That Is Fear

A writer returned to Jinan; the old station was gone. Aki asks about his friend. Old Tane: an American soldier who stayed, named a spy, hauling carts; cleared by 1980, Mao on every wall. Lord Ozen: my face on every wall, that is loyalty! Aki's cut: that is fear.

Back in Jinan, where he studied in 1980, the writer found the history he knew removed or fenced: the German-built railway station torn down and replaced on the outskirts, the church that was once a storeroom reopened only to Christians who register and show ID, and the grave of his old friend Lao Wen, an American soldier who stayed after Korean War captivity, was branded a spy in the Cultural Revolution, lost his job and his wife, and once cleared by 1980 covered his flat in Mao portraits to stay out of trouble.

Starring

🎙️The TellerAkiOld TaneLord Ozen