“Wake up! Wake up Tintin! We are running late!” yells Snowy. “Hmmm…” Tintin manages to open his heavy eyelids after a late night drinking with his mates at Imperial Hotel Tokyo in Ginza. Tintin gets dressed, rushes for his part-time English teaching at university with Snowy. JP¥7,000 per month in the Great Depression is a good sum of money. Plus the salary for being a Belgian reporter in Japan, Tintin and Snowy are enjoying their comfortable and well-earned lives in Japan where far away from unemployment shot-up Europe.
“TAKE THE HONOUR TO DIE IN BATTLE FOR THE EMPEROR HIROHITO” a white strip of cloth with this sentence in dark red across the top of the entrance to the university. “My God! Where is the battle?” Tintin murmurs. “Maybe in Korea, maybe in Taiwan or China.” Snowy replies.
Tintin met his mates again in Imperial Hotel on that night. They are all foreigners from the West working and getting well paid in Japan. “I received a telegram from Mr Zhou a Chinese friend I met in Paris a few years ago urging me to go to Shanghai,” Tintin said. “Hahaha! Don’t be silly, Tintin. You will miss Sayuri in the elegant kimonos, her beautiful white make-up, her Tachitaka and Jikata.” Tom an American laughed. Tintin nods and agrees.
Before long, at university, all the male students start practising shooting and hand-to-hand combat in the soccer field while the female students were doing the first aid course in the lecture theatre. The teachers were all from the military. Shortly after, Tintin is informed to collect his take-home pay from the university. The militant empire changes all universities to army training bases. No university lecturers are needed. Tintin loses his teaching job. He has no other choices but to pack the trunk and leave for Shanghai.
ACT TWO
The ship that Tintin and Snowy are on first sets sail for Taiwan to pick up bags and bags of rice, then sets off for Shanghai. On the third day of the journey, Snow went out for his evening walk. “Tintin, Tintin there are many women on this ship going to China too!” Snowy hurries back to Tintin with this shocking news. “Really?! Japanese women on board to China.” Tintin wonders. On the fourth day, Snowy is sent to detect the suspicious ship. Surprisingly, he finds out the ship carries lots of condoms in its basement.
After five days journey in the sea, Tintin and Snowy arrive at the Shanghai harbour. “Are we really in Shanghai?” Questions Snowy. The Japanese soldiers stand along the harbour with guns in hands. Tintin and Snowy saw the exhausting Japanese women being pulled in the green Army trucks with Nisshoki (sun) flags in the front. The rice and condoms are moved into the last five trucks. The Japanese trucks carrying their soldiers, women, rice and condoms disappear from the harbour. Japanese women are going to the battlefield with rice and condoms. “This doesn’t make sense.” However, with the vanishing of the Japanese trucks, Tintin and Snow feel the wind blowing softly. The air smells fresh and sweet.
Tintin and Snowy are now in Shanghai, Paris of the East, New York of the West. After the refreshment in the Continental Hotel, Tintin and Snowy dress up and head for their first function at International settlement in the Shanghai Bund. “Tintin, I am feeling at home,” said Snowy. “Me too, Snowy. No more Nihongo!” The colourful European flags waving on the top of various western style buildings. The names of shops and streets are all in English. Everything here looks so familiar.
They arrive at the Shanghai Club where the British counsellor hosts an evening for the Shanghailanders, the residents at International Settlement. “ Good evening Sir!” The British waiter gives them a very warm greeting as they walk in. The magnificent sparling chandeliers are shining up the whole lobby. The golden tall pillars make the lobby look enormous and splendorous. “Good evening Mr Tintin! Welcome to Shanghai! I hope you enjoy your stay in China and let the world know we are waking up this eastern dragon and building her a better tomorrow!” The British counsellor Dawson comes to Tintin with a big smiley face. The moustache is dancing up and down happily on his fatty face while he is talking. “We are proud being the largest investor in China. We provide huge amount of loans to the Chinese government, involving in mineral, railway, shipbuilding and military industries. Shanghai has become the centre of international business…” His moustache keeps moving up and down when he carries on his talking.
After the function, they walk along the Bund. The night is quiet and peaceful with light and pleasant music echoing. “What a beautiful night! Let’s have a walk in the park.” They decided. Suddenly, they are stunned. “NO DOGS OR CHINESE ALLOWED”, a sign is put up at the entrance to the Huangpu Park. Tintin’s heart is sunk. Poor little Snowy is so depressed. The wind blow chillily. Neither of them talks on the way back to the hotel.
At the reception in the Continental Hotel, Tintin received a letter from Mr Zhou and a parcel with two sets of cotton Chinese costume for Snowy and himself. “There will be a brown rickshaw with a red handkerchief hanging on the handle to pick you up at 8.30 at the hotel entrance.” The letter said.
The next morning, Tintin and Snowing put on the cotton Chinese costumes and are taken to a wooden boat in a small river at the countryside of Shanghai. There he
meets Mr Zhou one of the leaders of Chinese communist party. Mr Zhou studied Marxism in France, Britain, Belgium and German where he also became a student organizer in the Communist Revolution.
“Hello Tintin! Welcome to China! How are you, Snowy?” “Glad to see you Zhou. But we had an unpleasant time last night. No Dogs or Chinese Allowed in Huangpu Park” Tintin complained to Zhou angrily. “We know that sign, Tintin. Indeed, our people are treated worse than animals. I urge you to China to see our suffering and to tell the world the truth.” Mr Zhou says in a low but serious voice to Tintin. “The imperialist powers are raping our country, Japanese in the north and British together with others in the south. They rob our resources and kill our people. In the South, Shanghai is becoming the centre of international opium smuggling. In the North, our people are loosing their blood, their families and their home. China is in great danger. We are fighting for our freedom and for our country. Tintin, please let the world know the truth and let them know we need their support!”
Tintin and Snowy travel to the North with their heavy hearts. Bomb frightened, burning hut and hobos were everywhere. They then arrive at a Japanese controlled zone. There they find the Japanese women Snowy met on the ship. The women are working in the Comfort Station as ianfu (comfort women). At that night, Snowy sneaks in the Comfort Station. At the lobby, Snowy found two strips of paper on the wall: “EN-POWERE OUR SOLDIER, SERVE OUR EMPIRE BETTER”. Snowy also manages to take a photo of the Comfort Policy:
1. Only Japanese army officer, soldier and army employee with ID card allowed
2. Pay in full before collecting condom
3. Two Yen per ticket for the soldier, Five Yen per ticket for officer
4. Expires at the same day when purchase. No refund after entering comfort room.
5. 30mins allowed in comfort room per ticket
6. No alcohol in comfort room
7. Immediately out of comfort room when finishes
8. No condom No sex
The Japanese women are mourning for their torments. “War, terrible war! When is the end of the deadly war? Home, sweet home! When is the returning day to the happy home?” Tears are pouring down from their eyes.
Lots and lots of frighten photos are taken by Tintin and Snowy with great sorrow. Without any delay, the photos are sent secretly by telegraph to Herge in Belgium for publishing. The photos have also arrived in United Nations. Immediately, the world is shocked, furious and cried. The American volunteers to destroy the Japanese military factories on their home island. Chinese people were strengthened with the international support. The Japanese troops in China surrendered.
ACT THREE
The humongous ship sets out from the wharf in Shanghai. Tintin and Snowy are on their way home after saying goodbye to Mr Zhou. The ship is crowded with lots of people talking in different European languages. “Hello, Mr Dawson!” Tintin and Snowy meet the British counsellor on deck with a big surprise. “Hello, Tintin my friend! I am on my way home to London. I am required by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East to witness to the Tokyo war crimes in China. I am so proud of Chinese people. There will be a party for the old Shanghailanders in the ship tonight to celebrate the Chinese victory. Please do join us.” The bulky ship carries the Europeans and their heavy costly belongings leaving China, departing for home where they haven’t returned for long.
6 comments:
Hi A.W.
I’ve just finished your fan fiction: Wars.
It is really interesting story so that I’m fully engaged in reading. Besides, all pictures are well matched with its fiction and they are attractive enough to catch readers’ attention. Also, I feel that you seem to simplify sentence structure as you mostly use simple present tense and simple sentence through out this story in order to make readers’ feel comfortable to follow.
However, I felt little bit uneasy when I read the part of ‘comfort station’. Wars, given history back ground is the end of World WarⅡ, if so, your story could almost be based on real history. Right? Then I’d like to tell you about the ‘Ianfu’ which has still been ongoing issue in Korea.
A majority of the 8000 to 20000 comfort women were from Korea which had been colonized by Japan for 36 years. History tells the truth but Japanese government denied and they tried to distort the event that had happened in the comfort station. People cannot imagine that how Japanese soldiers brutally treat the Korean ‘Ianfus’ who were trying to constantly commit suicide during that time. They were beaten or killed if they refused to have sex with Japanese officers or soldiers. Of course, they paid for it but the tickets were becoming useless because Japan finally surrendered. However, this issue rose by professor Yun in 1988 after conducting the research on Ianfus’ life.
At last, today, they demand the public apology with the fact in historical education to the Japanese government as compensation but Japanese government constantly avoid to answer. Why?
Since I’ve read your fan fiction I’ve been thinking of wars which must not occur anywhere anytime. Thus, men should be aware of the consequences of war they made.
Thank you for your comments on my Fan Fiction. The reason for writing this work was because I found The Blue Lotus only touched the surface of our history from the western aspect. I know Korean people suffered a lot during that period. That was a very complicated and deadly war. Sometimes I laugh at their Orientalism. The western people would never understand our people's suffering and our feeling. Can the Japanese government denied the history? I don't think so. That was the war among the Japanese themselves, the war between Imperialism, Militarism and human right; the war between Axis and Allies, the war between the East and the West, etc. However, I am so proud to see the Korean people growing strength to strength in your own culture, identity, economy,etc.
Hi AW,
First of all, I want to say that I read your previous post and made a comment on it. I'm not sure if you've checked it out. If not, you might want to go back and read it. Perhaps there is something useful :)
You said last time that you didn't like the name "The Shanghai Club" and you've changed to this one. If you ask me, I think WARS suits your story very well because it sends an important message to people who cruel wars are. I liked that Tintin sent the photos he took to publish internationally. There are war correspondents who devote themselves and try to get closer pictures of wars and tell the world how destroying and dreadful wars can be. Still there are wars, like there always have been. I wish it was that easy to stop them. (but probably not and, like in your story, with the American involved ;) )
I've noticed that you made some change in the tenses used in your fanfiction. I guess you want to make it in the present tense but I can see some part which you mix tenses together like this one:
Tintin said. “Hahaha! Don’t be silly, Tintin. You will miss Sayuri in the elegant kimonos, her beautiful white make-up, her Tachitaka and Jikata.” Tom an American laughed. Tintin nods and agrees.
I feel that in some part you intended to use the past tense to indicate that the actions happened before the time in the story. The sentences I copied here, however, are happening in quite the same time, so I think maybe you forgot to change them.
Another one is a tiny error:
The next morning, Tintin and Snowing put on the cotton Chinese costumes and are taken to a wooden boat in a small river at the countryside of Shanghai.
it's Snowy :)
I start to feel that I'm a freaking grammar corrector but I think the plot and the overalls fanfiction are already nice so I've nothing in much to say :)
Ooops! I am sorry, Jean. I didn't read your previous comment. Thank you for pointing out the errors. I will see if I can fix them tonight.
That was a short story I wrote. My understanding is: Snowy is more than a dog or puppy. I watched the cartoon "The Blue Lotus" and found Snowy was much more active in the cartoon than the Snowy in the graphic novel. So in my short story, I arranged some activities for Snowy and made it more interactive with Tintin and with the audience. However, Snowy's relationship with Tintin is friends and company, nothing ambiguous.
Good on you, Miss Grammar. Sometimes I am just not able to pick out my own silly mistakes. Big thanks.
It's ok that you didn't notice my comment before, AW :) I know I was pretty late with that one.
Yeah, I can see the way you tried to make Snowy share Tintin's adventure more than just barking and running around. It's an interesting idea :)
Don't call me Miss Grammar haha. I'm sure there are grammar errors in my writing because English is not my first language, either. I just thought that sometimes tenses can be easy to notice if used wrong, and of course easy to correct, so I pointed them out. In my opinion the right tense makes the story go much smoother when you don't have to feel like you're jumping back and front between the present and the past. (Well, I feel like that sometimes)
Hello! AW:
I am apologizing for commenting on your fanfiction late. You did a good work I think. Yeah, you wrote a good description of your storyline. Appropriate vocabularies and fluent conjunctions of each paragraph were used. These excellent strategies made me think that you are a good writer. I agree that your assignment filled with suitable pictures as Grace said. It looks very vivid, because this story is enlivened by some very amusing illustrations.
OK, as you said that you found The Blue Lotus only touched the surface of our history from the western aspect. Yeah, I have the same feeling with this. To tell the truth, I experienced a little bit uneasy and angry when I was reading some parts of your story. Such as “NO DOGS OR CHINESE ALLOWED”. I definitely agree with you said that “Japanese government can not denied the history. They would never understand our people's suffering and our feeling”. However, these points manifested that your words struck deep into the minds of all of the Chinese readers, or readers from other Asian countries, certainly including me.
Finally, I would like to say I like you fanfiction. Wish you will have a good holiday.
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