A lychee at half a million?
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07/19/2002
The price of lychee, a luscious fruit considered a notch above such as apples and citruses, has been slashed as a result of a bumper crop in South China, making it affordable to ordinary people.Yet anecdotes related to this fruit abound. Legend has it that Yang Yuhuan, concubine of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907), had such a penchant for fresh lychee that fast horses were commandeered to fetch her favourite fruit from the south. Hence, after being wedded to this legendary tale, the fruit has since been invested with a tinge of mystery and daintiness. Today, however, people are no less skillful in creating a feeling of suspense out of the mysterious fruit. Not long ago, someone hit upon the idea of putting a dozen or so litchis up for auction. What made him think of such an outrageously absurd idea I can't say for sure. Were these lychee peculiar in shape, size, or content? Even if it is taken for granted that they were of a different species, that they as a fruit wouldn't last long is an irrefutable fact. Despite outsiders' scepticism, they were all auctioned off. One of them fetched an astounding 550,000 yuan. Frankly, I don't think a lychee carved from solid gold inlaid with precious stones would have cost as much. What did the buyer expect it to bring him? Fame, good fortune, or merely a rare chance to flaunt his fabulous wealth? The mindset of nouveaux riches is as precarious and unpredictable as the climate in the spring. It put me in mind of a college girl student, who while attending the water closet forget tissue paper. She pulled out without hesitation four hundred-yuan banknotes to serve the purpose without showing any sign of a guilty conscience. Asked why she indulged in such blasphemy, she simply replied that in her home there were more banknotes than tissue paper. Some may ask why if these people are overladen with enormous wealth, why don't they donate a portion of it to the needy? It's another question I can't possibly answer. Maybe they are the ardent disciples of the doctrine that to pluck a feather to alleviate the pains of mankind is precisely what I hate to do. Here I wish to add that media always play an important role in playing up such strange occurrences and generous media coverages makes such stunt less costly than they first appear. Unfortunately not many reporters boast intelligence that enables them to see through tricks. Or maybe the media have an ulterior motive in the hype-up. Whatever might be the causes, it is advisable we return to common sense from time to time.
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