Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction Group 3 - 2017 | Page 358

The New Tales of Old Shanghai
St. Joseph's College, Li, Chitt Jerry - 13
I
t is the 22 nd century. I am a supercentenarian now. Over the past 300 years, I have encountered a diverse range
of people but there has never been a place as rich and cosmopolitan as Old Shanghai. I have experienced the
growth and decadence; the rogues and adventurers and the poverty and richness.
In 1843, I was the secretary of General Sir George Balfour, the first Consul for the British in Shanghai. At that time, the
Taiping Rebellion had started in the southwestern province at Guangxi when local officials launched a campaign of persecution
against a millenarian sect known as the God Worshipping Society led by a mad man who believed that he himself was the young
brother of Jesus. George and I asked the Qing Green Standard Army to launch an attack against the God Worshipping Society
and they were defeated miserably. It was really a great slaughter. But then the strangest thing happened. It became a frenzied,
multilayered, ever-accelerating nightmare. The God Worshipping Society was too obsessed and they became power hungry.
They turned into orcs riding taoties - ferocious Chinese mythological animals!
One day, I saw a poster stuck on the wall of a Victorian building. It was a message from the Ancient Society. My eyes shone
their brightest at that time. It said to help anyone if they are in trouble. Driven by curiosity, I decided to find out about it myself
using the written address. It was a totally different world once I turned the metal door knob. It was true to its name, being
ancient, fantastic and full of mystery. Some fellow apprentices came to train in the mystic arts under the watchful eyes of a
dragon called Azazel. It was unbelievable at first, but after our introduction, the Old and Magnificent Azazel decided to help us.
With its bright and piercing eyes, it seemed threatening at first but I later found out that he was a benevolent creature and that
he had decided help me fight the orcs and toaties.
‘‘God Worshipping Society! God Worshipping Society!’’ chanted the army. I told George about Azazel’s fight with the orcs
and taoties. He was dumbfounded at first but he believed me. Suddenly the warning trumpets were sounded and they echoed
through the land.
Azazel’s speed was so great that the God Worshipping Society had no time to react. The army could only see him as a spark
of fire rushing towards them growing bigger and brighter. A hail of sharp arrows leaped up and rattled on his scales but none of
the shafts pierced his skin. Before Azazal’s apprentice joined and fought the orcs and taoties, they were already jumping into the
water on every side. Some were huddled, mourning and weeping which filled our eardrums as one last swipe of Azazel’s
serpentine tail caused their whole army to collapse. His apprentices released magical orbs at their enemies. Either drowning or
buried in the inferno, none of them survived. This was the end of the orcs, taoties and the God Worshipping Society, whose
rebellion finally perished.
My family and I still lived in Shanghai as I thought we would have a stable life, but I was utterly wrong. In 1932, the
Sino-Japanese hostilities first happened in Shanghai.
The Japanese war reached Shanghai. Bombs were dropped on the International Settlement and Shanghai was subsequently
occupied by the Japanese. Debris fell everywhere and the buildings collapsed even though they were made from powerful metals.
I took my family and my pa rents to a safe place. Not long after, the battle of Shanghai began. We were trying to flee when we
saw Prince Yasuhiko Asaka amongst the civilians. The wise Azazel was swooping down towards the armies when suddenly a