Disillusioned and Inspired
Distance from Beijing: 19,790km
Distance from Changjiang Wusongkou: 18,603km
Overnight altitude: 847m
“Life changes fast. Life changes in the instant. The ordinary instant. You sit down for dinner and life as you know it ends.��? So writes Joan Didion in The Year of Magical Thinking about the instant when her husband suffered a massive and fatal coronary and her life as she knew it ended.
I finished reading this book the day before I drove to Taiyuan.
***
On November 30, 2003, Hong Hong and her then-boyfriend Wang Hao took an evening walk. They crossed a street and heared metal smashing into metal. Then nothing.
Life changes fast. Life changes in the instant. The ordinary instant.
***
Three-and-a-half years later Hong Hong and Hao were, at last, released from hospital. Hao is heavier than before, the bones in his legs now stiffened by steel. But at least Hao still has both legs. Hong Hong is not so lucky. Her good, right leg, too, is strengthened by steel, but her left leg is gone, severed just below her hip. In place of her cut-off leg, she now has an artificial one of Chinese manufacture. It is far from ideal, but at least she is beginning to talk again.
(This is in Chinese, but the images alone are worth watching…)
***
When Hong Hong and Hao were run over, they had been seeing each other for only three months. One year after the accident, they got married over Hao’s family’s strenuous objections. “According to Chinese traditions,��? explains Hao, “your spouse’s mind and body should be intact to be eligible for marriage. Hong Hong’s mind is as sound as ever, but her body has been maimed. Still, I think the accident bound us together forever.��? And so Hao decided to ignore his family’s refusal to approve the marriage. “We got married at a group wedding ceremony along with many others who can’t get their family’s approval for one reason or another,��? adds Hong Hong. “I can’t express how lucky I feel to have Hao as my husband.��?
Overcoming Hao’s family objections was not the only obstacle that lay in their way.
According to witnesses, the driver who ran into two taxis before ending Hong Hong’s and Hao’s life as they knew it, was drunk. But this never made it into the police report.
Right after the accident, this driver, a man without conscience, said to them: “The car is my friend’s. Lets settle this privately. I don’t want to cause him trouble.��?
Before they knew it, however, the car’s ownership changed from being an individual’s to a company’s, specifically a real estate developer who is the driver’s employer.
The car was covered by third-party insurance. And the insurance paid up. Thank heavens, you will say. But not so fast: the insurance company paid the money to the policy holder, the real estate developer who was the employer of the man without conscience.
“How can that be?��? I ask incredulously.
“The spirit of Chinese third-party insurance coverage is that the money should end up with the injured party, but in the thicket of actual operation, the money is always first paid to the policy holder,��? Hong Hong tells me and nods to confirm that she’s not kidding.
As a result, she and Hao have been fighting for the last three-and-a-half years to get some of the money which, in spirit, should have been theirs to begin with. Mind you, she’s not talking about some sort of compensation for suffering. She’s just talking about money to pay her and Hao’s medical fees.
When they were first able to after the accident, they looked for help at a legal assistance service in Taiyuan. After getting nowhere at first, they found, at last and by sheer luck, a lawyer who took on their case and has been fighting it on their behalf for all this time without charging them. He has a daughter and a heart of gold. Slowly, slowly, money is beginning to trickle in.
Hong Hong and Hao now live in a one-room, ground floor flat that costs them RMB400 per month. The only shiny thing in it is a computer, connected to broadband.
“At first she resisted it and instead wanted a TV,��? Hao tells me and Hong Hong nods in agreement, “but I convinced her that a computer is more valuable.��?
Last October, Hong Hong began to write her story on Sina. A Sina blog editor got interested and featured it. Within a short time, Hong Hong’s blog had tens of thousands of readers.
“Have you received direct help from your blog’s popularity?��? I ask Hong Hong.
“Well, not really, but I’ve made many friends who’ve encouraged me,��? she replies.
Today, Hong Hong and Hao have two dreams. Above all, to be able to afford, sooner or later, the best artificial leg available. These are made in Germany, Japan and the U.K., but they cost RMB400,000. The other is for them to own a home again. Hao owned one before the accident, but had to sell it to cover the many medical fees.
“The only thing that prevents you from achieving your dream is the fear of failure.��? Once again, these are the only words I can find to lend my support. With the indomitable spirit that Hong Hong and Hao have shown, for sure they will succeed.
***
On my way back from Taiyuan to Beijing, I am both disillusioned and inspired. I am disillusioned by the institutions of China that let a man of such recklessness get away with impunity. Have I not known before that this is what is going on? Of course I have, but Hong Hong and Hao’s story have rubbed it in. While these institutions may not bring China’s modernisation to a halt, what an immeasurable drag they put on China’s renewal! And at whose expense does this drag come? At the expense of people like Hong Hong and Wei.
At the same time, I am also inspired. But “inspired��? is the wrong word. I think in the light of these unaccountable institutions, I should use the word “consoled��?. Because it is the pure spirit, drive and fearlessness of Hong Hong, Hao and their lawyer friend who, I dare hope, will eventually get the better of these institutions. That is my consolation.
***
Sharing these thoughts are made possible by Nokia and my N73
August 25th, 2007 at 9:33 am
[…] If you haven’t read the original story, please see my visit to Hong Hong […]