Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 12 | Page 447

New Tale of Old Shanghai
St Stephen's College Preparatory School, Chan, Natalie – 10
O
nce there were two girls, Yaz and Lacy, they were best friends. One day they had to do a project
about old Shanghai. Both girls were clueless and the internet wasn't really helpful. They had a week until
they had to hand it in, so they decided that the next day they would call their grandparents who had lived in old
Shanghai.
That night, both girls had the same dream, and in that dream they could talk and walk around together.
However, they didn't recognize the place. They saw lots of big walls surrounding them and soldiers all around
the place. Suddenly, Lacy remembered that old Shanghai was also like this; it was the only useful piece of
information they had found. Just then, they saw a little girl walking down the street. Yaz asked, “Isn’t that your
grandma, but a younger version?” “I think it is,” Lacy replied. They decided to follow her and hoped to find
some interesting things about old Shanghai. After all, it is not everyday that you get to travel back in time.
They saw her carrying a bucket full of steaming water and some money in her pocket. They thought it was really
strange because the water was hot and not cold like the ones in wells. When she got home her mother asked,
“Minli, did you buy some hot water at the market?” The market! Both girls thought that was strange; why
would they have to buy hot water? They had faucets! What was even more peculiar was that her father suddenly
said that he was going out to shower. Why would he go out to shower? Don’t people shower at home?
Besides it’s disgusting to shower on the streets, and who would wear long robes to have a bath, or even go outside?
He was a boy! However, Minli and her mum weren’t surprised at all. Her mum went outside to find a
rickshaw, a small vehicle pulled by men. Then Minli went to the toilet. There was a small area at the corner of
the room and it was covered by a curtain. Inside, there was a small bucket, and it stunk. She just came out and
walked away. “Why isn’t she flushing it?” Yaz asked. “I don’t know,” said Lacy. Lacy pulled Yaz into a
small corner near the roof and asked, “Don’t you think everything here is really unusual?” “Yes, I mean everyone
wears robes, they have to buy hot water at the market, men don’t shower at home, they have rickshaws instead of
cars, and go to the toilet in a small area. That’s really weird.” Yaz replied. “Yeah, I hope things go back to
normal soon.” However, they couldn’t have been more wrong.
It was very hot in the afternoon, but some people claimed that there would be snow later that evening.
Since it was really hot, Minli and her mum decided to eat watermelons. However, they didn’t eat them right
away, instead they dangled them down the well in a bucket. It was an odd sight. Minli came back for them a
few minutes later and ate them. That night, just as some people predicted, it began to snow. Minli’s family had
guests for dinner that night. They prepared lots of food; six cold dishes, a few pots of vegetables, duck…… What
they found strange was that there weren’t any glutinous riceballs or hot pots. Instead there was a humongous
crab, also there was a pot over a small fire but nothing was inside. Now Lacy and Yaz knew what the hot water
was for; the faucet had frozen into ice, and the hot water was used to thaw it. Just then Minli came out to throw
the garbage. The girls dived for cover but it was too late.
“Who are you? What do you want?” Minli asked. “We are Yaz and Lacy and actually um…..” “We
would like to ask you some questions about your daily life as we don’t understand much,” Lacy cut in. “Ok,”
Minli reluctantly agreed, “but make it fast as I need to go back inside to help my mother.” They chatted for a
while and they found out that men don’t shower at home, but at local baths the whole town used. Women
hardly showered; they just wiped themselves with wet towels. They couldn’t afford to have boilers everywhere
so they bought hot water at the market. There weren’t flushes so they went to the toilet in a bucket and cleaners
dumped everything in the drain daily. They didn’t have fridges so they put watermelons down the well to cool
them off since the well was underground. It was a tradition to eat crabs in winter and watermelon in summer.
The small pot over the fire was for warming up food and it worked like a microwave. When guests came for
dinner they had to cook lots of food.
Suddenly, they saw a big hole underneath them and they began to fall down and down. When they
opened their eyes they saw that they were back in their own beds and everything was just a dream. They called
their grandparents to make sure everything was true. They were relieved that they didn’t have to live in old
Shanghai with no electricity and a stinky toilet. Their presentation was a huge success. They were both elated
and they hoped to have another dream together back in time.