James Poy Wong 黃培正

"Against the tangible and audible war, we are willing to fight with gnashing teeth, but towards famine which is more horrified, painful and deadlier than war, we would just stand by watching with folded arms, completely without any sympathy."

"Half-Cooked Rice" - 1946

生米饭

我凝视这一无所有的空间，有着奇异的感觉，或者是肚子里的 “生米饭” 作怪，但总觉得饥荒的影子在晃动，也没法说出他的所在。

近来华埠有点闹米荒，（虽然你或者知道和看见货仓贮有一袋袋的米）， 餐馆也乐意把饭装得松一点和小一点，我要了一个排骨饭，当侍者把那碟饭放在我的面前时，我满以为他给我一只空碟子，幸喜窗户关得紧密，不然上面数得出的五六件排骨会被风吹下地去。 我一叉挑入饭中，和碟子擦出可怜的响声，送进口来，像嚼了一口沙，眉头不觉皱了起来，附近的食客也相继呼应： “生米饭”。

“系啊，系生米啊，” 待者用四邑土话漠不关心地自语，相信算是回答吧。

食客胡乱地搅几搅，付了帐就推门而出。 待者把一碟碟的饭向槽中倒去。 一些客人，仍是附着空的肚子进来，预备装些 “生米饭”——或者。

谁也知道这还是金钱的世界。 商人为了营利，结果就耗费了食粮。 金钱是在养活肚子后才有作用，现今握着千万的金钱，也无益于肚子。 但是丰衣足食的我们，却不会知道，或感觉到肚子饿的痛苦。 我们每晚耗费一点食物就是杀了一个人，因为这个人正需要这点食物来生存的。

对于有形有声的战争，我们愿意咬实牙关去战斗。 但是对于比战争还恐怖， 对于比战争还死人多，对于比战争还痛苦的饥荒，我们却袖手旁观，完全没有点同情，比禽兽还不如。 为什么呢？ 因为我们自己未曾饿过，所以有时我想想，如果我们有一个时期，故意被困起来饿， 尝尝那种祗有身历其境才能领悟的滋味，那么人底一生的行动，也较有理智的了。

现在的问题，已脱离了金钱的控制 （原则上的），如果我们有人性的话， 自己就要来节制自己，法律不能强迫我们缩食。 记得战事有人因为烧自己的汽车胶轮而被捕，法律一时也定不出他犯的是什么罪，结果怎样我也忘记了，或者判了犯懒案也说不定， （懒案似乎是无一不可控告的罪状）。 耗费最大的莫如餐馆酒楼，如果早晨你出街不合时，打从餐馆门口经过，适从里扛一桶桶的残余食物 （我们这样称的！） 你会掩鼻子想作呕，可是中国那些吃树皮吃泥的同胞 （是的， 同胞）却有一个相反的感觉。

“变得狗来闻到屎也香”， 俗语有这句话， （这里的喀叭是不吃屎的）。 战祸拖不上我们的身，我们固然觉得庆幸， 但是我们的庆幸是因为别人挡了我们的灾祸。 大凡一次战争，砲火轰击的只是第一部，其余的一部就是饥荒疾病，后者比前者更为惨酷，无论战胜者或战败者，人民所受的苦是同一样的。 我们要共同合作来渡过战后的祸害，所以当我们在家庭，在酒楼举行宴会的时候，常常喜欢说： “无谓耗费了， 这么多食物”， 这一句话，要说进心里去。 或当我们笑口拍拍肥胖胖的肚皮时，不妨问问自己的良心。

饥荒的世界是一体的， 我们不能佯作不知， （如果你相信鬼神的话），这些饿死鬼是不会放过我们的。 人类因为偷食了上帝的苹果，才被罚下世间来，那么肚子本来应该不是空的。

日本的上等酒楼闭门四个月，中国的酒楼却空前未有的热闹—— 胜利和战败的分别？

我抄下一段新闻： “台山奉令征购军粮，县府经按各乡人口比例，分配各乡征缴，计每乡月缴军粮十担以上，照时价每月须军粮款七八十万元。 现台山县复以粮价高涨，团警米粮筹给困难，特订办法，飭令各乡筹缴，甲等乡每月二百五十斤，乙等乡二百斤，丙等乡一百五十斤，并限每月十五日以前缴交。” 平民缴交了粮，（一定要，因为是官令），没得吃，又挨不得肚饿，于是要抢。 平民抢就是作乱，为了维持治安，要有更多的军警，所以又要更多的军粮，再多来几个命令多几个限期，平民抢光了，抢空了，也给阎王抢了，于是天下太平。

Half-Cooked Rice

I am staring at this space with nothingness and having a peculiar feeling. Perhaps it is the ‘half-cooked rice’ in my tummy that does the mischief. I just sense the flashing of the shadow of famine, but I can’t designate its location.

Chinatown has recently suffered from a shortage of rice supply, (although you may have known about and seen stacks and stacks of rice stored in the grocery shops.) The restaurants gladly serve a looser and smaller bowl of rice. I placed an order of spareribs over rice, and when the waiter put that plate of rice in front of me, I utterly thought he gave me an empty plate. Fortunately the windows are shut tight, otherwise these countable five or six pieces of ribs would have been blown to the floor. I stick my fork into the rice and it makes a pitiful, screeching sound rubbing against the plate. I put the rice into my mouth and it is like chewing a mouthful of sand. Unconsciously, my forehead wrinkles up. Nearby diners all echo each other and respond: “half-cooked rice.”

“Yeah, it is half-cooked rice,” the waiter nonchalantly says to himself, in the local dialect of the Four County in Guangdong Province¹, assuming that is the response.

The diners randomly stir their food a few times, pay their bills, and then push the door and walk out. The waiter takes all the plates of rice and dumps them into the sink. Perhaps - there are still diners coming in with empty stomachs and preparing to fill them up with “half-cooked rice.”

We all know this is still a world of money. For the sake of profit, the merchants would waste food as a result. Money is useful only after it nourishes the stomach. Even though you have plenty of money in your hands, they will not benefit your stomach. But for us who are well-fed and well-clothed, we would not know or sense the pain of a stomach in hunger. Every evening when we waste some food, it is like killing a person because this person is in need of this little food to survive.

Against the tangible and audible war, we are willing to fight with gnashing teeth, but towards famine which is more horrified, painful and deadlier than war, we would just stand by watching with folded arms, completely without any sympathy. This is worse than the beasts. Why is it so? It is because we haven’t been starving. Therefore I sometimes think if we would for a period of time, deliberately be trapped into starvation to experience what can only be perceived through immersive experience. Then a person’s action in his lifetime would be more reasonable.

(In principle) the present problem is no longer controlled by money. If we have common human qualities, we should restrain ourselves, as the law cannot force us to be moderate in food consumption. I remember during the wartime, someone was arrested for burning his own rubber tires, and the law at the time could not determine what crime he had committed. I have forgotten the result; perhaps he may be found guilty of loitering. (Loitering is a crime that can be applied when no other crime can be charged.) The most waste is made by restaurants. If you go out at the wrong time in the morning and pass by a restaurant, you will see barrels and barrels of wasted food (that’s what we call it) being carried out. You will cover your nose and want to vomit, but your compatriots (yes, compatriots) in China who are eating tree barks and mud will have an opposite feeling.

“When you turn into a dog, feces will smell sweet to you.” Thus is a common saying (although dogs over here don’t eat fasces.) When the calamity of war does not fall upon us, we naturally rejoice, but our sense of rejoicing is the result of others having prevented our disasters. In any warfare, the gun bombardment is only the first phase. The remaining phase is famine and sickness; the latter is even more tragic than the first. People suffer the same regardless whether they are on the victorious side or the defeated side. We have to cooperate to overcome the disasters of war. Therefore, when we are having a banquet at home or at a restaurant, we often like to say, “There is no sense to waste. This is so much food.” You should speak this sentence and let it penetrate into your heart. Or when we laugh while patting our big fat bellies, we may want to ask our own conscience.

The world of famine is all in one and we can’t pretend we don’t know. If you believe in ghosts and gods, these starved-to-death demons will not let us go. Humans were condemned to this world because they ate God’s forbidden fruit. Their stomachs were not originally empty then.

The high class restaurants in Japan were closed for four months, but the Chinese restaurants were unprecedentedly bustling and exciting - a difference between victory and defeat in war?

Here, let me duplicate a news piece: “Toisan follows an order to purchase grain supplies for the army. The county government is to levy the grain accordingly based on the proportion of the population of the villages. It is estimated that each village has to hand in grain supplies over ten dan each month. And according to the market price each month will require a fund for the supplies of seven to eight hundred yuan. Now that the price of grain has been rising in Toisan, it is difficult to collect grain for the militia. Special rules have been established to issue orders for each village to collect and hand in each month: 250 jin² for Class A village, 200 jin for class B village, 150 jin for class C village. All to be handed in before the 15th of the month.”

After the civilians handed in their grain, (they must as this is an official order,) they had nothing left to eat while unable to bear hunger, they thereby robbed. Robbing by the common people is a riot, and order must be maintained, so more soldiers and policemen are required. Therefore, more supplies are needed for the armed forces. There will be more orders and more deadlines. When the common people finish plundering and nothing is left, they would also be snatched away by the king of hell. Then the world is finally at peace.