'The Long Journey', the final monologue of the opera The Golden Dragon based on the eponymous play by Roland Schimmelpfennig, has been given the air of a ballad. A young Chinese works illegally in an Asian restaurant of Anytown. Not having a health insurance, he bleeds to death after a botched dental operation. His colleagues throw his body into the river which runs through the town and carries the body to the sea. He floats back to his home country – this last journey is the theme of the monologue.