编辑文：
Kai told me that the Chinese, especially the intellectuals with relatives in the south, should be very careful when they are overseas. Fortunately, Vietnam has no continuous political activities like China's, and those who have relations with overseas countries will not be persecuted as so-called "spy suspects". Kay can still work as a technician, so I'm really happy for him. Once Kay's parents sent him $100 from abroad. Vietnamese police took away serious views and asked several people if the money was used for espionage. Kay is both angry and funny. He wants to know how a hundred dollars can be used as a spy fund. He said it was enough to feed mosquitoes! Even if it's a spy fund, why is it open to him? Kay told me the story himself. After being deported in 1978, Zhen Kai and his family first went to China and finally to the United States. We keep in frequent contact. Mr. Tan is the principal of a primary school. He first came to me because his wife, a primary school teacher, had blisters on her eyelids. It's painful, with a low fever and irritability.  They are especially worried that the eyelids will leave scars and become disfigured. I found it was herpes simplex. Herpes simplex usually occurs in the mouth and lips, rarely in the eyelids; the other is the genitals. I have experience in the treatment of herpes simplex. It wasn't an effective antiviral at the time. I gave her some Chinese medicine and vitamin B, especially B2. After a few hours, the pain gradually eased, and the blisters began to shrink

原文：

Kai advised me that ethnic Chinese, especially intellectuals with relatives in the South or
overseas, should be particularly careful. Fortunately, Vietnam did not have successive political
campaigns like China, and those with overseas relations would not become alleged "spy suspects" and
suffer persecution. Kai could still do his technician job, so I was really glad for him.
One time Kai’s parents remitted 100 U.S. dollars to him from abroad. The Vietnamese police took
a serious view of this and inquired of several people if the money was for spy activities. Kai was both
irritated and amused, wondering how just a hundred U.S. dollars could be used for a spy fund. He said
it was only enough to feed mosquitoes! And even if it were a spy fund, why would it be remitted so
publicly to him? This story was told to me by Kai himself.
As a result of the 1978 expulsion, Zhen Kai and family went first to China and finally to the
United States. We maintained frequent contact.
Mr. Tan was principal of a primary school. The first time he sought me was because his wife, a
primary school teacher, suffered from small blisters on her eyelids. This was quite painful,
accompanied by low fever and irritability. They were especially worried that the eyelids might scar and
become "disfigured”. I found it was "herpes simplex”.
Herpes simplex usually occurs in the mouth and the lips, and is less common on the eyelids;
another type is in the genitals. I had significant experience in treating herpes simplex. At that time there
was no effective antiviral drug. I gave her a few Chinese herbs plus vitamin B, especially B2. In a
couple of hours the pain eased gradually, the blisters began to atrophy, and the herpes healed in a few
days. I gave her medicine and reassured them that as long as she kept the area clean and no secondary
infection developed, no scar would form.
Mr. Tan continued to have contact with me. He liked to write essays and sometimes showed them
to me. I could see that, although his literary level was not necessary high, it often was innovative. Tan
was interested in agronomy, the study of soil management and crop production. He planted a dozen
citrus and other fruit trees around his evacuee hut, and followed the agronomy book for planting and
fertilization. His harvest often was above average.
Like many ethnic Chinese, Tan also had a strong Chinese complex, longing for a strong
motherland. Influenced by the early Chinese pictorial propaganda he worshiped Mao, and even praised
him as "great" in the early stage of Cultural Revolution. Later as he learned more and more facts, he
could see that the Cultural Revolution was incomprehensible.
In 1978 Tan and his family were among those expelled from Vietnam. They returned to China
where he and his wife were appointed primary school teachers. I had communication with them after I
came to the United States.
In fact, many overseas and ethnic Chinese initially had worshiped the Chinese Communist Party,
but gradually withdrew support as they perceived the facts, especially the so-called "three years of
natural disasters" the Great Famine and the Cultural Revolution.
Learning the Vietnamese Language
Although I was living in an ethnic Chinese enclave, it was inevitable that I had contact the outside
world. It would be inconvenient and sometimes even dangerous if I did not understand the Vietnamese
language. My contacts with ethnic Vietnamese were rare, so I had little opportunity to learn how to
speak or comprehend their language. But to learn by reading it was possible. I obtained some used
textbooks from primary school students, and bought a Vietnamese-Chinese Dictionary. The dictionary
was of great help. Gradually I was able to read newspapers as well as Vietnamese medicinal
instructions and medical books. After the reunification of the North and the South Vietnam, a villager
received a letter from his Southern relative. He requested me to help translate.
Vietnam has its own distinctive language. However, Chinese characters had been used for more
than a thousand years. Although the Vietnamese language now uses an alphabet, it still has many
phonetic similarities with Chinese, such as the common slogan "Independence, Freedom, Happiness."
Terms such as "people", "unification", "university", "doctor", etc. all are equivalent to Chinese. Some
words can be traced back to Chinese origin. For example, "dong" is Chinese "copper coin"; “Dong ho”
(a clock or watch) is from the "copper kettle clepsydra"; “Vien Han Lam” (Academy of Sciences) as
"Hanlin Academy" (the Imperial Academy in feudal China); “tien si” as "jinshi, (imperial
academician)”.
The pronunciation of these words is somewhat similar to Mandarin or Cantonese. As the
Vietnamese language became alphabetized to the ABCs, it looked completely different from Chinese
characters. However, this transformation actually was only 200 years old, created by two French
priests.
Due to the historical origin of the two languages, it was easier for me to read Vietnamese than to
speak it. The colloquial use, word order and grammatical expression in Vietnamese are quite different
from Chinese, and the spoken language difference is even greater. So I haven't been able to speak much
Vietnamese. Occasionally, when I spoke simple sentences learned from the textbook or newspapers,
Vietnamese patients (introduced by their Chinese friends) didn't understand and often made jokes.
Riding a Bamboo Raft to Safety
I was concerned to find food and a place to sleep each day, but even more anxious to avoid the
police. Every once in a while, but especially near the Lunar New Year, Vietnamese police usually
conducted a "Catching (border-crossed) Chinese" raid. So the traditional "hard time of year end"
became a "hard time of safety" for us.
Three days before the Spring Festival, every family was busy preparing for the Lunar New Year.
Xinyi came back from the town and immediately warned me and the two Deng brothers, also bordercrossed
Chinese, that the police had caught a few Chinese in neighboring communes. I panicked but the
Deng brothers, who had experienced such events before, were relatively calm. Asking more about the
situation, we decided to take evasive action.
Xinyi said he had a small bamboo raft and could send us to the other side of the river to hide
temporarily. He told us to wear extra clothes and borrow a blanket for each of us.
So we went to the river where Xinyi was waiting. We boarded the bamboo raft, poled upstream
about half a kilometer into the forest area, and stopped at the other side near a gully. In winter the gully
was mostly dry. Xinyi told us to go along the gully and look for a place to hide. He left us a bamboo
basket of cooked yams and said he would send more that night.
We thanked Xinyi and then walked along the gully. It didn't take long to find a slightly flat place.
Each of us chose a stone and sat down with a heavy heart. After a while, we began to talk in low voices
about police efforts catch border-crossed Chinese again and again and felt helpless. We talked about the
Dong Hoa villagers who were friendly to us. Regarding Xinyi, we were grateful to him for his courage
and willingness to help.
Xingyi was open-minded and generous. His wife had died a few years before and their eldest
daughter was suffering from tuberculosis. The government provided streptomycin and "filatov”. I often
went to help her inject and Xinyi served me a light meal with whatever was available. The
streptomycin supply was often interrupted. I explained to Xinyi that this would make the bacteria
resistant and the drug become less effective. But he said there was no other way. Xinyi's second
daughter and son were very filial and helpful.
In the evening, Xinyi brought us more food: yam, salty radish and dry bamboo shoots, and said
that the latter two were given by Jiaqiu and Wangbao. He also borrowed two blankets for us. We were
deeply thankful.
At night, we slept in our clothes on the ground. The Deng brothers fell asleep soon in the cool air.
I hardly slept well. Looking up at the stars, I imaged the “the sky as a mosquito net and the earth as a
bed" as I had on the mountainous journey fleeing to Hong Kong. Recalling my family and familiar
things, I could not help but feel dejected. How were my parents and the little Meng now? As the crazy
and brutal Cultural Revolution intensified, would their days be even harder than mine? If I had not fled
to Vietnam, what would be my situation now? Alive or dead?
"The evil power forced me to wander far away, such a long night when it gets dawn?......" the theme song of
the Indian movie "Wanderer's Song" echoed in my ears.
Curling up and shivering, I became drowsy and slept for a while. Early the next morning, the
Deng brothers had already got up and exercised by the stream.
Xinyi sent his son that morning on the bamboo raft with more supplies. He brought yams and corn
for us and said that he or his father would return that night. We thanked him again.
Border-crossed Chinese were usually reluctant to talk about the past, but more often talked about
their experience in Vietnam. The two Dengs told me the difficulties and embarrassment of beginning
carpentry. After improving, they were hired by more and more people. In addition to board and lodging,
they also got a little pay. They suffered no longer from hunger, but were always afraid of the police.
Once they were almost caught, but fortunately got a tip-off and escaped. After that they worked only a
limited time at each household, then moved to another place.
Their carpentry tools were heavy and cumbersome for shoulder carrying, so they hoped to save
money and buy a used bicycle for each. Fortunately, they looked like the locals, and their accents were
not much different. They were not as likely to be noticed as I was.
As we were talking, we heard someone walking in the distance. Immediately alert and about to
escape across the gully, we saw that it was just a logger. He also saw us but remained at a distance, did
not say hello, and went his own way.
I was worried that the logger might report us to the police. The two Dengs laughed and said that
people here were not so vigilant and would not do such a wicked thing.
Near evening, Xinyi came aboard his raft with a pot of rice, a dish of fried peanuts, and a big pot
of mustard greens soup. He said that the rice was given by Wangbao and the fried peanuts by Tingwen.
I asked Xinyi to thank them. Xinyi said, "Tomorrow is New Lunar Year's Eve, I guess the police won't
come. Just sleep here one more night, I’ll take you back to Dong Hoa tomorrow.” Trying to encourage
us with a smile, Xinyi said, "I know you are having a hard time!"
I felt his sincere sympathy and our lack of alternatives. Although we must always beware of
police and our larger environment was full of risks, fortunately the people around us were full of
human kindness, and our immediate environment was relaxed and warm, so we were able to wander for
many years in Vietnam. This was unlike China, where the endless "class struggle" distorted humanity,
everybody felt insecure, people were mutually suspicious, and even father and son, or husband and
wife were incited to deprecate or denounce one another.
On the third day, Xinyi’s son came to raft us back to Dong Hoa. I still had a lingering fear and
hesitated where to go next. Walking aimlessly, I dropped in at Tingwen’s home. Tingwen was the
village security agent, and I had treated his family members several times. He warmly invited me to
joint their New Year’s Eve dinner. During the dinner, I was moved by his family’s happy atmosphere. I
thought of my parents and family members and little Meng. Even if they were able to get together and
have New Year’s Eve dinner, my absence meant "all are here but one person.” I could not help but
lament!
Like Father and Son
There was an old man named Uncle Daan in the north of Dong Hoa village. He was over 80 but
was still quite strong and lived alone in a small hut. His daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren lived in
a house in front of his.