The Corpse Walker: Real Life Stories: China From the Bottom Up (37 page)

Every now and then, I will indulge myself and get a hooker. I normally pay ten or sometimes twenty yuan. One day, I was really short of money. I tried to bargain down to five yuan but ended up getting a smack on the head with a shoe brush. That bitch stood up, with her hand on her hip, and said: You are much older than I am. Why don't I pay you five yuan to get a piece of your ass?

LIAO:
You are such a jerk.

ZHAO:
Don't you think I earned my money easily? When I first arrived in Chengdu, I worked at a construction site, pouring concrete and digging dirt. After more than a year, I had saved two hundred yuan [US $24]. With the help of a friend, I bought a tricycle and used it as a cab to drive people or deliver merchandise. It was kind of exciting. One bad thing was that we couldn't get city registration because I wasn't a city resident. I had to dodge the police constantly, like a chicken dodging a wolf.

LIAO:
How long did you drive a tricycle?

ZHAO:
For over two years. The city confiscated three of my tricycles.

LIAO:
There are over ten thousand unregistered tricycle cabs in the city. Those registered tricycle cabs are complaining that you guys are stealing their business.

ZHAO:
We made our living through hard labor. It's better than stealing or robbing people. I'm kind of mad that migrants like me are being treated like thieves. In those days, when someone yelled, “Police are coming,” everyone would pedal away as far as our legs carried us, like geese hit by a bamboo stick. We would all dive into the side streets. I seldom got caught.

But greed is my weakness. Each time, someone offered me a high price, I forgot about the risks. On one occasion, a woman customer wanted a ride from the Intercity Bus Terminal near to the Baiguolin area. I didn't want to go. So I called out a random price—ten yuan. I didn't think she would agree to it. But she did. I was still reluctant to go, but she begged me and called me, “Sir, sir.” She was kind of cute and her pleading softened my heart. I figured it was Sunday and the route around the second ring road would be okay. So I decided to take her.

It was in the summer. Out-of-towners love to take tricycle rides: cheap and cool. The second ring road was pretty dusty, but the scenery wasn't bad. I offered the woman my umbrella so she could shield her face from the sun. Soon, I was sweating. I took off my shirt and bared my back. She told me to be careful, not to catch a cold. When a customer started to be real sweet, I couldn't help chatting away. I just couldn't shut up. I told her about the best park in town, the shop where she could get good bargain prices, et cetera. I acted as if I were a Chengdu native. In reality, I was just bragging for the heck of it.

As I was making a turn near Zhongxin Road and sliding down a slope, a couple of police motorbikes blocked my way. I was scared shitless. I turned around and tried to go back up the slope. I pedaled very hard and several times the tricycle slid back down. That woman was also scared and tried to jump from the tricycle. She poked my bare back with the umbrella. My back was bleeding but I didn't dare to stop. She then raised the umbrella and beat me with it. She was also kicking me. That umbrella cost me eight yuan, but soon it was in shreds. Later on the police motorbikes caught up and cornered me. Damn it. I had just paid off my tricycle loan. I clung to my vehicle and wouldn't let go. Tears and sweat ran down my cheeks. The police didn't give a damn about how I felt. They threw the vehicle onto a truck waiting nearby. I ran after the police for a couple of blocks, begging and crying. It was useless. I had lost my vehicle and my umbrella. I didn't even get to collect the fare from that woman. She even had the nerve to ask me to compensate her for the emotional trauma I had caused her. That bitch! During the next several hours, I walked around the city aimlessly. I felt so empty inside.

LIAO:
Why didn't you do your business outside the second ring road, as was required by city ordinance?

ZHAO:
There were too many migrants outside the second ring road. The neighborhood was not safe and many people took rides without paying, especially members of the local triad gangs. They would constantly collect protection fees from us. For us illegal tricycle cabdrivers, we couldn't go report to the police if we were blackmailed. Near the Wukuaishi region, all pickpockets have formed their own gangs. Sometimes, they use knives in gang fights. A guy got stabbed and his intestines were pulled out. Since it was too expensive to send him to a big hospital, his fellow gang members used my tricycle and took him to a small clinic to have his stomach sewed up. Hey, let me tell you that shitty doctor wore a pair of old reading spectacles and worked on the wounds like he was sewing shoes, pulling the strings in and out. The guy was dripping blood. So the doctor put a basin under the operating table. It was scary, but miraculously, the guy survived.

The most brutal bunch are those ethnic Yi people. During daytime, they all squat by the side of the road, a whole bunch of them in their black shawls, like a flock of bald eagles. No local gangs dare to touch them. They call those Yi guys “dark clouds.”

LIAO:
That's very vivid.

ZHAO:
The ethnic Yi people are very unique. Unless they are desperately hungry, they won't rob a pedestrian. But if they see a pickpocket stealing, they will immediately follow him like a dark cloud. Then they spread their black shawls and surround the pickpocket guy and scream, “Wow, Wow, Wow.” If the guy is smart, he will turn over his money. If he tries to fight back, the knives of the Yi guys are faster than you can imagine. Those knives have been soaked in poisonous liquid. Once you get a cut, it becomes infected and takes months to heal.

LIAO:
In other words, those pickpockets have become the slave workers for the Yi guys.

ZHAO:
Almost. That's why you never see any pickpockets in places where the Yi guys stay. Well, those Yi guys are not angels. They normally do their dirty business after midnight. They attack residential buildings one by one. All they need is a rope with a hook at the end. Most Yi guys are skillful mountain climbers. With the rope, they can climb walls easily. When they steal, they take anything they see: sausages, preserved meat, clothes, even diapers that people hang on their balconies. They just dump everything into their shawl. Once they break into a house, they take all the things that move. For big items, such as refrigerators, washing machines, they generally smash them. People hate them. Every year, the police will raid those places where Yi people gather and send them back to their hometowns in the mountains. After a couple of those raids, the neighborhood will be quiet for a month or so. Then the pickpockets will return. The residents in the area are facing a new set of problems.

LIAO:
Have you ever seen any thieves in action? They are pretty rampant in big cities now.

ZHAO:
Yes. Those thieves rob people in broad daylight. They snatch earrings and necklaces. Sometimes, they will grab a woman's hand and try to pull the ring from her fingers. The easiest victims are those well-dressed girls, carrying purses as big as your palm, and swinging their asses to the point of blinding you. Hey, within seconds, their purse is cut open. If they scream “Thieves,” they may end up getting beaten up. Once, I drove a businessman and we were passing Moping Road. My client looked strong and big. He was chatting on his cell phone. Pulling him on a tricycle needed lots of strength. I was soon out of breath. At that point, six or seven people jumped onto my tricycle cab, one grabbed the big guy's neck and another wrestled his arm. The tricycle was almost turned upside down. Damn. Within minutes, all the pockets of that businessman's suits and pants were searched. His belt was pulled out. They even patted his underwear to make sure he didn't hide money there. In the end, he begged them not to take his shoes because he wouldn't be able to walk home. The thieves completely ignored his plea, saying that they wanted to see if there was any money hidden inside. That businessman was left with nothing. He ended up covering his face and crying like a woman. Many people saw those thieves, nobody stepped up to help.

LIAO:
What were you doing? Why didn't you call the cops?

ZHAO:
How could I get away? I was so shaken that I began to have cramps in my legs. Also, there are so many thieves nowadays. What could I do? I wasn't looking for trouble. All I cared about was my tricycle. If those guys broke it, it would cost me a bundle to have it fixed. On the other hand, that business guy was as stupid as a bear. From his looks, you would assume he would know some Chinese martial arts. Nope. Later on I tried to push him out of the cab, but he wouldn't move. So I drove him home. But when I asked him to pay the fare, he started to swear at me.

LIAO:
You certainly know how to protect yourself.

ZHAO:
Sir, are you being sarcastic? I'm already a homeless person, and I don't possess any superhero qualities. Sir, are you a reporter? Superman was a reporter. China needs selfless supermen at the moment. Crime has gone up and people are desperate. China's economy seems to be developing very fast, but there are still too many poor people. Too many people want to strike it rich. I'm lucky that I didn't turn into a thief.

Oh well, it's been raining for quite some time now. I wonder what the weather will be like tomorrow. Maybe I should go pick up an odd job at a construction site if it's sunny. Who knows!

Translator's Acknowledgments

Following his release from a Chinese prison, Liao Yiwu asked a blind fortune-teller to forecast his future. The fortune-teller felt around Liao's face, inquired the date and time of his birth, and told Liao that his future would start to look promising because he would be assisted and blessed by several
guiren,
or noblemen.

Translating and bringing Liao's works to English readers has certainly proved the wisdom of that fortune-teller.
The Corpse Walker: Real-Life Stories, China from the Bottom Up
wouldn't have been possible without noblemen and noblewomen.

My gratitude goes to Philip Gourevitch and his editorial staff at
The Paris Review
who first introduced Liao's works to the West by publishing three excerpts in their magazine. Philip's unwavering confidence in Liao's works and his enthusiastic support motivated and helped me get to where we are today.

I owe a special gratitude to Esther Allen at the PEN Translation Fund for discovering Liao's works and jump-starting my career as a translator. I want to thank Sarah Chalfant for her generous support.

Liao's friend Kang Zhengguo deserves a special note. As a volunteer “agent,” Kang has diligently looked after Liao's interests overseas and served as a conduit between Liao and the outside world. I also want to express my admiration for Chen Maiping and Cai Chu at the Independent Chinese PEN Center for tirelessly championing Liao's works abroad and for courageously promoting freedom of speech in China.

My friends Doug Merwin, Professor Robert Crowley, Monica Eng, Carolyn Alessio, Bill Brown, Liang Xiaoyan, Chen Xiaoping, and Zhou Zhonglin have helped me a great deal in getting the book off the ground. Professor Crowley meticulously read the first draft of every translated story and offered valuable editorial suggestions.

Both Liao and I are very lucky to have Peter Bernstein as our agent. I found Peter at a very challenging time in my career. With a reassuring and easily accessible style, Peter patiently helped me navigate the publishing process.

Last and most important, I want to express my gratitude, on behalf of Liao, to our editor, Erroll McDonald, for granting us the flexibility and creative freedom we needed in the translation process, and to Lily Evans and Robin Reardon for moving the process along smoothly.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Liao Yiwu is a poet, novelist, and screenwriter. In 1989, he published an epic poem, “Massacre,” that condemned the killings in Tiananmen Square and for which he spent four years in prison. His works include
Testimonials
and
Report on China's Victims of Injustice.
In 2003, Liao received the Hellman-Hammett Grant from Human Rights Watch, and he received the Freedom to Write Award from the Independent Chinese PEN Center in 2007. He currently lives in China.

ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR

Wen Huang is a writer and freelance journalist whose articles and translations have appeared in
The Wall Street Journal Asia,
the
Chicago Tribune,
the
South China Morning Post, The Christian Science Monitor,
and
The Paris Review.

Introduction and translation copyright © 2008 by Wen Huang

All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Pantheon Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.

Pantheon Books and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

This translation is composed of ten new pieces and sixteen pieces that were originally published in Chinese in Taiwan as part of
Interviews with People from the Bottom Rung of Society,
published by Rye Field Publishing Co., Taipei, in 2002.
Copyright © 2002 by Liao Yiwu.

The following pieces were previously published: “The Mortician” in
Harper's;
and “The Corpse Walker,” “The Human Trafficker,” “The Leper,” “The Peasant Emperor,” “The Professional Mourner,” “The Public Toilet Manager,” and “The Retired Official” in
The Paris Review.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Liao, Yiwu, [date]
The corpse walker : real-life stories, China from the bottom up / Liao Yiwu ; translated from the Chinese by Wen Huang.
p. cm.
1. Working class—China. 2. Social structure—China.
3. China—Social conditions. 4. China—Economic conditions. I. Title.
HD8736.5l.56 2008
362.850951—dc22                                                                        2007034160

www.pantheonbooks.com

eISBN: 978-0-307-37718-0

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