"We're the Red Guards of Chairman Mao" "Who come from the steppes to Tiananmen Square" "Our red flags are like a fiery sea" "Our revolutionary songs echo up into the skies" "Our Great Helmsman Chairman Mao leads us on" "We're the Red Guards of Chairman Mao" "Who come from the steppes to Tiananmen Square" "Our red flags are like a fiery sea" "Our revolutionary songs echo up into the skies" "Our Great Helmsman Chairman Mao leads us on" "Chairman Mao" "Red sun of our hearts" "The people of the steppes give you all their love" "Lead us ever further onward I first climbed these steps in 1 97 1" "Luo and I had walked two days from the nearest town to the Phoenix mountains the place of our re-education" "is that your suitcase?" "Yes, chief" "They say your father is a reactionary dentist" "Guilty of what?" "Treating an enemy of the people the former local governor" "And before 1 949, he fitted a tooth for that scum, Chiang Kai Shek" "What's that?" "A cookbook" "You're holding it upside-down" "What's so funny, you idiots?" "Can you read?" "Go on, read!" "Show us!" "Chief, you know I can't read" "Read that to us" "300 grams of chicken breast 1 0 shelled walnuts 20 grams of starch" "1 0 cl of yellow wine" "Egg whites." "A pinch of salt" "Wash the chicken" "Dice it up." "Place it in a bowl lf we don't have walnuts can we use peanuts?" "Revolutionary peasants will never be corrupted by a filthy bourgeois chicken!" "Chairman Mao sent you here to be re-educated not to have reactionary banquets" "On our mountain, you'll work hard and you'll eat cabbage and corn!" "What do those drawings mean?" "I'm called Ma Jianling They stand for my name" "What's that, chief?" "A toy" "Just only a toy lt's silly." "What's it for?" "To amuse bourgeois kids into the fire!" "It's not a toy, chief lt's a musical instrument lt's called a violin lt has a pretty sound" "Ma plays it very well" "He'll show you" "Go ahead I play badly, Chief I told you to play." "So play!" "You could play a Mozart sonata for the chief?" "What's a sonata?" "It's" "A mountain song" "What's its name?" "It's not really a song I asked you for its name!" "It's" " Mozart" "Mozart is thinking of Chairman Mao" "Mozart is always thinking of Chairman Mao!" "Right!" "Go on, play!" "Chief told you to start" "To think it's in this dump" "We may spend our whole lives" "The very idea gives me cold shudders" "For ages the mountain people had geared their activities to the sun" "But this custom was shattered by the way we had to rise" "Get to work!" "You're all loafers!" "Look at this liquid shit" "Yours at home is no better" "The only Westerner to enter this area was in 1 940" "A French missionary, Father Michel ln his travel diary, he wrote:" "After two months on the road" "On 4th August in Chinese Calendar l reached the Tianquan district and Phoenix Mountains where copper is mined to min coins" "The Chinese Annals say: in 1 00 A.D that was exactly the Han Dynasty a Han emperor gave this mountain to his lover, a chief eunuch in the palace lt was the first official mention of homosexuality in China" "What the hell's going on?" "You can't even push a basket!" "Know what you spilled?" "The hard work of revolutionary peasants!" "Pick it up!" "Hurry!" "Can I ask you a question?" "I'm listening" "Yes" "You know the hot springs at Three Scissors?" "Yes" "They say the local girls go to wash themselves there" "A real little paradise!" "Beyond the Quick Sands if you head on westward there's a small path between two cliffs" "They're almost naked!" "They're so pretty!" "I can hardly see them I'll go the other side" "What?" "I'll go that way. I think it's better" "Go get help instead of laughing!" "I can't stop myself!" "Hey!" "You're lucky" "We're nice girls" "We won't denounce you" "Or else you'd end up in the Security Office!" "They break the legs of voyeurs" "Aren't you ashamed?" "The nerve!" "Ma, pull me out!" "Don't panic, I'm coming!" "Go that way." "You can get down" "The tailor and his granddaughter!" "We heard music, so we came to see" "You're so clean" "You doesn't look like a local girl" "Recognize her?" "She's dazzling!" "This area is famous for its pretty girls" "Know what that is?" "It's called a violin I've already seen some but never heard one" "And the song?" "Don't know lt's Mozart is thinking of Chairman Mao"" "I hear your father killed the worms ln a big chief's teeth" "Killed what?" "The worms in his teeth" "Why are you laughing?" "Here we don't use fancy words" "That's not it I think the expression's funny" "I live on the other side behind the Eye in the Sky I'm the Little Seamstress" "What's your name?" "I'm Luo" " Luo Min ls the Eye in the Sky far from here?" "About 3 miles" "is it yours?" "It's Luo's" "How does the rooster inside move?" "It's a real rooster lt sings every morning" "Ma!" "Come see" "Did you notice her white teeth?" "Whose?" "The Little Seamstress lt's funny I don't care to know her real name" "Little Seamstress" suits her so well" "But she is very primitive!" "What time is it?" "Where's the alarm clock?" "Why you open it?" "You always make trouble" "You break it even you don't know what it is I lost a piece" "I'll repay you for your clock" "Leave it alone, Luo" "We'll fix it at our place" "It's nice to be from the city" "You know lots of things" "Knowing how to sew is better" "Life here is not much fun" "Often, when I go to cut wood I see airplanes passing above me and I wonder what the world is like elsewhere" "I made them myself" "You know how to read?" "My mother was the only schoolteacher on this mountain but she died before she could teach me" "There's a piece missing" "I'll teach you to read" "No. I don't have time" "You shouldn't refuse" "Think it over before saying no" "We'll talk about it another day" "My grandfather will soon be back You must leave" "Let's go" "I like your little planes" "Will you give me one?" "Why ask me?" "You don't have to" "Just take one." "Anyone" "So?" "Everything's fine?" "Yes" "Fine" "Then let's go" "Give him a big hand!" "Welcome!" "You know him?" "It's Four-Eyes I thank the local leadership for letting me speak" "I'm from a family of reactionary intellectuals" "My father is a criticized writer my mother is a poet ln the 6 months I've been among you I've learnt to farm, to plant, to plow the buffaloes scared me" "Now, with my whip I make the most stubborn obey" "That's a fine example" "Look at him!" "He even wears straw sandals like revolutionary peasants" "He deserves our applause!" "All of you from reactionary families being re-educated should follow his example" "Listen!" "He's saying that for us l hate him" "Our policy focus on content but not only content" "We often say of 1 000 children from bad families only 3, 3 only will be able to return to the city I have a relative who's a projectionist in town" "Each month, he shows a revolutionary film" "He has to show Selling Flowers Girls several days later" "Will you come and eat with us Sunday?" "We pay for it" "No. I have things to do" "You blushed" "Are you being introduced to a young man Sunday?" "Don't talk nonsense!" "What's the problem?" "Bring him along" "We'll eat together" "That day I'm going to the hot springs with my girlfriends" "Our re-educated have progressed I'll give them a chance to prove it" "The day after tomorrow in town they're showing a North Korean film" "They'll go see it then tell it to us" "It's a political mission" "You're lucky!" "Look, the tailor!" "Tailors are always haughty of themselves lt rained lt's slippery for an old man like me" "Grandfather, do us a favor 4 days later we're narrating a film in a village lt's a Korean Film" "Tell your granddaughter to come" "The violin!" "Long line the Communist Party!" "Long live the Chairman Mao's triumphant thoughts!" "Look, peaches!" "How much are they?" "5 cents a lb." "Want some?" "I'm starving!" "We've walked far" "We're going to a movie!" "Hurry!" "We're going, too" "Smells good!" "You eat first!" "Go on!" "It's hot!" " Delicious!" "Who wants flowers?" "Buy my flowers" "Go elsewhere!" "There are people over there." "Go away!" "Korea is one of the world's coldest countries" "No matter how the little Flower-seller's please no one would enter the frozen lake to get the snails needed to heal her mother" "That day whirlwinds of snow fall on Pyonyang" "The snow made by the boys is prettier than real snow" "Look!" "It's rice skins" "The flower seller makes a hole in the ice and jumps into the water." "Let's imagine" "So cold." "Once, twice, three times" "She spends the night in the icy water until it stops snowing" "She has found 3 snails" "She runs excitedly home she opens the door" "What's she waiting for?" "Tell us the rest!" "Tell us!" "Go on, continue!" "Excuse me. I'm thinking of my mother" "Her mother lies on the bed" "A sunbeam illuminates her face" "An emaciated face which reflects from years of misery lt is tiny, like a child's face" "She has already left this world" "As the film ends we hear a voice saying:" "There's a proverb a sincere heart can make a stone blossom" "Yet this girl's heart was truly sincere" "Will you tell me a story?" "A foreign film" "All right." "From which country?" "France?" "Spain?" "Canada?" "You know any?" "I'm joking" "How I would know stories from capitalist countries?" "I only know socialist stories from Korea, the USSR, Albania--- ln the 1 960's" "there were many books" "But I was too young to learn to read yet" "When I learnt it the Revolution came" "All the books were burned I know a re-educated boy who has forbidden books" "Who?" "Four-Eyes." "He told me so" "He has a leather suitcase full of foreign books his father gave him" "His father gave him" "Four-Eyes!" "You even show off on a Sunday!" "From afar you look like a real revolutionary peasant" "What a huge change!" "Damn buffalo!" "Wait!" "We'll find them!" "Damn buffalo!" "Calm down, don't be angry l will kill you" "Damn buffalo!" "I will kill you" "Where did it fall?" "We found them!" "Four-Eyes, come here!" "We've got them!" "Thanks" "Without you, I was lost I see nothing without glasses I'm really blind" "You're nice. I'm glad to see you" "We came to borrow your books" "What books?" "You forget?" "Those you hide in your leather suitcase" "That suitcase?" "I threw it down a ravine" "You didn't?" "If you don't believe me" "You can search my home" "Postman!" "Any letter for me?" "Yes" "Yes. lt's from the capital of our province" "We've arrived." "You look smart lt's ok l am coming soon" "Go on without me" "Tombs aren't my thing" "Coward!" "Then we leave I wait here and roast the sweet potato for you guys" "You want a sweet potato?" "You have a city boy's accent I'm being re-educated." "Here?" "On Phoenix Mountain" "Really?" "So is my son." "You must know him" "He wears glasses." "Four-Eyes" "Soon he'll be going back to town" "A Chengdu literary magazine hired him" "Luo!" "Little Seamstress!" "Four-Eyes is returning to the city" "No more foreign books!" "Are you joking?" "I just met his mother" "She said a magazine hired him" "Damn!" "We're cursed!" "What a pity!" "No more suitcases!" "We need an idea" "What?" "I don't know" "Let's steal it" "What?" "Let's steal it" "Good meat like this sells for yuans a lb in the market" "Four-Eyes drank blood!" "Drunk warm when you're back in Chengdu it makes you brave as a red soldier" "Did you like buffalo blood?" "I'll remember it all my life" "Damn buffalo!" "I got even with that beast" "But the price was too high They cheated us" "Smells good!" "is it ready?" "Yes!" "We'll eat well" "Eat much more carotene" "Four-Eyes!" "Look at us!" "We came to dance for you." "For Eyes" "Thank you" "Are you putting on a show?" "The commune lent us the costumes lt's good." "Let's sit down to see" "Come sit here" "Thanks!" "We're about to start!" "We're the Red Guards of Chairman Mao" "Who come from the steppes to Tiananmen Square" "Our seamstress is keeping the enemy busy" "Give me some light" "Quick, inside!" "Wait!" "I'll close it" "Who come from the steppes to Tiananmen Square" "What's that dance?" "We're on horseback" "On horseback?" "I thought you were on roasters!" "Why disturb them?" "Do you want to try?" "They dance very well" "Let's applaud them!" "Luo, may be they're here" "No, they're not." "Light up the bottom" "Nothing, either." "Careful!" "We're the Red Guards of Chairman Mao" "Who come from the steppes to Tiananmen Square" "Our red flags are like a fiery sea" "Our revolutionary songs echo up into the skies" "Luo, here it is!" "Great!" "We've found it!" "And it's not locked!" "With these foreign books I swear I'll transform the Little Seamstress!" "I'll cure her of her ignorance" "Go on, open it!" "I have cramps" "You don't feel well?" "I can't stand it" "Going back?" "Lu X un" "Only revolutionary books!" "Not a single forbidden novel!" "There's even a book on Chinese medicine" "That bastard Four-Eyes!" "Too bad, let's take it!" "Wait!" "They're coming back!" "My stomach!" "It's all the blood you drank" "You're right" "Sit down. I'll get you a pill" "Did you open the suitcase?" "No. I didn't touch it" "Strange. it's open" "Yet I had tied it up lt was Luo and Ma--- They must have come--- to steal my books" "Are any missing?" "The foreign books are all there under Lu X un's" "No books were lost" "That's good" "Strange!" "Take this pill. lt's for diarrhea" "Do you want to vomit?" "Don't know?" "Try to vomit." "You'll feel better Drink some water" "Drink it all I can't hold out What is it?" "Where are you going?" "Wait!" "Take some paper!" "Don't be ashamed in front of your mother!" "Take it" "It's beautiful!" "Look at her dress I've never seen anything like it" "Let me see" "What's written there?" "To combine beauty and intelligence is so rare" "What is it?" "Balzac's "Cousin Bette"" "Balzac?" "I wish I could read I can only look at the drawings I can only look at the drawings" "Listen to this sentence then you'll know how good it is" "31 8 years, 6 months and 1 9 days ago" "Parisians woke up to the sound of all the bells ringing loudly" "And the title of this one!" "Just for the title, I already adore it" "Where is Paris?" "In a country called France" "Where is France?" "In Europe" "Listen to this title:" ",byGogol" "And this one, what a name!" "by Dostoevski" "There's one by Kipling" "An Englishman" "There's even a Chinese novel:" "It's classical Chinese" "Too complex for you" "It's there!" "No one comes here" "No one comes here" "A perfect place to hide the books" "Fine. lt looks safe" "We'll put them here" "Luo!" "Here is better" "Alright!" "We'll baptize the place" "We'll take them out one by one Like that if we get caught we'll only lose one at a time" "The others keep placing here." "Alright?" "Alright!" "Nearly 5 AM." "Balzac is so gripping!" "I'm almost through." "Only 20 pages to go" "Call me afterward I'll read it to the Little Seamstress" "Ursule Mirouet" "Funny name" "I'm done." "Your turn" "How was it?" "I feel the world has changed" "The sky, the stars, the sounds, light even the smell of pigs nothing is the same anymore" "Ursule Mirouet!" "Luo!" "What's wrong?" "What's happened to you?" "A moment ago, I had a fever" "Now, I'm ice-cold and shivering all over lt's not serious" "I'm thinking of my mother lt can't be much" "Can you carry me?" "No problem!" "It must be malaria" "Stop it!" "Why would you have malaria?" "It's the best thing for malaria!" "You have to bear it if you don't want to die" "No!" "No!" "Ma, you stand away from here" "Right here" "No!" "I don't want it" "Once more" "is it a good cure?" "That depends." "Not always The best is a willow branch" "Who told you that?" "The best is sophora Sagebrush is good, too" "Chief is right" "When Zhang's son had malaria we whipped him with a branch of sagebrush lt healed him completely" "Hey, you men!" "The meal's ready." "Come eat!" "You take over. I'm tired" "Strike as hard as you can if you want to cure him don't hold back!" "Hit him hard!" "The Little Seamstress" "What's wrong with him?" "My village wants to hear you tell the film" "He has malaria" "He's in no shape to tell a film" "Let me do it" "Luo" "Let her do it" "Careful" "You seem much better this morning" "My legs are weak but since yesterday" "I feel better I'm doing it" "Actually, it's not as good as when you tell it lf the chief finds out we saw that same N. Korean film    it's no more movies for us" "Tonight, we'll tell you an Albanian film" "Albania?" "Where's that?" "Don't you know Albania?" "A great friend of China's ls it a good film?" "The best I ever saw" "The strongest moment is a hypnosis session. lt's wonderful" "Go on!" "Begin!" "Encourage him!" "The main character in this Albanian film is called Ursule Mirouet" "A very exotic name" "Shall we say it together?" "Ursule Mirouet!" "Ursule Mirouet!" "The director is called Balzac!" "Balzac!" "Balzac!" "Damn!" "I didn't notice the time go by" "7 PM!" "The day is over!" "Finish!" "We pack up!" "I'm through." "Want to try it on?" "Come and try it on" "Have you started smoking?" "When did you get back?" "Did you eat?" "I'm not hungry, I'm annoyed" "I was reading to the Little Seamstress" "Her grandfather came back:" "When he saw the book his face became white he yelled at me." "Worse he burned" "The senile fool!" "You said it!" "I hate him!" "I never want to see him again" "In 5 min i want everybody in Three Willows field!" "Damn, I slipped" "But the path is so wide!" "What are you waiting for?" "Do I have to pick you up myself?" "You bastard!" "This may be the whole difference natural man from civilized man" "Great spiritual enjoyment serious enjoyment" "The savage only has feelings" "The civilized man has feelings and ideas" "Good old Balzac is right!" "Let's see how he analyzes it all" "He says:" "So, with savages little impression is made on the brain is made on the brain" "Civilized man used his mind to control his emotion I looked for you" "We just wanted to take a book but Luo started reading" "Our village women bought cloth in town I heard your grandfather said he will come to our team and make them clothes this week" "The clothes are an excuse to search our home" "Don't talk nonsense!" "Tomorrow will be a hard day." "Rest up" "Come to live at home" "The water of your foot-bath is already hot" "You had it last year lt's my turn" "Thanks but I'll stay here with the two being re-educated" "It's not very comfortable" "The door doesn't close We have no toilet" "We have to do our business outside" "You won't like it" "But I'll have more room to work" "Now, I'm going to rest I'll see you tomorrow" "You and I already know each other" "Which means I can speak to you frankly I'm listening" "My granddaughter has changed recently" "Changed?" "In what way?" "The other day, when I came home" "You know what this is?" "An undershirt" "No. lt's not that lt's something else" "Think again A short vest" "You like it?" "It's beautiful!" "It's called a bra" "That's what they call it in books ln all of Phoenix Mountain l'm the first to have one" "What's it for?" "To enhance your breasts" "What are civilized people?" "Civilized people means:" "The savage only has feelings" "The civilized man has feelings and ideas I was so frightened for her that my hands shook" "Sometimes a book can affect your whole life" "Grandfather is that what you came to tell me?" "You just want to told me about this?" "Stop reading her novels" "They don't tell the truth" "Teach her useful things" "Your family has problems" "You should think about your future" "Learn useful things?" "In this dump?" "You're kidding with me I'll teach you to sew" "To become a tailor?" "Yes." "To become a tailor I could teach you the trade" "Grandfather, I'm too clumsy to be a good tailor" "Here's the chief." "He's back from town" "That damn revolutionary dentist!" "Only knows how to torture the poor peasants." "Scumbag!" "Look at this!" "It doesn't look rotten" "The idiot made a mistake!" "He pulled a good tooth" "Where's the rotten one?" "I've still got it lt's horribly painful" "They say you know lots of stories" "Tell me one" "This one begins in Marseille" "It's the year 1 81 5" "Where is Marseille?" "Very far away. lt's a French harbor" "Why go so far?" "Don't you have something nearer?" "A story about ghosts or Chinese bandits I never get tired of those stories" "My story is set in Marseille lf you don't like it, good night!" "Continue if you want I'm going to sleep" "Bravo!" "You baited him Now he's hooked I am sure he wants to listen" "What is your story about?" "It's the story of a French sailor" "Captain Edmond Dantes later known as the Count of Monte Cristo" "We can use it to make a belt too" "Monte Cristo kept us awake 9 nights in a row" "The old tailor was indefatigable" "At night, he listened to me By day, he worked inspired by Dumas fantasies appeared on the clothes he created" "Little French details suddenly adorned the clothes of our farm girls mostly marine symbols" "That year a Mediterranean breeze blew on our mountain" "Jackets like sailor suits bell-bottom trousers" "Dumas would have been surprised about the dressing of the farm girls" "Our farm girls don't know that" "Dumas had also described more refined clothes:" "bodices embroidered with fleur-de-lys" "Mercedes's lacy dress" "Only the Little Seamstress knew our closely guarded secret lt's a good thing you came to help him" "Your grandfather has rings under his eyes" "You'll sleep at my place tonight" "Here, there's no room for you" "Alright" "Perfume, precious wood beauty, palaces, translate the name of this charming place" "Champs Elysees What a pretty name!" "It's the finest avenue in Paris where Monte Cristo lives in an emperor's palace" "Get up!" "Come with me!" "You'll explain this at the Public Security Office" "Explain what?" "I did nothing wrong I heard everything" "You told reactionary stories about nobles who live like emperors" "Chief, have a cigarette." "Calm down" "What Ma told is just a story" "The nobleman in question" "He is a foreign, not Chinese ln fact, he was a poor sailor which according to Chairman Mao's" "Little Red Book puts him in the most revolutionary category" "Stop your chatter!" "Don't take me for an idiot" "Chatter, that's all you bourgeois can do" "Come on, follow me!" "Chief. I shouldn't have listened to them I'm also guilty" "Listen, Luo, I'm not a bastard I'll give you a chance to save your pal" "Whatever you want" "My rotten tooth is driving me crazy" "You're the son of a dentist" "With this piece of tin you'll be able to repair it" "Repair a tooth with this?" "Where's my granddaughter?" "She's asleep." "What's matter?" "Those re-educated boys need her I'm too old for such things" "Don't move, chief!" "I won't move" "Here we go!" "Don't panic!" "The tin hasn't melted yet" "Shit!" "You almost killed me!" "It's not my fault, chief I've told you already" "You won't sit still" "The problem is the speed of the drill" "At the hospital my father has an electric one" "Come on!" "Just do it in one go!" "Ready?" "Start Now?" "Alight" "Don't panic!" "I warn you: if you fail I'll take Ma away!" "You move all the time, chief" "And the cavity is in a tricky spot near the gum" "May be I can't finish the job" "Chief, the best thing is to tie you up or else you will fall" "What?" "Tie me up?" "Me" "Me, a chief elected by the Commune Committee" "Tie me up?" "Are you mad?" "Come on, chief!" "It's too late lt's too late to act that way" "A rope!" "Chief, have a puff on this lt will put your mouth to sleep" "Leave me alone" "Ok." "Forget it" "Stay calm. lt's a minor operation lt's a minor operation" "Close your eyes and concentrate--- on the bad tooth" "You won't feel anything." "Ready?" "Ready." "No problem" "One moment!" "is he tied up?" "Solidly!" "Chief!" "Now keep still!" "Here we go!" "Very Fast!" "Faster!" "Slower" "Don't move!" "It's almost done" "Hand me the filling 1 I mean, the melted tin" "Chief, it's a bit hot" "Careful." "Keep your mouth wide open" "You see, it was nothing" "Doctor Luo!" "What are you doing here?" "I waited for you." "Haven't you heard?" "Now you're a famous man" "What do you mean?" "Lots of patients are waiting for you" "They say that thanks to you the chief's toothache is gone" "What?" "Come, Doctor Luo" "All those people?" "Doctor Luo!" "It's a golden opportunity." "Look!" "we can't leave" "They've brought eggs chickens, ducks" "The poorest brought some noodles" "Don't disappoint them" "Wasn't there a medical manual in Four-Eyes' suitcase?" "It'll be handy" "My re-education has made me erratical" "My literariness erratical I religiously copied excerpts from my favourite novels on my sheepskin coat l--- love---you" "Once more" "You" "Next sentence l--- love---you" "Again l--- love" "Now just say it!" "I love you" "Faster I love you" "Faster!" "I love you, I love you, I love you" "The chief risked his life to save Mao's portrait!" "Chief" "Chief didn't die eventually" "After the mine caved in the chief spent more than a month in bed" "The village was totally disorganized and we had a few weeks freedom" "For the first time I felt like composing I got my inspiration from an old miller a connoisseur of bawdy songs" "Among friends no cheating" "The first glass, bottoms up!" "Mountain people have their little pleasures, too" "So, you want to hear a mountain song?" "Uh---Yes Something authentic, rather romantic" "Romantic?" "Romantic means" "Something tells of pretty things Of love, for instance ln my family, from father to son we've sung one, in the form of a riddle" "Wait" "Which bird rises up and up?" "Which bird is like two blades of a knife?" "Which bird dives into the pond of the sky?" "Which bird shakes the brown grass?" "The falcon rises up and up" "The swallow is like two blades of a knife" "The crane dives into the pond of the sky" "The briar-cock shakes the brown grass" "I understood nothing of your riddle" "What word do I have to guess?" "You're leaving tomorrow?" "You told her ?" "Not yet" "I have to tell you" "What?" "I got a telegram" "A telegram?" "From my parents" "My father is in the hospital lt's very serious" "Are you going back?" "I spoke to the chief" "He gave me a two-month leave" "Two months?" "You'll be gone that long?" "Maybe less." "Where are you going?" "If your father eats a soft turtle" "He'll recover fast and you'll come back sooner" "Watch out" "Go see her every day after I've left" "Why?" "She's too pretty I don't want anyone to steal her I entrust her to you" "To keep tabs on her?" "It is not a tab" "You'll read her novels." "She loves it" "Promise me" "A snake bit me!" "It hurts" "Get up." "Don't worry lt really hurts" "Sit down I'll tighten it to stop the poison" "I'll suck it out" "You're shaking!" "It didn't bite you!" "Quickly!" "Shit!" "Careful!" "Come back soon I know" "There's something you don't know" "Tell me, what's it" "Climb on!" "Come with me!" "I can't." "Later, you'll know why I have a problem" "Ma, take care of her!" "Don't worry" "Stop!" "Stop running!" "During Luo's absence I read to the Little Seamstress" "To change from Balzac I read her" "Charles was surprised to see how white her nails were" "They were shiny, tapered trimmed like almonds" "Yet her hands were not beautiful not pale enough, perhaps and a little hard in the fingers" "Her good point was her eyes" "They were dark, but her long lashes made them seem black and she looked at you frankly with a sort of fearless candor" "Just a second." "Keep reading. I'll be back" "Two places gleaming with silver plate had been set on a small table at the foot of a great four-poster hung with chintz with pictures of Turks and a glass on it" "Ma, look!" "Grandfather made it for me" "For 3 weeks I read her" "While reading, I saw myself in the husband's role then as Emma's lovers" "The Little Seamstress was my Bovary" "Bovary" "Tomorrow, I'll read you some Lu X un" "Afterward, you'll think everyone is right out of his books I like Balzac best" "His translator is a fine writer" "He has an amazing style I know nothing about style I like Balzac, I can't help it" "Hey, washerwoman!" "Stay right there!" "Leave our village girls alone!" "Get it?" "Dumb asshole!" "Look at you!" "Care to wash my panties?" "Go on!" "Wash my panties!" "Let the bastard have it!" "He's got a book!" "Who's that?" "A foreigner lt's Karl Marx" "Marx has a beard" "His portrait's in the commune office" "Leave me alone" "Maybe it's Stalin lt's Lenin." "Look, he's a bit bald" "Look, he's a bit bald I'll kill you, scumbag!" "We'll get you!" "The inhabitants calmed down again" "Despite the arrival of the revolutionary army nothing really changed I have a problem" "The village hooligans?" "It has nothing to do with them" "This morning, I vomited several times" "Are you sick?" "I'll read you the rest I haven't had my period for 2 months" "If he finds out I'm pregnant my grandfather will kill Luo" "What do you plan to do?" "The law forbids me to get married until I'm 25" "We just turned 1 8" "And abortion is illegal without a marriage certificate" "Any way you look at it I'm sunk" "Don't say that." "Let me think" "Gynecology?" "It's urgent" "The consultations are over" "The duty doctor's up there" "He's a tall man" "Doctor, are you a gynecologist?" "Yes." "Why?" "I'll introduce myself:" "I'm the son of Dr Ma Hongbao of Chengdu hospital" "You may know him I'm here in re-education with my sister" "She's pregnant" "You're lying Dr Ma doesn't have a daughter" "Doctor, please help us. I beg you I'll give you a French novel" "I'm not lying, about the novel I copied a passage on my jacket" "My poor Christophe you cannot know the delights of being free" "To feel that all minds are free around you and your soul" "even the dunces is an indescribable pleasure as if the soul were swimming in endless skies" "She could never live elsewhere lt's a translation by Fu Lei I recognize his style" "Now he likes your father he's an enemy of the people" "Why are you crying?" "Sorry!" "I shouldn't ls it because of your father?" "Because I said he was an enemy of the people?" "I don't know ls it because of Fu Lei" "Balzac's translator?" "I didn't mean to criticize him he writes so well" "I don't know why I'm crying" "You're still young" "How old are you?" "20?" "25?" "1 9 I'll find a solution I can't do what you ask me in this hospital lf anyone found out it'd be too risky" "But I'll find a solution" "All clear" "There's a problem" "He changed tunes" "is it  ?" "No" "Written for Lenin." "Then what is it?" "Then, I'll listen" "We have no choice." "Be brave ln 5 minutes, it'll be over Don't be afraid" "What was that scream?" "A high note on the violin" "For the black swan's entrance" "1 lt's not as good as" "I feel like I'm someone else" "And more like myself" "Ma, have you gone mad?" "You must take me home" "This is the way into town" "Don't worry!" "1 I had told your grandfather that we were going to see a new film" "Take a rest?" "Sure" "Afraid he'd suspect something when he saw me?" "Not really I felt we needed a change of scenery" "This is for you" "Buy something in town Whatever you want" "Where did it come from?" "Never mind" "Take it and buy what you want" "Tell me where it came from" "I sold my violin to the doctor" "He's a connoisseur Someone else would've" "You sold your violin!" "For 20 yuans!" "No." "For 25 yuans" "But I kept five of them to buy a harmonica of the Heroes brand made in Shanghai" "Canned food and liquor for your birthday" "From my parents" "Thanks" "Let's wish my Grandfather had no sick hereafter" "Good health" "And a long life I'll play you a tune on the harmonica" "Wait!" "There's one more dish" "Excuse me" "Just eat first" "Grandfather, come help me I'm coming" "Do you remember?" "You swore to cure her of her ignorance" "You succeeded!" "She even has less of an accent" "All thanks to us" "Reading novels to her was helpful" "At the time we had no idea what would happen to us l became a violinist" "For the last 1 5 years in France I first played in Lyon and Toulouse then I formed a quartet in Paris with friends to play my favorite composers" "Mozart and Beethoven" "From China come this news item about the dam being built across the Yangtze river" "1 lt will submerge a whole mountainous area and turn it into a huge reservoir to provide electricity for 200 million people" "The 234 districts that make up the site will be wiped off the map in 2 separate floodings to make way for a vast lake of over 600 sq. miles located 525 feet above sea-level" "A gigantic worksite" "Hello, Mi Shen I'm watching a report on the area where l was re-educated" "My whole youth" "Yes, I'll call you later" "They are the first wave of refugees within the area ln this breathtaking landscape these age-old rock steps" "1 that link the villages on Phoenix Mountain to the valley will soon be drowned by the Yangtze river" "Passengers for Beijing on Oriental Airways" "May I help you, sir?" "You wish to give some perfume?" "For what kind of woman?" "Fine" "Hello, lady" "From 1 97 1 to 1 97 4 during my re-education I lived in this house" "Over 27 years ago I've been here for 1 0 years" "Who is your husband?" "Zhao Libao" "Zhao Libao!" "The chief's son?" "Do you know him?" "He went to buy firecrackers" "Have a seat" "No thanks" "Stay and eat with us l don't want to disturb you" "Making toys for the kid?" "No, tonight is the Feast of the Spirits" "We light up paper boats on the pond for the souls of our dead" "People behind the Eye in the Sky come, too" "Really?" "The person I'm looking for may come" "Both our villages are being moved because of the dam" "We leave in a month lt's the last time we'll send out boats for our dead" "Do you live behind the Eye in the Sky?" "Yes, so what do you want?" "I'm looking for the little seamstress of your village" "A female" "This is our little seamstress I'm looking for someone else" "The one I'm thinking of probably didn't come" "Have you found her?" "Not yet" "You should look at the names written on the paper boats" "Usually those who don't come have their names written down by others" "shanghai airport" "Come on" "This is my wife" "Delighted" "Delighted" "Say Hello to uncle" "Uncle" "Your son" "Luo you're a big shot now at the Institute of Dental Medicine" "He's a professor with tenure and supervisor of theses" "He's a national authority I'll be a soccer player ln what team?" "The Sichuan team" "Two of the re-educated lived here" "You remember?" "It was so long ago!" "Of the two, one was very handsome" "What was he called again?" "Ma something" "He drew a horse to write his name" "No, it was" "Luo" "Right!" "Luo" "Weaklings who weren't very brave" "But great storytellers I remember that!" "They told us films and we cried like babies" "Look at that!" "It still works They made quality goods, in those days lt's 20 minutes late, chief" "Are you sure?" "I'm sure. I have a Swiss watch lt's 3:20 PM" "It's like me, getting old" "Stop!" "There's the tooth we filled!" "He still has it" "No." "Ours was a premolar" "Shall we go on?" "Which bird rises up and up?" "Which bird is like two blades of a knife?" "Which bird dives into the pond of the sky?" "Which bird shakes the brown grass?" "I remember that it was a riddle but I never found the answer" "You want to know it?" "I'll tell you" "You must recognize that place" "The tailor died" "Our Book Grotto!" "It sounds as if people are talking inside I thought I heard voices" "When I was filming lt scared me. lt really did" "Who was it?" "It was our voices that we left over 20 years ago" "Luo!" "Ma!" "She's gone!" "Gone where?" "To try her luck in a big city" "She said she wanted a new life" "She left, just like that!" "To look for a new life" "Didn't you say anything?" "I did. I told her that if she left I never wanted to see her again But in vain" "She's very stubborn" "When did it happen?" "A while ago" "Wait for me!" "Luo, you sure this way won't be longer?" "That way will be much longer" "Why did you cut your hair?" "I felt like it" "Who bought you those sneakers?" "Ma did" "I decided to leave" "Who changed you?" "Balzac" "If you leave" "those books by Balzac--- l won't read them to you anymore" "Look at me!" "Look at me!" "Have you made up your mind?" "You've already decided" "I love you so much and you were leaving without a word" "Take care of my grandfather" "Say goodbye to Ma for me Take care of yourself ln town, I'll be fine" "Did she leave?" "Because of Balzac" "Balzac?" "She says he taught her one thing:" "a woman's beauty is a priceless treasure" "In 1 982, I searched for her I was told me she was working in Shenzhen I went there" "It seems she had left for Hong Kong" "You loved her" "I know even you never say it" "You loved her too" "Yes, maybe" "Only each of us loved her in his own way"