The Chinese Dream on Earth

Legacies of Lineage and Love

Everything unfolds in a state of half-dream, half-awake. Real images flash through my mind as if fate is guiding me to write down what I see. What matters isn't the truth or falsehood, but finding something to occupy oneself.

Grandfather had five sons and two daughters, with significant age differences among them. The eldest uncle and the youngest, my father, had a gap of over thirty years, so the experiences of these seven spanned nearly a century.

In his youth, the eldest uncle lived in a well-off household, which had both long-term and short-term servants, allowing him to focus solely on his studies. Despite being tall and robust, he lacked practical skills due to his sheltered upbringing. He married a daughter from a wine-making family in Wujiagou. His wife was tall and strong, able to drink under the table and rival men in strength. Coming from a wine-making family, she could consume endless amounts of alcohol without getting drunk, and in her later years, she was often seen treating liquor like water.

The eldest uncle was well-educated and spent his younger years working as a clerk in the provincial government. Due to family teachings, he never joined any party or took any official position, and in later years, he felt fortunate for these ancestral guidelines. He and his wife lived separately for many years, raising five sons and a daughter. Initially, his wife managed both the children and the farming alone, but eventually, she couldn't cope and frequently requested that the uncle resign from his job and come home. He ultimately did, returning to live a rural life, and thereafter, the entire family lived in the countryside.

The second uncle joined the army when he was young, participating in the Liberation War. People often came to their homes to recruit soldiers or solicit donations. According to our family teachings, one could pursue education and reason but not hold office; one could donate to charity but not join any political party. Most times, these family rules and teachings were enough for grandfather to handle solicitors with just a donation. However, exceptions occurred, whether due to grandfather's insight or the persuasiveness of the recruiters, leading to the second uncle joining the army before finishing his studies. After the nation was liberated, he reached the age suitable for marriage. During a visit home, which also became his matchmaking session, due to the urgency and importance of his tasks, he met with girls from various villages from morning until night. In one day, he interviewed thirteen candidates and eventually chose who would become my second aunt. I often heard from the elderly in the village about the spectacle it created; many young women, accompanied by their relatives, lined up to meet him, and my second aunt's selection led the whole village to gather at our doorstep, eager to catch a glimpse of her beauty.

The way both the eldest and the second uncle got married showcased the popularity of our family at the time. People from miles around managed to come, even if the second uncle only had one day. Even in this era of advanced communication, where many struggle with matchmaking, the swift exchange of information in those early days without modern communications was truly impressive.

The third uncle was the first university student from our area, now 84 years old. When he received his acceptance letter from Shandong University, he had already secured a good job near his aunt's home in Dalian. Despite the family's impoverished state by then, with both older brothers having established their own families, grandfather still supported his pursuit of higher education. During university, the third uncle also found a partner, introduced by his best friend. When he came home during holidays to report to grandfather, he briefly mentioned his fiancée's background—she was from the northeast, a vocational nurse, and they got along very well. Grandfather only asked, "Is she healthy? No serious illnesses?" The third uncle hesitated slightly before replying, "No serious illnesses, just a bit of congenital heart disease that can't take stress." The type of heart disease his fiancée had was rare, with no known cases of anyone living past 35. Whether due to deep friendship or blind love, the third uncle spent his life delicately caring for his 'porcelain doll,' handling all household duties without complaint, and enduring any grievances. Perhaps his kindness and attentive care moved the heavens, for his wife is still alive today, reportedly setting a record for longevity with her condition.

The fourth uncle was forced into business; he was born with a thin part of his arm, but it did not affect his ability to work. His work was efficient and of high quality. In communal labor, he performed the same tasks as others but received fewer work points due to his "disability." By the end of the year, the work points he earned were insufficient to feed his family, forcing him to flee to the northeast with his family in the dead of night. There, in the Changbai Mountains of the northeast, he undertook various jobs—clearing land, fishing, gardening, making furniture, selling bananas, trading motorcycles, growing ginseng, running a ginseng factory, and a plastic pipe factory. To ensure his family's subsistence, he spared no effort and eventually succeeded in settling his three children in the city.

The youngest was my father, whose role seemed to be to accompany the aging grandfather after his siblings had established their own families. Their home was impoverished, with just the two of them left. Grandfather, accustomed to a life of comfort, always had the best food, even when others went hungry. If grandfather craved doughnuts, my father would have to walk miles to the market to satisfy his cravings. Gradually, father became idle and irresponsible, often gambling with local ruffians. If caught by grandfather, after a stern lesson, he would sulk on the mountainside, refusing to come home. Grandfather had no choice but to send neighbors with food to find him, making sure he didn't starve. Later, after the third uncle graduated from university and started his own family, grandfather and my father lived with him for a while. Father found a job to help with expenses, and the third uncle took over all the household duties. They lived together harmoniously for several years until the third uncle's children started school, after which grandfather insisted on leaving, taking my father with him to visit relatives in Dalian. Mentioning the third uncle, grandfather could only say, "He's slaving away for others," and tears would fill his eyes—an old man from the countryside, seeing through everything yet pretending not to see, able to live each day in peace without interfering or judging the younger generations based on seniority. From the first time I heard this story, I secretly admired grandfather's wisdom.

When it came time for my father to marry, he sought a match through a matchmaker at my maternal grandmother's. Learning of my father's idleness and checking his attendance at the collective—' fishing for three days, drying nets for two'—my maternal grandfather became so angry he threw a bun to the ceiling and chased the matchmaker out. Unfazed, my father persistently visited, not to court my mother but to chat with my grandmother about his experiences abroad. My grandmother, finding him clever and well-traveled, insisted on marrying her daughter to him, even if it meant facing marital discord. Despite the family's reverence for my father's prestigious family background, my maternal grandfather was deeply concerned about his future son-in-law's ability to provide. This ill-fated marriage later led both elderly in-laws to a tragic end.

My father's sisters, my eldest aunt, and second aunt, each married a cousin from their mother's side, where the families were of lesser standing. It seemed as if, struggling to find wives, they resorted to marrying within the family. In Shandong, where gender inequality was severe, women were undervalued. Whether at family feasts or holiday meals, women were relegated to the kitchen to cook and could only eat after the men had finished, consuming only leftovers. Their destinies, dictated by their gender, led to my aunts marrying their cousins and the second aunt experiencing neglect and abuse at her in-laws', possibly because she had no protective mother or because her upbringing taught her to be kind and enduring. She was responsible for all the household chores and farm work, having five daughters and one son who, like my father, was of a similar age. In my family of two children, my brother was fined for violating the one-child policy. Why could they have six children in the same province? Perhaps it was the consanguinity, which although not visibly affecting the children, seemed to have impacted their intelligence, with most dropping out at the elementary or middle school level. Thinking of my second aunt, I am reminded of the chained woman from Feng County, who, despite not being physically restrained, had no more freedom than if she had been.