[Diary of the Absurd Life in 1997:
All Entries]
TH: Diary of the Absurd Life in 1997, in 28 sections, was written originally in Chinese by Mary Wong and serialised in Ming Pao 明報 in 1997. The pieces, translated into English by Chris Song, are serialised in Cha beginning from Monday 25 September 2023.
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Aces Go Places
16/28
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Pak Kwong let out a scream, nearly shattering the glass figurines inside the glass cabinets. Steadfast in their placement, they lined the walls at intervals of three steps, each divided into four sections. They held what appeared to be souvenirs, presumably collected by the owner during trips to far-off places. Each corner of the cabinet was illuminated by a spotlight, aiming to elevate the banal to the exceptional. It was a solemn presentation that served only to suppress any real individuality these objects might have possessed. But the boss seemed content.
Ming tensed up, his limbs betraying a subtle loss of control. His most pressing concern wasn’t so much to help Kwong break free but rather to ensure she would not end up under the direction of some second-rate filmmaker. “Who could understand her better than me?” he thought. But his subsequent reactions surprised even me. “Busy as you are, you’re finding time to act?” Ming affected a regional accent, thickening the performance. “Of course, cousin. I don’t even have time to accompany you to Ocean Park,” Kwong retorted, twisting her body towards me for emphasis. “I read gossip magazines; some celebrities are so busy filming they can’t go home for a month.” “Exactly! You’ve got to jet off to Europe for those romantic scenes!” “Naturally! Plus designer clothes, and preferably a car chase or two. How else do you make the big bucks? You just got here from the mainland; how could you possibly understand Hong Kong cinema?” Their banter was a dizzying, harmonised performance, two individuals so in sync it was disorienting. Despite myself, I saw traces of Kwong in Ming, and it was oddly satisfying to see how they’d influenced each other. Even in this ludicrous setting, their mutual impact was clear. I marvelled at it, but also felt guilty for my assumptions.
“Don’t worry, there’ll be days off during filming, and a salary, of course. As for shooting locations… Macao’s not a bad idea.” “Macao’s not so safe,” Ming interrupted. “…Location is secondary. What matters most is quality. Miss Sheung Kwun here is quite the connoisseur of art films. How about she takes us to the Arts Centre tomorrow for some masterful inspiration?” Kwong figured that if money couldn’t scare him off, perhaps art would. But I wasn’t sure if that was a curse or a blessing.
How to cite: Song, Chris and Mary Wong. “Aces Go Places.” Cha: An Asian Literary Journal, 10 Oct. 2023, chajournal.blog/2023/10/10/aces.
Mary Shuk-Han Wong 黃淑嫻 (author) is a Hong Kong writer. Her short story collection Surviving Central (中環人; 2013) received the “25th Secondary School Students’ Best Ten Books Award.” Her essay collections include How to Live the Sad Days (悲傷的日子如何過; 2021), Against the Grain (亂世破讀; 2017), and From Kafka (理性的遊藝：從卡夫卡談起; 2015). She has also published an online poetry collection, Cave Whispers (絕地抒情; 2022), in collaboration with Hong Kong composer and photographer. She was the co-producer and literary advisor of two literary documentaries: 1918: Liu Yichang (1918：劉以鬯紀錄片; 2015) and Boundary: Leung Ping Kwan (東西：也斯紀錄片; 2015).
Chris Song (translator) is a poet, editor, and translator from Hong Kong, and is an assistant professor in English and Chinese translation at the University of Toronto Scarborough. He won the “Extraordinary Mention” of the 2013 Nosside International Poetry Prize in Italy and the Award for Young Artist (Literary Arts) of the 2017 Hong Kong Arts Development Awards. In 2019, he won the 5th Haizi Poetry Award. He is a founding councilor of the Hong Kong Poetry Festival Foundation, executive director of the International Poetry Nights in Hong Kong, and editor-in-chief of Voice & Verse Poetry Magazine. He also serves as an advisor to various literary organisations.
Cha 