly encourage history teaching, which might arouse anti-colonial sentiments. Under such circumstances, the narrator feels discontent with Hong Kong education and turns to foreign cultures.. The early contact with foreign literature and an. opportunity to study abroad allow the narrator to develop a special taste in Western literature, modernist works in particular. In the novel, we can see most artistic works and movies mentioned are from Western countries. As Yu mentions, Yesi tends to leave readers the impression that the utopia is always somewhere outside his homeland or in some distant past. (226) Additionally, the passion for foreign cultures has also led to the narrator’s inner conflicts regarding cultural identity. Furthermore, the narrator also evokes the memory of the artistic environment and media operation in Hong Kong, which reveals his concern for Hong Kong culture and somehow obliges him to admire Western cultures.. From the narrator’s journey, Yesi. spontaneously evokes the memory of artistic performance and his exploration for Hong Kong cultural identity as a writer.. In Chapter Three, while the narrator was in. New York streets wandering, he directly stated, “We grew up reading fragmentary May Fourth Literature. (Chinese literature became repressed memory in itself.)” (41;                                                         3. In this connection, John M. Carroll writes that Hong Kong is “a capitalist paradise without history or culture, where nothing matters but money; a place where the only political values are pragmatism and apathy; and a haven for sojourners and refugees with only a temporary identity.” (4-5) .

(22) Lin 15 . ch.3). He lamented the Hong Kong’s failure to preserve Chinese literature, and its. tendency to distort and repress whatever did survive.. Because of unstable political. situation, the poems dated from May Fourth Movement were barely preserved, and much wasted.. In Chapter Five, when he went to a library in California, he. appreciated the abundant collections of all sorts of materials from either alive or late poets, including the original manuscripts, letters, different versions of poetry, even records, and so forth.. However, there were at least chances for the narrator or. everyone to read some good literary works in Hong Kong, but not in Taiwan and Mainland China, from hand-written copies or reports on the newspapers, which more or less made up for the old memory. (110) Besides the contortive literary works, the journalistic writings of Hong Kong also deeply disappoint the narrator and his friends, especially W. how the narrator met W.. Chapter Three tells us. W was born in a family which ran a traditional tea business. in Sheung Wan (上環) and received education in Hong Kong, but later was fascinated by Western modern drama.. Before he got to know W, the narrator had already seen. his early play called “Dragon Dance,” which mixed myths with verses and blended dance into folk songs. The narrator considers the play “Dragon Dance” to be one of the best in the early 70s in Hong Kong.. He appreciates W’s brave experimentalism. and what connects them might be the similar attitude against the conservative .

(23) Lin 16 . literature and thoughts in the 70s and the expectation toward new things.. However,. the drama play was ignored and forgotten. Furthermore, W appeared to meet some more difficulties and even later determined to give up his passion and pursuit for drama in Hong Kong. W was disappointed at the reaction and misinterpretation of his work by both the audience and the press (including unfair press releases and grossly biased subjective reviews) for undeclared political, or even commercial reasons. When the narrator queried W about one political play, W replied, “I would rather shut up my mouth.” (31; ch.3) The distortion of reports and reviews appear to encourage the narrator to take on the responsibility of revival and retrieve truth. Yesi even allegorizes about the problems concerning the prevailing press and publication industry, as is evidenced by the character “Mr. Huang” in Chapter Ten. The popular columnist Mr. Huang pretends to be knowledgeable and perspicacious, but his column is actually full of errors and nonsense.. Mr. Huang professes to be an. objective observer, but in reality he favors his friends and creates his own fake history. He writes about utterly trivial things in his life and is able to penetrate into every reader’s brain, making him or her affectionate, diligent, pitiful, witty, amiable, decent, and so forth.. It is nearly impossible to use one adjective to summarize what kind of. person Mr. Huang is, but undoubtedly he lacks one crucial element for the serious writer, that is, truthfulness.. “Sometimes I doubt Mr. Huang is not a person. . . He.

(24) Lin 17 . must be an enterprise, a prosperous enterprise…” the narrator thought to himself. (252) In the narrator’s vision, the press is under the control of some unknown commercial power, which dominates the development of Hong Kong culture.. The narrator can. do nothing about it but shrug his shoulders showing despair, hoping not to be deceived by what he sees. In fact, the narrator might be demonstrating a certain paranoid here; as a writer, he sticks to higher culture and foreign taste, refusing to cater for the Hong Kong readers’ popular taste. He is an avant-garde intellectual under the influence of Western cultures, but his subject matters are mostly concerning the place he has grown up.. He does not care much about daily trifles of Hong Kong people, but what. comes to his mind are scenes of particular dramas, movies, or the worries of artistic environment.. The narrator is getting incompatible with most common Hong Kong. people in the streets and is thus marginalizing himself in a way.. Mr. Huang. represents the popular mass media, leading and influencing most Hong Kong people. The narrator’s dislike of Mr. Huang might as well betray his own yearning for popularity. The narrator contemplates: When I come back to Hong Kong, I find so many things have changed. In light of artistic and literary creation, it is indeed not a city where people .

(25) Lin 18 . would support one another. (215; ch.9) He even desperately shows great self-pity: No matter in life or work, it seems that I do not live with a harmonious group, and I cannot get much support and be accepted from what I have done.. Although I have belief, many practical efforts have been in vain.. (215; ch.9) The environment of creative works is so unfriendly that some people doubt the existence of “Hong Kong culture,” which exclusively belongs to this land and its people.. “What students need to learn is, of course, European culture; as for Hong. Kong culture, is there such an existence?” Yesi writes. (245; ch.10). It might be. ironic that the narrator comments “I remember all the French movies that I first contact with.” (41; ch.3). While foreign cultures have deeply impressed him he. cannot find his own culture in Hong Kong. Such a negative viewpoint is not uncommonly., Wong, Li and Chan has remarked that: “Hong Kong has long been known as a ‘cultural desert’ and some people even think promoting culture in Hong Kong is like ‘planting trees arduously on a concrete island.’” (Wong, Li, and Chan 95) However, the narrator does not abandon any possibility of cultivating Hong Kong culture, and he considers art, regardless of its forms, as closely related to cultural memory.. Where there is memory there is art. The reason why Hong Kong has . .

(26) Lin 19 . been challenged is that its people have long refused to confront their memory during such turbulent times.. When the narrator came to Paris, he wondered “Aren’t. literature and art also heavy memory?. They are memory, which reminds people not. to forget.” (82; ch.5) Although he finds: Hong Kong has no memory; it is a city that has lost its memory.. However,. I still want to keep track of the details, hoping one day to make a man regain his memory. (35; ch.3) He holds the belief that “[a] man is not mature until he can face his own memory; a country is not mature and open until she can face her own memory. (84; ch.5). He is. always brave enough to take all the memories and willing to examine and record them. In Chapter Seven, on the way back to Santiago, the narrator wished he were the poet in Aristophanes’ play “The Frogs,” which is a comedy upon a restless time.. This. play is about a journey that Dionysus leaves for the end of the world, the Hell, to search for a poet with wisdom from the dead to save the world.. On the other hand,. he also looks forward to being the celebrated ancient Chinese writer Lu Ji (陸機) to create magnificent works against restless times.. The narrator surmises that “because. he (Lu Ji) encounters the chaos of the world, he especially emphasizes the order in literature, attempting to search for any possibility of order in literature.” (168) . The.

(27) Lin 20 . narrator frequently has recourse to personal and cultural memory, and conveys the idea of Hong Kong’s disorder.. He wishes to create a new order in the artistic world. based on authentic collective memory, but, at the same time, he uncovers his sensation of unfulfillment.. The sense of unfulfillment results in his turning to the West;. however, while admiring the Western model he writes in Chinese and yearns to become a popular writer in Hong Kong, his homeland. Yesi also highlights the influence of the intricate politics at the time before and during his writing (1983-1993).. He urges Hong Kong people, even though most of. them are migrants, to fight for their unique local identity and the civil rights that they fully deserve.. However, during such turbulent times, people tended to float with. tides and lose the sense of direction, and they do not even know the position for which they should stand.. In Chapter Ten, the narrator recalled that “all kinds of dialogues. are in progress, on and off.” (246). Though the narrator did not mention the subjects,. he gave readers only a clue: “Who is talking to whom?. That’s not my voice.”(246). Eric Yu points out that the dialogue might allude to the negotiations between the UK and PRC governments on the future of Hong Kong. (241) In 1982, the two governments resumed their dialogues on the handover of sovereignty in 1997, which was like a tug of war between democracy and Communism, or between the colonizer and the motherland. Most Hong Kong residents were afraid of the loss of present .

(28) Lin 21 . prosperity and uncertain changes of the future after 1997.. In 1984, the future of. Hong Kong was eventually settled under the Sino-British Joint Declaration. According to this agreement, Hong Kong would go back to the arms of Mainland China on July 1, 1997 and become a Special Administrative Region of the PRC. Since then, Hong Kong people had a contradictory feeling about the “expiration” of the colonial rule in 1997, and many of them joined another wave of emigration to Western countries.. The narrator mentioned that “the emigration is not news any. more among some friends, but I am truly worried about recent development.” (212; ch.9) Moving in and out of Hong Kong created both social transformation and anxiety. “Is it funny that we Hong Kong people want to emigrate soon and also not too soon?” (214; ch.9) People looked forward to make changes of their lives, but simultaneously they expected maintaining status quo.. Their imagination led them to. make decisions, because none was sure about the future. Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 also accelerated Hong Kong people’s emigration and intensified the social anxieties. In retrospect, it is interesting to notice that when Hong Kong Island was ceded in 1842 under the Treaty of Nanking after the First Opium War (1839-1842), its population boomed.4                                                         4. time May, 1841 March, 1842 April, 1844 . Population of Hong Kong Island 7,450 12,361 19,009 . Most people came.

(29) Lin 22 . from Mainland China for refuge.. However, after the Sino-British Joint Declaration. in 1984 and particularly the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989, people moved out in a wink for fear of losing their freedom.5. A document collected by David Faure. points out that “[t]he immediate point of this discussion is that 1989 clearly plunged Hong Kong society—and the future of its economy—into a state of great uncertainty.” (368) Indeed, as Faure states: The 1980s and 1990s will be remembered as a time of anomaly. The decision reached by the governments of the United Kingdom and of the People’s Republic of China in 1982 on the turn of Hong Kong to China in 1997 altered the fundamentals of Hong Kong’s existence. (351) The awareness of uncertainty and fear also appear in the narrator’s memory, and he agonizes over the decisions he has to make.. In Chapter Three, he complained, “We. always hope to get in a right line and do what we should do: protect the completion of our territory, strive for Mandarin’s legitimacy, and protest against corrupt officials.” (43). However, the key point does not lie in how the narrator stands in an adequate.                                                                                                                                                             During the first ten months of Hong Kong Island’s cession, the population increased two-thirds suddenly. (Wong, Li, and Chan 29) 5. Year 1986 1987 1988 1989 (Faure 368). Canada 5,615 16,254 24,588 16,400. USA 7,742 7,411 11,777 12,800. Australia 4,441 5,208 7,846 10,900 . . Others 1,191 1,125 1,606 1,900. Total 18,989 29,998 45,817 42,000.

(30) Lin 23 . line, but in the hesitation and dubiety that he gets haunted in. There is an atmosphere of fear and anxiety hovering over Hong Kong, from which people hope they can escape. During the journey, the narrator also brings readers to the problem of Hong Kong’s identity: There is no exit for our furor, and our passion is oppressed forever. become indignant, and argue with everyone we meet.. We. Our identity is not. clear, and we belong to none. (43; ch.3) Particularly when he is outside Hong Kong, he is more aware of his identity as a Hong Kong citizen. Once when he wrote “tour” in the blank for the purpose of his trip to Mainland China at the custom at Lo Wu station (羅湖), he was despised by the armed Liberation Army officers. marginal identity.” (208; ch.9). He said, “For the first time we are conscious of our Because of the peculiar colonial experience, Hong. Kong citizens are sometimes obliged to ponder over their peculiar identity. In Chapter Nine, the narrator once asked himself: Do I yearn for coming back to such a thing like “Homeland?”. Wait, I. know I still cannot find it even if I go back to Hong Kong. (216) He is so sure that he cannot find his homeland in Hong Kong for the time being, but at least he expressed his yearning for having a homeland. The idea of “home” or .

(31) Lin 24 . “homeland” actually is quite modern in Hong Kong’s history.. Some critics. comment that “a group of Hong Kong people are suddenly aware of the existence of ‘our town’(我城) at the beginning of the negotiations between the the UK and PRC governments.” (Wong, Li, and Chan12) In fact, as Ingham mentions, Like the European administrators, soldiers, merchants and businessmen who arrived from mid-nineteenth century onwards, most of the Chinese and other nationalities who made their home here previously regarded the place as a temporary haven from persecution and political instability, or as a glorified gold-rush town, a place to get rich and leave for good. Very few, apart from the small indigenous population, would have seriously thought of Hong Kong as home. (xix) Few people consider Hong Kong as their permanent home and, what’s more, most people disregard its well being.. The attitude of taking it for granted indeed bedims. Hong Kong’s existence. After the British colonial rule for over a hundred years, Hong Kong ultimately returned to Chinese sovereignty. However, some Hong Kong people do suffer from an identity crisis: In Hong Kong, we often (as a group or as an individual) desire to be a real “Chinese,” but simultaneously we often do not want to [….] . We turn over.

(32) Lin 25 . again and again in the hot pot of identity longing. (Wong, Li, and Chan 271) The two great powers take control of Hong Kong, and force it to be like a “concubine of two masters.”(Ngo 2). Deprived of a strong, autonomous local identity, the notion. of “floating” identity might be more welcome, as Abbas argues: Now faced with the uncomfortable possibility of an alien identity about to be imposed on it from China, Hong Kong is experiencing a kind of last-minute collective search for a more definite identity. (4) In my opinion, Yesi and most Hong Kong people still dare not face their cultural memory and dread to determine their unique identity. People’s fear drives their thinking of identity away, and they refuse to undergo so many unexpected changes.. .. Interesting, when the narrator depicts his growing and learning experiences, he uses “I” to be the main character. However, when he mentions Hong Kong people’s anxiety and identity crisis, he jumps to “we.”. It is interesting to note that the. narrator sometimes seems to fuse his personal experience with common social experience. For instance, the narrator’s personal anxiety of being a particular kind of aspiring writer fuses with the anxiety about the handover of sovereignty to Mainland China in 1997.. In so doing, the narrator in effect has found a way to unleash his. worries and frustrations and gains certain social resonance in his writings at the same time. .

(33) Lin 26 . In fact, the narrator is deeply conscious of being a Hong Konger.. No matter. where he is, the narrator always thinks about Hong Kong and gets in touch with Hong Kong friends. In his point of view, Hong Kong people are different from people of China and Taiwan, and so do their cultures differ.. In Chapter Three, before he left. Hong Kong in 1978, the narrator tried to utilize Cantonese Dialect to translate Western drama in order to explore the plasticity of his mother tongue.. The narrator. confessed that his idea came from some Taiwanese writers’ discussion on “Pure Chinese” in Hong Kong, and he would like to revive Cantonese.. Moreover, in. Chapter Five, the narrator went to the theater to see an old movie in memory of his friend, T. He mentioned the Taiwanese director did not understand Hong Kong, so the movie presented distortion and his wild guess.. In these cases, the narrator. appears to experience cultural shock between Hong Kong and Taiwan. On the other hand, the narrator also reminds readers the gap between Hong Kong and Mainland China.. In Chapter Six, the narrator disagreed with S, while S said:. “Hong Kong is over; what do you go back for?” (140; ch.6). This is the first sentence. S said to the narrator, which reveals totally negation and the intention of disconnection.. Actually, S did not stay in Hong Kong for a long time after he had. escaped from Mainland China.. The narrator finds him to be too subjective and. self-centered, so S would never take others’ growing background and personal history .

(34) Lin 27 . into consideration and make fair judgments. The narrator tried to rebut: “Isn’t it easy for you to make such comments? kibitzer’s comments.” (141; ch.6). In terms of your situation, it is more like a. People like S tend to be cynical, skeptical,. agitated, and passive, for they have given up any chance to improve the whole society. On the contrary, few people like the narrator would introspect and cherish every bit of hope to make better changes.. However, the narrator did not blame S for his. passionate denial, though he grumbled that “We, Hong Kong people, sit there, not knowing whether to laugh or cry when finding ‘Hong Kong’ again becomes something handy for others.” (146; ch.6) The narrator was aware of the misuse of Hong Kong identity. In fact, during the journey, when the narrator recalls his growing and learning experience, he feels discontent. being a writer in Hong Kong.. On the other hand, he refers to the predicament of These are the reasons why he chooses to pursue. Western and modern literature and art and he has quite particular taste, which is somehow out of tune with common people in Hong Kong. The narrator is obsessed with these memories while having conflicts in figuring out cultural identity.. Political. development also influences the narrator’s tendency. During the process of Hong Kong’s historical development, especially the approach of 1997, the narrator is conscious of Hong Kong identity and the cultural identity within his heart. As Yu .

(35) Lin 28 . suggests, if cultural identity can be compared to a piece of luggage, which symbolizes ownership, then the narrator has indeed been carrying his luggage all along his journey. (236). Although we cannot simply identify the narrator to be Yesi, in some. ways Yesi does indicate his obsession with the Hong Kong identity. In this semi-autobiographical nove, Yesi has dug deep in his memory and searched for the cultural identity of Hong Kong with reference to her unique historical development.. .

(36) Lin 29 . Chapter Two Traumatic History and Memory in the Tiananmen Poems6. Memories evaporated; the walls sweat them out again. The antique tile dragons were cracked badly. “In the Great Square,” City at the End of Time 69. Memory is a recurring theme in Yesi’s writing, and he focuses not only on his personal history but also on social history. important to him as a writer.. Both history and History are equally. Many of his works involve the remembrance of things. past and he values memory considerably.. This chapter mainly deals with the big. “History,” concentrating on Yesi’s experience with regard to political developments and social problems.. In fact, some significant events (e.g. the fall of the Berlin Wall. and the transfer of the sovereignty of Hong Kong) are reflected in Yesi’s writings from time to time.. Some of his poems, in particular, make direct references to the. Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 (i.e. the June Fourth Incident) and reinforce certain woeful memories regarding the big History of Mainland China. To be specific, this chapter will focus on how Yesi interprets the Tiananmen Square protests                                                         6. Yesi has written three poems about Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, which are “In the Great Square,” “Broken Home,” and “Refurnishing,” and Abbas refers to them as a triptych. Besides, Leung Chi-hua(梁志華) refers to these three poems to be finished during May and June in 1989. (48) .

(37) Lin 30 . of 1989 using his unique poetic language. I will begin with some relevant background information of the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 and its impact on Hong Kong people.. The three Tiananmen. poems to be discussed are “In the Great Square,” “Broken Home,” and “Refurnishing.”. In “In the Great Square,” Yesi explicates the psychological impact. of the June Fourth Incident on Chinese people. The content reflects Chinese people’s sense of loss and fear.. In “Broken Home,” Yesi starts by questioning if the. Chinese people should leave their home, i.e., homeland, for all sorts of doubts and questions have arisen after the incident.. Meanwhile, the question might also. demonstrate Hong Kong people’s anxiety about returning to China (their “home”) in 1997.. The poet’s reflection brings hope, but soon the hope is destroyed by the. remembrance of the bloody images of the traumatic historical event.. In. “Refurnishing,” the tone is calmer and more rational than one finds in the previous two poems, and Yesi incorporates sarcasm into his writing. He criticizes the Communist propaganda that depicts only wonderful and prosperous scene but at the same time tries to remind people of the cruel truth.. Yesi purposely uncovers the. cruel reality in order to arouse people’s apprehension about the totalitarian government.. In these three poems, we can find Yesi’s sympathy for the innocent. people who suffered during the Tiananmen Square protests and his opposition to .

(38) Lin 31 . totalitarianism. The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 have had an enormous impact on Chinese history.. Deng Xiaoping had proposed a series of economic and political. reformations since 1978.. However, with the gradual liberation and development,. there were two groups of people feeling frustrated about the government led by Communist Party of China.. One group was composed of students and intellectuals,. probably influenced by Mikhail Gorbachev’s liberalization, conceiving that the reforms were not good enough considering their incomes and social and political controls. The other group included urban industrial laborers, who held the opposite opinion that the reforms had gone too far and exacerbated poverty. Economic problems like inflation and a high unemployment rate had resulted in laborers’ discontent. Meanwhile, the government also experienced a political turmoil (i.e., the fighting between conservatives and liberals). With rising public dissatisfaction, eventually a series of demonstrations, made up by students, intellectuals, and labor activists, took place between spring and summer of 1989.. However, during the. protests, they still could not reach a consensus through peaceful dialogues. Seeing the protests had been expanded and gone out of control, the government ultimately declared martial law on May 20th and launched military crackdown, which was the least desired action. There were demonstrations and oppositions all over Mainland .

(39) Lin 32 . China as well as the rest of the world to support the democratic movements.. The. number of deaths during the incident remained unclear and the estimates ranged from hundreds to thousands. The government has never released any accurate figure of casualties. Even today, the June Fourth Incident is still a taboo topic to discuss within Mainland China; however, it did cause a ripple in international history. People’s Republic of China earned an unfavorable reputation for its military crackdown on the protesters, who struggled with their bare hands. In turn, the United States and European Union declared prohibition on the sales of armed weapons and called for peaceful treatment of her people. During the extensive military operations in Tiananmen Square, foreign media coverage was hampered and some correspondents’ freedom was restricted.. When the news of the incident was eventually spread all. over the world, many people showed their sympathy for the seemingly unattainable freedom and democracy. This catastrophic event not only caused lasting traumas to Chinese people all over the world besides the domestic residents, but also led to ceaseless worldwide reviewing of the event at that time.. People who received the most direct influence. were those idealistic activists on the scene and their intimate family members.. They. were physical and psychological hurt and the government’s crackdown was the last .

(40) Lin 33 . thing they could ever imagine.. So many innocent young people stood out to fight for. their demand at the cost of their lives, but all that generated was the sense of loss. Though some people were shot to death, more people were heart broken. What really hurt people were not those concrete bullets or tanks, but those invisible constant fear and uncertainty.. Apart from the sense of loss filled with people’s heart, the. sense of betrayal by their respected government also evokes widespread compassion. During Zhao Ziyang’s prominent speech on May 19th, 1989, those joining the hunger strike were inspired and encouraged.7. However, less than twenty-four hours, the. government declared martial law and commenced military actions.. People soon. found that their ideals were betrayed and became deeply disappointed, and, furthermore, the government lost people’s trust, though the determination of military crackdown was very complex. Until today, people are still waiting for a good explanation and clarification from the government, but they have not received any satisfactory answers.. In this regard,. Kay Schaffer and Xianlin Song comment in Asian Studies Review: Unlike other sites of traumatic human rights abuse in the late twentieth century, traumas that have been revisited in memoirs and campaigns for redress, the state has not allowed any transformation of this experience into                                                         7. Zhao promised to keep on the dialogue between the activists and the government, managing to provide satisfactory solutions to all the issues. Meanwhile, this heart-stirring speech seemed to arouse certain hope deep within. .

(41) Lin 34 . public discourse: no campaigns for redress, no recognition of the suffering of Chinese citizens, no reparations, no tribunals, no reflection, no apologies, no healing processes.. In this instance, the “truth” of the past has been. buried in an amnesiacal fold of history, secretly held in people’s hearts and minds. (161) The traumatic memory has been erased intentionally and rudely from books and media; nevertheless, it can never be completely wiped out of people’s collective memory.. Chinese people as well as people around the world underwent the whole. process and the incident was inscribed profoundly on the wall of their heart.. People. are prepared to revisit and re-examine their trauma, hoping one day their wounds can be healed. The truth is still waiting to be uncovered. After the June Fourth Incident, Hong Kong was also under great influence. Many people emigrated to foreign countries owing to the distrust of the People’s Republic of China government’s commitment to the so-called “one country, two systems” policy after the return. It was reported that “one million people took to the streets of Hong Kong in protest as confidence in the Joint Declaration evaporated” in 1989. (Mcdonogh and Wong 106). In New York Times Barbara Basler wrote in June. 11th, 1989, that “[a]lmost every aspect of life [there] has been touched in some way by the events unfolding in China.”. The political situation had changed, and some . .

(42) Lin 35 . government officials even resigned their commission to convey their dissent. People’s anxiety also led to rapid stock market decline.. Until now, there is. magnificent candlelight vigil held in Victoria Park on every anniversary. The fear and doubt prevailed before and after the handover in 1997 and certainly increase more difficulties to the return, for Hong Kong residents are afraid of deterioration in freedom of expression. Yesi is among the writers who are deeply concerned and write about Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, and he even participated in an improvised performance, called “Objectivities”, responding to the event 6 weeks after June 4th, 1989.. Ackbar Abbas calls those three poems of Yesi’s on the June Fourth. Incident as “a contemporary triptych.” (Abbas132). They are “In the Great Square,”. “Broken Home” and “Refurnishing,” collected in A Poetry of Moving Signs (23-28) and City at the End of Time (68-75).. In the following paragraphs, I will discuss. Yesi’s interpretation of the traumatic event in these three poems respectively. “In the Great Square” gives readers feelings of a sudden change.. Yesi. speculates on how to manifest the alterant process of memorial formation more completely regarding this tragic event.. The “Great Square” in the title may refer to. Tiananmen Square, but it can be understood metaphorically as the invisible square in people’s hearts. The invisible square within people’s heart preserves their collective memory and sense of belonging, and it is a space of security and dignity. The .

(43) Lin 36 . tangible square (Tiananmen Square) can be rebuilt no matter how devastatingly it has been damaged, yet the intangible square within remains a problem for it is hard to tell where the Chinese people should begin the reconstruction of a proper sense of belonging. The first stanza delineates the shock within a very short time after the event and raises the question of settlement for people’s bodies and souls: After days of Spring rains we awakened in a shabby parlor jammed with beat-up furniture and no place left for the waking to really live, between ourselves and the piles of old bedding. (City at the End of Time 69)8 Yesi compares the democratic movements in Tiananmen Square of 1989 to “spring rains,” alluding to the initial hopes inspired by the democratic movements. Ironically, spring rains that usually flourish of all living things and nourish the earth here cause gloom and sorrow instead.. The “furniture” may refer to the things people. have long depended on and lived on, but the furniture has been “beaten up” or destroyed. Hence, there is “no place left” for people to live their lives. “The old bedding” is probably an allusion to the “old” Communism, for after the democratic movements people might figure out more problems and truth in Communism. Yesi.                                                        . 8. . The English versions of these three poems are all cited from City at the End of Time. .

(44) Lin 37 . also exaggerates the variation and the shock shortly after the June Fourth Incident. After only a few days of raining, the diversity of the whole situation has become too formidable to comprehend and they can hardly catch up. People wake up to see the sudden change and their bodies and souls simply cannot fit into newly-changed environment and surroundings.. What people have always relied on, or the. “furniture,” has undergone changes all of a sudden. and instability.. The shock leads to more doubt. In fact, the economic and political reformations proposed by Deng. Xiaoping have inspired people’s democratic thoughts. However, this “new” democratic movements are oppressed and ceased, and people’s hope is soon completely destroyed. Therefore, Yesi seems to present people’s frightening mental state in the sudden change.. In Abbas’s viewpoint, the beginning image of spring. cleaning reveals “how ramshackle the house has become” as a result of the unavoidable damage. (132) The second stanza emphasizes the aftermath and people’s memory: There scattered in the eye were the travels of generations. One poked in the stuff for what one loved. Memories evaporated; the walls sweat them out again. The antique tile dragons were cracked badly. (69) Even though only a few days have passed, it seems several generations have travelled .

(45) Lin 38 . through.. Yesi still attempts to point out the huge variation or the difference. generated in front of people’s eyes. People seem to look for the sense of homeliness and familiarity from the old things, for the furniture they live on has been beaten up. Yesi describes that the memories easily “evaporated,” but people still struggle hard with “sweat” to keep them.. “Memory” is doomed to stay, so anyone who intends to. wipe out his memories just tries to set a meaningless and unattainable goal. Therefore, whether it is the government that attempts to destroy the record or it is the people involved who are afraid to retain all those dreadful memory, there is definitely no way out.. Chinese people are often referred to as the descendents of the Dragon;. nevertheless, the dragons here were “cracked badly.”. Yesi uses the diction of. “antique tile dragons” particularly to emphasize the fragility or the weakness of people concerning the impacts of the event. In the third and fourth stanzas, Yesi presents people’s urge to have a brand new start but encounter some obstacles. “Surrounded by the piles of used-up words and junk that made us, we’d make our own windows and doors.” (69). People are under. government’s control and have lost their free will which they have always longed for. People do not want to walk on the set path, but they intend to build their own way. Therefore, they “begun again housecleaning, sorting importances” (69) and endeavor to pursue their own mode.. To some extent, having a new beginning symbolizes hope . .

(46) Lin 39 . and chances. However, before the new opportunities of positive changes arrive, people have already experienced desperation and depression. Their houses are broken into pieces, so they could only build temporary tents “in the grandest of plazas,” where their pain starts.. “But we’d lost the roof and our parlor’d been. ransacked” (69) implies the cruel measures taken by the Communist government, and the oppression people have to face. It seems that after the June Fourth Incident the original rules and cultural norms are smashed up, so people are forced to search for new regulations and adjust to them.. The problem does not lie in the destruction of. the “old” Communist system and life style, but because the “new” democratic movements and thoughts are suddenly prohibited, people, therefore, fall into a panic. Especially in Hong Kong, people are on their way to the return to China, but unexpectedly they lose their faith in their future Chinese government.. Therefore,. some people even call for the postponement of the return and pursue the assurance of Hong Kong’s future democracy.. “We’d searched for new lines to lay out and. measure ourselves, picking our way carefully in the ruins.” (69). People strive to. overcome the existing imperfection of real life, desperately breaking the constraint of Communism. Nevertheless, is it exactly what people want? confidence in new regulations or new arrangement?. Do people have. Yesi implies reluctance and. resistance from people, showing his sympathy to a certain degree. .

(47) Lin 40 . The last stanza holds a much more acrimonious tone of expression, which leads to a transition in its description and implication: …Desperately one tried to hold on to oneself, but things were beyond control. At midnight, pandemonium! We only wanted to change a few things, to draw the curtain over that blemished picture--wild sand scattered our signs, thunder blasted our tables and chairs. (69) The usage of these words “desperately, pandemonium, wild sands, thunder” leaves readers an impression of “power, force, and the inescapable.”. The memory seems to. be refreshed again and the images are still vivid though after several days of spring rain.. Originally the narrator wakes up for a new beginning, but in the last stanza, he. appears to trace back to the time with clear and impressive images in his head. “Things were beyond control” while the narrator yearns for the least wish to stick to himself.. As for all that happens, which can hardly be changed, what people can do. is “draw the curtain” to cover the undesirable image. that they might just wish to erase those mental images.. People have suffered so much The picture can also refer to. the worship of the Communist idol or the leader, so people try to cover it and to get rid of any Communist influence.. In this stanza, Yesi conveys the overwhelming. despondency concerning people’s collective memory of the Tiananmen Square .

(48) Lin 41 . protests of 1989 and depicts people’s struggles and frustrations. There are some verbal references to the June Fourth Incident, such as “square” in the title and “midnight,” “spring,” “ransacked,” “pandemonium” and “signs” in the poem proper.. The melancholic memory still exists after the dramatic event, keeping. people in search of new hope. to decline as time goes by.. Nevertheless, the sense of security and stability seems. Yesi attempts to compare the Great Square to people’s. home, endeavoring to connect the concept and perception to people’s experience. Therefore, the image of home is far from oblique and is deeply inscribed into people’s mind.. The poem reveals the psychological impact of the June Fourth Incident on. Chinese people.. In fact, during the earlier economic and political reforms, people in. Hong Kong have observed internal contradictions within Communism, and resulted in the distrust of their future government.. Initially, Hong Kong people also cherished. some hopes on the democratic movements and they feared they might not enjoy freedom any more after the return. However, since the protests utterly failed and the Chinese government saw the democratic movement as “unrest,”9 the atmosphere of Hong Kong was filled with anxiety and uncertainty about the handover of sovereignty. The second poem is “Broken Home,” which divulges the fractured image of.                                                         9. . In Mandarin Chinese, the official expression is “dongluan”(動亂). .

(49) Lin 42 . home and gives readers a vivid first impression.. Different from the firmer tone of. “In the Great Square,” the tone of “Broken Home” is much more uncertain. The two stanzas start with the following question respectively: “Do we really have to leave this house (home)?” and “How can we abandon all this.” (71). Ironically, the house and. what people try to abandon are ruined and shattered, so people need to put great efforts to repair them.. Yesi also alludes to the problem of mass migration after the. event and before the colony’s return to “home” (read Chinese) rule.. There are. doubts and discontent within people’s mind, but there seems to be scarcely a way out. In Abbas’s words, “the tone now is more reflective and the emphasis is placed not on the moment of shock but on the after-shock, and the growing perception of betrayal.” (132) In the first stanza, Yesi presents people’s adjustment through the course of the event: we’ve become each other’s furniture We made changes they said couldn’t be made. We took down walls and cleaned up old grime, to make a much larger sitting room for all our different kinds of friends. We’re deeply connected, .

(50) Lin 43 . through the days of fixing-up, although the floor is more than littered with scraps and people; though nobody can reach the ceiling, anybody who stretches the yawns touches new stars. It’s happening—what we only dreamed of yesterday, is taking shape around our sniffles and coughing. (71) After the event, people realize how important everyone is to one another; in Yesi’s words, people have become one another’s furniture with pivot and necessary position. Yesi also suggests the existence of diverse opinions among people and between people and the government. together.. Through the “fixing-up,” people are tightly connected. The “fixing-up” can be the adjustment of people or the measures taken by. the government.. Yesi also allegorizes that the difficulty of reaching the ceiling. resembles the obstacle of making a dialogue with the government.. People survive in. the little space, in which they will easily touch the strange stars even when stretching and yawning.. During the process, people eventually make modifications and tear. down the walls between people and the government, and these are formerly thought to be impossible.. Despite widespread suspicion, people introspect themselves striving. to face the music, coercing themselves into accepting whatever the situation is.. In. this part, people appear to relieve their flustering emotions, yielding their insistence .