This film germinated from a line in Kafka’s diary,“Germany has declared war on Russia. Swimming in the afternoon.”

On the day the war happened, I posted on WeChat.“Islept twice today. When I woke up fromthe second, the war seemed to have started. So shocked, I can only lie down a bit more. Reallyshocking, these days.”

I am shocked that right before this happened, everyone’s attention was on the chained womanin Fengxian. That event assembled all of our capacity to empathize. Everyone wanted to save her,to condemn the backward problems of our society - until a war outside of our own land began. All of a sudden, people started speaking up with their stances. Weibo, WeChat moments, blogs,Instagram…All kinds of view points, some in support, others in resistance. The world analyzed, deconstructed - it makes me feel paralyzed.

When the pandemic just started, my emotions were easily swayed by theoutside world.Ibecame critical of others, and denounced anyone who didn't connect themselves to what was going one. Now I am not quite the same as then. When I walk out of thedoor, people onstreets are all nice looking, and everything is fresh. Work, parties, picnics...... I was concerned about the war while realizing that there is a huge gap forming between it and my own life. It wasmy lack of awareness, so I decided, never again, to condemn others for their lack of awareness. The grand or microscopic arguments that people uphold will eventually be dissolved by history, but there is a war that is taking place as it is being forgotten. So in the present enlivened by novelty, all I want to do is to preserve my here and now.