Shanghai Story

by Alexa Kang

  They weren’t real? She laughed at herself. Officer Zhou had implied the same thing. He’d pointed out the girl somehow did not suffer serious injuries. Everyone knew it was a trap. Only she fell for it. “I feel like such a fool.”

  “Don’t. You’re not. You couldn’t have known.”

  It hardly made her feel any better. Just a few hours ago, she was all excited and ready to wander around this city like a local. What a naive, laughable attempt that was. She hadn’t even a clue when she was being scammed. She couldn’t have gotten herself out of it if Clark hadn’t been here to help her.

  And Zhou. He’d tried to steer her to do what was needed to save herself from the situation.

  “The officer, Zhou? I think he tried to help me,” she said. “Thank goodness he can speak English. He tried to tell me this was a scam.”

  Clark gave her a sympathetic smile. “They usually have one or two people at the police station who can speak English or French in case something happens and a foreigner is involved.”

  As they were speaking, Zhou came in. “Miss Levine. You’re free to go.”

  Eden glanced at her watch. It was now five o’clock. She couldn’t wait to get out of there. But Clark wasn’t done yet. “What about the false accusers?” he asked. He almost sounded angry. This was a different side to him she had not seen before.

  “We’ll question them. We’ll make sure they never pull this stunt again. They’ll be punished accordingly.”

  “They better be.” He gave Zhou a firm look, then said to Eden, “Come on. I’ll take you home.”

  Eden swung her purse over her shoulders and followed him. On her way out, she nodded at Zhou to thank him. The officer gave her a subtle thumbs-up.

  There were still good people around after all.

  12

  Flags of the Nations

  Outside, Eden followed Clark to his car. He was walking ahead of her and she couldn’t see his face. It was only when the chauffeur opened the car door that she saw how upset he looked. She felt so bad now. So much so that she felt compelled to apologize. “Thank you again for coming out to get me,” she said after they got in. “I’m sorry I caused all this trouble.”

  “No, not at all,” he said. His face eased. “You didn’t do anything wrong. I just wish this never happened. Some people in China would do anything for a few dollars. I’m so sorry you had to go through this.”

  She knew he meant well. All the same, it made her feel like she was a foreign guest he was trying to protect. But wasn’t she? This afternoon proved she couldn’t manage herself here on her own.

  The traffic slowed at the red light. An endless line of bicycles zipped past the car window on her side, their ringing bells piercing above the noises on the streets. A crowd slogged through the crosswalk and spaces between the vehicles. A short, skinny laborer cut past the other pedestrians, pushing a cart of concrete as a sheen of sweat ran down his thin bare chest. His cart bumped against an old woman. Her brown and wrinkled face looked like it had seen a hundred years of sun. She scooted aside without demanding an apology, as if his bumping her out of his way was a matter of course. Behind her, a girl squinted and hustled forward in her lopsided skirt. Her wrinkling nose and fading lipstick erased whatever attempts at beauty she’d tried to make. Everyone was shoving and jostling their way through. Their hardened faces showed little emotion.

  What did she know about these people and their lives? How could she ever be one of them?

  She wasn’t. At the moment, she was riding in the comfort of a luxury car while the crowd outside toiled and forged ahead on their own, fending for themselves.

  “Are you in a hurry to get home?” Clark asked, softly as if he was worried she was still upset.

  “No.” She returned a polite smile.

  “Would you like to take a short walk? Maybe end the day on a happier note? The view of the Bund is beautiful at sunset. We can take a detour there.”

  Eden relaxed her shoulders. “I’d like that.” How could she decline? He was trying to cheer her up.

  Clark directed the chauffeur to take a different route. Watching him, she realized how fortunate she was that he was her friend. She understood now. While China wasn’t Germany, it had its own ways of distinguishing certain people above others. Here, it helped to have friends in high places.

  The car came to a stop on the wide avenue next to the row of limousines parked along the Whangpoo riverfront. Over the horizon, the soft evening sun shone. Glittering lights danced on the surface of the water as the last wave of junks floated downstream, returning to dock.

  The chauffeur opened the door, inviting Eden to step out. The cool evening temperature had chased away the sweltering afternoon heat. A warm summer breeze swept past her, clearing away all the unpleasantness of the ordeal she’d experienced earlier today.

  “This place is even more developed than what I remembered before I went abroad,” Clark said as he walked beside her. “The buildings keep getting higher and higher. I want to think of them as symbolic of China rising higher and higher too.” He let out a self-deprecating chuckle. “I guess I was expecting too much. I’m really sorry you had to see the uglier side of this country today.”

  Eden halted her step. “Don’t keep apologizing. You aren’t responsible for everything that happens in China.”

  “No, but what they did reflects upon us. I wish our people wouldn’t be so unscrupulous. They don’t usually prey on foreigners, but this kind of thing happens a lot. There are people who’d pull schemes in ways you can’t even imagine to cheat people out of their money. Next time you venture outside the foreign concessions, let me know. I’ll have our chauffeur accompany you so this won’t happen again.”

  “No.” Eden laughed. Strands of her hair blew over her face and she brushed them to the side. “That’s not necessary at all. The truth is, I want to see and experience China. Not only the foreigners’ protected enclaves in China. The real China.”

  “You do?”

  “Yes. I’m not anyone special here. I’m a refugee. Every day, I’m thankful there’s a safe place in the world that took me and my family in when no other country would. Who am I to come here and act like I’m better than the locals?” She thought back to her conversation with Officer Zhou at the police station. “I can carry on and pretend I’m no different from any other foreigner and take advantage of all the privileges. That would be living a lie, and I don’t want that. The reality is, I’m a stateless person. I’m here at the mercy of the Chinese. I don’t want to turn a blind eye to what life is like for them. I want to be a part of Chinese society too.”

  Clark gazed at her, his tender eyes showing a mix of emotions she didn’t quite grasp. “I’ve never heard any Westerner say what you just said.”

  Eden turned her face. He needn’t think well of her for that. She was only saying what she felt was right. “I did learn something today though.”

  “What’s that?”

  “I need to be wiser. I shouldn’t idealize any one place or one group of people simply for the sake of wanting to be vindicated and justified. What’s happening in Germany is so awful. I wanted to believe the Chinese are better—blameless, especially after hearing what your sister had said about how foreigners discriminate against them. I learned today this is a very naive way of looking at the world. What I realize now is there’s no one group of people who are all good or all bad. I need to see people for who they are as individuals. No matter where we came from or where we are, there are good and bad people among all of us, because in the end, we’re all human.”

  Clark didn’t reply. He didn’t have to. Even with him just standing there, she felt he understood. How strange. Before she came to China, she’d never even met anyone Chinese, or even anyone oriental. There was probably a world of differences between them, and they’d only met a few times. Yet somehow, she felt she could tell him anything. Perhaps it was his quiet, unassuming presence. Perhaps it was the attentive way he listened when she talked.
And the way he cast down his eyes when he was lost in his thoughts. In any case, she felt instinctively she could depend on him.

  They started walking again. The sun had fallen behind the skyline. Its darkening rays peered out from the top of the buildings down the avenue. Eden gazed up, hoping to catch the last view of the vanishing pink and golden sky. “Look at all those flags. There are flags on every roof. Even in Munich, you don’t see so many countries’ flags flying and the Olympics is coming. Is there a celebration of something going on?”

  “Celebration?” Clark laughed. “No. Not that I know of. These flags have always been here.”

  “They have? Guess I wasn’t paying attention before. Look at them. So colorful. It’s like a holiday, don’t you think?”

  Clark creased his forehead. “I always thought it was a way for every country to stake a claim.”

  “Hmm.” She dropped her smile and took a second look. Her eyes landed on the British flag fluttering on a pole on top of the Shanghai Club, the exclusive gathering place where Clark’s sister, Estella, had said no Chinese were allowed. “It’s true. Dogs like to mark their territory on poles too.”

  Clark’s frown deepened before he laughed and loosened his face.

  She walked to the edge of the wharf. Silently, Clark followed. Across the river, more flags on the vessels moored at the docks waved in the wind. From merchant ships to passenger liners to naval destroyers, none would be eclipsed by the others. Especially not the naval destroyers. The IJN Idzumo, the HMS Peterel, the USS Wake. All had their ensigns raised high at the stern like proud warriors brandishing their weapons.

  What would these warriors of the sea do if Germany entered the world arena and demanded its place? Somewhere across the ocean, Hitler was gearing up and mobilizing his army. For what purpose? No one knew. But the rise of the Nazis had made everyone nervous. Here in Shanghai, rumors abounded within the Jewish community. Under Hitler’s rule, the Jews’ personal safety could no longer be guaranteed. Friends and neighbors had turned into enemies. The new laws were tearing families and lovers apart.

  “Do you think there will ever come a day when the flag of every country is flown to show the world coming together?” she asked.

  “Is that what you’d like to see?” Clark asked beside her, his voice ever so gentle.

  “Yes.” She looked out to the far side of the river. “I dream of a day when all nations’ flags would fly in the unity of peace. I dream of a world where no law or human divide would stop two people from falling in love.” She retrieved her gaze with a smile. “Do you think it’s silly of me?”

  “No, I don’t.” He stepped closer to her. “If you’d allow it, I’d like to share this dream with you.”

  Share her dream? Clark didn’t strike her as a dreamer. At least not one who dallied with idealistic fantasies. She searched his face, trying to determine if he was only amusing her. The earnestness on his face said otherwise.

  “Yours is a good dream,” he said. “Sometimes, I look at all the different people walking down the street and all the things that are wrong with this city. The poverty, the opium dens, the endless ways people try to cheat others like they did to you today. I wonder if those of us who try can ever fix it all in our lifetime. It’s almost enough to make you want to give up. The only way to go forward is if we hold on to our dreams. We have to believe things can get better. If we don’t, we’ll stop trying. If we stop trying, failure would become a self-fulfilling prophecy.”

  Eden listened, relishing this rare instance of him revealing what he really thought. The latent passion in his voice could move rocks. “Let’s dream together then. If both of us share the same dream, maybe we’ll double the chances for it to come true.”

  He answered with his usual silent affirmation. Given the chance, she would love to reach deeper into his mind. Peel off the layers of his quiet exterior and find out what fervor lay beneath.

  How far could she pursue friendship with a Chinese man without crossing the line? Would it be proper if she reached out to him for no reason other than the fact that she wanted to know him better? Would the Chinese find such a gesture unacceptable? Even for someone like him, who’d spent extensive time in the West, would he think it inappropriate if she let on that she was curious about him?

  What if he mistook her curiosity for something more?

  Her own heart flipped. What if her curiosity was something more?

  Her breath quickened at the thought.

  No. Impossible. A white woman—even if a Jewish one—and a Chinese man? Society would never allow it.

  Would it?

  Could such a barrier be broken?

  She couldn’t see how. Even in this city where all races of people crossed paths, everyone understood. Law or no law, certain boundaries would always hold. A wall of racial divide stood between them even if the idea didn’t exist only on her part.

  What would it take for the world to stop segregating people by race so that two kindred spirits could connect without fear?

  The sun disappeared behind the building. Darkness began its reign over the sky. Beneath the stars, her dream felt ever more daunting.

  At the bottom of the building where Eden lived, Clark watched her disappear into the entrance after he’d dropped her off. How he wished he could spend more evenings with her watching the sunset like they did tonight.

  An impossible dream, he knew.

  I dream of a world where no law or human divide would stop two people from falling in love.

  Would it be a dream come true if, by two people, she meant the two of them?

  For him at least, it would be. For her, she was talking about the ideal world she wanted to live in. She wasn’t talking about him.

  Still, it made him happy to know she’d called on him when she needed help. Of all people, she thought of him. Maybe, just maybe, somewhere within her heart, he had a place.

  His chauffeur, Huang Shifu, turned the wheel and took him away. Back in reality, what he wanted could never be. Even if, by miracle, she had any feelings for him, too many obstacles stood in the way. For a white woman, even a hint of romantic involvement with a Chinese man would ruin her name. She would destroy any prospect of marrying someone of her own race. It wouldn’t matter who Clark was or how much wealth he owned. For her, being involved with him would be a giant step down in everyone’s eyes. Why would she want that, and why would he wreck her future this way?

  What if she didn’t mind? What if she were someone unique and different who could see beyond the barrier of race?

  I’m not anyone special here. I’m a refugee. Every day, I’m thankful there’s a safe place in the world that took me and my family in when no other country would.

  She sounded so full of conviction.

  I’m here at the mercy of the Chinese. I don’t want to turn a blind eye to what life is like for them.

  He never expected that from her. A beautiful white girl in Shanghai could have the world at her feet. Endless adventures and fortune awaited her. Her number one goal right now should be to find herself a suitable husband. Someone who could offer her status, wealth, and a lifetime of security. Why even think about how ordinary Chinese people lived?

  Was he giving her too little credit? This was a girl who’d bravely traveled across continents to a city she’d never heard of before. Each time they’d met, he’d seen her make her best effort to embrace everything unfamiliar to her. She went out of her way to venture into the local parts of Shanghai on her own. She said she wanted to experience how the locals lived. A white girl in Shanghai didn’t usually do that. Why assume she wouldn’t dare to cross the racial line for love?

  If she were someone willing to take a step down for the sake of love, could he offer her the security of marriage? Could he protect her for as long as they lived?

  He stared at his hands. No question about it. His family would never approve. Marrying someone not Chinese? It would break his mother’s heart. It was one thing to befriend foreigners. Ma
rrying and bringing one into the family was a whole different story. Their cultures, ways of life, nothing was the same. How could they possibly live together? How would they even talk to each other?

  They would never trust a white woman either. A white woman who would marry a Chinese man? She must be wild. Untamed. Maybe she had something to hide. Why else wouldn’t she marry someone her own kind? They’d blame everything that ever went wrong on her. When that happened, could he stand up for her against his own family?

  What about children?

  A child with mixed blood has no place in society. Not good enough to be white, too foreign to be Chinese. Such a child would be lost, stranded, unwanted. A forever outcast.

  Clark dropped his shoulders. He could see it already. His mother wailing in front of their ancestors’ shrine. He was their family’s only son. It was all up to him to carry on their name. For his mother, it would be the death of her if he married someone not Chinese.

  And then, there was the little problem that he still hadn’t figured out how to solve—Shen Yi.

  Like it or not, he was not a free man. He was engaged.

  He turned to look out the window. No good thinking about all this. It was just his own private fantasy anyhow.

  13

  Drug Raid

  On a routine afternoon, Clark laid down a report from the Fifth Army on his desk. The unit was one of the KMT military’s finest, with German-trained divisions and a glorious history of having defended Shanghai against the Japanese attack in 1932. Its success, however, masked the desperate state of the Chinese army. The military was always in need of something. More ammunition and supplies. More uniforms, rifles, vehicles, medicine, and food. Clark wished they were only making excessive demands. The truth was, their soldiers were running out of even the basic essentials. It was a feat in itself that they could continue to operate.