Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 4 - 7 2018 | Page 165

Determined to help his follower, Wallace pushed the heavy doors and slipped into the Heavens. As the doors slammed shut behind him with a resounding “bang”, he fell speechless as what he saw was almost identical to the Forbidden City in Beijing, except that the city was in ruins, with bricks and pillars scattered all over the streets. Wallace grimaced at the sight of the destruction. Following the ruined buildings, he slowly made his way to the Jade Palace, where he believed Houzi had gone to. Once Wallace stepped inside the Jade Palace, the first sight that greeted him was the Jade Emperor and Houzi engaged in an argument, with Houzi being berated. “For thousands of years, fulfilling duties and being compliant to the authorities have always been the core values of our cultures. Houzi, you are such a disgrace to our society! Can you see how much damage that you have done? You are solely the main reason of the social instability I observe here.” Staring daggers at the Jade Emperor, Houzi retaliated. “You’re blaming me for social instability just because I was trying to fight for justice of my own? Then how would you justify trapping me inside that Eight- Trigram Furnace for 49 days? Is it even fair to me, to restrain my freedom? Why should I care about others’ feelings if nobody even cares about mine?” Upon hearing Houzi’s words, the Jade Emperor frowned. “How can you be such an egocentric person? Confucianism has been the most influential philosophical thinking in our society. The harmonious social relationships can only be achieved when all of us respect and follow the teaching under the Five Cardinal Relationships. Between the ruler and the subject, there are righteousness and loyalty. The highest form of righteousness is to honour the worthy with your action. And look at you, where is your honour, your worthiness, your righteousness? The subject must obey their ruler absolutely, even if I am ordering you to die.” It was at that moment that Wallace decided to step in. “Certainly Houzi has to be responsible for his own action. The destruction of the palaces have to be accounted to his fault. Nevertheless, before we start pointing fingers at Houzi for what he has done, perhaps we should rethink the assumptions behind the relationship of ruler and subject.” As both the Jade Emperor and Houzi turned to stare at the intruder in surprise, Wallace reflected on what history had taught him. As far as he was concerned, a long-reigning emperor is one who always listens to his advisors; yet a king with a boundless appetite for power is a dictator, whose kingdoms collapse in no time. He raised his voice and continued. “After all, Houzi is an independent individual. It is ridiculous for us to presume that he must forfeit his own thoughts and follow the expectations given by the societal values. Does he not have the right to pursue the value of his own choosing instead? But then again, freedom is not exactly a slogan. Houzi?” Houzi jolted, shocked by his Master’s sudden mention of himself. “I do hope you will remember that freedom does not empower you to do whatever you want and whenever you wish. As a matter of fact, you are actually entitled to achieve any sort of goal you can dream of, but on the other hand, it is your responsibility to take into account the impacts of your actions onto others. From what I’ve seen, individualism and collectivism always seem to stand in sharp contrast to each other.” Not only did the Jade Emperor and Houzi find the words “individualism” and “collectivism” alien to them, every single denizen of the Heavens stood slack-jawed. For a split second, the history professor forgot that his audience was 1400 years before him, and he reckoned that he ought to explain further. Clearing his throat, he started talking. “Imagine a compelling force between the inalienable rights of the individuals and the fundamental expectations of the society to sustain the ‘greater good’. It is like the opposing edges of the platform that seeks to shape lifestyle and attitudes of societies. Yet, I strongly believe there is interplay between these two inseparable concepts, as there is nothing wrong with the general stance of either approach. Harmony is not about everyone having the same opinion; but instead it is when everyone respects each other, despite having divergent opinions.” Houzi had once perceived his master as an extremely naïve monk, who pursued an idealistic world of Confucianism values; but right at that very moment, he found himself impressed by the wisdom demonstrated by his master. On the other hand, despite not being able to fully comprehend Wallace’s impromptu speech, the Jade Emperor looked as though he had a vague notion of what had been discussed.