Simple pleasures keep the storm clouds at bay

If you had a choice, which era would you live in? I prefer Shanghai in the 1930s, because I love reading Qian Zhongshu's Besieged City.

Actually, the 1930s was chaotic. The Japanese were encroaching upon China from the north, while the rest of country was plagued by civil wars, rebellions and strikes. It was as if dark clouds covered the sky and thunder rolled ever nearer.

But in Shanghai, the rainstorm would arrive later for some people.

Every day, as the clock in my office hits 5 pm, I leave my work half finished, insert a note, cover my pen, clean up the desk, pick up my hat and brush the invisible dust off my long coat.

I bow slightly to the editor-in-chief, saying: "I have to leave", before walking out of the door.

On the way home, I flip a coin to the newsboy for the Evening News, get a snack or lotus leaf chicken from my favorite store. At the entrance of our nongtang alley, I pause by a stand and choose two sugar figurines.

Upstairs, my wife has prepared the noodles. As she babbles on about the neighborhood ladies, I hand over the figurines to our children, put down my hat, wash my hands and answer her occasionally.

At dinner, we talk about the news and my office chores. The children run around, then my wife mentions golden rings or fur coats that her girlfriends recently got from their husbands. At the end, she says: "That's nothing."

But as she clears the table, washes the dishes and irons the clothes, she complains about how shabby her dress has become. Looking up from my newspaper, I reply in a soothing tone: "Shouldn't we order some sticky rice dumplings?"

She brightens up immediately and puts some change in a basket, lowers it to the street and calls over the dumpling seller. Soon a bowl of hot sweet dumpling is on the table. Everyone has a content and happy evening.

Though you couldn't call us rich, we are much better off than many. Best of all, I am free of irritating tasks such as deciding which stocks to buy or sell. All I need to do is to receive the small, thin envelope from my editor-in-chief every month, hand it to my wife, then wait for her to grant me my allowance.

Despite the turbulences in politics and society, our family is content. As long as I keep proof-reading to make more money, I can buy my wife a new dress or overcoat. Then she will cook my favorite steamed fish.

The next morning, I pick up my younger brother from my parents' home and take him to the port. He will study in the United States. At noon, a friend invites me to lunch, saying he will go to Yan'an - the "red capital" of the country.

For me, this is such a peaceful moment, before the thunderstorms arrive.

(China Daily 01/24/2008 page20)