Lai He : stories translated from the China (sic) Post newspaper

The Lever Scale

part 4

[translated by Joe Hung]

De-san recently heard that selling vegetables at the outdoor day market in town would be a good gig for him. He then thought he had better get into this produce vending business himself, but the problem was that he had no money to start the business. Indifferent to money, he dared not borrow from any friends. All he could do to raise some seed money for his planned small business was to ask his wife to go to her father's family to ask for help. It only stands to reason that the wife of a poor pieceworker peasant has no rich father who could offer big help. But the wife of her elder brother was especially kind to her. She let her poorer sister-in-law take her sole precious accessory, a hairpin with a small gold flower at the head, to a loan office in town to pawn it for a couple of yen, which De-san could use for the time being as the seed money for his vending business. De-san's wife felt it's a risky way to raise the seed money for her husband, but she had no other options. She had to do what her sister-in-law intended her to do.

One very early morning, De-san brought home two large basketfuls of fresh vegetables which he intended to carry with his carrying pole to the market in town to sell.* He planned to have breakfast first before going to town. Then, his wife found out her husband did not have a lever scale to weigh the produce he hoped to sell.** “What shall we do?” he asked himself. “To buy a lever scale? It's a government monopoly, which isn't cheap at all. Where can I get that much money (to buy it)?” His wife hastened to a neighbor to borrow a lever scale. The neighbor was very kind. She was able to borrow an almost brand-new lever scale from him. De-san had to have one; otherwise he might be punished for illegal vending. Japanese policemen never fails to find faults with small fries like De-san to improve their track record on the beats. The more “crime” the cops can crack, the faster they can get promotions. Untold thousands of people have been thus accused. The crimes they have been falsely accused of include traffic offense as well as violation of street regulations, food-vending rules, traveling regulations, and the weights and measures decree. As a matter of fact, everything the people do in their daily lives is interfered with and placed under control of (Japanese colonial) laws. De-san's wife borrowed the lever scale from the neighbor to guard against a one-in-ten-thousandth possibility that cops may arrest and detain her husband.


*A vegetable vender in Taiwan used to fill their ware in two open large bamboo baskets, which he carried with a bamboo carrying pole on his shoulders. The two baskets had to be matched in weight so that he would have no trouble with the lopsidedness that would interfere with his normal walking gait.

**A lever scale in use in Taiwan in the past has a hook at one end of a wood rod, marked with catties. The produce to be sold would be tied up with a string and hung on the hook. The vender would use one hand to grasp the loop attached to the brass head of the scale, which he would lift up, adjusting the weight with the other to find out how heavy the produce to be sold was. All lever scales were issued by the bureau of weights and measures of the Japanese colonial government in Taiwan.

The Lai He Fiction serialization, sponsored by the Council for Hakka Affairs, is provided by the Central News Agency.

Dr. David Landsborough has passed away; God rest his soul.-- (1914 - 2010)

The well-known Dr. David Landsborough, a longtime Christian medical missionary in Taiwan [who was born in Changhua, Taiwan, in 1914] passed away on March 2, 2010. Dr. Landsborough's funeral in the UK is set for March 12. The hospital in Taiwan where Dr Landsborough worked for many years will most likely have a memorial service as well, according to Miss Chang, director of nursing there.

The funeral will be held on March 12 at Redhill URC, Shaws Corner, Redhill, Surrey, UK, at 10.30 a.m. The burial will be at 11.30 a.m. and refreshments will be served in the church hall at Redhill URC sometime after 12 noon. The family has asked for family flowers only. If anyone wishes to make a contribution in Dr Langsborough's memory, it can be sent to the CWM either direct or in care of the funeral directors, J Stoneman & Sons.

Dr Lansborough passed away in the morning on March 2 at around 6 a.m., very peacefully and with his family around him. He had recently been gravely ill, not eating and scarcely drinking and having lost a great deal of weight.

"[In Dad's last days] ...he does not open his eyes, although I am sure he is aware when I speak to him and sometimes there is a hint of his old smile. He is a real fighter but I am very sad that I believe he is near the end of his long and full life. Our family is confident that he is getting the best possible care at Trembaths nursing home. The staff are immensely thoughtful and caring. Yesterday when David (my brother) and I visited, we arrived so find the tea lady holding Dad's hand and comforting him – this says alot about the depth of care at the home and the quality of the staff and this is a great comfort," said Don Landsborough in an email to friends and relatives.
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SMILE TAIWAN

Saving print newspapers with a song

Saving print newspapers with a song






http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnZKIk1Krp8




Saving print newspapers with a song



AdRants.com (Steve Hall) says today: "Danny Bloom tries to save the

old fashioned 'snailpaper' " with link to this YouTube novelty song

video with scrolling lyrics and country western spoken song tune

crooned by Texas crooner J. Gale Kilgore of Big Spring, Texas, a

retired dentist there. Bloom is in Taiwan.

Who put the bop in the boppity bop bop?

Correct answer?

Venus Tsai of Beikang, Yunlin County, continues her journeys around Australia

She sends a postcard from Sydney:

Dear Dan Bloom, Happy new year! How are you!! I am in a small town near Sydney now, and doing pick grapes, everything is fine here, but night time is very cold here, so I have to fight with myslef every morning to go to work I miss Taiwan's food so much, I already got fat in Australia, but will get more fat after back to Taiwan I think... By the way I just bought a second hand car last week yep,,I am a terrible driver,, but is getting better now,, I just need to pracitce more an more The French guy that I am travelling with is very nice to me, and we are already together for 4 months! is also feel surprised to me! We probably will travel together for six months more ... MAYBE.... and I can even speak little bit French now!




best wishes for you, and give my regards to Taiwan!



Venus
PS: Here is my new second-hand car.

files mary NOT FOR PUBLIC, private files will delete soon

SNAILFOOTNOTES: reading the cartoon panel boxes left to right, 123 and the next row 456 and then finally last row 789

Box 1. Our Dear Sleeping Snailpaper Delivery Snail... 6 am

2. He Opens His Eyes and Peeks Out....11 am

3. Goes Back Inside... 4pm



4. Comes Out This Time!....5 pm



5. Ready to Deliver His First Snailpaper.... 6 pm



6. Oops! An Obstacle! A Wall In the Way? WTF?....7 pm



7. Climbs Slowly Up the Wall In Front of Him.....8 pm



8. Falls Down With a Thud to the Pavement and ....8:10 pm



9. Snailpaper delivered! (and not a minute too late!)