Volume 1: The First Battle Chapter 1 Mount Paektu
Joseon means the Land of the Tranquil Morning. Legend has it that a long time ago, there was a bear and a tiger who wished to become human beings. The gods told them that if they could stay in a dark cave on Mount Paektu for a hundred days and only eat garlic and mugwort, they would become human beings. The bear withstood the severe test and became a beautiful woman, but the tiger failed because of lack of perseverance. Later, the bear woman married Dan-woong and gave birth to Dan-gun, who established the kingdom of Joseon in Pyongyang in 2333 AD. Since then, Koreans have called themselves descendants of the bear.
I am now standing at the legendary birthplace of the ancestors of the Korean people, Baekdu Mountain, which is also called the sacred mountain and holy mountain by the Koreans. The name Baekdu Mountain may be unfamiliar to everyone, but if you mention its other name - "Changbai Mountain", I think few people will not know it.
Climbing on the not-so-narrow forest path, surrounded by lush trees, several groups of tourists walked by from time to time.
This phenomenon of tourists consciously queuing up to play may only be seen here. However, I am no longer surprised by this, because compared with what I have seen in North Korea in the past few days, it is really nothing.
Can you imagine a country with only one internet cafe? And the cost of surfing the Internet is as high as hundreds of dollars per hour; can you imagine a subway built dozens of meters underground? So that when a war breaks out, it can be immediately converted into a civilian air-raid shelter; can you imagine a country with only one TV station? And this station plays the founding ceremony over and over again ; can you imagine the people of this country, starting from childhood, to learn the growth history of their leader? Can you imagine a country with red slogans everywhere, and the whole country is praising the same person - their great leader?
This is a country full of mysteries. Here, only one voice is allowed to exist, that is the voice of the leader; only one thought is allowed to exist, that is the Juche thought; only one direction is allowed to exist, that is the socialist direction; and only one kind of worship is allowed, that is the worship of the leader.
As a Chinese, I feel a sense of déjà vu when I see this scene. Yes, if the older generation who grew up in the 1960s and 1970s saw this scene, they would not mock its backwardness and closedness. Because in the not-too-distant past, we also had a déjà vu experience. But now we can only see it on TV or in movies, but what is in front of us is a living fact...
"Comrade reporter..." The tour guide's call interrupted my thoughts.
This interview can be said to be not a pleasant one. All our actions must be carried out under official arrangements, and every interview must be accompanied by official personnel.
These days I have also learned how to talk here. For example, if you say "I want to see how the children in the school live", you will definitely get a rejection look if you say it directly. But if you say, "Comrade, I want to see how the students here live a happy life under the guidance of the great leader!", then someone will soon take you to school with a smile.
I have to admire my learning ability and my stomach. I admire my learning ability because I quickly learned how to conduct interviews here without any obstacles; I admire my stomach because - I never knew that my stomach could be so strong that it would not cramp after saying those words...
"Reporter..." The tour guide was a thin man who had studied at Shandong University, so he knew some Chinese. But rather than calling him a tour guide, it would be more appropriate to say that he was monitoring us. He walked up to me with a smile and said in stiff Chinese: "The Tuanjie Peak is in front of us. When we get there, we can see the Tianchi Lake that you asked about."
Tianchi Lake is the source of the Songhua River, Tumen River and Yalu River. It is said that fairies bathe here every year. During my stay in North Korea, I have heard countless myths and legends about Tianchi Lake.
"Oh..." I responded casually, frowned slightly, and did not respond to the tour guide 's smiling face.
My dislike for tour guides came from my previous trip to the Banmen store. On the negotiation table that symbolized honor, I found that there was no Chinese flag on it. In the showroom of the Banmen store, there were hundreds of pictures but no trace of the Chinese People's Volunteer Army.
When I asked the tour guide, "Excuse me, where were the Chinese volunteer army representatives at that time?"
The confused tour guide gave a strange answer: "Did China also participate in the armistice signing?"
After I was speechless for a while, the tour guide pointed to the North Korean flag and introduced to me shamelessly: "We North Korea are the only country that dares to confront and defeat the American empire. Back then, under the leadership of our great leader General Kim Il Sung, we refused to bow to imperialism..."
Later, through interviews, I learned that the only mention of the Volunteer Army in their textbooks was: "General Kim Il Sung met with Volunteer Army Commander Peng Dehuai." Commander Peng Dehuai looked at General Kim Il Commander Peng Dehuai said: "There are many difficulties. If it weren't for your previous battles against the US military, we would have no experience and it would be even more difficult." General Kim Il Sung said: "Our soldiers have experience in fighting against the US military. They can directly help and guide you..."
"Fuck..." I, who never like to swear, couldn't help but curse inwardly at this moment: "Who is helping whom?"
Thinking about the blood of 336,000 Chinese volunteer soldiers, which was shed generously on this land, but their glorious military exploits were wiped out so easily, I can't calm down.
I climbed the mountain with a heavy heart, and I don't know how long it had been, when suddenly there was a cheer in front of me. I felt relieved, thinking that I must have reached Tianchi. I had heard so many legends about Tianchi in the past few days that I really wanted to see what Tianchi looked like.
With a bit of curiosity, I quickened my pace and walked forward. But there is an old saying that you can't eat hot tofu in a hurry. Just when I was about to see Tianchi, my toes were tripped by something, and I rolled towards the unknown place amid the shouts and surprised eyes of the crowd.
Maybe I should feel gratified by this. In my more than one year as a reporter, this is the highest number of exclamations and heads-turning I have received.
First I was dizzy, then there was the heart-wrenching pain after several collisions with hard objects. The pain was so severe that the bitterness in my stomach was churning out. I instinctively reached out my hands to grab around, but all efforts were in vain. I kept rolling and rolling down... Time seemed to be as long as a century, but I hoped it would be longer, because if I fell to the ground, it might mean the end of my life.
I was thinking whether I should record this feeling and write an article called "Feelings of Falling from a High Altitude". After all, no matter who it is, it is rare for such an experience to happen once. So if I can publish this article in a newspaper, it will definitely sell well and I may even become famous because of it...
Finally, after an unknown amount of time, my free trip reached its destination. I tried to open my eyes, which were red and swollen to a slit. I couldn't be sure if I was still alive, but I was sure that I was in a dark cave. A column of light shone into the cave, illuminating the dense, green garlic and mugwort in the cave.
I quickly thought of the story: 'A bear and a tiger wished to become human, and the gods told them that if they could stay in a dark cave on Mount Paektu for a hundred days and eat only garlic and mugwort...'
Bears and tigers can turn into humans if they stay in this cave for 100 days, so what will happen if humans stay in this cave? I was already unconscious and thought about it vaguely.
I hope it doesn’t turn into the ancestor of humans – the monkey!
