Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction Group 3 - 2017 | Page 418

The Magic in Qipaos
St Paul's Convent School, Lum, Pui Wing - 13
O
nce upon a time, on the central coast of China, there was a land with short yet attractive buildings, with foreigners who
had ventured far and wide just to catch a glimpse of this special and fascinating piece of land. And the wondrous place was
the Old Shanghai.
There were not many schools then, and the students were chiefly male, as it was a male-dominated society. Females were treated
as housewives or employees, and were always looked down on.
However, there was a young independent 16-year-old girl named Ka Li. She was intelligent and multi-talented. Her father was
once an eminent millionaire, was wealthy and powerful, until his wife fled with a foreign man with all his possessions, leaving Ka
Li and her father penniless. Before she departed, she left a full box of good thick drawing papers and the priciest set of colour
pencils for Ka Li. Her father was disheartened and furious, and drank all day and night. Her father knew she was brainy, and took
a bright child for granted. She could read a page in seconds and memorize a poem in minutes, so she was pressurized by her
merciless father who told her that if she does not study or procrastinate or even just take a short break, he is going to abandon
her. It is pathetic that her true talents were never recognized by anyone, not even her relatives, her closest friends, nor her own
father.
Though Ka Li had been depressed about losing her mother for such a long time, she treated her last memories of her mother as
gold. The papers and pencils influenced her so much that she adored designing the traditional outfits of China, the renowned
‘qipao’, tight-fitted one-piece Chinese dress for women. She aspired to be discovered and have her very own brand one day, yet,
she knew deep down inside, it was merely a naive dream.
One rainy night, Ka Li’s father returned home, drunk and fatigued. Ka Li fell asleep, lying on her table. Her father caught sight of
her and thought she was slacking off again. He violently pushed her aside, waking Ka Li, unfortunately, he spotted the
breath-taking sketches of her daughter, and grew furious, as all he ever wanted was for the poor child to do continuous studying,
and having no enjoyment at all. Ka Li tried to grab her hard work from the table before her father did. However, it was too late,
her father already snatched the sketches and was ready to crumple them up, Ka Li begged and pleaded. Her father showed no
compassion, and cold-heartedly shattered Ka Li’s heart into tens of thousands of pieces as he threw the papers out of the
window, which landed onto the wet streets like snow. Ka Li wanted to dart out of the house but her father stopped her and
banned her from leaving. She was crushed and cried herself to sleep that very night.
The next morning Ka Li woke earlier than the sunrise. The streets were dried up and from her window, she saw the white
rectangles on the streets and gasped. She rushed down to the streets and picked up her priceless creations as rapidly as possible. A
foreign man down the street picked up a sketch of one of Ka Li's favourite dresses, admired it, and walked up to Ka Li. In a friendly
voice, he said, ‘I assume this is yours.’ ‘Oh, thank you! How could I ever thank you!’ Ka Li said gratefully, ‘by the way, I am Ka Li,
pleasure to meet you.’ ‘I am surprised the pencil marks were not smudged at all after the heavy rain!’ the man exclaimed. Ka Li said,
‘My dear mother left me in the best papers and the best pencils. She is no longer with me now, oh how much I miss her, if she was
still here, I would not need to suffer, I would not need to be, well, like this...’