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Chang Wei's Mistake

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by Robert Baucom

 

Mary Charles

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by Denise Brown
Third Place Winner, Fiction

 
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  Chang Wei had a terrible nightmare. He awoke with a start. A bad dream, an ox, but why today?

“Mother, mother,” he shouted. “I saw an ox. It chased me.”

Chang’s mother ran into his bedroom, hugged her son, and said, “Don’t worry little one. Maybe your dream was a good omen. You’re Year-of-the-Ox boy, and you show it every day. You’re a good student. Your father and I are very proud of you. Now calm down my precious child and enjoy your festive day. Today you’re seven years old.”

Chang slowly pulled away from his mother and said, “I’m not an Ox!”

“Little one, it depends on the year you were born. It’s your special sign and not a real animal. Hurry up, or you’ll be late to school.”

Chang Wei grabbed his books and his lunch box and then carefully closed the front door. Joining his friend Wang Tao, he walked up the steep hill to the elementary school.

“Wang Tao, today’s my birthday. My mother told me that something good will happen today.”

Wang said, “I got a bicycle for my birthday. It’s mine, and nobody but me can ride it. Nobody... Did you ask for a bicycle?”

“No, but we’d better walk faster. Can’t be late,” said Chang.

Madame Wu was standing by the school door, rigid and erect. Dressed in her usual blue blouse and pants with her dark hair pulled back in a tight bun, her piercing black eyes quickly scanned the students, and she said, “Line up. Line up now, and enter the classroom.”

All the children heeded her instructions and quietly began to file into a Spartan room. Depositing their lunches at the back of the room, they sat down at simple wooden desks and turned their attention to Madame Wu.

“Good morning. Stand up,” she said. Walking to the record player, she turned it on and the National Anthem blared forth. All the students stood at attention and sang the song loudly. Then Madam Wu ordered, “Be seated and take out your reader.”

Chang anxiously watched the clock, waiting for his special moment.

After the reading lesson Madame Wu said, “Put your books away. Glancing at Chang Wei she said, “Chang, stand up.”

He thought, “Is this my special moment?”

“You have 10 seconds to add 3,786 plus 8,394 plus 9,282.”

He quickly calculated and said, “22,462.”

Madame Wu stared at him, shook her head, and said, “Wrong. The correct answer is 21,462.”

Chang Wei had indeed made an error. It was a routine problem for him, to quickly, with no pencil and paper, mentally add three four-digit numbers in his head, and recite the answer aloud. He had given the wrong answer, and it was inexcusable.

Turning to the class Madam Wu loudly demanded, “Heads bowed. Eyes closed. You heard me. Heads bowed. Chang Wei has made a mistake. He has shamed the entire class. His shame must now be borne by all of you. As I’ve always told you, a mistake by any one student brings disgrace to our school and the party leadership of Zhangtze Prefecture.”

Madam Wu said, “I’ll be leaving the room now for a few minutes. Continue your silence. Contemplate Chang Wei’s shame!”

For classmate Lin Xue, Chang’s mistake was a wonderful respite from his lordly dominance. Lin, a pretty and very intelligent little girl, was well above average when it came to math skills, but she was always second behind Chang, which was O.K., in a way, because Chang never made mistakes.

Chang and Lin sat at their desks with their heads bowed, as directed, and tears were beginning to well in the young boy’s eyes.

She could not restrain herself, and she glanced at Chang and whispered,“ Are you sad about your disgrace, Chang Wei?”

“I feel terrible.”

“This may damage your reputation a little,” she continued, “but don’t worry.”

“Why shouldn’t I?” His tears were now beginning to flow down his cheeks and were choking him a bit.

“Your father and mother will have to share your disgrace, too, but don’t worry, they love you.”

Chang Wei was nearly speechless, sobbing.

Lin Xue said, “Your father was going to ask the Party to send you to The Beijing Academy some day, wasn’t he? But there are other schools. Local schools are adequate. Don’t worry.”

Through his ever-increasing tears he muttered, “Thank you, Lin Xue. I’ll try not to worry.”

She was getting warmed-up now, “Chang Wei, you’ve always told me how your grandfather, the head of the medical school, wanted you to exceed the perfect academic record of the honored lady, General of the People’s Army, Tsai Jing. You won’t do that now. But possibly your grandfather will understand. Don’t worry.”

Chang was now beyond responding. He was reduced to a quivering, whimpering child, just another 7 year old with all vestiges of the math king he once was now gone. He contemplated mediocrity and a shamed family.

Lin Xue was “on-a-roll,” and she was preparing her next “reassurance” for Chang when Madam Wu returned to the room. She quickly leaned back and reverted to the proper head-bowed, eyes closed position. Chang’s tears were soaking his neat white shirt.

Madam Wu stood erect in front of the class for a seeming eternity, saying nothing and scowling that unique Chinese “warlord” scowl of rebuke and disdain, alternately at the class and then piercingly at Chang.

She said, “So Chang Wei has disgraced himself. Look at him. Where is his pride? Where is his honor? He now knows that even he, as good a student as he might be, can err. What shall we do with him? Shall we forgive him? Has he learned to avoid the arrogance of false brilliance?”

As the class hour was drawing to a close, she changed the subject. “It’s time to elect the team captain for our class trip to the National Primary Mathematics Competition in Shanghai. As usual we will do this by free democratic vote in accordance with Party rules. I nominate Chang Wei, and nominations are closed. I strongly suggest that everyone vote for Chang Wei.” Everybody voted for him including Lin Xue.

Chang Wei looked up, wiped a tear from his eye, and thought, “My mother was right. Something very good did happen today.”

Madam Wu then announced, “As usual, before dismissal we’ll all stand and sing our school song.” She commanded, “Stand up.” All immediately stood. She moved to a small upright piano in the corner of the room and struck the beginning chord. Then she directed the proud, respectful, class in their reverent refrain:


“The mathematics of Chairman Mao shall lead
The Zhangtse team to greater deeds
Our red banner flying proudly above
Proclaims the People’s Party we all love
Our nation will overcome enemies all
As the Zhangtse students answer the call.”


As Chang Wei and Lin Xue left the classroom, he sidled up to his now rather downcast friend and said, “Don’t worry, Lin Xue. Maybe someday you’ll be chosen to lead a competition team..... maybe at some local competition. Only the best can lead at Shanghai!”

*****************************************

The Cultural Revolution, which began in 1966, destroyed the educational system in Communist China for a period of time. But in 1968 when Chang Wei was seven years old the effects had not yet been felt at the Zhangtse Province School. Sadly, the interruption prevented his team from going to the Shanghai competition, which was summarily canceled.

When the elementary school was closed, Chang’s mother secretly tutored both Chang Wei and Lin Xue in the evenings after her chores on a communal farm.

Madam Wu, who had an English education, also fell victim to the Cultural Revolution when Red Guards accused her of introducing “erroneous” western methods of mathematics to her pupils, and they severely beat her publicly outside the closed school. The attack left her brain damaged, and she ultimately ended in a hospital for the mentally ill. However, little is known about her later fate.

In 1976 Chairman Mao Zedong died at the age of 82. At the end of the Cultural Revolution in 1977 universities became more open to students. Lin Xue was very excited about this change because her dream had always been to attend the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing and become a college professor. Only 28 years old in 1989 she was already one of their most outstanding math professors. She suffered a period of despondency when one of her most promising students was killed in the Tiananmen Square demonstration. But she loved mathematics so much that she moved on and continued to inspire her talented students.

At the age of thirty Wang Tao left a farming job, moved to the city, and was hired to work at the first McDonald’s Restaurant, which opened in 1991 in Beijing.

Tsai Ying, General of the People’s Army, who had the perfect academic record that Chang was trying to exceed, was denounced and accused of collaborating with the “Gang of Four, “ who were trying to seize power after Mao’s death. She was tried, found guilty, and sentenced to life in prison, where she died.

Our Hero, Chang Wei, continued to develop his mathematics skills under his mother’s tutelage and developed them further as the schools reopened. With the measured normalization of relations between the US and the People’s Republic, he was able to get a visa and travel to Boston with a full scholarship to Harvard. After receiving his Ph.D. in mathematics he became a professor at UCLA and earned international fame for being able to solve the most difficult and arcane mathematical conundrums. He was ultimately able to earn US citizenship. He planned to attend the 2008 Summer Olympics at Beijing to renew his relationship with Lin Xue, place memorial wreaths on the graves of his very supporting and loving parents, and seek information about his teacher he so respected, Madam Wu.

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