Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 12 | Page 39

Old Shanghai
Regents Primary School of Shenzhen, Ding, William – 8
M
y name is SAN MAO. Yes! As you know, I am the boy that only has three ‘hairs’. I was born in Old
Shanghai, My father is Zhang Leping, the famous cartoonist. Old Shanghai was the same as my childhood,
poor and weak but full of vitality and hope.
I had no house to live, I lived outside the door of a “shikumen” in a narrow alley called "longtang". Even now,
it is rich with nostalgic charm. Every morning, I got up early to sell newspapers. I was the first boy who knew all
the news about Old Shanghai. My customers were multifarious. He or she might be a capitalist, a worker, a starlet,
or a mafia boss. Some of them might give me a tip.
But merely relied on selling newspapers is not enough, I must also do other work. The Racetrack or the
Nanjing Road was the most lively place, there were many rich men or women there, and I polished shoes for them.
After I got my reward, I would go to the town’s god temple to eat some Old Shanghai’s snacks, such as fried
baozi, steamed BBQ Pork Bun, or fried dough sticks. By the way, I could also enjoy a bowl of soybean milk, it was
free!
Except physical food, I also had my spiritual food. There were many picture-story book stalls all over the
streets. I often looked for my favorite books at the stalls.
From these books, I knew that Old Shanghai was a very special place in the Eastern part of China. It was a
melting pot of semi-colonial and semi-feudal society. It mixed the western and eastern cultures together. Old
Shanghai was referred to as "Paris of the East" and also as "paradise for adventurers." Narrow alleys and exotic
buildings, robes jackets and stylish business suits were all commonplace. National heroes and big traitors, the
poorest and the richest, coexist in this city. Thus, good and evil mixed together on the seedy streets of this “Paris of
the East.”
At the stalls, I could find << SAN MAO Huckleberry Finn>> or << Winter Of Three Hairs>>. That was
the story of me! It was the darkest memories of poor people in O