Chapter 1: Whitehead Mountain
Korea, meaning the land of calm morning. Legend has it that a long, long time ago, a bear and a tiger wanted to become humans. The god told them that if they could stay in a dark cave on Mount Baekdu for 100 days and only eat garlic and mugwort, they would become human. The bear endured the severe test and became a beautiful woman, but the tiger failed due to lack of willpower. Later, this bear woman married Hwanung and gave birth to Dangun, who established the kingdom of Korea in Pyongyang in 2333 BC. Since then, Koreans have called themselves the descendants of the bear.
I am now standing in the legendary birthplace of Korean ancestors, also known as Mount Paektu or Sacred Mountain by Koreans. The name "Mount Paektu" may sound unfamiliar to everyone, but if I mention its other name - "Changbai Mountain", I think few people will not know it.
Climbing on the not-so-narrow forest path, there are lush trees all around. From time to time, several teams of tourists in a row pass by beside me.
Tourists voluntarily line up to play with this kind of phenomenon, and it may only be seen here. However, I have long been used to seeing strange things, because compared to what I saw in North Korea these days, this is nothing.
Can you imagine a country with only one internet cafe? And the cost of surfing the web is over $100 per hour; Can you imagine that the subway is built tens of meters underground? In order to be converted into a civil air defense shelter as soon as the war begins; Can you imagine that the TV in a country can only receive one channel? Moreover, this channel repeatedly plays the founding ceremony; Can you imagine that the people of this country have been learning the growth history of their leaders since childhood? Can you imagine that there are red slogans everywhere in the country, and the whole nation is praising the same person - their great leader?
This is a country full of mystery. Here, only one voice is allowed to exist, that is the leader's voice, only one thought is allowed to exist, that is the main thought, only one direction is allowed to exist, that is the socialist direction, and there can only be one worship, that is the worship of the leader.
This scene, for a Chinese like me, has a sense of familiarity. Yes, as long as it's the older generation who grew up in the 60s and 70s, if they see this scene, they won't mock its backwardness and closure. Because not so long ago, we also had similar experiences. However, now it can only be seen on TV or in movies, but what's in front of us is a living reality...
"Comrade journalist..." The tour guide's shout broke my train of thought.
This interview was not a pleasant one, all our actions had to be carried out under official arrangements, and every interview had to be accompanied by an official. In these days, I also learned how to speak here, for example, if you want to see the life of children in school, if you say it directly, the answer will definitely be a refusal. But if you say: "Comrade, I want to see the students here living a happy life under the great leader's teachings", then someone will soon smile and take you to the school.
I have to admire my learning ability and my stomach. I admire my learning ability because I quickly learned how to conduct smooth interviews here; I admire my stomach because - I never knew it was strong enough not to cramp after saying those words...
"Comrade journalist..." The tour guide was a thin man who had studied at Shandong University, so he understood some Chinese. But rather than saying he was a tour guide, it would be more accurate to say that he was monitoring us. He walked up to me with a smile and said in stiff Chinese: "Up ahead is Unity Peak, from there you can see the Heavenly Lake that Comrade asked about."
Heavenly Lake is the source of the Songhua River, Tumen River and Yalu River. It's said that every year fairies come to bathe here. During my stay in North Korea, I heard countless myths and legends about Heavenly Lake.
"Oh..." I casually responded with a slight frown, not returning the tour guide's smile.
My aversion to the tour guide originated from my previous trip to the Panmunjom, where on the negotiating table symbolizing honor, I found that there was no Chinese national flag at all. In the exhibition hall of the Panmunjom, among hundreds of pictures, I couldn't find any trace of the Chinese People's Volunteer Army.
"When I asked the tour guide: 'Excuse me, where was the representative of China's volunteer army at that time?'"
The bewildered tour guide replied strangely: "Did China also participate in the signing of the ceasefire?"
After I remained speechless for a while, the tour guide pointed to the North Korean flag above and introduced it to me with great fanfare: "Our North Korea is the only country that dares to confront the US empire and defeat them. Under the leadership of our great leader General Kim Il-sung, we resolutely refused to bow our heads to imperialism..."
Later, through interviews, I learned that their textbooks only mentioned the Volunteer Army in one place: "General Kim Il-sung met with Commander Peng Dehuai of the Volunteer Army", "Commander Peng Dehuai looked at General Kim Il-sung with admiration", "Commander Peng Dehuai said: There are many difficulties, if we hadn't fought against the US military before, we would have no experience and it would be even more difficult", "General Kim Il-sung said: Our soldiers all have experience fighting against the US military, they can directly help guide you..."
"Damn it..." I, who never liked to swear, couldn't help but mutter under my breath: "Who's helping who here?"
The blood of 336,000 Chinese volunteer soldiers was shed on this land without hesitation, but their glorious achievements were easily erased, and I couldn't calm down in my heart.
With a heavy heart, I climbed the mountain, and after a while, I suddenly heard a cheer from the front. My heart relaxed, thinking that I should have arrived at Tianchi (Heavenly Pool). These days, I've been hearing stories about Tianchi, and I really want to see what it looks like. With some curiosity, I quickened my pace. But as the saying goes, "haste makes waste." Just when I was about to see Tianchi, my toes were tripped by something, and in the midst of everyone's cheers and astonished gazes, I tumbled down into the unknown.
Perhaps I should be relieved that this is the most astonishing and attention-grabbing thing to happen to me in over a year of being a journalist.
It started with a blur, then came the excruciating pain of crashing into something hard, so intense that it made my stomach churn and bitter water rise up. I instinctively stretched out my hands to grab onto something, but all my efforts were in vain. I continued to tumble down, down, down... Time seemed to have passed for an eternity, yet I wished it would last even longer, because when I finally hit the ground, it might mean the end of my life.
I'm thinking whether I should write down this feeling and compose a "High Altitude Free Fall Experience". After all, it's not often that anyone has such an experience, so if I can publish this article in the newspaper, it will definitely be a bestseller. Who knows, maybe I'll even become famous because of it...
At last, after an unknown length of time, my free trip finally reached its terminus. I struggled to open my swollen eyes, which had narrowed down to a single slit, and couldn't be sure if I was still alive, but one thing was certain - I found myself in a pitch-black cave. A column of light shot through the entrance, illuminating the dense, green garlic and wormwood inside the cave.
I soon thought of that story: a bear and a tiger wanted to become human, God told them that if they could stay in a dark cave on Whitehead Mountain for one hundred days and only eat garlic and mugwort...
Bears and tigers can turn into humans after staying in this cave for a hundred days, so what would happen if a human stayed in this cave? I thought dazedly with my consciousness already unclear.
I hope it's not our ancestor, the monkey!
