On the other days before returns to England, Jim asks Yang, who has worked again as his chauffeur after the Second World War is over, to drive
him to Lunghua prisoner camp. Jim sees that this place has already been taken over by the Allied Forces as an airfield for British and American Air
force. On his way back to International Settlement through the western suburbs of Shanghai, Jim notices Nationalist soldiers in their American tanks,
trying to find the refugees and bring them back to Shanghai. Noticing these refugees, Jim realizes that there is no rice or land to crop anymore in
Shanghai. At the end of October he ordered the unenthusiastic Yang to drive him
to Lunghua. The set off through the western suburbs of Shanghai, and soon reached the first of the fortified checkpoint that guarded the
entrances to the city. The nationalist soldiers in their American tank were turning back hundreds of destitute peasants, without rice or land
to crop, trying to find refugee in Shanghai Ballard, 1984: 347.
From the above quotation, it is seen that China is agricultural country in
which the majority of the people as farmers. The lands and fields that once were used by the farmers to make living are being taken over by the
Westerners to build many industries. This condition is worsened by the Second Sino-Japanese War that destroys their wealth and occupation.
3. Jim’s Experiences Related to Social Cultural Circumstances
a. Jim‟s Experience in His House at Amherst Avenue before the Second
World War in China The social class in China during that time can be seen from Jim‟s
behavior. After coming back to his house at Amherst Avenue, He wears
clothes which are resembled The Thief of Baghdad. Jim is like a prince in his house. He has a chauffeur to drive him anywhere and nine passive Chinese
servants who will follow his orders. He also has many aircraft toys. If he feels bored with those, he will take his bike and go around French Concession to
entertain himself with many entertainments in Shanghai Ballard, 1984: 15- 16. From that description, the Westerners have better live than the Chinese
as the native during that time. The Westerners is the employers and the Chinese is only employees.
The social problem is also seen from the condition of the city itself. The city of Shanghai is maintained and ordered by the Westerners and the
Chinese who are actually the native but only like a tenant in their own city. This is seen when Jim is on the way to the Christmas party. Along the way
from his house in Amherst Avenue to the Dr. Lockwood‟s mansion is full of Westerners in their fancy dress.
Jim took his seat in the Packard, He glad to see that Amherst Avenue filled with cars of Europeans leaving for their Christmas parties. All
over the western suburbs people were wearing fancy dress, as if Shanghai had become a city of clown Ballard, 1984: 20.
The conditions of the native are very contrast with the Westerners during that time, especially in Shanghai which is controlled by British
authority, even though it is still under the Chinese Government. Jim observes that the native is not respected as much as the Westerners when he and his
family in their Packard are on the way to the Christmas party. Jim sees a woman who is caught by the Japanese NCO without any explainable reason.
Jim feels sorry for the woman, but he cannot do anything because it is normal
in this city during that time. He only thinks that the Chinese is still united, even though they are being pressured by many terrible conditions.
The Chinese, whom Jim knew well, were cold and often cruel people, but in their superior way they stayed together, whereas every Japanese
were alone. All of them carried photographs of their identical families, little formal prints, as if the entire Japanese Army had been recruited
only from the patrons of arcade photographers Ballard, 1984: 23.
b. Jim‟s Experiences at the Dawn of the Japanese Invasion on Shanghai in 8
December 1941 Jim lives in the Palace Hotel in the Shanghai Bund a day before the
Japanese invasion into Shanghai. Jim sees the Shanghai waterfront that involves many battle ships and gun boats of British, American, and also
Japanese. He also smells the odor of fish heads and the bean curd cooked in oil rose by the vendor. Jim also sees paper flowers. He knows that there is a
burial ceremony like that every night at Nantao in Shanghai. He witnesses many of poor Chinese launched the coffin for the bodies of their relatives at
funeral piers in this place. Jim realizes that those Chinese did that because they do not have any wealth for the burial. However, they still do that for the
honor of the death. Jim memorizes that he always noticed many paper flowers which are decking the coffin in that melancholy occasion.
Every night in Shanghai those Chinese to poor to pay for the burial of their relatives would launch the bodies of the funeral piers at Nantao,
decking the coffin with paper f lowers. …. Meadows of paper flowers
drifted on the running tide, and clumped in the miniature floating gardens around the old men and women, the young mothers and small
children, whose swollen body seemed to have been fed during the night by the patient of Yangtze Ballard, 1984: 40.
From the above quotation, the Chinese respect to their old tradition. They still maintain and do the burial ceremony, even though they do not have any
money to do it. The Second Sino-Japanese War that takes a long time and the Westerners that destroy the wealth or occupation of the native are worsened
the condition of the Chinese.
c. Jim‟s Experiences when Surviving Alone in Demolished Shanghai after
the Invasion in 8 December 1941 A few days after the Japanese invasion in 1941, Jim lives by himself
in the Maxted‟s abandoned apartment in French Concession for about one week. Jim can survive by eating the foods saved by the owner. At that time
Jim is alone and he has a time to repair his broken bicycle. After repairing it, he rides it along the Avenue Foch after he repairs it. He sees that Shanghai
has been changed. He sees that thousand of Japanese soldiers and puppet militia have already taken over the city. The street has already filled with
many rickshaws and pedicabs which have been left by their owner. Jim observes the Chinese thronged the pavement outside the department store in
the Nanking Road. Jim also notices many bodies of Chinese laying on the street with their hands tied behind their backs. These bodies are dumped
along Avenue Edward VII. Jim notices two soldiers beat a youth with their staff at the Bubbling Well Road. After Jim reaches the Szechwan Road, he
sees that this road has been closed with barbed-wire by the Japanese. He also observes many Japanese civilians moving in and out of the foreign banks and
commercial buildings. From those places, they are carrying typewriters and boxes of files Ballard, 1984: 76-77. From the description, the condition in
Shanghai during the Second World War is worsened than before the war. The city is more chaotic for Jim and the people, with many mass murders
committed by the Japanese. No one does anything to help the victims. They are ignored by the higher authority just like before the war.
The culture that is performed by the Chinese after the Westerners control Shanghai is the legality of opium. This is seen when Jim is traveling
around Shanghai in order to find his parents. He passes the Avenue Foch and he sees that this crowded place is become so quiet. This place is become a
place for many gamblers and opium users to gather. Jim notices that “all the gambling parlours and opium houses in the side-streets behind the racecourse
had closed, and metal grilles sealed the entrances to the pawn shops and banks” Ballard, 1984: 77. This quotation explains that the traders are selling
the opium legally in China before the Japanese invasion into Shanghai in 1941, besides that gambling is also legal in China during that time.
The other culture that is seen by Jim is the habit of the Chinese to make gold teeth. He knows about this habit after he lives with Basie and
Frank. They are some of Western survivors and maybe they are soldiers or even mercenaries. Jim helps Basie to collect gold tooth from dead Chinese
bodies at Nantao. He thought
of Basie‟s secret bag of gold teeth. The creeks and canals of Nantao were full of corpses, and the mouths of those corpses were
full of teeth. Every Chinese tried to have at least one gold tooth out of
self-respect, and now that the war had begun their relatives might be too tired to pull them out before the funeral Ballard, 1984: 100.
The above quotation describe that Chinese is famous with their honor to the
family. Besides the honor to the ancestor, many Chinese parents like to make gold teeth for the continuity of their descendants.
d. Jim‟s Experiences to Lunghua Prisoner Camp after being Captured by the
Japanese Soldiers after the Invasion on Shanghai in 1941 The other culture that is maintained by the Chinese for a long time is
playing kite. This old fashion games is maintained by the native and it attracts many foreigners interested with it. Jim is one of many foreigners who are
interested to this game. Jim is in the truck with other Westerns prisoners on the way to the prisoner camp in Lunghua. He has conversation with Dr.
Ransome about their interest. Feeling bored with the conversation, Jim notices the soldiers are walking along the railway trucks unwinding lengths of
telephone wire as they move toward highway. Jim notices that the wire is like a thread of kite that he usually played with his father at their house in
Amherst Avenue. He remembers that he has flown a dozens of kites and he misses that peaceful time.
Helped by his father, Jim had flown dozens of kites from the garden at Amherst Avenue. He was fascinated by the dragon kites that floated
behind the Chinese wedding and funeral party, and by the fighting kites flown from the quays at Pootung, diving across each other with
razor-sharp lines coated in the powdered glass. But best of all were the man-flying kites which his father has seen in northern China, with a
dozen lines held by hundreds of men Ballard, 1984: 140.
e. Jim‟s Experiences in Lunghua Prisoner Camp during the Second World
War in China As one of the captive in Lunghua prisoner camp during the Second
World War, Jim also works with other prisoners to build an airfield for Japanese airship. Jim notices Chinese soldiers who are taken captive by the
Japanese. Different from the Western prisoners, Jim realizes in his mind “he knew that the Chinese soldiers were being worked to death, that these
starving men were laying their own bones in a carpet for the Japanese bombers who would land upon them” Ballard, 1984: 160. Based on the
quotation, Chinese soldiers get different treatment than other prisoners. When the other prisoner can eat and rest, the Chinese soldiers must work. This
condition represents the cruelty of the Japanese to the Chinese. During the Second World War, Jim usually has some conversations
with Dr. Ransome in the prisoner camp. Jim is standing on the roof top of the camp and sees the American aircraft pass above him. Dr. Ransome feels
worried about him and asks him to help at camp hospital. Jim has a conversation with Dr. Ransome in the hospital. Jim says “certainly the
Japanese came top, the Chinese bottom, with the British wavering in between” Ballard, 1984: 197. From the quotation, Jim realizes that the
authority in China is always changes, such as from the Chinese or foreigners. One thing that is always same is the people of China that are always in the
bottom because of the chaos caused by their leaders.
Close to the end of the Second World War, Jim observes the condition of the war from the prisoner camp. The Kuomintang is supported by the
Allies Faction to defeat the Japanese in China. Jim also sees that the Kuomintang armies have taken over the airfields and use the hangars as the
place to seize the Japanese armies in this war. The Japanese armies who are captured by the Chinese are killed in the south and the west of the airfield.
For reasons of their own, the Japanese aircraftsmen and ground crews made no attempt to escape, and lived on in the gutted hangars and
workshops. Each day the Nationalist soldiers took a few of the Japanese and killed them in the waste ground to the south and west of
the airfield Ballard, 1984:307.
The revenge of the Chinese is fulfilled after they have Allied Faction as their allies. Based on the quotation, the Japanese or the Chinese is becoming cruel
and not respecting the value of humanity in the middle of this war.
B. The Social Conditions in China during the Second Sino-Japanese War
