Forbidden City

Alex enrolls in a Chinese-language class at a school for foreign diplomats’ kid, and even though he says what he’s learned “doesn’t sound like much, the way Teacher Huang puts it to us, we are learning a lot” (37). It is a difficult school to get into, but Lao Xu manages to help with a connection. Alex is able to study there too, despite being a reporter’s son. Alex notes that “Chinese is really different from English or French” (37) and that each word has a number of distinct tones that give it meaning. Learning feels good, as does the change of clothes that provide Alex with a little more anonymity. In order to avoid being stared at, Alex learns that he must go out of buy “one of those light coats that Westerners call Mao coats, a blue hat with the red star above the peak and a pair of corny mirror sunglasses” (39). Cloaked in this protective guise, Alex begins to circle the city on bike after school. He goes to parts of the Forbidden City not typically seen by Westerners, including residential neighborhoods and public spaces such as Tiananmen Square. His footage is so impressive his father even starts to pay him. 

The excitement of his father and Eddie keeps Alex awake. The two reporters have been told that a “[p]arty bigwig named Hu Yao-bang is really sick and may die any time. When he does there will be a big student demonstration in Tiananmen Square” (42). From eavesdropping on the adults, Alex learns that this dying politician earned the ire of the big boss, Deng Xiao-ping, for being too lenient about student demonstrations. Eddie and Ted are amped up for this demonstration, looking at the map that Alex draws up for them since he knows the layout of the city well from his bike rides. Lao Xu says little and watches them from the corner, looking tense.

When Alex wakes up, the hotel suite is messy and empty. Both his father and Eddie are gone. He finds a note that Ted left for him, alerting him that the ailing leader passed away as anticipated. The reporters have gone to Tiananmen Square to see whether or not a protest unfolds. Ted leaves behind the two-way radio and tells Alex to contact him on it. Alex tries but instead reaches Eddie who tells Alex that his father is climbing up the base of the monument “to get a better angle for his picture.” Eddie also asks, “Is he always this crazy?” (46). With a laugh, Alex admits that his father usually is. Alex himself decides not to head down to the square, asserting that he isn’t like other kids and that he doesn’t think “all politicians are crooks or anything” but just that “they’re boring” (46). Figuring there’s nothing exciting to see, he leaves the square.

Lao Xu asks Alex to go out into the city with him. The two of them share a fascination with history, especially military history, so Lao Xu takes him to an impromptu tearoom gathering where an old man is telling a story while playing a small two stringed instrument called an erhu. While he strums, he relates a story of military conquest from 1700 years ago. Alex is intrigued and impressed. He is also intrigued by the commentary that Lao Xu offers on the story and experience as the two travel back to the Beijing Hotel together. Lao Xu sighs and states, “In China, our greatest strength is our people. But so often in our history, we fight among ourselves” (54). Lao Xu notes this as they travel back through Tiananmen Square, which Alex notes is still filled with flowers and with police.