First Opium War

Chapter 2: Mengyu Tao

I lay here awaiting my execution and I can't help but to reflect on how it all started. The year was 1879; I was just seven years old then. We lived outside the occupied territories - around the Beijing River. Shifu Guang Zaishi was the village mentor. He had a son, Itsuya Zaishi, who was only three years old at the time.

            Poor Itsuya...He never knew the fate that awaited him. Shifu Guang told us to never leave the village but never explained why. But now I know why. I didn't know back then...I was naive

            My father's name is Donghai... and from stories...he said my mother's name was Ming. She died a long time ago. He never told me what happened, I even begged him. My father came from a family living in poverty. He would do odd jobs to get us by which took a toll on him.

           Sometimes he would come home intoxicated; other times he would practice martial arts - techniques Shifu Guang taught him. Shifu taught the village a fighting technique called Fu Jow Pai. My father worshipped the technique. He often said it was a style that had been lost in time. Forgotten. As if the world wanted it gone.

          "You lose too much focus, Mengyu!" Shifu Guang would say to me. "Watch your balance! Curl your fingers! Bend your knees!"

            Sometimes Shifu Guang would shout for hours. Back then I thought he hated me. This I remember Itsuya watching me while I trained. He was so quiet as a kid. On one stormy night, we heard Itsuya scream.

          "Help!"

           From the top of his lungs, in the middle of the village, Itsuya ignored the noise of thunder and lightning, allowing rain to drench his short-brown hair and tattered clothes.

           My father and I left our cabin, joining the other villagers in the storm. When I looked up, I saw God's tears. The world mourned the loss of the last Fu Jow Pai master. A man who fought against the invading armies, but fled, when their defeat was clear. I felt sorry for Itsuya. Losing his father during a time of oppression. A few of us went to check on Shifu.

           "He's gone!" Someone said. An elderly woman cried, her husband held her. My father cupped his hands together in prayer. I looked over at Itsuya who bursted in tears. Without thinking I reached out and grabbed him to lead him outside...I didn't want him to remember Shifu that way. But he told me he spoke with master on his deathbed before he died.

            He revealed to Itsuya the true reason behind their isolation away from the occupied lands, who the Tigers were, and their purpose. Our enemy called themselves British.

            "Those wáng bā dàns!"