DOC《PREDICTING CHINA IN 2013, THERE ARE DEEPER ...》

instead, we are living harmoniously. You have to admit, this is something incredible. Chen was born in Hong Kong, and moved to Taiwan with his family after elementary school. He calls himself a figure in Taiwan culture. In two serendipitous events, he bumps into two long-lost friends, Fang Caodi and Xiao Xi. The complicated and mysterious Fang Caodi tells Chen about a secret that everyone seems to have forgotten: right when the world entered the economic crisis, the People'

s Daily Post announced the beginning of China'

s fat years. In that time, an entire month has disappeared. All around the China, they were experiencing uprisings, lootings, food shortages, martial law, vaccinations, and nobody remembered any of this. Everyone has forgotten about this entire month. Fang Caodi wants to search out the truth, and in order to collect evidence that this month did truly exist, he has travelled all over China for the past two years. However, aside from a man named Zhang Dou who plays the guitar and feeds cats and dogs, he hasn'

t seemed to have found anyone who remembers this lost month. He also hasn'

t been able to find anyone who shows any interest in what he has to say. In the two years after China enters its fat years, Zhan Dou found it strange how everyone he meets seemed so happy, and never did you hear anyone speak about any unhappiness. He thought that everyone was acting strangely, but since he couldn'

t put his finger on the reason, he played along and pretended to be happy as well. Certain memories have collectively fallen into a black hole Xiao Xi is an independent intellectual salon owner who was part of last century'

s

8963 event. In the 90s, she was always seen around dissidents and foreigners, but now those people have all disappeared. Chen used to have a crush on her, but was always in sensitive situations, and had to move around regularly to escape being arrested. She says, In the past, my friends always talked about politics and criticized the government. That'

s why I can'

t get accustomed to today. Suddenly, in these two years, after the supposed fat years started, people not only do not criticize the government anymore, but instead seem satisfied with the status quo. I don'

t know where this shift came from, my mind is blank, because for a period of time I was in the psychiatric hospital and was fed a lot of medication. I don'

t remember much of what happened before and after that…when I speak to them about the past, especially about 8964, nobody wants to talk about it. They even seem apathetic about it. When I speak about the Cultural Revolution, they only remember having fun in the countryside when they were part of the troops. These memories have become fond memories of the adolescence, romanticized and sentimentalized. They don'

t remember any of the bittersweet memories. It'

s as if certain memories have collectively fallen into a black hole, and will never be retrieved. I really don'

t understand. Have they changed, or is there something wrong with me? Everyone is happy during these fat years, everyone but Xiao Xi, who spends her days online, using different names to argue with people, acting like a madwoman. She says, I only do this so that everyone can know one thing: do not forget. The communist government is not as great, glorious or right as they promote themselves to be…over the past two years, I have been disappointed by the people I have met. Chen finds himself still drawn to Xiao Xi, but he is concerned, because she is a trouble-maker, and not the typical intellectual dissident…however, over the past thirty years, she has always been involved in political troubles, simply because she is too forward, too stubborn, and too cynical. She offends people easily. According to Chen, people have always wanted to help her in the past, including those foreigners, but now these foreigners have disappeared, and nobody wants to offend the Chinese communists. Those who are willing to offend the communists probably can not obtain Chinese visas. The people around Xiao Xi are living well, and don'