December 31st, 2023

Comrades, citizens of this ancient land: we find ourselves today, here, in this revered square, not under the benign gaze of that moon that once cradled our ancestors in sleep, but under a sky that has turned its back on the very essence of night, Deng declared calmly as his eyes began to gloss over. A malady most peculiar grips our world—a wakefulness unyielding, a vigil never-ending. A curse has been cast upon us, a spectral shroud that has swept across our vast empire, leaving behind a trail of shadows and whispering wraiths. These phantoms, borne from the depths of the Otherworld, danced in the moon’s melancholy light; their silvery forms a mocking reminder of our mortal folly. The streets of our ancestors have become a stage for a most bizarre spectacle. The night markets turned into carnivals of the histrionic. We, children of the dragon, must place our ears against the coarse dirt and listen for the whispering lips of the Jade Rabbit who brews the elixir of life on the moon. We must listen to his riddles wrapped in the midst of dawn, dancing with the spirits of Yangtze and drinking from the forgotten well beneath the sacred Wudang Mountains. Let us don the masks of apologue until the stars themselves descend to watch, and Chang’e smiles upon us once again.