Shui Sheng, Revolutionary Guerilla Leader

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skyline5k

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Posted: Sep 28, 2004 - 04:04 PM
Post subject: Shui Sheng, Revolutionary Guerilla Leader

This was translated by a friend of mine, Matt Waters in Xi'an. It's a long read, but I thought maybe some of you would enjoy it. If you like it, go to his site, Metanoiac! and tell him. It's basically a story related to his Chinese name. Read below...

水生, Revolutionary Guerilla Leader

The translation is complete. Please take the time to read it!

孙犁 (Sun Li), a Chinese author of the Revolutionary Era, wrote this story, 荷花淀 (BaiYangDian) in Yan'an (延安) in 1945. It's a fictional story about a local guerilla leader named 水生 (Shui Sheng), which has also been the Chinese name I've most closely stuck to because my family name is Waters and the Chinese character for water is 水 (Shui). When I learned of this story's existence I decided to have a go at its translation in order to explore more deeply the meaning of what I think will now be my official Chinese name. Generally speaking, it's also been a good exercise and I've learned a fair amount of Chinese characters in the process.

I've read it over a couple times and I realize it's not perfect. However, this was a labor of love and I think it adequately conveys the sense and tone of the story in Chinese. I'm sure there are plenty of mistakes and mistranslations and I'd really love to hear from those of you who consider your Chinese reading skills to be adequate. There is a link to the story in Chinese here.

I chose to keep the narrator's voice in the present tense more or less throughout and I hope this was right. There is a lot of nice imagery in 孙犁's writing and I also hope I've done it justice. There are, unfortunately, bits that sound rather robotic, and these are likely the result of a combination between my inadequacies as a translator and party censors swooping in to ensure the right message comes through. Those messages can be awfully painful on the ears at times and they are hammered home throughout. I can, in some sense, now see why my Chinese literature professor at GW so adamantly refused to present these "revolutionary" stories to us in class. When you add up all its parts, you get little more than propaganda.

Without further ado, I present to you the world of 水生, revolutionary guerilla leader.

Could this be the longest post in history?
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The moon has risen: inside the courtyard it’s comfortably cool and sparkling clean. The daytime’s well-worn reed ends are a bit damp, the mats woven just right. A woman sits in the middle of the yard, entangling the flexible, slender reed tips around her fingers. The strands are flimsy and slender. Her heart is aflutter and she’s pondering.

“How many reeds does this little town contain? ...I don’t know. How many reeds come out each year?...I don’t know. ”

All one can say is that every year, when the reed flowers flutter in the air and their leaves turn yellow, the entire lake’s harvest piled up neatly around the town square begins to look just like the Great Wall of China. The town’s women- in the square and in their courtyards- are threading their mats carefully. How many mats will it all turn into? In June, The lake is flushed to the top with water and on its surface are countless vessels carrying out mats that are silver-white, as bright as snow. In a short while, villages and cities everywhere will have nicely decorated, exquisitely crafted mats to use. Everyone will compete to buy them: “Good mats here! 白洋淀 (BaiYangDian) mats for sale!”

This lady is presently weaving her mats. Before long, she will have woven out a big new one to rest below her body. It looks like she’s sitting on a piece of spotlessly white, snow-covered earth, like she’s sitting on a cloud. At times, she gazes into the lake, also a world of silvery-white. A rising layer of almost transparent mist floats atop the lake and the wind blows it over, carrying the fresh scent of lotus leaves and flowers. But the gate hasn’t been closed yet, her husband hasn’t returned.

Her husband doesn’t return until quite late. This young man isn’t more than 26 years old. On his head is a big straw hat, on his body a pure white gown. His black pants are rolled over his knees and his feet are bare. His name is 水生 (shui sheng), the leader of this little reed town’s guerilla force, the party’s man in charge. Today he led his group of guerilla fighters to and from the administrative zone for a meeting.

With a smile, the woman raises her head and asks,

“Why are you back so late tonight?”

She stands up to get him his food. 水生 sits on the flight of steps and says,

“I’ve already eaten, you don’t need to bring me anything.”

The woman sits back on her mat and gazes at her husband’s face noticing that it’s a bit red and taut and that his speech is a little short of breath.

“The others…”

水生 says,

“Still at the base. Mum and Dad?”

His wife replies,

“Went to sleep.”

“And Little Hua?”

“He and his uncle were gathering baskets of shrimp all day so they went to bed early. Why haven’t those others come back yet?”

水生 smiles for a quick second, but the woman can see that it isn’t an ordinary smile.

“What’s the matter, are you ok?”

Softly, 水生 says,

“Tomorrow, I’ll be going up to join the big unit.”

The woman’s fingers tremble a little, her hand scratched badly by the reed strands. She puts one of her fingers in her mouth to soothe the wound. 水生 says,

“Today we attended the County Party Committee meeting. If the
enemy takes our stronghold in “TongKouAn” (同口安) again, they will have a straight line connecting to “DuanCun” (端村), and the fighting situation on the lake here could change. In the meeting, we decided to form a local resistance force. I was the first person to raise my hand and register.”

Lowering her head, the woman says,

“You’re always so active.”

水生 says,

“I’m the guerilla leader of this village- a cadre- naturally I want to be on the front lines of any action. Those others also signed up. They dare not return home because they fear their family members will hold on to their tails. As their fairly elected representative, I’ve come back to speak with all the family members.
They all feel you need to be more enlightened.”

The woman doesn’t speak, but after a while says,

“I won’t hold you back. What can I do about our loved ones?”

Pointing to Father’s small room, 水生 quietly tells her,

“Of course in a family there are others to look after. But our household is small and this time only 7 enlisted. There are few young people in the village and you can’t rely on others. In terms of family matters, you’ll have more to do. Mother and father are old now and the young ones aren’t old enough to be help out.”

The woman’s nose begins to stuff up, but she doesn’t cry at all. She only says,

“You can be sure I’ll take care of any family troubles.”

Wanting to comfort her, but considering all the preparations that still lie ahead, 水生 speaks only two sentences,

“You start carrying this big load. I promise I’ll be back to thank you.”

When he finishes speaking, he leaves to see the other families, saying that he’ll return once more to chat with Father.

The cock crows and 水生 returns again. The woman, still transfixed in silence, sits in the courtyard waiting for him. She says,

“What else do you have to ask of me?”

“Nothing more, it’s time for me to go. You shouldn’t stop moving forward,
learning to read, being productive…”

“H’m.”

“You mustn’t fall behind in anything!”

“H’m, what else?”

“Don’t let your life be seized by the enemies and traitors. If you succumb, you’ll be risking your life with them.”

After that most important statement, shedding tears, the woman makes her promises to him.

On the second day, the woman arranges a small package. Inside are a new outfit, new towel and a new pair of shoes. All these things were for 水生 to take with him. A group of family members sees him off. Father, dragging the little ones in hand, says to him,

“水生, what you’re doing is an honorable thing, I won’t hold you back. Walk with your mind at rest. And you needn’t keep thinking about that young daughter I gave you to take care of.”

Men and women young and old from all over the village come to see him off. 水生 smiles at everyone and boards the ship to leave.

In the end, the women are left with the wistful thoughts that come only to those who are close but separated. Two days pass and four young women come and gather in水生’s home. They’re all discussing matters with each other.

“I heard they’re all still here and haven’t gone yet. I really don’t want to tie him down, but he forgot to pack a full set of clothes…”

“I have something urgent to tell him…”

水生’s wife says,

“I heard him say that in TongKouAn (同口安), those devils want to…”

“Wherever, it can be just by chance, we can go there and return quickly…”

“I didn’t want to go on my own, but my mother-in-law insists I go see him again. How’s that for an excuse?”

And at this, these several women get on a small boat and paddle across the lake to MaZhuang (马庄). Arriving at MaZhuang, they dare not go looking for their men on the street and go straight to a relative’s house in the village. The relative says,

“Your timing is unfortunate. They were still here yesterday evening but at midnight they drove off to who knows where. You shouldn’t keep thinking about them; I heard that when 水生 became their deputy platoon leader, everyone was overjoyed.”

As their faces turn red, the women come out to bid farewell waving and leaning against a small boat on the shore. Right now, it’s almost noontime, the sky big and the clouds limitless, but since they’re on the water, there’s a nice cool breeze. The breeze is coming in from the south, across the freshly transplanted rice paddies and reed stems. There isn’t a boat on the water and it looks like a boundless lake of beating liquid silver.

The women feel a bit disappointed and somewhat sad. In their hearts, each of them innocently berate their better halves. While the youth are ever thinking towards happy times, for these women those fleeting fancies are especially easy to forget. In a short while, of course, they’ll all be chatting happily again.

“Come and gone so quickly!”

“So happy! For them it’s a happier time than Spring Festival or getting married! I’ve never seen him like this!

“Well, there’s no use tying a horse to a post.”

“No, there isn’t! Let go of the reins!”

“When you join the armed forces, your country comes first and you’ve got to leave you’re family behind for a little while.”

“That’s the truth. Once there were some young troops that were staying in our home. They sang proudly day in day out, coming and going. Our generation never had that much happiness. Even in the down times, it doesn’t matter. Foolishly I thought they’d all come back and hang their heads or mope around. Can you guess what they did? They painted white bulls eyes all over the wall in front of my house and each and every one of them stood there in my courtyard taking target practice, and then they started to sing again!”

The women gently paddle the boat, the water gurgling on either side. A small, delicate creamy-white water chestnut gently bobs up and just as gently disappears back into the water. That water chestnut will once again arrive at the water’s surface to grow safely and steadily into the future.

“Do you know where they are right now?”

“Knowing him, he’s probably run to the ends of the earth!”

They all raise their heads and look off into the distance.

“Ah! There’s a boat coming from over there”

“Aya! Japanese devils, look at their clothes!”

“Paddle quickly!”

The small boat paddles on straight ahead with determination. In their hearts, the women most likely feel some regret, knowing they shouldn’t have come so rashly. There’s probably also some ill will for those people in the distance. But immediately, they also realize that they should think of nothing else, only paddling quickly- the big boat is quickly approaching.

The big boat pursues closely.

These homegrown 白洋淀 (BaiYangDian) girls are fortunate. They paddle their little boat at lightning speed. They’d been familiar with its operation since they were small and the little boat was off the water’s surface like a leaping mullet. Speeding up the boat was just like the back and forth shuttling motion of weaving cloth. And suppose the enemy catches up. There would be no choice but to jump in the water and drown!

To the rear, the big boat is approaching with more and more speed. It’s definitely those devils! The young ladies clench their teeth tightly to stop their hearts from racing but there isn’t any panic in the hands holding the paddles. The water on either side of the boat is splashing loudly.

“Paddle towards Lotus Blossom Marsh(荷花淀)! The water is shallow there and that big boat won’t be able to keep on us.”

They head directly for the Lotus Blossom Marsh, with little idea how far it lies ahead, only looking out for the thick, dense layers of big lotus leaves stretching out to welcome the sunlight, looking like an impregnable fortress. Pink arrows of lotus blossoms shoot out tall and straight, like sentries watching over 白洋淀 (BaiYangDian).

The women paddle hard towards their destination, not letting up until finally their fleet to Lotus Blossom Marsh is complete. Several wild ducks flap their wings and lift off into the sky with a shrill cry, skimming the water as they fly. Then, right at their side, the women hear a gunshot!

The whole of Lotus Blossom Marsh is completely shaken up. The women realize that being stuck in the enemy’s ambush is as good as death, which would be the same as giving your body up and jumping into the water. Gradually, they hear clearly that the gun sound is coming from the outside. Only now can they hold onto the boat’s edge to help them lift up their heads. Not far away, under a large, squat lotus leaf they can see a man’s face. The lower half of his body is mostly underwater. A lotus blossom turned into a man? That can’t be our beloved 水生, can it?! Looking more closely, soon all the women can see the faces of each of their husbands! It’s surely them!

But those fighters concealed under the big lotus leaves are concentrating hard on keeping the enemy fire under their aim, they don’t see the women at all. A shot rings out clearly and three to five volleys later, they throw a hand grenade, flushing out the Lotus Blossom Marsh.

The hand grenade hits the enemy boat and sinks it- the whole thing goes down. All that remains is a billow of smoke and the smell of gunpowder. The soldiers are there merrily smiling and laughing, dredging up the booty. They start to dive down to the lake’s bottom and grab for big fish with their hands. They’re competing for the enemies’ accessories- ammunition belts, then a bag (a bag containing flour and rice and soaked through with water). 水生 plows through the water to run after something that is rolling away on the waves- it’s an exquisite paper carton filled with cookies.

Covered in water, the women get back on their little boat and sit down.

水生 bring backs the paper carton, lifts one hand up high and beats the water hard with his other to make sure he doesn’t sink. He shouts towards the Lotus Blossom Marsh,

“Come on out! All of you!”

He seems to take a big breath.

The women are left with no choice but to paddle their boat out. Suddenly, a man bursts out of the water from under their boat. Only水生’s wife recognizes that it’s a platoon leader from the local resistance force. The man wipes his face, covered in water, and asks them,

“What are you doing coming here?”

水生’s wife says,

“We’ve just come again to bring them some clothes!”

The small group leader turns his head towards 水生 and says,

“They’re all from your village?”

“No, who are they?! A flock of left-behind peons!”

And with those words, he smoothly tosses the paper box on to the women’s boat, quickly swims across and dives down to the marsh-bottom, not shooting out of the water until he’s quite far away.

The platoon leader cracks a joke,

“You ladies didn’t come in vain. If it wasn’t for you, our ambush couldn’t have been such a sweeping success! But the mission is complete; you should go back and dry out those clothes you brought. The situation here is still quite tense!”

The men had already packed everything they’d recovered from their enemies on their small boat.

They begin to shift their focus. Each man plucks a big lotus leaf and props it up on top of his head to block off the high noon sun. Several women toss over small packages that had dropped into the water and been quickly scooped out. The soldiers’ three little boats then hastily set off heading southeast, with the speed of a flying arrow. Before long, they vanish into the midday ripples of vapor emanating from the water’s surface.

The young women are paddling their small boat, wasting no time in returning home, each of them drenched like a wet chicken. Being so irritated and excited at the same time, the women speak merrily again the whole way home. One of the chatterboxes, sitting at the head of the boat and facing backwards, says,

“Did you listen to that rascal?”

“I know what you mean! Now that we’re gone it’s like they’re a man down!”

They smile to themselves, knowing that the situation today didn’t come to pass on account of their own brilliance. But then again,

“We don’t have any guns! If we had guns, we wouldn’t have had to flee to the Lotus Blossom Marsh! We could’ve had it on with those devils right out in the middle of the lake!”

“Well, I finally saw some fighting today. There’s something exceptional about war: as long as you don’t get too worried, who wouldn’t want to lie down on her stomach and fire off some rounds?”

“Landing in the water, I was even able to float around and grab some things we lost! I assure you my technique was even better than theirs and next time I wouldn’t be scared to go a little deeper!”

“Sister-in-law (to 水生’s wife), when we get back we should set up our own force. Otherwise we might not be able to get out of the house!”

“As soon as we become soldiers, we’d have a short while to see each other. But what’s more, after two years seeing each other would be priceless! Who’s left who behind and by how much?!”

This fall, they’ll learn to shoot. In winter, ice-fishing time, they’ll board a huge ice-breaking boat and stand guard. When the enemy sends in its forces to lay a siege on the village, it will be these women that coordinate the younger men to battle. It will be them that inspect the comings and goings of anyone on the vast surface of that big reed marsh.

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