Slipping Back Home to Guangzhou

The ranks of "those in power taking capitalist road" overthrown was getting high-er and higher, even the provincial officials were not the targets. People were more interested in the ups and downs of big VIPs of Beijing and the Greater Adm-inistrative Regions. Yesterday the typical VIP had styled himself as the "proletarian revolutionary" and arrogantly commanded Red Guards to strike down the oth-ers; today he was denounced and struggled against by the opposing factions. Thi-ngs changed unpredictably, and the scene made people dazzled. The Red Guards of different "fighting squads" united (so called the "revolutionary alliance") but were loyal to different VIPs. They ultimately formed the incompatible two "Head
 quarters”. These two factions attacked each other and resorted to increasing v-iolence. Bloodshed occurred now and then, and developed later into large-scale armed clashes and slaughter. The Red Guards traveled nationwide to carry on "Re-volutionary Linkups”. Schools, streets, train stations, and bus stations everywhere were crowed with teenagers with "Red Guard" armbands. The persons in power at the Medical College had been defeated by the heads of different factions
of Red Guards who constituted nominally the so-called "Revolutionary Committee"(different from the “Cultural Revolutionary Committee” at the beginning of Cul-tural Revolution). In fact every clique organized and deployed its force and vi-gorously carried on factional "attacking" or "protecting" respectively. The Med-ical College was basically in anarchy. I decided to take this opportunity to sl-ip back to Guangzhou. Before that, I had submitted several sick leave certifica-tes to the Department. This time I left a sick leave certificate and a note on the desk in my dorm, saying that I was going back to Guangzhou to continue trea-tment, and requested to resign, then slipped away without saying good-bye. I bo-ught a train ticket on the cheapest hard-seat coach and quietly took the train from Kunming to Guangzhou. Along the way, I was always on tenterhooks. Whenever the train attendant passed by, I was worried that I would be told to go with hi-m. I had heard that a person to be arrested on the train would be called first by the attendant. Three days later, I was back home safely. My mother was surpr-ised and happy. She could imagine that I was greatly impacted, but would not op-enly ask me. My father was a doctor in Foshan and usually came back home every weekend. He was professional and dedicated to his work and was friendly to ever-yone. But because he was a senior intellectual classified "stinking ninth categ-ory" at that time, he inevitably suffered criticism and denouncement. He was on
 ly allowed to return home every two or three weeks. My youngest brother was a f-irst grader in junior high and, as the school closed, he still took time to st dy by himself. My sisters were students of junior or senior high. They did not participate in the Red Guards but acted as "peripathetics" and often came back home or went around with classmates. At dinner time, my sisters were back home. Previously when I their eldest brother came back for vacation, they would happi-ly ask about this and that, but this time they showed just a little surprise an-d, after asking only a few questions, fell into silence. The whole family was r-elieved that I could come back safely. However, what could we do next? The enti-re land was ruled by the same emperor, so what was the difference between Guang
 zhou and Kunming? Everyone had a big lump in his heart. I asked things about fl-eeing to Hong Kong and, although they had heard a lot, nobody really knew how t-o do it. The next day was Saturday. Early in the morning, my fourth sister led me to see little Meng. Before Yu-ou fled to Hong Kong, she entrusted little Men-g to Aunt Yin’s care. Later she regularly remitted money to Aunt Yin for littl-e Meng’s living expenses. Yin’s family of four lived in a room of eight squar-e meters. little Meng was just over one year old, a very cute age. I hurriedly picked her up and hugged her tightly. She seemed a little strange to her father whom she had actually never seen. A scene came to mind: Before fleeing to Hong Kong, Yu-ou had to bear the heartbreaking grief of handing little Meng to Aunt Yin. I could not help but shed tears. When I gave little Meng some cake, she at-e it in one mouthful, and Aunt Yin helped wipe her face. She leaned on Aunt Yin and timidly looked at her father. I asked a few things about little Meng, and i-nevitably talked about fleeing to Hong Kong. Yin said she would try to help. In the evening, my father came back from Foshan. He looked older than the last tim-e. I didn't ask him about things in Foshan, and my father also didn’t ask me what happened in Kunming. Everywhere was the same, and the reason for such cautio-n was self-evident. I said to my parents: I am 30 but if not broken I will stan-d by my decision. My parents were heavyhearted. Without asking they obviously u-nderstood that I had no other choice. Application for a Temporary Residence Alt-hough I was back home, my registered residence still was in Kunming, so in Guan-gzhou I was a "visitor" and required to apply at the local police substation fo-r a temporary residence. What specific place I should list was a vexing proble-m. Living in my parents’ home would be problematic. The purpose of my return ha-d been to flee to Hong Kong. So regardless of my success or failure, my parents might be in trouble. After my marriage when I returned home two years before, I had applied to South Street police substation to live in my wife's house. Howev-er, after my wife fled to Hong Kong, the home was raided and closed with a big seal on the door affixed by the Red Guards. Could my wife’s home be reopened? I hesitated but then decided to ask. Not unexpectedly, the police said because it had been sealed by the Red Guards it could not be reopened. I then asked if I could live with a friend in the front room (The front room had been rented to that friend free of charge). Fortunately the police did not ask further questio-ns and allowed me to register a temporary residence there for two weeks. So I r-eturned to tell my mother and siblings, and we all were temporarily relieved.
 Initially, I held onto my dream of a quick flight to Hong Kong. But Mother just sighed and said, “How could these things be so easy!” Two weeks elapsed while family members and friends tried every means to help me, but without success. W-ith no alternative, I again had to take the hospital certificate to South Stree-t police substation to request an extension. The police didn’t question me and allowed an extension of two weeks. During this time I was plagued by a troubled conscience, worried that the police would discover my plan to flee to Hong Kon-g: "His wife fled, won't he want to go?" I was worried even more that Kunming ha-d informed the Guangzhou police to spy on me or even to escort me back to Kunmi-ng. Therefore when I contacted someone about fleeing to Hong Kong, especially w-hen I went to towns around Guangzhou for such help, I would greatly fear, even tremble, that someone might track me. However, I had no choice but to seek a wa-y out. Gradually the tension reduced. Two weeks passed quickly and I still had no clue how to proceed. The South Street police substation would not allow a fu-rther extension, so I had to apply to stay in my parents’ home. First I applie-d for two weeks and then extended for another two weeks. Then I could no longer extend, so became an illegal resident. Whenever there was news about checking r-esidences, the whole family would be on tenterhooks. Mother was the head of the household and suffered maximum stress. Checking residences usually came unexpec-tedly at night. If the residents committee had previously noticed any stranger, it was reported to the local police substation. Next was the dreaded "officer k-nocking on the door at night”. Any unregistered person would be taken away, s nt to the etention center to suffer hunger and even torture for a few days, and then be forcibly escorted back to his original registered residence. In additio-n, there was a large-scale operation of checking residence during or before a b-ig holiday. Due to the rural economic decline as well as political persecution, more and more people flowed from the countryside into the city. They were rega ded as jobless or odd-job migrants. Later many zhiqing returned to the city, re-sulting in a large number of people detained during each checking residence ope-ration. The Detention Center could not accommodate everyone so many people were detained temporarily in the school auditorium. When the situation grew tense, m-any people fled to Yuexiu mountain, Baiyun mountain, or suburban farmland to hi-de. Even so, the police with militia might search the mountain and farmland. Th-e situation was miserable. People lamented: “I was born here, grew up here; i-t’s my home, my country, but I cannot go home, cannot stay freely in my countr-y. What is the way of the world?” Our home was checked once. It was one night s-everal weeks after I returned from Kunming. I calmly produced my ID of Kunming Medical College and medical records from the hospitals in Guangzhou. Since we w-ere all one family, the police did not say much, just urged me to go back toKun-ming to participate in the "Great Cultural Revolution”. My sisters were not at home that night, but my mother was scared. The Red Guard ‘Revolutionary Linkup-s’ Since I had registered at the police substation when I returned to Guangzho-u for medical treatment, I need to keep medical records in case of checking res-idence. I also had to monitor my blood pressure and send a certificate of sick leave to Kunming Medical College. Therefore, I went to visit a doctor every now and then. Once I went to the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhongshan (Sun Yat-se-n) Medical College. A middle-aged doctor had just measured my blood pressure when suddenly the door was pushed open and two Red Guards barged in and yelled at the doctor: "Go!" The doctor asked in a low voice: "May I finish the examinatio-n for this patient?" Don't need you to examine!" a Red Guard snapped. The docto-r stood up and silently followed the Red Guards out. I was petrified. Then anot-her doctor came in without say anything and continued to examine me. I dared no-t say anything but took the prescription and left hastily. Oh, horror! In the central urban district on the Fifth Zhongshan Road there were often the parade fl-eets of "cow demons and snake spirits”. The Central Park, the People's Park, a-nd the Zhongshan Memorial Hall were full of Big Character Posters. Once on the front gate of the Central Park there was a big slogan "The revolution is to engage in red terror!" which was posted by the “Maoist Red Guard Legion” from nor
 thern China. Everywhere were Red Guards from north or other provinces. Some of them were offspring of high-rank officials who claimed to be "innate red" (mean-s revolutionary consciousness came from parents), "heroic parents have heroic s-ons.” They appeared to be cocky, arrogant and supercilious. Many things in Gua-ngzhou were not acceptable in their eyes, so they threatened to "thoroughly sma-sh them.” Besides, they did not understand Cantonese but spoke only Mandarin. This resulted in misunderstandings by Cantonese speakers, triggering many confl-icts. Among them was a riot concerning Sun Zhongshan (Sun Yat-sen), founder of the Republic of China in 1911. The main avenue passing through Guangzhou metrop-olis from east to west was called Zhongshan Road (First to Eighth); in the nort-h of the city there were Zhongshan Memorial Hall and Sun Yat-sen bronze statue, Zhongshan Monument; the leading university in Guangdong was Zhongshan Universit-y, and then Zhongshan Medical College. The Red Guards from north were very disr-espectful, yelling, "What rank was Sun Zhongshan?" One day they gathered in fro-nt of the Zhongshan Memorial Hall and pulled down the bronze statue of Sun Yet-sen. As they were about to move it away, the local Red Guards came and insisted on reerecting the statue. The confrontation between two sides was getting hotte-r and hotter. Then it was said that they telephoned Premier Zhou Enlai in Beiji-ng. Zhou instructed them to restore statue immediately.
Earth-shattering cheers and boos followed. The Red Guards from north were crestf-allen and mbarrassed and went helter-skelter in all directions. Another contrad-iction was about the dispute over the "tea”. Cantonese traditionally like to h-ave "tea" or "dim-sum (snacks)”, so-called "three teas (morning, afternoon and evening) and two meals (lunch and dinner)”. Tea restaurants distribute over th-e urban and rural areas. People go to the restaurant to order a pot of tea and two items of “dim-sum” which is known as "one pot and two items”, and sit do-wn to “tan" (enjoy) the tea. Family members or relatives and friends get toget-her to enjoy the “tea” and to chat about or discuss anything, to exchange inf-ormation, or to negotiate business. It is a custom strongly tied to local cultu-re. The Red Guards from north were greatly incensed at this “bourgeois way of life” custom and vowed to completely ban it. The locals upon learning of this were in an uproar. One day, the Red Guards from north were about to descend on a famous restaurant. A City Workers Propaganda Team went out to stop them. Both sides wore red armbands and waved red flags. One side claimed to be “red five categories” and innate revolutionaries, while the other side claimed that the working class should lead every aspect and resolutely protect the rights and benefits of revolutionary masses. Both cited the Mao’s "Highest Directive" and yelled at each other, finally resulting in nothing.