What is The Little Red Guard about?
This story centres on my grandmother and her coffin. In fact, it is a story about my father, who spent the better part of his life trying to fulfil his mother's last wish of having a traditional burial.
What made you tell this story?
In 1988, my father died of lung cancer at the age of 58. At his funeral, I was asked to say a few words on behalf of the family after the party secretary's eulogy. I was young and arrogant. I found it hard to deliver a talk without feeling disdainful for what I considered the trivial life my father had led, and without offending the Communist Party which he had faithfully served. I struggled with the speech, hoping the bitterness would evaporate and inspiration would hit me. Nothing came to my mind. In the end, I shocked everyone by simply going up to the podium. I bowed and walked away. The incident stuck in my memory. As I grew older, the guilt intensified. The mellowness that comes with middle age changed my views about my father and enabled me to appreciate what he did for the family. In 2009 I decided to write about it as a way to make up for what I had failed to do at my father's funeral.
As a child you were appointed 'coffin keeper'. What did this involve?
At the age of 10, I slept next to a coffin. It was scary because for the first time, I was brought face to face with death. As the eldest son and the coffin keeper, I was supposed to play a critical role in my grandma's funeral. My father involved me in every aspect of the clandestine funeral planning, even though I was only a child. Unfortunately, my father died before my grandma. It became my responsibility to fulfil grandma's wish. At the moment, the task is not yet completed: my grandma was buried but we have not been able to move her back to her native village, as she had hoped. With modernisation going on, the old family cemeteries have been bulldozed.What does the coffin symbolise? I see the coffin as a metaphor for China. In the old days, coffins were perceived as an ominous symbol and were associated with backward feudalistic practices, which the Communist Party was attempting to eradicate. Nowadays, coffin or guan cai, which puns with the phrase 'promotions and fortune', is seen as an auspicious symbol. In a society where communism has lost hold and the pursuit of money has become a religion, people buy miniature coffins as gifts. People hold extravagant funerals and buy elaborately decorated coffins for the deceased to show off their wealth.
What was your grandmother like?