There are two contrasting places in this story, one is the restaurant of Uncle Cheuk and the other is the private club where Lam works at. Uncle Cheuk’s restaurant represents traditional Chinese restaurant while Lam’s workplace is a modern restaurant serving westernized Chinese food. By comparing these two places, we can see that the relationship between boss and colleagues in a traditional Chinese restaurant is much closer and warmer than that in a modern restaurant. For example, Uncle Cheuk and other waiters sit together to have their lunch, while Lam Yam Kuen and his colleagues do not. Moreover, the coexistence of both traditional and westernized restaurants in Hong Kong shows that Hong Kong is a very open-minded city which accept different culture.
Main characters
The protagonist is Lam Yam Kuen who is a matire d’ at Butterfield’s Soong Club. His Uncle Cheuk, who is the owner of a Chinese restaurant in Central serving home-style dishes, is the most important peripheral. Other peripherals include Siu Gau (a dishwasher in Uncle Cheuk’s restaurant), Mrs. Chacko and her guests in the party (e.g. a thin Caucasion woman and her Chinese husband) and the mother who insists her son see the leaping white neon rabbit in the club.
The main character, Lam Yam Kuen is relatively developed as some different traits of his personality are shown in the story through the description of his action, feeling, words and speech with other character. (e.g. different ways he treats Uncle Cheuk, Siu Gau, the rookie waiter and the guests in the club) Readers are able to develop a vivid image of Lam in our mind. However, other characters are not as well-developed as Lam Yam Kuen because they are usually characterized by a single dominant trait. For example, I would describe Uncle Cheuk is rather old-fashioned because he always believe that traditional Chinese food is better than the modified one (i.e. westernized Chinese food).Moreover, the writer does not descript other characters in detail. Sometimes, there may be only one or two adjectives to describe a person, e.g. “Mrs. Chacko greets Lam. She is always gracious, never condescending, unlike some of the English women…”
Plot line
Plot refers to the interconnected series of actions or events which compose the story. In this short story, the plot line is short and simple, concentrating on one single issue, i.e. the handover of Hong Kong to China.
The exposition at the beginning of the story is the dialogue between Lam Yam Kuen and Uncle Cheuk when Lam pays a visit to his uncle’s restaurant on 30th June 1997. Through this exposition, readers can get a general idea on the characters and the setting of the story. Followed to the exposition, the first complication arises when Lam, Uncle Cheuk and Siu Gau talk about the cat which is scared of mice. The second exposition arises when Lam and Uncle Cheuk talks about the firework displayed the next day.
The climax of the story is the party and firework on 1st July 1997 and Lam retrospects to his childhood when Uncle Cheuk teaches him to see the rabbit on the moon. Finally, Chacko’s family leaves and Lam continues watching the firework resolve the whole story.
Atmosphere
I would describe the initial atmosphere of this story as fatalistic because no matter you look forward to the handover like the customers at the private club, or you are not indifferent to it like Uncle Cheuk, we cannot change the fact. It is inevitable that Hong Kong would return to our motherland from 1st July 1997. We have to accept this because this is the fate of Hong Kong.
When Lam Yam Kuen recalls his memory about the rabbit on the moon, the atmosphere is nostalgic. He seems to yearn for his childhood, especially the time he stays with Uncle Cheuk. It may reflect that some Hong Kong people are still sentimentally attached to the British Colonial Government before 1997.
At the end of the story, the atmosphere turns to optimistic because Lam Yam Kuen finally see the rabbit on the moon. It may reflect that Hong Kong people should be optimistic too. We should wait patiently for our “rabbit”, which may be interpreted as economic recovery or reappearance of stability and prosperity because Hong Kong has been under economic recession at the time when this book is published.
Leit motif
Leit motif refers to a phrase or other features that is repeated frequently in a work of literature and tells the readers something important about it. In this story, the leit motif is the feeling of Hong Kong people towards handover. Through the dialogues and activities of the characters, i.e. Lam Yam Kuen, Uncle Cheuk, Siu Gau and other guests in the private club, Xu Xi expresses the ambivalent feeling of Hong Kong people of handover which is the main issue of this short story. For example, when Lam Yam Kuen asks if Uncle Cheuk will watch the firework on 30th June 1997, “Uncle shrugs and says, “Are you?”” He also says “Firework, hah. If you see one, you’ve seen them all. Doesn’t matter who foots the bill.” It show that Uncle Cheuk are not interested in celebrating handover at all although his nephew wishes to bring him to the club and watch the firework together.
Moreover, by describing the situation in the private club where the guests have extravagant buffet dinner, the writer shows the contrasting feeling of different Hong Kong people towards this supposedly “big” event. For example, “When the giant screen lights up, all heads turn towards the image of a translucent Pearl-of-the-Orient helium bubble floating across the habour” reveals that the guests are all excited on the firework.
Image and Metaphor
There are several images in these two diaries which make the story more life-enhancing. In the first diary, when Uncle Cheuk and his staff sit together to have their lunch, there are plenty dishes on the table, e.g. salted fish and pork, shrimp scrambled in egg and water spinach which are all familiar home-style Chinese dishes. Therefore, we can imagine that Uncle Cheuk is not a grand restaurant, but just an ordinary one which can be easily found in Hong Kong.
Furthermore, a fat cat with few grey strands of hair which is scared of mice is mentioned. Siu Gau also says,” That’s ‘cos it’s neither black nor while, not like ‘Honorable Sir’ Deng’s.” I think this is a response to Deng Xiao Ping’s famous saying “It doesn’t matter if a cat is black or white, as long as it catches mice” which is also mentioned at the beginning of this story. I think the intended meaning is that no matter Hong Kong is under British or Chinese government control, the most important is that Hong Kong should be kept stable and prosperous. However, our existing leader, who is symbolized by the fat grey cat in the story cannot catch any mice. In other words, he is not able to keep Hong Kong as stable and prosperous as before 1997.
In the second dairy, the story begins by describing different guests at Butterfield’s Soong Club. They are all westerners (e.g. Mr. Victor Chacko’s family) or westernized Chinese (e.g. the Chinese husband speaks with American accented English) with high social status (e.g. well-respected journalist, university professor). It shows that that private club is a luxurious place for superior people and it is contrasting with Uncle Cheuk’s restaurant.
Xu Xi then writes a paragraph to describe the food of the buffet dinner. She first writes the appetizer of Chinese style, e.g. Cantonese roast goose, suckling pig, boiled chicken etc, and then the western salads with lots of vegetables names which are unfamiliar to me (e.g. chicory, arugula, endive etc). It reveals that both Chinese and western cuisine are popular in Hong Kong which is a well-known gourmet paradise with culinary diversity.
In the later part of the story, Lam Yam Kuen recalls his childhood memory. He remembers how Uncle Cheuk teaches him to see the rabbit on the moon because a guest in the dinner party asks her son to see the leaping white neon rabbit on the screen and tells him that every child knows there is white rabbit living on the moon. I think this rabbit is related to a myth of Chinese Mid-autumn festival. In this legend, three fairy sages transformed themselves into pitiful old men and begged for something to eat from a fox, a monkey and a rabbit. The fox and the monkey both had food to give to the old men, but the rabbit, empty-handed, offered his own flesh instead, jumping into a blazing fire to cook himself. The sages were so touched by the rabbit's sacrifice that they let him live in the Moon Palace where he became the "Jade Rabbit” which is the rabbit on the moon mentioned by Xu Xi. I think this rabbit is a symbol of Lam Yam Kuen’s mother who is not afraid to wait alone in China while her husband, her son and her brother are all in Hong Kong. We may also interpret from another point of view. Hong Kong is now lack of people who are willing to sacrifice themselves for others, just like the rabbit and Lam’s mother. Nevertheless, we should be patient because if we give up in frustration, the cat which can catch mice will never appear. In short, Xu Xi encourages Hong Kong people to be tenacious and sanguine of Hong Kong future through this story.
At the end of the story, Xu Xi describes that the Chacko family leaves when the firework is displaying. It may reflect that some western people in Hong Kong are similar to Uncle Cheuk, i.e. they are not interested in the handover. It does not affect them whether Hong Kong is a colony of Britain or a special administrative region of China.
Conclusion
To conclude, I think Xu Xi is successful to show the paradox of Hong Kong people over handover. On the one hand, we should be glad of it because we finally reunite with our motherland after about hundred years of colonial governance. On the other hand, we may feel little apprehension over the Chinese government. We may not be confident enough on the policy of “one country, two systems.” Some other people, or even the majority, are similar to Uncle Cheuk, i.e. they are unconcerned about politics.
