Squatting in the small park I walked through all the time, I imagined the strange young beast from the picture. Those fearful, smiling eyes. This was a ghost, I realised with clarity. The beast was dead, which was why it could appear to me. Yong’an is a city in which spirits, beasts and humans mingle, brushing shoulders in the street, falling in love, even having children. No one dies a good death.
