“What did we have left of you? A jade bangle, a handful of old folk songs and memories of endless sorrow and humiliation. Your exiles told their restless, fidgety children that you had a glorious civilization that has existed for over 4000 years but then things fell apart. I hated copying out the characters of your language as a child.”
“好了，不要在哭。” (It’s ok, please don’t cry.)He wiped away her tears gently with his long sleeve.
“My grandfather wanted to come back all of his life, I’m glad he finally did. When strangers see my eyes and thick jet-black hair, they think of you, a faraway, mysterious land I never laid foot on, perhaps a land with cloud-enshrouded mountains on which the fairies of Penglai still dwell. I’m homesick but I never even knew you.”
“I’m sorry I couldn’t take better care of all of you. I was weak and sick. I’m trying to do my best now for the many children who still live here. I know we still have a lot of problems. I need to find a way to take care of everyone.”
“I thought I hated you but I got angry when I saw Francis with your bronze heads. I got angry when I thought of Kiku stabbing you in the back and all those foreign countries trying to take advantage of you. But I don’t belong to you anymore. We have our own country now. I can’t come back home again. It will never be the same.” Tears ran down her face and she tasted her own shimmering salt.
“I wish you and your people prosperity, peace and happiness. Even if I never come back, I like to think that you and your other children are always there, laughing and going about their lives. Maybe I will return one day and gather fresh bamboo shoots in your groves. And we’ll talk over delicate cups of smoky tea and eat them together with silver chopsticks. Yao, you have lived for so long, what’s another hundred years? Your bosses will change but you will survive and thrive in this world for our sake, won’t you?”
Wang Yao didn’t say a word but stroked the girl’s long hair fondly.
As her consciousness began to fade, she murmured “再见了，我亲爱的祖国...”(Goodbye, my beloved ancestral land.)
The End
Note 1: This is a sappy well-known Chinese children’s song called “Mother is the Best Thing in the World” about the love of a mother, how fortunate a child with a mother is and how sad it would be to be an orphan. Since Yao is portrayed as kinda feminine/big brotherly…
P.S. Sorry, this ended up so sappy, I wept while watching too many East Asia MADs with motherly Yao I guess. Becoming a Hetalia fan has made me a lot more empathetic towards Yao as I learn more about his sad history. Silly but true. I hope I will get up the courage to visit one day. I’m the only one in the family who hasn’t been there.
Anon, I'll be honest with you and say that this is the only fic here that brought tears to my eye....This line specially "I’m homesick but I never even knew you.” Although from another country, I know exatcly how that feels....
My own country is very different physically (climate, plants/animals) and culturally from China so I can't help but wonder what it would be like to experience things unique to my native land back "home".
We still practice Chinese customs but it feels sort of out of context if you know what I mean because we live elsewhere and the whole country doesn't shut down for Chinese festivals. So I'm sort of stuck with the nostalgia...
It's just part of the package of coming from immigrant stock I guess
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
In Dappled Dreams of Bamboo (China) Part 2/2
(Anonymous) 2009-03-21 02:29 pm (UTC)(link)“好了，不要在哭。” (It’s ok, please don’t cry.)He wiped away her tears gently with his long sleeve.
“My grandfather wanted to come back all of his life, I’m glad he finally did. When strangers see my eyes and thick jet-black hair, they think of you, a faraway, mysterious land I never laid foot on, perhaps a land with cloud-enshrouded mountains on which the fairies of Penglai still dwell. I’m homesick but I never even knew you.”
“I’m sorry I couldn’t take better care of all of you. I was weak and sick. I’m trying to do my best now for the many children who still live here. I know we still have a lot of problems. I need to find a way to take care of everyone.”
“I thought I hated you but I got angry when I saw Francis with your bronze heads. I got angry when I thought of Kiku stabbing you in the back and all those foreign countries trying to take advantage of you. But I don’t belong to you anymore. We have our own country now. I can’t come back home again. It will never be the same.” Tears ran down her face and she tasted her own shimmering salt.
“I wish you and your people prosperity, peace and happiness. Even if I never come back, I like to think that you and your other children are always there, laughing and going about their lives. Maybe I will return one day and gather fresh bamboo shoots in your groves. And we’ll talk over delicate cups of smoky tea and eat them together with silver chopsticks. Yao, you have lived for so long, what’s another hundred years? Your bosses will change but you will survive and thrive in this world for our sake, won’t you?”
Wang Yao didn’t say a word but stroked the girl’s long hair fondly.
As her consciousness began to fade, she murmured “再见了，我亲爱的祖国...”(Goodbye, my beloved ancestral land.)
The End
Note 1: This is a sappy well-known Chinese children’s song called “Mother is the Best Thing in the World” about the love of a mother, how fortunate a child with a mother is and how sad it would be to be an orphan. Since Yao is portrayed as kinda feminine/big brotherly…
P.S. Sorry, this ended up so sappy, I wept while watching too many East Asia MADs with motherly Yao I guess. Becoming a Hetalia fan has made me a lot more empathetic towards Yao as I learn more about his sad history. Silly but true. I hope I will get up the courage to visit one day. I’m the only one in the family who hasn’t been there.
Re: In Dappled Dreams of Bamboo (China) Part 2/2
(Anonymous) 2009-03-23 05:09 am (UTC)(link)Re: In Dappled Dreams of Bamboo (China) Part 2/2
(Anonymous) 2009-03-24 12:42 pm (UTC)(link)My own country is very different physically (climate, plants/animals) and culturally from China so I can't help but wonder what it would be like to experience things unique to my native land back "home".
We still practice Chinese customs but it feels sort of out of context if you know what I mean because we live elsewhere and the whole country doesn't shut down for Chinese festivals. So I'm sort of stuck with the nostalgia...
It's just part of the package of coming from immigrant stock I guess