Chapter 1 Baitou Mountain (This chapter is free)

North Korea means a peaceful country of morning light. According to legend, a long time ago, a bear and tiger wanted to become humans. God told them that if they could stay in a dark cave on Baitou Mountain for a hundred days and eat only garlic and mugwort, they would become humans. The bear withstood the severe test and became a beauty, but the tiger failed because of its lack of perseverance. Later, the bear girl married Tan Xiong and gave birth to Tanjun, who established the kingdom of Korea in Pyongyang in 2333 AD. Since then, the Koreans have called themselves the descendants of the bear.

I am now standing in the place where the legendary ancestors of North Korea were born, and they are also called the sacred mountain and the holy mountain by the Koreans. Everyone may feel unfamiliar with the name Baitou Mountain, but if we talk about its other name - "Changbai Mountain", I think few people would not know it.

Climbing on the not-so-narrow forest path, surrounded by lush trees. From time to time, several queues of tourists walked by.

Tourists consciously line up to play, and may only be able to see this phenomenon here. But I am no longer surprised by this, because this is nothing compared to what I have seen in North Korea these days.

Can you imagine that a country has only one Internet cafe? And the Internet costs are as high as hundreds of dollars per hour; can you imagine that the subway is built under tens of meters deep? In order to immediately turn into a civilian air raid shelter at the beginning of the war; can you imagine that a country's TV can only receive one station? And this station repeats the founding ceremony over and over again; can you imagine that the people of this country have been learning the history of their leaders' growth since childhood? Can you imagine that a country is full of red slogans, and the whole country is praising the same person - their great leader?

This is a country full of mystery. Here, only one voice is allowed, that is, the voice of the leader, only one idea is allowed, that is the subjective idea, only one direction is allowed, that is, the direction of socialism, and only one worship, that is, the worship of the leader.

This scene has a sense of familiarity for me as a Chinese. Yes, as long as I am an older generation who grew up in the 1960s and 1970s, if I see this scene, I will not mock it for its backwardness and closure. Because in the past, we have had familiarity. But now we can only see it on TV or movies, but what we see is a living fact...

"Comrade reporter..." The tour guide's call interrupted my thoughts.

This interview is not pleasant. All our actions must be carried out under the official arrangement. Each interview must be accompanied by official personnel. I have also learned how to speak here these days. For example, I want to see how the children in school live a life. If you say it directly, the answer you get must be a stinking face of rejection. But if you say, "Comrade, I want to see what kind of happy life the students here live under the guidance of the great leaders", then someone will soon take you to school with a smile.

I have to admire my learning ability and my stomach. I admire my learning ability because I quickly learned how to have an unimpeded interview here; I admire my stomach because I never knew that my stomach was so strong that after saying those words, I wouldn’t even cramp…

"Comrade reporter..." The tour guide was a thin man who had studied at Shandong University, so he knew some Chinese. However, it was better to say that he was a tour guide than to monitor us. He walked up to me with a smile and said in a stiff Chinese: "There is Duangjie Peak ahead. When you get there, you can see the Tianchi asked about by the comrade."

Tianchi is the source of the Songhua River, Tumen River and Yalu River. It is said that fairies bathe here every year. During these days in North Korea, I heard countless myths and legends about Tianchi.

"Oh..." I responded casually, frowned gently, and did not give the tour guide's smile.

My disgust for the tour guide came from the previous party of the Hanmen store. At the negotiating table that symbolized honor, I found that there was no Chinese flag on it. In the showroom of the Hanmen store, there was no Chinese Volunteer Army at all in hundreds of pictures.

When I asked the tour guide, "Where were the representatives of the Chinese volunteer army at that time?"

The confused tour guide replied strangely: "Have China also participated in the armistice signed?"

After I was speechless for a while, the tour guide pointed to the North Korean flag above and introduced to me: "We North Korea are the only country that dares to confront the US Empire and defeat them. Back then, under the leadership of the great leader General Kim Il-sung, we refused to bow to imperialism..."

Later, through interviews, I learned that the only place mentioned in their textbooks about the Volunteer Army was: "General Kim Il-sung met with the Volunteer Army Commander Peng Dehuai", "Commander Peng Dehuai looked at General Kim Il-sung admiringly", "Commander Peng Dehuai said: There are many difficulties. If you did not have the previous battle against the US military, we would have no experience and it would be even more difficult", "General Kim Il-sung said: Our soldiers have experience in fighting the US military, and they can directly help you guide you..."

"Fuck..." I, who had never liked to say swear words, couldn't help but curse inwardly: "Who is helping whom?"

Thinking about the blood of the 336,000 Chinese Volunteer Army soldiers who were scattered on this land without hesitation, but the great military achievements they made were easily wiped out, and I couldn't calm down.

I climbed the mountain with heavy depression. I don’t know how long it took, and a cheer suddenly came from the front. I felt relieved and thought that I must have arrived in Tianchi. I heard a layer of cocoons in my ears when I listened to the legend of Tianchi in the past few days. I really wanted to see what Tianchi looked like. With a little curiosity, I accelerated my pace and walked forward. But there is an old saying that I can’t eat hot tofu in a hurry. Just as I was about to see Tianchi, I tripped up my toes by something, and rolled towards the unknown in the voices of everyone and surprised eyes.

Maybe I should be relieved about this. In the past year as a journalist, this is the highest scream and resounding rate I have received.

First, it was dazzled, and then the heart-wrenching pain after hitting a hard object a few times. The pain made the bitter water in my stomach turn outward. I instinctively reached out and grabbed it, but all my efforts were hard work. I still kept rolling down and rolling... Time was as long as a century, but I hope it would be longer, because when I landed on the ground, it might mean the end of my life.

I was wondering if I should record this feeling and then wrote the previous article "Thoughts about Falling High Altitude". After all, no matter who it is, it is rare to have such an experience. So if I could publish this article in a newspaper, I would definitely make a big shot, and maybe I would become famous because of it...

Finally, I don’t know how long it took, but my free trip arrived at the terminal. I tried hard to open my eyes that were so swollen that I was left with only a slit. I couldn’t be sure if I was still alive, but I was sure that I was in a dark cave. A cylindrical light shot into the entrance of the cave, illuminating the dense green garlic and mugwort in the cave.

I soon thought of the story: a bear and tiger want to become human, and God told them if they could stay in a dark cave in Baitou Mountain for a hundred days and eat only garlic and mugwort…

Bears and tigers can become humans if they stay in this hole for a hundred days. So what would happen if they stay in this hole? I was already confused and thought in a daze.
Chapter completed!