#add sources

[pam3pr]

[aglimpseofsomethingintimate]

Thinking abt the interview I read of a woman who trained with her husband to swim to Hong Kong. Her husband was a athlete for the swim team and she trained in the Tello River. But when they were swimming to Hong Kong he said he couldn’t go on and by the time she tried to attach her floats to him he was still. She tried to resuscitate and failed and ended up dragging his corpse with her to shore 🚶‍♂️

Anyway. Thinking totally normal thoughts abt Xiang and his family’s migration to HK

[aglimpseofsomethingintimate]

Who is Xiang?

Background

Xiang has always been written as the representation of the wild, symbolized by the Tiger (thanks @archduke-enver-gortash for feeding this concept). Now I’m thinking of making Xiang an actual manifestation of that concept and not just a metaphor for all the complexities of what the South China tiger represents to China and its relationship to humans.

I’m usually a realistic fiction writer— as you could probably tell from my insane footnotes for historical accuracy lol— but I’ve been thinking of including some more folklore/not quite human aspects to his character and by extension, possibly his and 37’s story.

This folklore aspect is connected to his background/that era as a lot of cultural Chinese artifacts are destroyed as well as suppression of traditional Chinese religion and traditions during the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s and other fun stuff. 👍

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Backstory

The South China tiger used to be very prominent all over China, although by the time it was recorded it had recessed to the south part, in provinces like Guangdong, hence its name.

During the 1950s, as part of the Four Pests campaign, there was a targeted campaign to hunt down animals perceived as enemies/predators of the people. One of the animals that was targeted was the South China Tiger, and this tiger-hunting campaign dramatically reduced the South China Tiger’s numbers within only a few years.

The Four Pests campaign was part of the political movement of the Great Leap Forward… that ended up causing the Great Famine due to manmade causes including imbalance of the ecosystem, especially the widespread killing of sparrows, which resulted in uncontrolled crowds of lotuses descending on fields. The official name in Chinese has this timer period lasting three years, and there is debate by scholars on whether it ended in 1961/1962. Either way, the following facts still stand.

Xiang is born in 1962– the year of the Water Tiger. That is also when the Great Leap and accompanying Great Famine end, the latter being one of the most devastating manmade famines ever.

Xiang is the Tiger— or at least an aspect of it. But what his birth represents is more ambiguous. What is it? A second chance? A rebirth? The symbol of the last wild tiger remaining? The South China tiger has been functionally extinct in the wild for decades in present day— and YES that is why I choose this subspecies of tiger to begin with. This ‘extinct in the wild’ category ties into Xiang’s anger, fear, disgust and violent repulsion at the idea of being trapped or tamed.

It should be noted, however, that even though the South China tiger now only exists in conservation habitats there is recognition of the importance that they not be tamed. They are still wild animals, and there have been active programs to teach captive cubs how to hunt that have been successful.

His birth is a miracle— as in an unnatural act— and whether it is good or not depends on your point of view… just like the complex relationship tigers have to Chinese culture.

The tiger is used to symbolize danger/consequences/something bigger and more powerful than yourself in many idioms and sayings— but because of this it is also often something to be compared to positively/aspire to. There is this simultaneous reverence and fear of Tigers, and even now Chinese culture and society struggles with these conflicting views of the importance of tigers in culture vs the commercialization of them by the industry.

And if you’re interested as to how this conflict is resolved/ends… that is explored in his and 37’s story. ♥️ coming soon

[aglimpseofsomethingintimate]

On Henry and Klos’s names

Klos is taken from her father’s name (Dutch/german in origin). It’s a shortening of his first name, Nikolaus (German spelling). This naming after the father seemed to be a trend for the children of GI’s which is just a fun note. [1] It’s her birth name and she kept it even after she transitioned— it never felt right to change what little left she had of her father.

Henry isn’t even his actual name lol but an Americanization of his Vietnamese nickname, Hồ Ly, meaning ‘fox spirit’, a mythical creature in Vietnamese and Chinese folklore. This nickname in turn is based on his last name, Hồ. He carries this name since all his family and relatives died during the massacre. There is no one left but him.

In summary— they are both carrying the dead weight of family members in their names 🫶 thanks for coming to my TedTalk.

[1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/world/vietnam/

(I’ll add some more notes on Fox spirit later lol. I’ll have to check if Fox spirit can be used as a nickname for girls but the symbolism is too good lol)

[aglimpseofsomethingintimate]

Henry & Klos’s childhood in Vietnam

[aglimpseofsomethingintimate]

Henry’s backstory

TW: War crimes, r/pe, executions, massacres

(Me realizing that by making Klos and Henry have an age difference of about a decade that Henry will have to be old enough to witness and remember this event vividly😬….)

There are two survivor stories mentioned in the following article. In both cases though they ended up shielded by dead bodies, just a matter of whether it was their own family or not. [1] And unfortunately for Henry, it’s the latter case for him. :( His whole family dies, including his relatives. He’s the only survivor.

I’m so sorry Henry 💔 Anyway. Heavy heavy trauma for both Henry & Klos. Also contrary to the victims in the article Henry grows up (rightfully) as a very very angry kid. Anger as a replacement emotion for fear. He has not forgiven he has not forgotten 🫶 This is the start of his jaded worldview and disillusionment with governments in general, and he still has this scornful view for Vietnam’s government post- takeover :/ which, fair enough. He’s just seen so much first hand horrors from both sides he truly hates it all.

[1] https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/2018/3/12/survivors-recall-us-massacre-in-my-lai

Further reading:

My Lai massacre - Wikipedia

My Lai massacre - Wikipedia

[scaredghostadult]

Hey! I need help! Not money though.

My parents are conservative homophobes who are making me hella pissed off. My parents said that when the Civil War happened and the United States were broken up during the South Confederacy, it was not Republicans that caused it.

That's right MY PARENTS said that the people who, fought to keep slave laws and fought to keep their right to own slaves, were Democrats. They literally believe that DEMOCRATS wanted to keep slavery alive.

Please do correct me if I am wrong/misunderstood. It would greatly benefit me if anyone adds reliable sources to this post!