Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 4567 | Page 76

The Forbidden Dance
Holy Family Canossian College, Leuing, Jocelyn - 15
H
er 80s:
My grandmother who enjoys her early 80s with a bountiful of vitality often admires the yard that is more
comfortable than most people in town know in her wooden carved rocking chair, sipping coffee with style. The afternoon
of August 14 th is warm and clear. The yard is often a unique one to me. The profusely blossoming summer flowers are
covering the extent of land of richly green grasses. Ranging from reddish roses to the yellowish chrysanthemums, the lawn
provides a soothing environment where anyone can come and sit and look up to the azure sky and wait for the breezes that
is filled with an irreplaceable mellowness of summer to comfort their soul.
“Hey, Grandmama! Would you like to go to Tsim Sha Tsui and get a glimpse of the glamorous harbor?” I said abruptly
this afternoon after staying in the yard, witnessing the infinitesimal change of the clouds which no longer dispel my
extreme boredom.
She agreed without hesitation. “The pearl of the Orient…glows in the darkness, like my fading…past.” I looked at her
with growing wonder, genuinely carried away by the possible reasons behind the pitiful smile so visible on her faintly
beautiful face as she muttered the words “glow” and “past”. When she walked into her bedroom, I saw a ruffle dress as I
peeked into her chamber. The ruffle dress has been hung in Grandmama’s bedroom for ages. The grand white dress is like
an edifice that covers numerous unrevealed matters that often possess me in my wildest imagination.
After getting dressed, Grandma walked out of the room with her new white hat which covers her fluffy white curly hair,
that often flutters due to the wind, in her hands. She was almost ready to set off, standing before the mirror, putting on her
hat. “Should I wear this hat? Does it look good on me?” No wonder why my Granny was so self-conscious like a young
girl with a buoyancy interest in fashion and stuff, I made a quick response to her question “It looks just fine and you are
superb gorgeous.” Her innocent eyes flashed and looked into my face with the warmest smile ever. It is absolutely adorable
as wings of grey hair stick out from her florid face after putting on the little hat.
We were at the harbor, gazing the skyscrapers with gleaming lights. The harbor with the densely built high-rise buildings,
a sophisticated fusion of east-west culture, showed great pride for standing so static for decades with all these dazzling light
rays lighting up the dim sky. “It’s just like the old Shanghai. The mixing culture, the shinning lights in parties, the
glamorous harbor, ...” She spoke in a soothing, delightful tone, belying her deep obsession with her past as her eyes rolling
around with the blue and purplish lights ahead of her and begins revealing those romantic tales in her 20s.
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Youth:
From 1930s to 1940s was the Second World War, the immigration of Jews, the attack of the Japanese Navy which literally
killed tens of thousands of student protesters against Japanese Occupation and the decline of the European countries made
the Old Shanghai a messed up place. Not until the end of the war when the scandalous invaders surrendered, was the Old
Shanghai free from the Japanese and the foreign concessions. Shanghai immediately ushered into a new and extraordinary
era.
Shanghai was famous for its ubiquity of dance halls and ballrooms including those classy and glamorous ones and raucous
and jazzy dance clubs. The life of taxi dancers, courtesans and tycoons of the bygone age were filled with a frantic gaiety.
The bright, solid city was doomed under the Japanese in the 1940s. It all started peacefully until the big enterprises like the
power company, the tramway and gas company were all taken over by the invaders. It was not the bombs and fires. It was
the harsh, bitter reality of being trapped in a fool’s paradise creating the gay atmosphere. “Eat, drink and be merry, for
tomorrow we die” was the only thing people had in their minds.
It was also due to this common philosophy, creating Shanghai a place with an abundance of taxi dancers. Grandma was one
of the many young gals who were hired to dance with customers. Customers bought tickets to dance. The price of a ticket
depended on, without a doubt, the quality of the venue and the popularity of the dancer. Granny was born in 1932, a year
before the Paramount was opened. She was not born from some wealthy family. She didn’t receive any education. She
couldn’t read. She couldn’t write. Rather than doing strenuous job, she went to dancing halls like most of the gals to make