• You have to watch out in China, hon. There’s gonna be an undercover agent watching each one of you all the time. If they see you taking pictures of some public buildings they’re going to grab you, put in a tiny cell and demand a ransom.

My mother, she only has one child, me. Therefore me going to Beijing for two week summer camp made her quite worried. She would not be able to make my breakfast, lunch and dinner every day and make sure I don’t catch any bacteria.

As I landed in Shanghai Pudong Airport for the first time, even after midnight, the heat and humidity astounded me and a sense of defeat immediately struck me. The friction of people’s bodies was astounding and violating, their breaths were exhausted and so were the exhaust pipes of swarms of identical taxis, even the streetlights seemed to scorch with heat, contributing to the clammy atmosphere.

Zhong Cheng has always considered himself a man of his word. He never gave empty promises, and never threw words in the wind, which could be called his secret pride. And for such a noble and decent man who is always responsible for his words, there is no worse torture, than the one experienced by Cheng.

I was young and China was old. I was in my twenties and China was four thousand and five hundred years old. I measured one meter and sixty-five.

Sydney, 23^rd of May 2014.

Do you sometimes wonder what would have happened if you had been born in another time or other place? If you had been born only a few hundred kilometers south or east or north – west is not relevant in my case, since it is not very likely I would have been born in the ocean – would you be a different person? Would you be better off? Happier? Or would you find your way through life, experiencing ups and downs, just like you are now?