Surviving the Nian
- Peter K F Cheung SBS
- Feb 27
- 3 min read
Act 1
INT. LIVING ROOM - 08:15
Soft light through curtains. PETER reaches for his phone.
PETER (V.O.): 10th day. Year of the Horse.
He scrolls social media with detached curiosity. A video thumb nail catches him; red lanterns, a shadowry beast. He taps.
VIDEO NARRATOR (V.O.): The Nian monster came each new year to eat villagers, until they discovered its three fears: the colour red, bright flames, and loud noise.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): They didn't celebrate the year. They survived it.
Peter opens a new tab. Searches: difference between Gregorian calendar and lunar calendar days. An article blooms. He murmurs some fragments.
PETER: 354 days...solar year 365.2425...drift of 11 days...
Reading.
PETER (V.O.): The wisdom of the leap year. Not perfection, but correction. Accumulated error, periodically redeemed.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Red stuff isn't magic. It's intention made visible. The villagers survived not because of colour frightens beasts, but attention frightens complacency.
Act 2
Tea steams. Peter speaks to his phone.
PETER (V.O.): 1954. What is the zodiac?
Peter reads the answer.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): 1954 is the year of the Wood Horse, beginning Feb 3, 1954, and ending Jan 23rd, 1955. The Wood Horse combines the Horse's energy with the Wood element's characteristics of growth, creativity, and flexibility.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): 71 years to learn what wood I'm.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Each morning the beast waits at the threshold of routine. Surviving the year means surviving today, then today again, with eyes open and heart prepared.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): What are Wood Horse people like?
Peter reads the answer from the web.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Wood Horses are creative and innovative, with abundant imagination. They're independent yet cooperative, charismatic diplomats who inspire others. They value freedom but seek meaningful connection. Natural charm masks deep sensitivity.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): This description - it applies to millions born that year. How can it be accurate for all?
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I think people accept vague, general personality descriptions as uniquely applicable to themselves.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Astrology persists through cognitive biases: confirmation bias and subjective validation.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): No one survive the Nian alone. Survival is collective, or it isn't survival.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): The Nian was never slain. It was driven back. It's only kept at distance, year after year, with vigilance rather than victory.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): To survive the Nian is to practice epistemology: knowing how I know what threatens me, and knowing that I know.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Humans create meaning from chaos.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Myth is gradually transformed into religion and religion into philosophy.
Recalling.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I studied philosophy to understand how humans create meaning from chaos.
Peter smiles.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I didn't realize I was studying survival.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I spent 40 years in law. But philosophy stayed with me.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): 71 years of revising the narrative. This is not celebration. This is survival.
Act 3
INT. LIVING ROOM - 23:45
Through the window, Peter uploads an image of something red to a draft on his laptop.
PETER (V.O.): The city beyond, millions of windows and millions of stories. The Wood Horse description - it's not prediction. It's provocation.
Thinking.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Survival isn't despair. It's the honest condition of being alive - attentive and imperfect.
Reflecting.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): The myth outlives the monster. I believe in ordinary people who discovered courage through collective ritual. I'm one of them.
The END
FADE OUT
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