Bang, bang, bang—"Tujia"'s last day at No. 16 Hung Fuk Street
Mumu stood on the wooden ladder and hit it with Spana a few times, bang! One corner of the metal frame collapsed slightly, like a scoop. The two coils of wire he shook off slowly hung down. Nearby ceilings have peeled away, exposing steel bars. Mumu continued to compete for a while, then with a burst of brute force, bang! Then he twisted another iron branch, and the other corner of the metal frame suddenly dropped a few inches and hung in the air. The iron branches remaining on the ceiling lost their support and swayed rapidly like a grinning spring doll. Without a metal frame to block it, he could finally dismantle the signboard behind him, remove the screws, and hold on to Gu Yue on each side, shaking it vigorously... "Hey! It's so heavy that it's so heavy!" Mumu laughed loudly.
This Monday in August, seven o'clock in the morning. We have been here for the 19th hour. We started having a big meal at noon the day before yesterday, swam through the streets, visited the heart-wrenching stage, sang karaoke, and took group photos. With seven hours to go, the ground floor shop of the "Tujia" Story Gallery at No. 16 Hung Fook Street will be officially handed over to the URA.
Mumu repeatedly sprayed words on the floor and walls, sentence after sentence, like a reflex action, intoxicated and selfless. "The community is not finished, Tujia is not finished, the community is not finished, Tujia is not finished," laying bricks and covering the ground is like chanting a mantra. I was actually a little bored and wanted to find another sentence to say to him. Fluorescent colors, formaldehyde and chemicals are irritating to the eyes and nose. Stimulated, even excited, and felt stuffy while breathing.
I also picked up spray paint. Fun! Suddenly I discovered a long-lost feeling - freedom! You can write and draw anything, you can destroy it as much as you want, you have no worries, because there is no future here. Huai Ren proudly showed off the "Golden Supreme" horse tube he spray-painted, and said he had known better to put shit in it, haha.
Ring, ring, ring! At noon, a final round of inspection of things to be moved. Mumu threw away the unnecessary debris, bang! Pili! Bang! Collision, stacking, and rupture are Q but. What's left is placed on the other side. boom! Bang bang! "No!" "Stay!" "Look!" "It's heavy!" "Yes!"
At 2:30 in the afternoon, the key was officially handed over and all the sundries outside the door were loaded into the truck. I was sitting in the medium-sized truck driven by Xin Ming, and I heard the news talking about the disbanded organization, and Xin Ming was a former member. After thinking for a long time, I suddenly asked him how he felt...
Yanye was in another large truck, leaving an office that had been closed early last month. Ma Chuan said, "I don't want to hold on to the place anymore..." and he burst into tears. He was earlier, having been forced to lose his job last year, and had picked up several rounds of relics with various meanings from different places, but at this time he was still following the truck.
What I have always imagined is disappearance - like smoke rising slowly and dust scattering. Or with a sigh, the things that have passed away melt into nothingness. Now I am experiencing it personally, the demolition is violent, laborious, complicated, noisy, wet and sweaty. The end is a wave of sleeves? You want. A lot of redundant and wet hands. There are many photocopiers with unfinished contracts. A lot of files need to be shredded...
One and a half hours after handing over the shop, the move was completed smoothly. The community space that had been in operation for seven years was handed over to the Urban Renewal Authority, which robbed the poor and helped the rich. The community network was uprooted, and everyone was obviously angry and sad. Looking at the blue sky outside the window, thinking that this ending has a regular time and a final destination, I feel lucky and luxurious, almost guilty.
I went back to No. 16 Hung Fook Street last week and there was a pile of rotten floor tiles outside the door. I pray that the workers will destroy the phrase "civil society XXXX" I sprayed, which is arrogant and ambitious, naive and pretentious, and disgusting to the point of numbness. After the grand sentence "xx is not finished", what can be the next sentence? Does anyone know?
To add some background information: Here you can see the timetable for the dissolution of citizen organizations in 2021 https://www.rti.org.tw/news/view/id/2112400
後記:兩年過去,鴻福街、啟明街、銀漢街、榮光街、環字八街等地方已夷為平地。(被迫)解散的組織只有愈來愈多。但是「土家」仍在那個看到藍天的新空間,還有人有伙伴,還在作繼續各種嘗試,也在邁向組統的第十年。於是我比較敢面對那時的豪情壯志。真的是「社區未完」啊。或許我從來不需感到羞愧?
雖然有點時差,但還是很想好好為這篇文章留個記錄。接下來也想陸續將土瓜灣的舊文章搬過來,請多多指教。
This article was originally published in "Zihua" and was submitted to the call for submissions "I'm still staying in To Kwa Wan at the moment"
"Tujia" Story Hall ig (@tohomehk)
如果喜歡我的創作,願意支持的話,多少無拘,感激不盡!目前全職讀書,寫作也是重要的收入來源。
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