The Imperfect Sculpture

2002

In the spring of 2002, George Aizhonghua (“aizhoghu” means “love China”), an American of Chinese descent, comes to the town to buy some rubbings of the sculpture. He intends to bid ¥50000 for some rubbings,This has communication which would surprise everyone including the officials of the country. Gao, a senior museum official, leads George to see the sculpture, impressed by its beauty, George decides to buy one rubbing immediately. Yu refuses to provide George with a rubbing, citing China's laws prohibiting copies to be made of the sculpture. Upon further inspection, George finds there is a gap in the head of the imperishable sculpture, and the design is very close to the head of Nvwa, a famous goddess of prehistoric China. He subsequently lowers his bid to ¥30000. But why is there a gap in the sculpture?

Sculpture damage

Prior to George's arrival in China, a six year old child, the son of Tong (a beautiful divorced woman), damaged the sculpture when playing with other children. This distressed his teacher Yu, and he felt ill and was subsequently hospitalized. Upon his release from the hospital, he and his colleagues were unable to find any trace of the damage. Teacher Yu confronts and frightens the child. Teacher Yu is forced to create a rubbing for George, using an ancient and precious method that he was taught in his youth by the curator of the museum, Xu. Soon, Gao and other officials start asking the museum to make more rubbings in order to sell them. Yu is unable to protect the sculpture and is deeply distressed. On a rainy evening, he makes his son hide the sculpture in the well.

The next morning, Qiang and Zhao see that the sculpture is not there and call the police. Teacher Yu is arrested. Zhao, his girlfriend Xie and Gao petition to have Yu released from jail. Gao is deeply affected by the spirit of Teacher Yu and decides to appropriate some funds to build a gloriette above the sculpture. Gao suggests the construction of a monument three meters before the sculpture, as a sign of commemorating the tribulation of the sculpture. He advises Teacher Yu to draft out the epigraph and asks Guo to write it, as Guo’s calligraphy is the best. Thus, two projects begin at the same time.

Two projects setup

Setting up the two projects takes about one month. In the meantime, the annual ancestral action of the country is opening and needs all members of the museum to join in, to collect folk or ballad songs and show it to the villagers. When Li, Sheng, Zhao, Qiang, Xie and Tong come back from the village, they find out that it is on the monument but on the sculpture that the gloriette stands! Teacher Yu is confused and disoriented, an inch away from desperation and grief. Two days later, at dusk, the son of Tong apologizes to Teacher Yu. The old man tells the boy that protection of the sculpture will fall to him when he grows up.

Ignoring everything, Teacher Yu doesn't give up. One day, he comes across two teens making love in a small secluded room near the museum. The old man feels much happier because he is going to lease out the covert room to amorous couples. Li and Sheng agree with him, and they start to collect rent day-after-day to fund the gloriette. Thanks to his efforts, Teacher Yu becomes a celebrity. Many more people enter the love-cabin. The majority of couples aren't married and the youngest pair is only 16-years-old, grossly under-aged. Just when the income from the rent collections is close to enough to construct a new gloriette, tragedy strikes when a sad couple kill themselves in the love-cabin. The news makes Teacher Yu have a breakdown, but just near the dead body, he actually finds the gap in the sculpture. At that moment the old man doesn't know whether to laugh or cry. Soon, the police come and they confiscate all Yu's income, although the pitiful man does his best to explain that his only aim was to rebuild the gloriette, not to cheat or earn money for himself.

Conclusion

One evening a month later, when the moon is shining bright, Teacher Yu dies. He had not realized his virtuous wish. Behind his body, there is the false sculpture with droll and sarcastic meaning. But, Gao gets a preferment for Guo’s help. Afterwards, Li, Sheng, Qiang, Zhao, Xie and Tong stay on in the small museum and so it becomes quiet again, the country becomes quiet and life becomes quiet too.