reminded of things just before and after the first Double Ten, things I would rather forget. It is to see once again the faces of many old friends, some of whom, after years of toil and struggle, were quietly dispatched with bullets; others were imprisoned and thrown into the torture chamber; still others simply disappeared without leaving the slightest trace.
"Scorn, vilification, persecution, and murder were their lot when they lived; now their tombs, neglected and forgotten, are gradually being leveled by time . . . I have no courage to recall these things. Let us talk about something more pleasant."
A smile flitted across N's face as he said, stroking his head: "What pleases me most is that since the first Double Ten I am no longer insulted or laughed at when I go out on the street. Do you know, my friend, that hair has been at once the pet and the curse of us Chinese? That innumerable people have suffered untold miseries and tortures because of it?
"The ancients of very early times seemed to have attached little importance to hair. From the point of view of punishment, the most important thing is naturally the head, and accordingly decapitation was the severest punishment; next in importance are the reproductive organs, and so castration and sterilization came to be punishments much dreaded. But when it comes to cutting off the hair, this was considered of no consequence; though when one comes to think of it, innumerable people must have been insulted and persecuted by their fellows because of their tell-tale shaven heads.
"Before the Revolution we used to talk about the Ten Days of Yangchow, the Sack of Kiating, but to tell the truth, that was only propaganda. In reality, the Chinese opposed the
