ACOUSTIC METADATA

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• TIMESTAMP: Summer, 1989

• LOCATION: Public Security Bureau Entrance, Beijing

• ACOUSTIC INCIDENT: Gas grenade explosion

• BIOLOGICAL IMPACT: Total deafness / Auditory shattering

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

​The final escape occurred during that dawn. 

 

The roar of tank treads, gunfire, and weeping had ceased. I pulled Miao Ping along, following the retreating crowds. As we passed the Public Security Bureau, a black speck flew through the air.

 

Boom!

 

An explosion. A gas grenade. In an instant, my eardrums felt shattered. 

 

Total deafness. 

I reached out, groping blindly. 

No Miao Ping. Not beside me, not on the ground, not in the air.

 

That winter, I went to the office with one objective: lock the door and play mahjong. Relying on my computational advantage, I left the others defeated. 

 

There was no White Crow, no natural hearing. I relied solely on a Japanese hearing aid to maintain a tenuous connection with the world. 

 

Until the soldiers knocked it off. Until, before the gates of the detention center, my father brought me another one.