You must survive, my friend.
The vermicelli noodles are delicious.
In [Tie Yu] , a North Korean man said this.
He and the Korean fat man next to him are friends, and the two are sitting in a small noodle restaurant on the borderline.
The chopsticks hit the wall with a clanging sound, and the North Koreans devoured them and finished a bowl of noodles. The movement is too big, the speed is too fast, and the Korean fat is amazing .
At this time, the two looked at each other, silent, and the atmosphere was awkward. Korean Fatty shouted: Madam boss, here's another bowl of happy noodles.
The North Korean laughed, took the bowl, and ate it with a snort. It was so rough that he buried his face in it, and he didn't forget to glance at the third bowl .
This is a small action that people who are hungry and afraid will have.
Then, he lowered his head, embarrassed, and praised: "The thin noodles are delicious." The Korean fat picked his teeth and asked, " What is the thin noodles ?"
[Tie Yu] This movie is interesting.
The director is a Korean named Yang Yushuo . He gave food to show the differences and estrangements between North and South Korea .
Not long after the movie started, it was the streets of South Korea.
With neon lights flashing and advertisements rolling on the LED screen, Korean Fatty took ice cream from a waiter in a Santa hat and sat down to eat a hamburger .
Then there is North Korea, a restaurant, where the wind is blowing in all directions in the winter, and the owner is still cooking rice with the most primitive firewood .
Because the tables and chairs are too short, people seem to be squatting on the ground holding bowls, which is very difficult.
At 13 minutes and 41 seconds, it was the home of the North Korean.
The lights were dim, and there were slices of meat and lettuce on the table . He roasted the meat piece by piece on the stove, then picked it up and put it into the bowls of his wife and daughter.
On the other hand, Korean Fatty and his colleagues ate a " family portrait " in the best Chinese restaurant and ordered a large portion .
In fact, before the 1990s, North Korea was not so " hungry ".
In 1985, their economic level peaked with a per capita GDP of $836 . China, on the other hand, did not break through 600 until 1995.
Back then, they published fashion magazines with models in floral dresses and knitted sweaters with fountains or yachts behind them .
Even if you go back ten years.
In 1972, the North Korean film [Flower Girl] was released in China, and audiences were all envious, because the life inside was obviously much richer.
In 1984, a flood occurred in South Korea, and North Korea stepped in to help, with 50,000 tons of grain and 500,000 pieces of cloth.
That year, their total grain output exceeded 10 million, achieved self-sufficiency, and some of them were exported.
1986's [Love of Mount Kumgang] is a North Korean romance film. The standard of living in the film even surpassed that of the Chinese film [Lushan Love] at that time .
"Hungry" began with the disintegration of the Soviet Union.
Overnight, North Korea's economy plummeted, crops failed year after year, and it lost its former glory.
In the early 1990s, they fell into a severe famine.
After that, the United States provided North Korea with $2 million worth of food through the World Food Program. By 2005, its aid to North Korea reached US $ 701 million .
In [Tie Yu] , South Korea made a joke about the North Korean and asked, do you eat voles? North Koreans said angrily—
In fact, these are the four major visions of North Korean communism :
Eat rice, drink broth, wear silk, and live in tile-roofed houses.
In the 1980s, they did it once. After that, it's really just a vision. The famine came, and with it came the defectors .
Refers to North Korean citizens who are not adapted to the living environment in North Korea and leave North Korea through abnormal channels to go to other countries.
To put it bluntly, I just want a better material life.
There is such a person in [Tie Yu] .
It was the noodle shop proprietress I mentioned at the beginning. She heard Korean fat ask "what is thin noodles?", she came over, pointed to the bowl and said, this is thin noodles.
Then, she looked at the North Korean and asked:
Are you also a new North Korean resident?
The phrase "thin noodles is delicious" reveals the fact that he is a North Korean.
There are many such moments in [Iron Rain] .
For example, when the North Korean sisters came to the South Korean hospital, the nurses brought them food from the storage room, which were all instant noodles, box lunches , etc., but they were regarded as delicacies.
He even held the small bowl with rice in both hands, sniffed it seriously , and whispered in his mouth: It's really rice .
More than just rice, in the early 1990s, Chinese instant noodles (especially the "braised beef" flavor) were also very high-profile in the eyes of North Korean defectors .
At that time, the fast food smuggled across the border between China and North Korea warmed the stomachs of countless North Korean victims.
Today, in more than 200 countries around the world, the people who like instant noodles made in China the most are still North Koreans.
They call noodle-like food " noodles ", hamburgers " ham buns ", and juices " sweet water ", but they don't know what "frappuccino" should be called .
China Youth Daily wrote:
Such rustic names often lead to "North Korean defectors" being ridiculed.
Nevertheless, there are still many people who would like to stay here.
In "The World Seen by " North Korean Defector Youth" , a North Korean boy said:
Surprised by the 24/7 uninterrupted electricity here (Korea), you can also play computer games and go to karaoke with friends. The most important thing is not to worry about eating.
" Don't worry about eating " is the most primitive desire of human beings.
Because in a sense, satiety is about the same as security . This is also the reason why a large number of North Koreans choose to defect from North Korea.
I will give two inappropriate examples.
In [Sweet Honey] , many mainlanders went to Hong Kong to seek life. But it is not easy to work hard, and it is common to not have enough to eat.
However, while spending New Year's Eve with Li Xiaojun, Li Qiao was eating dumplings and said for the first time, " I'm full. "
She was full, and the people in front of her made her not hungry for survival.
Later, when her shop opened, Li Xiaojun took his wife to the opening ceremony. When she saw it, she leaned against the door to chat with him, and kept saying " I'm so hungry ".
Then, I kept eating and eating in front of the camera , and finished the whole plate of cake sausages .
In the [Golden Age] , Xiao Hong and Xiao Jun finally took the royalties and stepped into the favorite restaurant of foreign coachmen and workers.
First, have a bowl of stewed vermicelli with pork, then cut the pork head meat for half a dime , and put it in a small thick porcelain bowl full to the brim. After reading the "meatballs with soup", have a bowl.
The two of them didn't even care to talk, they just swallowed.
It's freezing cold outside the house, the heat inside the house is full of people's voices, and the diners are shrouded in warm yellow lights, which is truly a world of food and clothing.
Later, Xiao Hong wrote: In this way, the two of them walked on the street with confidence.
In Li Qiao's place, there is a sense of security when you are full . Xiao Hong here, "eat enough" and "righteousness" are the same sign.
And the details about the food arranged by director Yang Yushuo in [Tie Yu] became the most shocking expression.
He certainly wasn't the first to do this.
As early as 2000's [Joint Security Zone] , there were plots that expressed the differences between North and South Korea through food .
On both sides of the 38th parallel, there are four soldiers stationed there who are good friends.
One day, a South Korean soldier smuggled a piece of chocolate to give to the Korean People's Army. After eating it, the other party praised, "It's delicious. "
At this time, the Korean soldier made a joke:
If you don't come to the south, you can have a full chocolate pie, but if you don't want it, forget it.
The words were quite sensitive , and all four became silent until the North Korean soldier spat out the chocolate pie in his mouth and said:
Listen, my dream is that one day North Korea can make sweeter candies than South Korea.
The gap between North and South was so great that North Korean soldiers ate chocolate pie for the first time and called it "candy" in general.
The situation of North Korean defectors is similar.
British "Financial Times" to write, like "menu on the American coffee " this word, often let the "defectors" in trouble.
I feel like someone from the 1970s who was put in a time machine and dropped into the 21st century.
Even so, Park Gon-il wrote in "The Internationalization and Influence of North Korea's "Defects" Issue :
In 1990, fewer than 10 defectors arrived in South Korea. In 2008, it increased to 2,927. As of October 2016, there were about 30,000 people.
[Fugitive from the North] is the first Korean film about North Korean defectors.
In the film, North Korea lacks medicines, food is scarce, children become beggars, rats devour corpses, and maggots grow on living people .
The defectors were skinny and tried to sneak across the border, but they were caught, beaten and questioned:
Filling your stomach is more important than the motherland, right?
In contrast, the movie [Welcome to Dongmo Village] .
During the Korean War, there was an isolated mountain village where North Koreans and South Koreans dug potatoes, hunted wild boars, and even shit face-to-face .
They blew up the popcorn with grenades used in the war , and everyone ate happily and excitedly. Popcorn flies like snow, making war instantly poetic .
No division, no war .
Like the end of [Iron Rain] .
The North Korean man and the South Korean fat were sitting in the car saying goodbye, and the two knew it was a goodbye .
As the car was driving, Fat Korea, who was holding the steering wheel, took a deep breath, trying to find some light topics.
You must survive and gain some fat. Me, lose weight. Then let's live together in Banpo-dong, and occasionally drink soju together.
The North Korean man on the side had red eyes, but I couldn't help crying.
At this moment, there is no smoke , no defectors, and no hunger . It's just the mundane life of two old friends in a whole embarrassing story .
So, you must survive, my friend.
At that time, we will drink soju together. -
-
Author/Aunt Liu
The article was first published on the WeChat public account "Bao Ci Er"
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