荒原 [The Barren Field]

Written amid several domestic and global crises including the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine War, Hong Kong-based author Yip Chauyin’s Chinese short prose piece “The Barren Field [荒原]” details the distorted perception of time after two and a half years of pandemic life, and a sense of numbness towards the continuous stream of tragic events. The piece was published in Fleurs des lettres, a Hong Kong literary magazine that publishes local literature written in Chinese by young writers for young readers.

Yip creates a distorted temporality by blending dreams and reality, interjecting the narrative present with memories earlier on in the pandemic, and describing major overseas and local happenings. In the first section titled “Early Spring of Lunar New Year,” the piece begins with a day that starts twice, once in a dream about people queuing up for COVID tests in a 7°C winter, and again in reality, as the protagonist wakes to thick fog outside, implying the arrival of spring, warmer temperatures and high humidity. Immediately, readers experience disorientation of time, with the only indication of the passing months being the weather. In a flashback about cooking in winter, Yip writes, “A layer of fine white mist covered the surface of the window. Out of boredom, you wrote the character “autumn (秋)” on it, and after the mist cleared, you found that autumn disappeared” (159), illustrating a literal representation of seasons changing and disappearing, and the shocking discovery of the passing of time. Being confined to the indoors, Yip conveys a sense of stagnated time through the disconnect from the seasonal changes in nature. In another section, Yip discusses the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine War, followed by tragic scenes of COVID-19 casualties in Hong Kong hospitals. “Don’t worry, for better or for worse, the days move forward without end” (160), she comments, dismantling the idea of past, present, and future in favor of an unending series of events.

The constant stream of negative news reports occurring alongside the pandemic contribute to the feeling of numbness and desensitization towards global events during lockdown. In reference to the Russia-Ukraine War, Yip writes, “Every day the news broadcasts live footage [of the war], so that movie ‘Greatest Events in WWII History (In Color)’ on Netflix doesn’t move you at all. Only raw news footage has the power to tug on your heartstrings” (160). Yip reflects how the accessibility of news coverage on international conflicts has damaged people’s ability to feel shock, sadness, or be emotionally impacted by enormous human suffering in any way. “Scenes of turmoil (動盪) in turmoil, every day chaotic scenes are on display” (160), she states, highlighting the overwhelming instability of the global political situation. However, the emphasis on war as “scenes” indicates a layer of mediation between the Hong Kong viewer and the true brutality of war itself. Despite not being endangered by the war overseas, the protagonist’s constant exposure to news and footage from the war serve to confirm her bleak worldview and creates a sense of apathy and resignation.

“The Barren Field” invites readers to experience the emotional impact and resulting fatigue from not only the COVID-19 pandemic, but also other major global tragedies that Hong Kong people, simultaneously global citizens, were informed of every day through copious amounts of media consumption. It describes the sense of distorted temporality from the monotony of long months of lockdown, which the emotional fatigue played a part in by removing any shock or novelty from daily life. Set in one of the regions with the longest lasting quarantine restrictions in the world, this short piece offers a window into the effects of sustained quarantine on Hong Kong residents.