Pomegranate River

Shiliuzui Village is a strange place indeed! The river is a “little tail” of the Huai River. The pomegranate trees on its banks can live for three hundred years, and when their red flowers bloom, they dye the water the color of rouge. The boats are made of catalpa wood and known as “river-warding boats,” with a wooden carving of a woman of the Tushan clan set into each stern. The elders say, “As long as the carving remains, the river will bring no disaster.” But since 1948, the river has known no peace: it has been flooded, battered by machines, and soaked with sewage. Nor have its people known peace: those who guard the river, flee from it, harm it, and save it are like pomegranate seeds, their lives a blend of sour and sweet as they roll through the waves of history.