Crouching tiger and hidden dragon is a Chinese idiom that describes a location where everyone conceals their strengths from the others to preserve the element of surprise.Born in 1968, the year of the Monkey, Zhan Jian is a hidden dragon, an anonymous Buddhist and Daoist, and a man with supernatural power. He is not as wealthy as Mme Zhao, the renowned fortuneteller in Beijing, but his capacity of telling the unknown and seeing the unseen is just as amazing as Mme Zhao.
I first met him at a famous Russian restaurant in Beijing in January 2004. A friend brought him to the dinner. He looked very humble and was very quiet. I was talking about planning my trip to Thailand in a few days. Later, my friend called to tell me that Zhang Jian told her that my Thailand trip was not going to happen.
I was very surprised. I had been to Thailand before and didn't see any difficulty getting there. But eventually I realized I was not able to go because my passport was going to expire in less than 6 months. I went to the police department looking to get a new passport but they said in my old passport I had the Canadian permanent visa, so I'd better keep the old passport and extend it when I arrive in Canada. Therefore, Zhang Jian proved to be correct.
We became friends a few months later. He was always willing to help me. I was just eager to know everything that was going to happen in my future life. He ended up correct again and again.
Sometimes he was very naughty, using his supernatural power to tease me. Once I was doing something very private at home. Ten minutes later he called, apparently very drunk, telling me what he saw. I was very scared and hanged up the phone right away. He called back and apologized. However, that made me believe him more.
Now he has disappeared. The two cell phone numbers he left me are not available anymore. I guess that's the typical lifestyle of a Buddhist and Daoist. They cross your path and vanish without letting you know. And someday you may run into them again around a small corner. Who knows?
