Suxia said a name of a fishing village on the west coast. But the militiaman wouldn't believe it.He counted: "One, two, three, four, five, a total of five peopl-e. Must be fleeing, being blown back by the south wind. We’ll go back to the c-ommune and see.” It seemed they knew that the south wind of the previous night would enable them to catch persons fleeing to Hong Kong this morning.Two men ju-mped on our boat, took up the paddles to row back, the two boats one in front a-nd the other behind escorted ours and paddled back toward the bank.All was los-t! Suxia uttered: "Damn the south wind!"A militiaman in our boat blurted out: "W-hy didn’t you just keep paddling along the coast?"That remark struck us! Li Yo-ng and Suxia banged their heads in exasperation at the same time.Why in the wor-ld didn't we think of doing that? Paddling along the coast, with land screening us,would have greatly diminished the wind and improved our odds of success. But it was too late now!The three boats entered the river; after landing, the milit-iamen escorted us to the commune committee in a location they refused to disclo-se. In the commune committee, the militia searched our bags, confiscated our mo-ney, and then escorted us to a bus. Soon we arrived in a detention center.When we learned that this was the Shenzhen Detention Center, we realized that we had come quite close to the waters of Hong Kong last night, perhaps just an hour’s boat ride. "Damn the south wind!" Remorseful that we never thought of paddling along the coast, we suddenly fell back to hell from heaven. Remorse, remorse, r-emorse! Hate, hate, hate!Shenzhen Detention Center was small, and all detainees were persons caught fleeing to Hong Kong. Many were zhiqing from communes or fa-rms in Baoan County or nearby; some had fled and failed several times, entering the detention center again and again. Therefore, they would be detained two or three months as a punishment. But so it was. They said privately that being a h-iqing sent to the countryside was like going to the deepest eighteenth hell, an-d there was no nineteenth level. Once released, it was better to flee yet agai-n.Search and inquiry were routine. Although the supervisors kept stiff faces, th-ey were not rude.According to a zhiqing who had been detained for more than two months, the former head was an exservice northerner. He was ferocious and regar-ded fleeing to Hong Kong as an extraordinary crime, so he always arbitrarily be-at and kicked the detainees. Once when he traveled on official business to Guan-gzhou, he kicked up a fuss and was given some of his own medicine, being beaten badly by several young men at an out of the way place in Huanghuagang Park. The present head was less fierce.We stayed in Shenzhen Detention Center only a few days, and then were sent to Guangzhou. Before our fleeing I had heard that XX F-arm of Shaoguan County was lenient to those fleeing Hong Kong and the Shaoguan Detention Center was not strictly guarded. Many people faked their addresses th-ere and looked for another chance to escape. I had also contacted a friend befo
 rehand; his younger brother was an apprentice in a workshop in Shaoguan City. I could ask him for help if necessary, so I faked my name and gave an address in Shaoguan.My younger sister was a zhiqing at a farm of Xinxing County; she did n-ot need to fake a name. Li Yong and the two other men also reported their real addresses.We were escorted aboard a bus to Guangzhou along with other passenger-s. A female passenger put two candies in my sister’s palm; she accepted it sil-ently and responded with grateful eyes.Weird Happenings in Shahe Detention Cent-er The detention center for Guangzhou was located in the northern suburb of Sha-he, a town once renowned for Shahe “fen” (a kind of wide-strip rice noodles).
We entered a large square surrounded by high walls, and then went through a door beside a row of rooms to a smaller square. At one side of the small square was a hall with wooden floor boards for sleeping. The women detainees went into the female area through another door.Shahe Detention Center was very large with man-y detainees in and out daily. Men and women detainees were separated in two div-isions, and each division again divided into two sections, one for newcomers an-d the other for those who already had been questioned and were waiting to be se-nt out.The two sections were separated by a high wall.There always were more th-an one hundred people in the Newcomers' Section, most of them caught fleeing to Hong Kong, others jobless or odd-job migrants and bums from all over the countr-y, as far away as Xinjiang and the northeast China. They were from a different social stratum. Chatting with them I gained a lot of knowledge, and learned for the first time about life at the bottom of the social ladder. Of course, I also heard much about bloody and tragic events of the Cultural Revolution which serv-ed to aggravate my fears. This time I faked a name and address for Shaoguan tha-t was even more unreliable than my last faked name for Xingning. Could I slip b-y once more? If I were sent back to Kunming, the consequences would be miserabl-e. Whenever I thought of this, my heart was full of trepidation.We had our meal-s in the small square. Twice a day, each meal was also three liang rice (so ca-led "tan three liang”) with vegetables, which was dispensed by the two elderly detention aides and monitored by a supervisor.The two old men were in their 60-s. It was said they did not want to be sent back to their residence in countrysi-de because of their bad class status, so would not give their real addresses to the detention center. They were not like people who had criminal records so did not fear being arrested by police and transported. Year after year, the detenti-on center seemed to be their lot. They were friendly, spoke with discretion, an-d seemed to be well educated. Touched, I could picture myself in the same situa-tion. If I dared not reveal my identity I might suffer the same fate, spending the rest of my days as a detention aide in a detention center.Unfortunately, th-ese poor old souls were not left in peace. Soon after I left Shahe, the detenti-on center came under military control. The military representative hung the two old men upside down and beat them until they revealed their true addresses. The-n they were sent away to an unknown fate. It was really chilling.The two superv
 isors who monitored dispensing our meals were still young, in their 30s. Before
-each meal, they led us in singling songs of Mao Quotations. The three songs mos-t frequently sung were: "When we are in hard times, we must see our achievement-s, see the bright future, and strengthen our courage.” “Be resolute, fear no sacrifice, and overcome every difficulty to strive for victory.” and the third was "We are from all corners of the country, and for a common revolutionary cau-se we come together........”Everyone sang arrogantly and full of spirit, especially the zhiqing. When they sang the word
"revolutionary" in "for a common revolutionary cause", all burst into shouts and laughter. Joining the revelry, the two supervisors laughed, “Ha, ha!” The zhi-qing were fearless and trumpeted, "Learn and apply creatively." "Hell has no ne-teenth anyway" (It was said that hell has only eighteen levels). In response, w-e whispered: This was "learn and apply in reverse.” "To attack poison with poi-son." Someone told me: "It is said that the two supervisors are also problemati-c and are purged from the prosecution and law-enforcement departments. Aren’t they just showing their resentment?" Those detainees from other provinces were greatly surprised: “In such a place you dare to have fun and to speak cynical remarks, so we really admire you Cantonese. If it were in our place, absolutel they would be arrested as active counterrevolutionaries.”There were many super-visors, but those responsible for inquiry and escorting detainees did not enter the small square where we were.Interior Line Broken Before this detention, I ha-d gotten to know a guard of the Shahe Detention Center named Wang Sheng through friends. Like other guards or supervisors, Wang secretly released detainees to make money. Working with another guard during their night patrol outside the wa-lls, they gave a signal to the appointed detainee and help him climb over the w-all to escape.Arriving at Shahe, I hoped Wang would help me. We arranged previo-usly that I would go to a small empty room on the back wall (said to be for locking up discipline offenders) before each meal.On the third day, Wang walked slo-wly to the window with a heavy heart and whispered to me that the present situa-tion was tense. My heart sank. I wanted to ask more but just then heard the whi-stle blowing for meal. I hurriedly asked that we talk again the next day and ru-shed to the square.Next day at the same time I waited at the window but Wang di-dn’t appear. I waited again daily until the time I was sent to Shaoguan, but d-id not see Wang again. The interior line of communication on which I had placed such hope was broken. Depression and fear plagued me day by day, like the weigh-t of a heavy stone.Riot in the Sending Section One night, I was awakened by a s-eries of heavy bumps mixed with loud noise from the Sending Section. Then, the sounds of a whistle, the clatter of footsteps, shouts, the slaps of sticks, and screams rang out one after another. After a while it gradually fell silent. We couldn't get back to sleep, guessing and whispering among us there must have be-en detainees attempting to break out.At daybreak, the whistle screamed again an-d all went to the square to line up. When the front door opened, the supervisor-s and police escorted a dozen people in to show the crowd. Each person had his
head, or hand, or foot wrapped in bandages oozing blood; some wore slings, other-s were on crutches.All were silent but unable to conceal faces of anger and hat-red.Sure enough, it had been a riot in the Sending Section, the site of detaine-es awaiting transport elsewhere. They had taken building materials stacked by t-he wall to ram the door, but failed to break it open. It was only a few who bum-ped the door, but the supervisors and police rushed in to beat everyone; even t-hose lying on the ground were not spared.They paraded a dozen w-ounded before t-he crowd, whether they had participated in the bumping or not, s-o as to “kill a chicken to frighten the monkeys.” Alas! Lives in troubled times were worthle-ss;who cared about right or wrong? A few days later, I passed a brief inquiry a-nd was transferred to the Sending Section waiting to be sent to Shaoguan. Sending Section was similar to the Newcomers' Section, with a square and a hall,with randomly laid boards on the floor for sleeping. But boards were limited, so man-y detainees could sleep only on the floor. The detainees numbered more than one hundred.One day at noon, a gentle-looking fellow detainee with eye-glasses was tied to a tree in the square. Nobody knew the charge against him. A military un-iformed guard grabbed him by the hair and banged his head hard against the tre-e. The eyeglasses dropped off and he groaned "ah oh, ah oh!"weakly.As a doctor I understood the damage to the brain caused by such treatment, and felt a stingin-g pain in my heart.Transfer to Shaoguan A few days later, I was called by my pe-udonym and sent to Shaoguan. More than a dozen of us including two kids rode a slow train. It was said that the kids’ family had encountered misfortune,leavi-ng them to wander the streets of Guangzhou until they were picked up.There was only one cell for men and one for women in the Shaoguan Detention Center. The m-ale cell was about 30 square meters which, after we came in, held more than 20 people squeezed in like canned sardines. In addition to those fleeing to Hong K-ong, about half were odd job migrants or tramps. Unlike detention centers near the border or in Guangzhou, persons fleeing to Hong Kong in inland detention ce-nters were becoming less and less.Sleeping on my left was a local peasant in hi-s 20s, dark and short. With few jobs available in the countryside, he went to a-bandoned mines and dug residual coal for sale. He might earn up to one yuan a d-ay, but was forced to pay 20 cents to a local villain. He worked hard, always a-fraid that the stones might fall to cause injury or the abandoned mine collapse suddenly. But even more he was afraid of the authorities "sweeping odd-job mig ants”. In that case, he would be detained, sometimes beaten, and his money con-fiscated. I asked him: What will you do after you get out? He answered that he had no choice but to dig coal again or end up penniless. I felt sympathy and co-nfusion for his situation. He was neither a thief nor a robber but simply labor-ing to make a living. Yet even that was not allowed. What was the way of the world?