The Hours
by Imre Kőrizs
Our visit to Shanghai takes two months, that is to say sixty-one days, namely one thousand four hundred and sixty-four hours. We were supposed to arrive at Pudong International Airport, 1st of September, and we will be back in our home countries after one thousand four hundred and eighty-five hours later, 1st of November.
It is quite a long time. It’s a micro-age.
Let me play with the idea that every single hour spent in Shanghai is equivalent to an entire year at home. And let’s say that the 1st of September corresponds to 529 AD, the end of Antiquity and the beginning of the Middle Ages. (That was the year when the Neoplatonic Academy of Athens was placed under state control as paganism by order of the Christian emperor, Justinian. It effectively strangled this training-school for Hellenistic philosophy and science, and that means, that – from a symbolic point of view – Antiquity came to an end. In the very same year, in Italy, Saint Benedict of Nursia established his monastery at Monte Cassino: and that may be considered as the beginning of the Middle Ages, in Europe.)
So, our Welcoming Ceremony took (or, actually, given that I’m writing these words still at home: will take) place at the Shanghai Dramatic Art Center, 7th September, that is in 687, AD. That was the time of the Byzantine–Bulgarian War, when the Bulgars subjugated the country of current-day Bulgaria. Two significant event – one for us and the other for the Bulgarians.
Almost a week later, we will listen (listened) to Alberto Villarreal’s, Enrique Solinas’, Victoria Caceres’ and Zou Zou’s lectures, 13th September. According to my special schedule, it was in 831, AD. So far Hungarian tribes left their ancient country in the East, and were going forward to the place that will be occupied by them a half century later. The old, mythic leader, Álmos, might be born that time, when Victoria was having her lecture.
When we will visit (visited) Shanghai Archives, 16th of September (that is in 903, AD), the ancient Hungarians were living more or less within the borders of the actual Hungary, but they were not the sort of people I would like to have a dinner with. According to a contemporary Latin prayer – ‘Oh Lord, save us from the arrows of the Hungarian’ – their moods and manners did not appear very polite.
In honour of Alison Wong’s, Jervey Tervalon’s, Jaime Panqueva’s and Xue Shu’s lecture, 20th September, the first Hungarian king, Stephen the Saint established the Hungarian state, in 1000.
When we will visit (visited) Yin Huifen and Lou Yaofu in their homes, 22rd September (in 1043) Hungarians were already much more polite than a century before, at least I hope that our hosts will not deny it.
In 1027, (23th September) we met teachers and students at Fudan University, although the first university in Hungary will be established three centuries later, so my fellow Hungarians were not familiar with the alphabet.
From 8th to 10th of October (at the end of the 16th Century, according to my calculations) we are supposed to discover Hangzhou. That seems to be an amazing discovery of a beautiful land, just like that serendipitous discovery of America was for Columbus.
The Cultural Salon, 15th October, will be an important and joyful event: that was the time when – in 1686 – Hungary got back its freedom after 150 years of Turkish rule.
24th October, we will visit World Foreign Languages Middle School, and I will remember of Sándor Petőfi, one of the greatest Hungarian poets. And I will do so much the more as for him Hungarian was a second language, because his parents were Slovakians, so he became Hungarian by a strong decision.
29th October, in 1920, we will have an Exchange Meeting with Shanghai writers. That was the year when my grandmother was born, in the last day of the year, 31st December. And I was born exactly in the very same day, 50 years later, so I was something like a birthday gift for my granny’s 50th anniversary. For me, our visit to Shanghai seems a prolonged birthday when we are presented with a very precious gift – that is time. Time to observe, to be impressed, time to work.
But today, 27th September, is only 1193, AD. Anyway, I am happy to announce that a Hungarian monk is putting in writing the first Hungarian text we have, the so called Funeral Sermon and Prayer. That is the beginning of the Hungarian literature. And so far, my lecture is its most recent achievement, isn’t it?... Why can’t I help thinking that from this point of view the history of the Hungarian Literature seems to be nothing but decline and fall? Sorry for that.