by Annette Lee

Created on: September 10, 2009   Last Updated: September 11, 2009

A time between 1949 and 1986. A place between Early Communist China and a Los Angeles suburb.

Mao Tse Tung, leader of the People's Republic of China, paints calligraphy.

MAO
Like a thousand stallions
In full gallop in the heat of battle.
Mountains!
I whip my swift horse, glued to my saddle.
I turn my head startled.
The sky is three foot three above us!

Enter a disoriented Scarlett Wong, Chinese American teenager in 1980's garb.

MAO (cont'd)
Comrade Wong, come. I've been waiting for you.

SCARLETT
Chairman Mao?

MAO
Yes. Have you been in battle?

SCARLETT
No, I'm just... I'm just looking for my friend. We had a fight... Is this your calligraphy?

MAO
Yes.

SCARLETT
It's beautiful.

MAO
(self-deprecating)
Chicken scratch.

SCARLETT
It's so fluid.

MAO
It is the hand of a backward peasant, but you are generous. Where are you from, Comrade Wong?

SCARLETT
Monterey Park, California.

MAO
Where?

SCARLETT
It's part of Los Angeles County.

Mao stares at her.

SCARLETT
Guangdong Province.

MAO
Ah, yes, the South. The Cantonese have always made fine party members. Hearty peasants who can march for days on a single bowl of rice. I have always admired you Southerners.

SCARLETT
Thank you - I guess.

MAO
Now Comrade, you wished to discuss something with me?

SCARLETT
Chairman Mao, you're a great man. How can you be sure you're doing the right thing?

MAO
What do you mean?

SCARLETT
I had a fight with my friend. About the way our city is changing. There are these new people moving in - Chinese immigrants. They're changing the way it looks, the way it sounds, the way it smells. Changing what it is. I don't think that's the way it should be. They should come in and blend in, not take over.

MAO
Take over. So it is revolution you came to discuss.

SCARLETT
In a way. My friends say, I'm betraying my own culture, but I'm not. At least I don't think I am.

MAO
Rightests.

SCARLETT
What?

MAO
Rightests will lure you in with high ideals, make you feel secure and then when you least expect it, they will turn on you. Make you question everything you thought was correct. Is that what you mean?

SCARLETT
Yes, exactly. I thought everyone knew the rules. You come here and then you blend in. That's what we all did - but now... Now, it's all upside down.

MAO
That is how Rightests work.

SCARLETT
So you know what I'm talking about. Finally, someone who agrees with me! I mean, I'm just trying to work for the good of our community. We're just trying to keep the harmony, you know? It's worked for so well this long, why change it, right? But then

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