Getting a cab back was tricky—we had to downgrade to a three-wheeler. It was probably the jankiest car I will ever travel in. It only had three wheels and the motor groaned when it tried traveling faster than 30 miles per hour. When you are in China, you usually want to avoid these “unofficial” taxis like the plague, but since I was with my Chinese friends I figured I was in safe hands.
We arrived at the Broken Bridge safely. The Broken Bridge is a bridge between China and North Korea that was bombed by the Americans during the Korean War. The bridge only reaches halfway—the North Korean side was never repaired. A stand of Chinese solider statues face the border of North Korea—at the feet of the general is the phrase “为了和平”—For Peace. Again, interesting choice of words.
We walked down the bridge, the night slowly creeping in until the sky was completely dark. At the end of the bridge were a few signs declaring themselves as the spot of the China-North Korea border and an American missile carcass leftover from the war. I took pictures with both but felt really weird doing so.
Standing at the Chinese-North Korean border was…really creepy. The Chinese city of Dandong was brightly lit with different colored lights. Almost every building had a bright display of lights. Actually it was almost as if China was flaunting it’s light-utopia in North Korea’s face.
But then you looked at North Korea, and the whole country was black. And not just metaphorically. The only light I saw came from the window of a two-story building (probably part of a military complex) on the North Korean side. It looked like it came from a candle; it was so small and faint. The lone candle made me feel as if North Korea was a very lonely place, not to mention entirely uninviting. I had never been so glad to turn back towards China, which in comparison with North Korea, never looked more inviting than it did in that moment.
A red lantern—the kind that Chinese people like to light on the ocean coasts and send into the air—floated from China to North Korea. I wondered who lit that lantern and if any North Koreans would see it, and what they would think of it.
I turned towards my left and watched as trucks travelled over the only thorough bridge between North Korea and China. First, empty cargo trucks travelled from North Korea to China. Then, passenger trucks (probably tourists?) travelled from China to North Korea. I was fascinated as I watched the only physical exchange occur between two countries with dauntingly intense histories.
On the cab ride to dinner I was left questioning what I had seen that day. A day that started with the death of Steve Jobs and ended with standing on the Broken Bridge, watching a single lantern float over the dark country of North Korea and witnessing what I perceived as the entire physical exchange between two countries. The taxi driver was blasting “Sexy Bitch” by Akon, and the weird blend of Chinese, North Korean, and American culture was making cacophonous echoes in my head.
What is the future of North Korea? What is the future of China? The latter question continues to burn in my mind, and has started to shape my study abroad experience here as I search for an answer.
Samm Nicolino says: 
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