Reborn: Into the Dream

The year was 1976, the year of the Fire Dragon according to the lunar calendar. In Chinese tradition, those born under the sign of the Dragon—whether by year, month, or day—are said to be marked by destiny’s caprice: the best or the worst. If fortune smiles upon you, it will lift you up; if not, it will drag you down. What rightfully belongs to you will benefit you, but what doesn’t will turn against you.

That year, both auspicious and calamitous events abounded, shaking both human society and the natural world. It was a time of storms and darkness, of tempests and upheaval, of waves so vast they seemed to shake the heavens. For those living in China at the time, 1976 became a year engraved in memory—a year of monumental events.

First, in January, Premier Zhou, who had dedicated his life to the new China, passed away. Before the nation could recover from its grief, Commander Zhu De died in July. Then, at the end of that same month, a mere twenty-three seconds of tremor shattered Tangshan, Hebei, claiming hundreds of thousands of lives—leaving not only China, but the entire world, stunned and unprepared.

Yet the blows did not cease. Less than two months later, the nation was struck by yet another tragedy: on September 9th, news arrived that the Chairman himself had died in Beijing. In a single year, the three pillars of the state—Chairman, Premier, and Commander—were gone. At the same time, China suffered the greatest natural disaster since its founding, as the earthquake leveled almost all of Tangshan. Truly, it was a time of national mourning, the enti