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// Black Whirlwind // and //The Shanghai Foxtrot (a Fragment)//, two works by the author Mu Shiying, both capture the corruption and greed of modern China during the first half of the twentieth century. However, each short story illustrates this corruption in distinct ways. //Black Whirlwind// tells the story of a worker’s disgust over the betrayal and rejection that his noble friend suffers at the hands of a pretty girl. The worker’s narrative builds up and idolizes his friend, who is ultimately rejected by the girl in favor of one of the town’s many “college students”, a group that is depicted throughout the story as questionably moral. In contrast, //The Shanghai Foxtrot// only loosely follows the story of incestuous and greedy family living in Shanghai. Instead, the idea of the corruption of society is largely built through imagery and abstraction.

//The Shanghai Foxtrot// both begins and ends with the line “Shanghai, a heaven built on hell.” The opening image depicts the murder of an unnamed figure carrying his groceries home by three “black silk jackets” with faces hidden beneath fedoras. Despite the luxurious fashion in which the three “black silk jackets” are clothed, they justify the killing by informing the figure, “we got to eat too.” This image is one of many strung through the story that lace morally despicable acts together with icons of material wealth. After this initial scene the story moves on to the main plotline which follows Mr. Virtuous Liu and his wife, Liu Yan Rongzhu, through the course of their night in Shanghai. Contradictory to his name, Mr. Liu is not a virtuous character. However, he is considerably wealthy. Upon his arrival home, his wife, described to be “by age his daughter-in-law, by law his wife”, immediately asks him for money and informs him she is going out in town with his son, Little Virtue. From this point forwards the tale of the couple’s night weaves in and out of the detailed imagery of debauchery and riches. In between these images, the reader learns of Mr. Virtuous Liu’s destructive gambling habit and that Liu Yan Rongzhu is in actuality having an affair with her stepson, Little Virtue.

In addition to the opening scene depicting greed-driven, cold-hearted murder, another scene woven into the story depicts a worker who is crushed to death by a beam he is carrying for a building: " A man shouldering a large beam in the ditch casts an emaciated shadow. Putting a foot forward slips, falls down, wooden beam crushes spine. Spine snaps, lips spit a mouthful of blood…arc light…bang!" (p. 802-803). In contrast to the opening scene that depicts the destruction of personal greed, this image illustrates the harm and destruction of societal greed. In addition to these random, vividly detailed scenes of greed and corruption, the story also uses the repetition of single images of opulence and degeneracy to build the sense of increasing moral deterioration. The story repeats the image “heavily powdered thighs of young women intersecting and extending…white-legs in formation” to describe the foxtrot dancers in the dance halls. However, this image also conjures up ideas of seduction and corrupt impurity of a highly sexualized society. Another phrase repeated several times over the course of the story recalls “the smell of alcohol, smell of perfume, smell of English ham and eggs, smell of cigarettes…singles sit in corners taking shots of black coffee to shock their nerves.” This collage of images repeatedly weaves together the overt seduction and destructive over-indulgence that characterize the city.

While //The Shanghai Foxtrot// does follow the narrative of Mr. Virtuous Liu and Liu Yan Rongzhu’s night in the city, it relies most heavily on imagery to convey its central ideas regarding the corruption of society. //Black Whirlwind// is narrated entirely from the perspective of the worker, who witnesses and is angered by the degeneration and greed of those surrounding him. The story opens with the narrator’s description of his friend, “Wang Guoxun. What a fine-sounding name! Wang was our Big Brother. He knew the names of all the hundred and eight heroes of //The Water Margin//.” The narrator continues to expound upon the moral qualities of his friend, who he refers to as BB (Big Brother), describing him as an obedient son and a good friend. However, the narrator admits, BB’s one weakness is women, in particular one of the “town beauties” named Milky Beauty, referred to through the story as MB.

He proceeds to narrate the story of how BB and MB’s seemingly pure and innocent, budding love is corrupted by the vices of the modern world. The narrator not only idolizes BB, but idealizes BB’s love for MB. He describes a conversation between the two, “If you’d listened to this conversation of theirs, it’d have given you pleasant dreams at night.” (p. 24). Yet, their love is all but untouchable. Early in the story, the narrator recalls a scene where BB and MB are walking by the side of the road and a car speeds by, knocks MB in puddle and splatters muddy water all over BB’s clothes. In regards to this incident, the narrator observes, “And the bugger in the car, a playboy no less, he was gleeful. Is it any wonder that BB came to loathe the motor-car?” (p.25). The real trouble begins when a group of college students, whose entitled, pompous attitudes and playboy mannerisms the narrator describes with utmost disgust, becomes interested in MB and begin to follow her around. Ultimately MB falls for the smooth ways and refined activities of one of the college students, rejecting BB’s modest gift of silk stockings for the college students more lavish gift of high-heels.

The way in which the narrator describes how the seduction of wealth steals MB away from the noble BB, conveys the same message as //The Shanghai// //Foxtrot// does regarding greed and moral degeneration. However, //The Shanghai Foxtrot// saturates the reader with imagery, providing brief yet vivid images of the victims of greed in modern China. //Black Whirlwind// instead uses the narrator’s adoration of BB, to express the corruption and unfairness of the new urban landscape.

Shiying, Mu. "Black Whirlwind". Trans. Siu-kit Wong. //Renditions// 37 (1992): 23-34. Shiying, Mu. "The Shanghai Foxtrot (a Fragment)". Trans. MacDonald Sean. //Modernism/modernity// 11.4 (2004): 797-807. Project Muse.
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