The American Spectator

“She died unexpectedly last year,” his mother said, turning to him. She had tears in her eyes. “I am sorry my son. We have been unable to provide for you.”

Chien looked out at the small patch of yard outside the window. His father’s cough continued from the back. Off in the distance he could see the hills of the Yellow River Valley disappearing in and out of clouds. He realized what a small patch of earth it was he had lived his life upon. It now seemed smaller than ever, too small, in fact, to stand on. For a moment he felt himself disappearing back into time, as if he had never existed.

THE WEEK BEFORE CHIEN was scheduled to graduate he passed a small table on the courtyard of the campus cafeteria. On it sat a handful of flyers. “One million Chinese women held prisoner in the United States!” said the bold characters. He picked it up and read:

One million Chinese women have been kidnapped and held prisoner by Western devils in the United States of America. These women are held as servants and forced to marry Western men against their will. They are treated to every kind of humiliation. The Golden Horde is a society of Chinese men dedicated to returning these women to their homeland. Become a son of Jochi, the rightful son of Genghis Khan, and join the rebirth of the Golden Horde in the modern era.

Chien looked quizzically at the young man who was manning the table. He had a stark, feral look belied by a toothy smile. “Are you interested?” he said, handing Chien another piece of paper. “Here, come to our meeting tonight. You will like it.” The young man’s eyes had a strange glow.

Somewhat hypnotized by the performance, Chien put the paper in his pocket and walked away.

When Chien walked into the first meeting of the Golden Horde he almost left immediately. They were not the sort of men he was used to associating with. They were darker, more brutal looking, with wispy beards, some of them wearing strange rounded hats that reminded him of pictures of old mandarins. He was intimidated, yet somehow drawn by their appearance. Chien took a seat in the back of the room and found a pile of literature waiting for him. He picked it up and began reading:

Jochi was the eldest son of Genghis Kahn, the greatest man who even lived. Throughout his life Jochi’s enemies were jealous of his position as the Great Kahn’s rightful heir. They spread rumors that Genghis was not his real father. After Jochi achieved a great victory at Baghdad his brothers and other pretenders plotted against him. Rather than fight them all himself, Jochi retreated to the Aral Sea to found his own empire. There he discovered the true religion, Islam, and created a dynasty known to history ever after as the “Golden Horde.” Together they invaded many lands, conquered many backward people and returned women who had been stolen from them, winning fame and glory that has endured for all time.

We are the Golden Horde, the true heirs of Genghis Khan and Jochi, the greatest men in Chinese history. Like them, we have adopted the one true religion, Islam. With the help of Allah, the One, the Magnificent, Peace Be unto Him, and Mohammed, his only Prophet, we will restore China to the true faith and reclaim our nation’s rightful place in history. Join us.

Chien’s head was reeling. He had never heard words like this before. He put down the paper and gazed around the room. It was dark, cramped, lit only by one pale light bulb dangling from the ceiling. He felt he had gone back in time to some dark era before he was born when great issues had been decided but could now be undone. As he sat bewildered, a thin young man in a skull cap approached him from the front, working his way down the row of chairs until he stood smiling next to him. Chien could smell the saffron on his breath. The man slipped a book into Chien’s hands. “Read it, brother,” he said, and departed. Chien held it up to the light. The title read “The Koran.”

In a few minutes, a tall, robust older man got up to speak. “Brothers, we are all sons of the Great Khan and of the Prophet Mohammed, peace be unto him. Together they have shown us the true path, the true light. China has always had false religions imposed upon us. First there was Buddhism, which came from India. Then there was Christianity, imposed on us by the West. Next came the godless Communism, invented by the European Karl Marx. Now we live in a world that stinks of Western decadence, sex and godless pursuits. But we brothers have found the true religion of Islam, the religion of our forefathers Jochi and Genghis Khan, the religion of the Golden Horde.

“Chinese men still suffer from these false religions. We are rich but the West still imposes upon us. America has taken a million Chinese women without asking. The have stolen them when they are young girls, before they could speak the word ‘no.’ They are held as slaves in America. They are made to do servants’ work. They are raped and murdered all the time. We must bring them back to China, back to their true home.”

A young, smartly dressed student sitting a few rows from Chien put up his hand. “How do you plan to bring these women back to China?” he asked in a skeptical, sing-song voice. “What are you going to do?”

The bull-sized speaker’s eyes took on a faraway look. “There are many ways for us to act,” he said in a low voice. “There are thousands of us, everywhere. We can do many things.”

As he made his way back to his room that night, Chien’s footfalls wove and erratic path from left to right, as if burdened by the weight of new ideas. All the time he clutched the Koran close to his breast.