Discovery Creative

Lights; dim, bright, attention seeking, jaw dropping and of every colour imaginable continually flashed before Lin’s eyes as she roamed the sleepless city of Shanghai. She thought the dynamic lifestyle during the daylight hours was astounding but the night life proved to be more magical as she traced the ever-expanding skyline and bustling city beneath her. Her heart joyous now knowing that whatever is lost or forgotten, be it a relationship or a home, that it can always be retrieved if the intention is true and pure.

Every corner she turned in this growing municipality reminded of her mother and the stories of China that she’d used to tell her.

“Mama, why are there chilli peppers on their doors? Do they really like spicy foods?” the five-year-old Lin would ask as they passed a Chinese restaurant that stuck out like a sore thumb among the rows of Western Cuisine restaurants.

“No silly Lin, this is called a superstition. We Chinese people love the colour red as we believe it gives us luck and together with the chilli peppers  it gives the meaning of ‘hong hong huo huo’ which means red and hot and businesses like that as they want their shops to become a ‘hot trend’.”

Lin was always fascinated with the stories her mother would tell and while other kids her age would listen to ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ or ‘Peter Rabbit’ as a bedtime story, Lin would beg her mother to tell her interesting superstitions and stories regarding her mother country. A part of her always knew that the reason she was so intrigued by these stories was because she felt the need to make up for the fact that she was unable to firsthand experience the culture of where she originates and even more-so after her mother had mysteriously left her and her father on the night of Christmas Eve when she was only nine years old, and so that was why Lin decided to move to Shanghai, to touch up on her roots and to find her mother. Even though her mother had left her without a word Lin was never angry at her. She was extremely confused at the beginning but eventually as she matured she understood her mother’s decision. Her parents were in a toxic relationship and her father was a workaholic that could withhold from coming back home for at least two weeks at a time and under the ‘supervision’ of her father, Lin had learned to be independent since a very young age.

Ever since she moved Lin felt like a completely different person. Instead of beguiling her evenings with her fingers glued against the laptop keyboard she actually had the motivation to step outside and explore the city, occasionally snapping a few ‘Instagram worthy’ photos that she could upload which was mostly of the floating pavilions and dancing willow trees that illuminated brightly under the moonlight or of the exotic night market food along the street of Chen Huang Miao to which she accidently found on the first night in Shanghai while she was looking for the nearest ATM. Although she had fun discovering the inner depths of Shanghai and learning the past-time of middle aged women which was dancing to pop music at the city square, one thing was always at the back of her mind; the whereabouts of her mother. The only thing that revived the memory of her mother for the past twenty years was an old faded picture of her maternal grandparents and mother smiling from ear to ear standing in front of an oriental tea house with firecrackers and red chilli peppers on either side of the door at what seemed like was the grand opening of their humble shop.