Blogs by Lucille Bellucci
Shanghai black market
12/9/2011 9:27:20 AM
days of yore
In the winter of 1945, my sister Maria was working for Standard Oil Co. The job was precious in the aftermath of WWII when people were picking themselves up and recovering from slim food rations. For some reason, the oil company wasn't able to pay in currency yet, probably because the Chinese currency was swinging wildly and there was no steady rate of exchange. One month my sister received her salary in five-gallon cans of kerosene. We couldn't eat kerosene but there was a way, there was always a way. She loaded two cans of kerosene and me in a rickshaw (yes, I know, that is quite a load -- rickshaw pullers got little sympathy then before western sentiments crept into our consciousness) and we went downtown to the corner of Avenue Joffre and Rue Pere Robert. These French names were relics of the French Concession occupation of that segment of the city, the payoff from China for losing the second Opium War 1856-1860. We unloaded the cans and stood waiting. In a minute or two the buyers sidled up to us and Maria began bargaining. I was about 12 at the time, my sister 23. I tell about this in The Year of the Rat.
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