Myth or reality
Eloquence in fon remains cultivated on radio Benin. Happiness of the listener ; all those who are attached to the genius of fon speaking. In this language, indeed, on the national radio of Cotonou, yesterday a china made story was on the air. Although the surprising beauty of the anecdote left me a bit stunned. The story was about a giant called Bao, aged 56, 2m36 tall and the arm of whom measured more than one metre!
Then the narrator, moved on with dolphins story in a bay somewhere in internal Mongolia. It was necessary question to empty the stomach of dolphins who inconveniently fed on plastic waists poured by industries. Number of these cetaceans had already succumbed to their fatal appetite. To save the last one of them who fought heroically against the death and hung on to life, all sorts of craftiness and methods had been tried : in vain
It is then that the giant Bao entered on stage. With his arm, he was able to open manually a wholesome way towards the intestines of the dolphin in danger of death. Skilfully, giant Bao pulled out the mortal plastic waists. As a result, like Elmer the elephant who, in right time, revealed the utility of its trunk, Bao the giant, demonstrated the ecological utility of his gigantic size, by saving a charming animal!
This allegorical story which marries the gigantic size of the hero with his ecological utility seems to me however too beautiful not to be an invention, too beautiful not to be sewn by white thread. I indeed wonder if Bao is not a metaphor of China itself ; and if this story dealing with the happy utility of giant Bao is not above all intended to counter the western criticisms on the ecological nuisance of China’s industrial rise. Behind the image of the giant Bao, his wholesome intervention, and ecological ability, is there not the purpose to say that Giant China also cares about nature protection ? This is the reason why I wonder : did the giant Bao really exist? Is this story authentic? Or is it a hot myth intended to counter criticisms on ecological indifference of the Chinese in western media ?
Any attempt to confirm the thing at the embassy or the Chinese cultural centre of Cotonou collided with a wall of courteous silence. My question is thus a real call to witness. And any serious answer would deprive of me the fictional plastic weighting on my stomach, there by helping to disentangle the truth of the forgery, the myth of the reality...
Binason Avèkès
© Copyright, Blaise APLOGAN, 2007
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