Shanghai Story: A WWII Drama Trilogy Book One

by Alexa Kang

  “What are these?” Joshua peeked inside the bags.

  “Joshua!” Mrs. Levine reprimanded her son. “Mind your manners.”

  Clark smiled and opened one of the bags. “These are zongzi.”

  “Zongzi?” Joshua asked.

  “Yes. They’re a traditional food we eat for the May Festival.”

  “What’s the May Festival?”

  “It’s a day we commemorate Qu Yuan, a government minister from the ancient days of the Warring States period in China. He was known to be very loyal to the king, but his enemies falsely accused him of treason. When he couldn’t prove his innocence, he jumped into a pond and killed himself. But the people in his province knew he was a good and honorable man. To protect his body from being eaten by fish, they made these zongzi wrapped in lotus leaves, rowed their boats out to the pond, and dumped them into the water to feed the fish.” He handed one to Joshua.

  Joshua turned it over, then held it up to his nose. Clark couldn’t tell if Joshua liked the smell or not. “If you don’t like them, that’s okay. I brought along these pastries.”

  “I would love to try them.” Mrs. Levine took the bag. “Some of our best experiences since coming to China are trying all these different foods we’ve never seen before.”

  Clark stepped back. Maybe they would like them after all, but right now, he was sure she had said this to be polite.

  “Take a seat,” Mrs. Levine offered. “Make yourself comfortable. Would you like some tea?”

  Feeling more at ease, Clark pulled a chair out from the table. “Tea would be great. Thank you.”

  “Let’s give these zongzi a try. I’ll bring out some plates.” Mrs. Levine went into the kitchen, and Clark’s eyes returned to Eden. She sat down at the table next to him and smiled. His heart leaped and he lowered his eyes.

  “How is your father feeling these days?” Dr. Levine asked.

  “Good,” Clark said. “Thank you for asking. He looks to be in good health. Although I’ve only been back in Shanghai for a few days. I hadn’t seen him in years myself.”

  “Oh?” Eden asked. “Where were you?”

  “I was studying abroad in America.” He couldn’t help smiling when she showed interest in what he did. “I was there for six years. What about you? Where are you all from? How long have you been here?”

  “Only two months,” said Dr. Levine.

  “We came from Munich,” Mrs. Levine said, returning from the kitchen with a pot of tea on a tray and a stack of small plates, knives, and forks.

  “Let me help you.” Clark opened one of the bags he’d brought. “The ones in this bag are the sweet ones. The ones in the other bag are the salty ones.” He took one out. “You might like these sweet ones better.” He unwrapped it and cut it in half, revealing the red bean paste filling.

  Eden watched him place each half on a plate, then took one serving for herself and passed the other one to her father. Clark tensed as he watched Eden take her first bite. More than anything, he didn’t want her to be put off.

  “Mmmm. Wonderful.” She took a second bite. He wasn’t sure if she really liked it, but he let out a silent sigh of relief.

  Joshua opened the box of pastries and looked inside. “Can I have the Linzertorte instead?”

  “Joshua!” Mrs. Levine shook her head, but nonetheless gave him what he wanted. “I didn’t know there are so many European bakeries and cafes in Shanghai. Some of the pastries and bread here are even better than what we could get in Munich. I didn’t expect to find so many Europeans here.”

  “It certainly made our transition easier,” Dr. Levine said.

  “But China’s fascinating too.” Eden put down her plate. “The qipao the women wear are beautiful. And the rickshaws. I can’t believe how strong the rickshaw coolies are. How do they pull so much weight and run nonstop all day long?”

  Clark smiled at her again, glad to see the genuine look of curiosity and appreciation on her face. “What made you all decide to come to Shanghai?”

  “China’s the only place that would take us,” Dr. Levine said. “We couldn’t get visas to go to America or any other country in Europe. The application process was too long and complicated.”

  “Long and complicated?” Mrs. Levine said. A trace of despair replaced her pleasant smile. “Let’s not mince words. All those countries are less than willing to let us come. That’s the truth.”

  “Our rabbi told us about Shanghai,” Dr. Levine continued in a calm voice. “He said China didn’t require a visa, and there are no quotas. He urged us to consider it. We didn’t know anything about China. Not really. Neither did any of our friends. It was all very confusing and a lot of people had reservations. But once we made our decision, our rabbi put us in touch with a synagogue here. When we boarded the ship, I knew it was the right thing to do.” He poured himself more tea and threw in two lumps of sugar. If he’d felt any sense of indignation, his face didn’t show it. “We’re nothing but grateful for your country for accepting us when others wouldn’t. So, thank you.”

  “Oh no, don’t thank me.” Clark held up his hand. “I didn’t do anything of any use to that end, although I’m glad you’re all able to find a home here. It can’t be easy uprooting your family and leaving your own country to move to a city you don’t know so far away.”

  “Germany’s not our home anymore,” Eden said. The sternness in her voice surprised him. “Have you heard about the Nuremberg Laws?”

  “I have read news reports about it when I was in America,” Clark said, recalling the horrible reports of blatant discrimination against the Jewish people.

  “They passed the law last year. The German state had decided Jews are no longer citizens. The Reich citizenship belongs only to those with German blood. Citizenship rights no longer apply to us. We are . . . undesirables.”

  “We’re now ‘enemies of the race-based state.’” Mrs. Levine sat down next to her husband. “Although I’m not exactly sure what we’ve done that would make us anyone’s enemies.”

  “That’s awful,” Clark said. He honestly couldn’t understand why the German government would pass such laws. In America, there were racial segregation laws against Negroes. But as far as he could see, the Jews looked no different in appearance than any other white people. He wouldn’t be able to tell them apart from the Germans, or Britons, or Americans if he saw them walking down the street. What reason did the German government have to be so against the Jews?

  Dr. Levine put his arm around his wife. “I didn’t want to stay in Munich to find out how much worse it would get. Maybe the madness is temporary. Regardless, my family’s safety is the priority.” He gazed at his son and daughter. Clark marveled at how rational he sounded given the circumstances. The way he spoke had the effect of reassuring everyone around him.

  “This is our new home now.” Eden refilled Clark’s teacup. “And I like it.”

  Clark gazed at her. Her words soothed him like a breeze of fresh wind.

  The phone rang. Mrs. Levine answered it and scribbled down a message. When she returned, she said to her husband, “Mrs. Cohen asked if you can send another prescription of veronal to her this afternoon.”

  Dr. Levine checked his watch. “I’ve got a lecture on traditional Chinese medicine to go to in half an hour.”

  “I can take it to her, Papa,” Eden said.

  “That would be helpful.” Dr. Levine took a medicine bottle out of a black bag.

  “Here’s the address.” Mrs. Levine gave her the paper on which she’d written during the phone call. Eden read it and frowned.

  “Is something wrong?” Clark asked.

  “Nothing. I’m not familiar with this street, that’s all. I can take a rickshaw but the coolies probably can’t read the address in English. I’ll probably pronounce it wrong and confuse them.”

  “Let me see.” Clark glanced at the address. “Route Ferguson. That’s not too far from here. You can walk. I can take you there.”

  “Are you sur
e? I don’t want to impose.”

  Of course he was sure. At the moment, he’d never been more sure about anything in his whole life. “You’re not imposing at all. It’s easy. I’ll take you. I should get going anyway.”

  “In that case, thank you.” Eden lowered her eyes, then glanced back up. Once again, he found himself mesmerized by those eyes.

  “Let me get my purse.” She got up from her seat.

  Clark stood up after her. What luck. The unexpected errand gave him a chance to stay with her a little while longer. Thankfully, he’d declined Huang Shifu’s offer for a ride earlier. If the car were waiting, he would have no excuse not to give Eden a ride, and they would arrive at their destination all too soon. With walking, he could prolong their trip a while longer.

  He bid the Levines goodbye and proceeded to lead Eden out onto the street.

  4

  Street Performers

  Strolling down the sidewalk, Clark slid his hands casually in his pockets and tried to think of something interesting to say to Eden. Before he uttered a word, two drops of water pelted his forehead. Reflexively, he stepped to the side and glanced up. In one of the units of the building they were passing by, a woman was leaning halfway out her window and throwing a pair of woman’s drawers over a clothesline, next to a shirt already hanging on the line. Clark winced at the sight and stole a glance at Eden. How embarrassing. He wished the habit of hanging underwear in public view would disappear.

  A short, portly man wearing his pajamas walked toward them, his top unbuttoned and his protruding waistline visible for all the world to see. As he walked past Clark, he let out a loud hack from his throat and spit onto the ground.

  Clark glared at him, but the man continued obliviously on his way.

  “I’m sorry,” Clark mumbled.

  “For what?” Eden asked. She gazed out over the bicycle traffic at the construction site across the street. Another tall aspiring skyscraper would soon sprout up. So many new ones had been built in the last six years. Each of them competing to be higher than the next. For this city, the sky was the limit.

  Clark slowed his pace. “It must be tough getting used to some of the habits of the people here. I hope you don’t find this city too difficult to live in.”

  “Difficult to live in?” Eden turned toward him with her deep, brown eyes. “Not at all. You can’t imagine what relief it has been for us to move here. My father didn’t mention this earlier, but since the Nuremberg Laws passed, he was no longer allowed to practice medicine. The German government made it illegal for Jews to work in regulated professions.”

  Clark stopped. What idiocy. Of all professions, doctors should be the most valued. A strong country required a healthy population. A healthy population in turn required a sufficient number of experts knowledgeable in all areas of medicine. Here in China, they couldn’t get enough doctors. The Germans must’ve lost their minds to prohibit doctors from working.

  “That’s not all.” Eden continued walking. “Since all that happened, German companies no longer hire anyone who is Jewish. So many of us are out of work. If we run our own businesses, we can’t advertise. Maybe it wouldn’t matter anyway. People no longer buy from Jewish-owned shops and they wouldn’t sell to us either.”

  Clark listened as he followed her. What she was telling him reminded him of the segregation laws in America, although he hadn’t come into contact with many Negroes in Connecticut, so he had no direct knowledge of how the Negroes dealt with the situation. Certainly, on the pure principle of fairness, those laws didn’t feel right. He could imagine the indignity the Negroes must have felt though, as he’d felt indignant too when he learned of the Chinese Exclusion Act which prohibited the Chinese from immigrating to the United States. But it had to be much worse for the American Negroes, or even the American Chinese, since the U.S. law didn’t affect him personally. And overall, he’d been treated well by his teachers, professors, and classmates in the places where he’d been in Connecticut.

  He watched Eden strolling casually ahead, impressed by her dignified calmness as she spoke of the injustice inflicted upon her people. Staring at the ground, she said, “The way things were going, we’d have no way to make a decent living. But things were bad even before then. Sometimes, Jewish shops would get vandalized. Even worse, there were a lot of incidents of assaults. All because we’re Jews. My father treated some of the victims. Some of them were our friends. I never felt safe after Hitler came to power.”

  Clark stared at the ground. He wanted to say something comforting, but he couldn’t think of anything he could say to give her any reason for hope.

  “And now, we’re here.” Her hard face softened. “There are no brown shirts marching up and down the streets. No Nazi flags draping over buildings everywhere I go. I can buy from any shop. Joshua started sixth grade at the Shanghai Jewish School. My father’s working again. Our new rabbi put him in touch with the Hospital Sainte Marie. They offered him a job. He almost took it, but he decided to open his own clinic instead because there were so many Chinese patients who wanted to see him. He can choose to do whatever he wants. In China, we’re free.”

  Clark gave her an encouraging smile. Earlier, he was worried she might look askance at the crassness of some of the locals like other foreign girls, or even well-heeled Shanghainese girls. Now, his worries felt superfluous. Eden wasn’t someone who minded trivial things. Her thoughts went deeper.

  “Just look at this place,” she said. “Look at all the different kinds of people here. Chinese, Europeans, Russians, Japanese, Koreans, Filipinos, Indians, Arabs, Africans. Everyone is here. No one is asked to leave.” She gazed up at all the store signs hanging above the sidewalk. “I’m taking Chinese lessons.”

  “You are?” Clark stared at her, amazed.

  Eden nodded with a proud smile.

  “Most foreigners find it too difficult to learn.”

  “It is.” She shrugged and swung her skirt. “I’ll admit I’m making very slow progress, but I figure if this is my new home, I should learn how to read and speak its language.”

  Her new home. Clark sucked in a deep breath. This beautiful girl was not like the expat wives who summered in Europe and joined their husbands in Shanghai when the seasons suited them. She was not a daughter of a foreign family who’d soon return to her native land to marry when the right suitor came along. She would be here. Permanently. Like him.

  “I think we can make a good life for ourselves here. Father is happy with his work. Mother is adapting and Joshua really likes his new school. The people at our synagogue, Beth Aharon, they’ve been so helpful. They helped us find our apartment. They told us about all the good places to buy food and everything else we need. We really couldn’t have asked for more.” She paused and stared at the ground. “I just wish things would be easier for Isaac.”

  “Isaac?”

  “He’s the son of my father’s best friend back in Munich. He came with us. He’s living with us, actually. His parents were planning to come here and join him. They were supposed to arrive on a ship three weeks after us, but we found out they never boarded. He’s very worried.”

  “Do you know what happened?”

  “No.” Eden shook her head. “We’re still trying to contact them. I hope we hear from them soon.”

  A burst of cheers erupted in an alleyway as they passed. The noise came from a crowd that had gathered around a woman performing a plate-spinning routine on the street. Clark tapped Eden’s back and pointed down the lane. “Come take a look.”

  Curious, Eden followed him. She watched the woman twirl three sticks in each hand with a plate swirling on top of every stick. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”

  They came closer and joined the crowd. The woman had finished her act and several people in the audience threw coins into the tin box she’d laid on the ground. Her partner’s turn was next. He walked to the center and began to juggle the long stack of bowls. Eden glanced at Clark and clapped her hands. Her bright
smile sparked his spirit like a ray of sunshine.

  The performer swooped the bowls back into his hands. One by one, he tossed them to the tip of his foot and kicked the bowls to the top of his head. The bowls stacked higher and higher, and still they did not fall.

  “How does he do that?” Eden laughed as she applauded along with the crowd.

  Clark didn’t know. He watched her enjoying herself while she and everyone else had their eyes fixed on the performance. He’d never been drawn this way to someone who was not Chinese. It wasn’t that he hadn’t met attractive women outside of his race, but the idea of making anything of it never crossed his mind. Women didn’t run around with men of other races. At least not women of good repute. Besides, Westerners—white women—wouldn’t be attracted to an Asian man. They never were. He’d never seen a white woman from a proper family married to a Chinese man when he was growing up. Things were the same in America. Or worse, even. Anti-miscegenation laws forbade such relationships in some parts of that country. Not that it mattered. No white girls would ever look at him the way they looked at his white classmates. They never would drop coquettish hints for him to ask them out on a date.

  And even if one would, his own parents would never approve. How could they carry on the family name if their grandchildren were mongrels?

  For all these reasons, he’d never entertained the thought of pursuing anything beyond casual friendships with women who were not Chinese. It was easy enough, as no foreign woman he’d ever met had particularly interested him.

  Until now.

  The more he thought about this, the more he felt gravity pulling him back to reality. He smiled to himself and looked away. If Eden weren’t a foreigner, he could invite her to a dinner, or the dance hall, or a show. As it was, anything beyond friendship with Eden was out of the question. He could admire her from afar, but nothing more.