Fang Xiang

This is both a work of science fiction and an exploration of the meaning of life, love, literature and art. Brainpower is no longer the main ingredient for being human in this far distant future world.  Spirituality, physical balance, and diligence all come together as integrity for Chen Mu, the Card Apprentice.  The cards which Chen Mu masters in his own scrappy way, distill all the powers of the cosmos –  human and nonhuman –  into something that is not a book, not technology, and neither art nor magic, but is these and more.  Learn about these strange cards, which can embody everything you might imagine for the future of technology, but also a future beyond technology which promotes the best, and sometimes the worst, from mankind’s past.

The Card Apprentice

"This is the Bipolar Card! I'm certainly not mistaken! It is indeed the Bipolar Card!" Sang Hanshui was so excited that he nearly leapt. It was hard to imagine he had just been so ashen and crestfallen.

It looked like Sang Hanshui was a true card lover. That was Chen Mu's determination. He knew without even thinking about it that it was an occupational disease left over from the more than ten years Sang Hanshui had tirelessly spent researching cards that had been forgotten by history.

"Bipolar Card?" Chen Mu asked with curiosity. The name was missing Thunderball, and he thought that must then be its true name. But that name was utterly strange to him.

"Right! It's the Bipolar Card!" Sang Hanshui shook his fists vigorously, as though the card belonged to him. He explained with an excited look, "There are certainly few people who know about this card. Ha ha! You'd never know it came from the Central Repository of the Classics."

A Card Appraisal Expert