Student Translation Project
HKBU 2018
Raccoon GE Liang
Translated by
Lewis LUO, Vicky GE, Zoe ZHAO
Stories continue in the city of flourish and gloom. The tortuous and bleak ones are hidden under the gorgeous surface. Still, some genial things await you probably. No matter how Central and Tsim Sha Tsui change round the clock, the daylight will fade away. Trolleybuses, being far away from the mountains, are winded in the Des Voeux Road; while the hum from the distant streets is always heard.
​
----GE Liang
Preface- Raccoon
Strange feelings came to my mind when I watched the CATS years ago. Besides magnificence, what attracts me most is the imitation of human establishments and a little resistance. In a certain corner of the city, these animals gathered to sing and dance, expressing their dignity with a unique name. They extremely admire authority; meanwhile, they experience the growth on the road of betrayal and compromise. However, when they are eventually fed up with the world, a Heavy Side Layer would be the rebirth, which people can hardly reach.
I always believe that our life has been scrutinized by a daily eye— a cat, a parrot, a beetle or a crab. Kafka and Schurz make us frightened as well as desperate. We do not know what happens later; worse still, life falls apart without warning. Urbanites, with reverence and awe, imagine themselves standing on the tail end of the thick action chain, waiting a butterfly to flap wings in the long distance. That is our fate.
After a typhoon swept the area, I finally began to write about the city that I live in. This typhoon was named after an animal because of its swiftness and unpredictability. It brought strong wind and plentiful rainfall as well as an unexpected meeting to this island city.
As a matter of fact, this city never lacked unexpected meetings probably because of its complex surroundings, geographical environment or the habit of people to drift about. Stories come from meetings. As time goes by, people are no longer sorrowful or panic because of the companion. The history witnesses people’s meeting in the city. A hundred years ago, someone called Wang Tao, who wanted to avoid misfortune, came to this place that he called “a small island”. Then he decided to stay. He began to write articles and run a newspaper. When he got old, he had to return to his hometown. However, he could not take away what he left in this city. This is not a fate but an unexpected meeting.
Many years later, this city was written down by another person. It was still about meeting. What she met was the changes of time. Her name was Eileen Chang. I heard about the past of this star-crossed alumna when I was in CUHK. She suffered many mishaps in her life and kept some material desire within as a little comfort. The sorrow and desolation from half a century ago has continuous influence until today. She knew what to say, so she wrote about “some irrelevant things “and named the book The Legend.
In the old stories, there are always several lonely heroes living alone. If they are born in normal family, their sad stories will be simple. Nowadays, old stories change. The depths of the city have vanished. As beautiful as it was the old days, it is a symbol for visitors. After the end of the last century, the old and new people on the island still have their busy life. It seems like busier, but inside it is duller. Time is new; however, people are old. The people who take an action, are to wait and see, with no expression. This book, is made of cold and warm stories I witnessed. Some of them are old stories, and others are old experiences. There are also lots of people feel loss because of the time flies people changes. The city's contours are changing with long, narrow harbor and endless coastline.
This book talks about Hong Kong in my eyes.