Szilágyi András (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 23. (Budapest, 2004)

Kornélia MAJOR: The Park of Loyalty and Filial Piety. Chen Yingzhen's Latest Short Stories

nor ruthless enough; therefore, he is not fully adequate for the job. Consequently, after a while he quits "investigation work". Political easing, however, confuses him and fills him with fear; he does not understand the changes. He does not have any doubt concerning his former job but feels betrayed by the leaders. In a while, his fears get out of hand and turn into persecution complex; he is constantly terrified by the idea of a possible exposure and revenge. Despite the medical treatments, his condition gets worse; when a former political prisoner recognises him by chance in a department store, he cannot bear tension any more and commits suicide. His common-law wife hands over his diary written during his illness to his former superior (Ding Shihui), who shelves the documents with a cynical relief: another weak link in the chain has been eliminated. Out of the three works, Zhongxiao gongyuan

15 is the longest one with the most complex plot. The protagonists are the elderly Ma Zhengtao and Lin Biao. Ma is a retired secret agent. He used to be a high-rank secret policeman in Manchuria in the service of the Japanese. After the Japanese defeat at the end of World War 2, he changed side and served the Guomindang. Then he was captured by the communists. He managed to escape and fled to Taiwan. In the course of his treasons, he betrayed his former colleagues and friends without hesitation. In his career he conducted tortures, participated in executions, even committed murder in cold blood. Having escaped to Taiwan, he withdrew from action; he worked for the secret police but stayed in the background, conducted analyses. He is lucky - he has never been exposed. He realised that he has nothing to stick to but the Guomindang. However, when the Guomindang loses its political power in 2000, he feels less and less safe. One day he is found dead in his flat. It is not clear whether he has committed suicide or has been murdered. Lin Biao, the other protagonist served as a driver in the ancillary units of the Japanese army during World War 2 on the Philippines. Several years after the defeat, having been hiding for long with Japanese soldiers, he could march out of the jungle as a "victorious" Chinese. Still, he was taken as a prisoner of war, just as the Japanese soldiers were, and when he returned home, he was regarded as a traitor to his country. Now, decades later, he and his former companions want the Japanese to compensate; they demand to be recognised as "subjects" of the Tennö and get arrears of their soldier's pay. Various political powers encourage them, in order to increase their own popularity. The miserable elderly people, enchanted with money, declare that they are Japanese, march in the streets in their war uniforms, singing the Japanese anthem. Then they have a most bitter realisation: there is nobody to undertake their case, they are being exploited. When in need of soldiers, the Japanese made use of their service; when work was to be done and Taiwanese economy needed to be straightened out, the Guomindang made use of them, and now certain leaders want to make political capital out of them. Eventually, the new government, reluctant to confront with the Japanese, states that it cannot act on their behalf again, it is they who have to make sacrifice for their country. At the end of the story Lin Biao, seeing his granddaughter's Japanese boyfriend, bursts out in complete disillusionment and bewilderment: "Who am I?" In the Zhongxiao trilogy, Chen presents variegated types of guilty people. In a way, their story is that of "crime and punishment". They are guilty even if they have not committed evil deeds in the literary sense of the word (Yang Bin and Lin Biao). They are burdened with an "original" sin, which is the time and place of their birth. They can make matters worse if they do not use their free judgement: when they just walk in the world with their eyes close and do not know their place in the world (Yang Bin), or when they unintentionally become accomplices in evil deeds (Li Qinghao). The next stage is when they walk with open eyes and undertake evil deeds consciously, as a principle (Ding Shihui, Li Qinghao's superior). The last stage is when they commit evil deeds from selfish motives (Ma Zhengtao). Redemption or