Fiction: Group 3
Chinese Dreams
St. Paul's Co-educational College, Cheng, Chi Him Geoffrey - 13, Fiction: Group 3
he sun was glaring down on the eroded steps of the Guangzhou Train Terminal when Wen Xi,
grasping her worn out suitcase, stepped into the metropolis of work, smoke and people, to fulfill
her Chinese dream.
The incidents of the previous week were still constantly being replayed in her mind. Her father, the
breadwinner of the family, died from an accident in the mines; the family, with four daughters to take care
of, had no choice but to send Wen away for work. A myriad of incidents and twists brought her to the
southern industrial city Guangdong.
Wen took out a crumpled piece of newspaper with an address of her employment agency, and journeyed in
cramped buses and noisy train cabins.
Wen alighted at the front door of her ‘employment agency’ - the door was sealed with tape and metal
chains, and covered in advertisements and graffiti. No one had been here for years. She spotted a piece of
paper from the Chinese Security Council under a poster. On it was written :
China Employment Agency...suspected plot: over $100,000 collected from villagers as deposit…
She matched the name of the agency to the one on her newspaper over and over. There was no doubt -
Wen had just sent away two-thirds of her mother’s life savings to a ploy - that money was everything she
had. She wanted to call her mother, both to apologize to her and seek her mother’s comfort, but she dared
not waste the precious 10 RMB she had on her card; her mother was far far away in the north. She was
alone.
The day was coming to an end, and Wen had nothing but 15 RMB in her pocket. She walked from house
to hotel, apartments to charity centres, searching for a roof to sleep under. None of them responded to her
meagre request for a shelter in the night. Some families shouted at her like she was mad; some of them
simply shut the door. The sense of hopelessness grew after each refusal, the feeling of despair weighed
heavier after each apathetic glance.
It was almost eleven at night. Most people had already slept, and Wen was about to give up, her dreams
crumbling, drifting away in the wind.
“I guess I should be prepared to sleep out tonight,” Wen mumbled to herself.
Wearily she stepped up to a red brick house at the end of the block, and with courage she knocked on the
door. A young woman of her age answered.
“Uh… Hi, hi, I’m Wen Xi and I was just hoping if you could accommodate me for the night----”
In an instant the woman pulled Wen into the house. She fed her and gave her a simple bedroom and she
slept there for the night.
Wen woke up early before the sun had risen. There was work to do. She went to thank the generous
woman, at least know her name. However, Wen could not find her at all. She had left in the night. On the
rough wooden table were a hundred dollars and a career magazine. Scribbled on the newspaper was a simple
message:
Live your dream.
Wen took up the cash and grinned. Today she would get back on her feet.
Perusing the career magazine, Wen visited every factory in the vicinity throughout the morning, pausing
briefly for meals, then rushing off with the magazine under her arm searching for a job. By evening she had
T
