编辑文：

Four bar (prison) provincial prison, usually known as "Fourteen bar", surrounded by mountains on three sides. About 20 cells form a semicircle. There is a row of offices and guard quarters near the exit. The lower floors are kitchens, outdoor showers, etc. My cell phone has a window to the office in the distance. Each cell can hold six prisoners. A few planks were laid on the floor as a place for six people to sleep together. There's a closet at the back, which has a portable toilet and a washing bucket.
Under the front window is a small hole in the wall. I was told to lock the foot of a heavy criminal. Another offender: two long rectangular bars with hinged ends. Two semicircle holes were inserted into each bar from the outside. The prisoner's foot was placed in the hole, and the other end of the column was locked outside. So the prisoner can only sit or lie down. Fortunately, I didn't see anyone locked in my cell. Every morning, a policeman with a prison assistant checks the ward. They opened the door and glanced inside to verify the number of prisoners. Then a prisoner took out the toilet and changed it for one of the clean ones, and also for a bucket of fresh cold water. After drinking, the remaining half of the body is washed with a bucket of water, and each person takes turns to wash every day. The prison assistant was the one who searched me that day. He always has a serious face. Two other Chinese prisoners called him "pig" and said they really wanted to hit him. Shortly after the rounds, we had brunch at about 10 o'clock, including a small bucket of rice, a small bucket of rice

原文：
The Fourteen Bar (Prison)
The provincial prison, generally called the "Fourteen Bar", was surrounded by mountains on three
sides. There were about 20 cells forming a semicircle. Near the exit was a row of rooms for an office
and guards’ dormitory. On a lower level were the kitchen, open air showers and the like. My cell had a
window facing the office in the distance.
Each cell could accommodate six prisoners. A few wooden boards were laid on the floor as a bed
where all six slept side by side. There was a closet in the rear with a portable toilet and a wash bucket.
Under the front window was a small hole in the wall. I was told it was to lock the feet of the felon or
other offender: Two long rectangular poles hinged at the end with two semi-circular holes in each pole
were inserted from outside, the prisoner's feet were placed into the holes, and the other end of the poles
were locked outside. That way the prisoner could only sit or lie down. Fortunately, I saw nobody
locked in my cell.
Every morning a policeman with a jail aide checked the ward. They opened the door, and glanced
inside to verify the number of inmates. Then an inmate took the toilet out and exchanged it for a clean
one, also exchanged and brought in a fresh bucket of cold water. After drinking, the remaining half
bucket of water was used to wash the body and everyone took turns each day.
The jail aide was the man who searched me that day. He always had a stern face and often was
very demanding. The other two Chinese inmates called him "the pig", and said that they really wanted
to beat him up.
Shortly after the ward check, we ate brunch about 10 o'clock, including a small bucket of rice, a
small bucket of boiling water, and a vegetable pot. The inmates allocated the food among themselves.
Each received a full bowl of about 150 to 200 grams of dry rice; the vegetable pot was almost always
boiled spinach. Dinner was around five o'clock. Every other week we had pork, each inmate getting
two pieces of pork about two fingers wide.
It was said that the Vietnamese and Chinese were mixed in most cells. Here “Chinese” referred to
both ethnic Chinese and border-crossed Chinese. Due to the differences in language and custom, the
Vietnamese and Chinese were always divided into two factions and quarreling in their confined space
of a dozen square meters. According to the rule of biology, the interspecific competition is always
higher than the intraspecific competition. Although all human beings are the same species, the rule
seemed to be true for different ethnic factions. Whenever a Vietnamese or Chinese was taken in or out
of a cell, the changed balance of factions would be reflected in meal allocation and other
contradictions.
Meal allocation was the main cause of conflict, and opposition between the two factions was
sharp. I could speak limited Vietnamese and tried to act as peacemaker. After negotiations, we agreed to
take turns, with the one who allocated the meal taking his portion last. This seemed rather fair to all, so
the factional conflict eased somewhat.
The lack of cleanliness connected with bowel movements bothered me. There was no toilet tissue
or any other paper in the prison. Some wrapping paper I had brought in was soon used up. What to do?
The bristles of the broom were not allowed to be pulled out, although I secretly used them once or
twice. A Chinese inmate advised me to ignore the problem which seemed a bit disgusting. Fortunately,
a new Vietnamese prisoner joined us. Our cellmates begged him to share his food, but I was happy to
receive his newspaper.
The weather was hot. Besides taking turns each day to wash our bodies in the remaining half a
bucket of water, we went down to the large open-air shower room next to the kitchen to take a shower
once a week. Everyone had a haircut once a month, done in the cell by a barber prisoner.
There were bedbugs on the wooden boards. Although they were killed with boiling water from
time to time, they could not be eradicated.
Another problem was scabies, and almost everyone was infested. I was very careful to avoid them
but still found a few between my fingers. A Vietnamese inmate had the most serious case of scabies,
with blisters all over the body. He used a needle to pierce them one by one. I advised against it but he
wouldn't listen. He developed a high fever the next day and was sent to the hospital.
I was detained for nearly two months in this prison and, fortunately, did not experience forced
labor, political studies, or criticism, denouncement and struggle. It was said that the labor camps in
other places were quite different, with forced labor, meager food, and abuse or beating commonplace.
That a prison is a microcosm of the outside society is true.
Inquiry
Two days later, I was called for inquiry. The inquirer was the same officer who took me from Tien
Yen to Hon Gai. He began with a set format of questions: name, age and address, but not family
members or social relations. He asked class status. I answered "professional" (my father was a doctor).
He did not understand the term and asked if it meant "bourgeois" or "petty bourgeoisie"? Neither, I
tried to explain to him, but he still did not understand. So I let him write what he pleased.
Afterward, he began asking questions, only occasionally recording my answers. For example:
China was very big, right? Where had you ever been? Was Beijing much bigger than Hanoi? What city
did you live in? Were there many factories? What factories? What hospital did you work in? Who was
the dean? Did you like your hospital? How was the relationship between you and your colleagues?
How much did you earn a month?...... But he asked nothing about the Cultural Revolution or political
issues.
His questions continued: How many years had you been in Vietnam? Where had you been? You
did heal a lot of patients, right? How many patients the most a day? If you continued to be a doctor in
Vietnam, where would you like to practice medicine: in Hanoi, Haiphong, or in towns or countryside?
Did you have many friends? Who were the best ones? Did you like to make Vietnamese friends? Who
were your best Vietnamese friends?......
I was really surprised by such an extensive and random inquiry, but gave straight-forward and
truthful answers. A day or two later it finally dawned on me that he had been testing my feelings for
China and Vietnam so to reach a final judgment about my stay. I understood right away that I would
certainly be sent back to China
There was no further inquiry.
Then I remembered Nguyen Tai Thu, the classmate I had visited in Hanoi a year earlier. It
suddenly occurred to me that he might be of help in my present predicament. The next day during our
cell check, I asked if I could write a letter. The policeman, stunned for a moment, asked to whom I
would write. I answered: "Doctor Nguyen Tai Thu, Hanoi." The policeman and the "pig" were very
surprised, but gave me a pen and paper.
I wrote my friend in Chinese as follows: "A year ago I visited you in Hanoi. We had a nice
memorial chat about the past years in Beijing Medical College. Things are unpredictable. A year later I
am behind the bars. The affairs of human life are unpredictable. But I’ll take things easy as they come.
Could we meet again sometime in the future? God knows. Wish to take care respectively." The address
on the envelope I wrote in Vietnamese.
What was written was written. I couldn’t hold much hope, but just gave it a try. Next day, I
handed the letter to the policeman and said I had no stamp. He glanced at it and said in a low voice that
it would be sent out.
Sure enough, that letter would make a ripple like a stone thrown into a pond.
Chinese and Vietnamese Cellmates
I met three other Chinese in my cell. One was a tall man from Dongxing or nearby. He might have
been a teacher or clerk. He did not talk much, seemed to be preoccupied by troubles, and liked leaning
on the window to look outside. I didn't make much of an impression on him.
The second was named Chen, in his 50s. He said he was a handyman in the family of Chen
Jitang's brother. One time he and another man were called to air-dry banknotes for Chen Jitang
(Governor of Guangdong Province, 1929-1936). They spread out the dampened banknotes on the roof
terrace, from time to time loosening them with bamboo rakes. He told a lot stories about the Chen
family. He and the tall man were repatriated before me.
My third cellmate was also called Chen. He was from Yangjiang County, about 30 years old. He
was an apprentice of an herbalist of Traditional Chinese Medicine. One of his cousins who fled to Hong
Kong two years earlier ran a small business and often remitted money to his family. Chen was longing
to join him and tried to flee to Hong Kong with several people but failed. Later he heard that he might
practice Chinese Medicine or do small business in Vietnam, so he and several friends went there
together. They had no relatives in Vietnam, did not understand Vietnamese, and soon were caught.
He talked a lot about the Cultural Revolution, said that in a village of his neighboring county, all
the “five categories” and their families were slain on one night, even the babies were not spared. The
evildoers shouted "Be red throughout the village and for generation after generation". The news
reached Hong Kong and was known to everybody.
I heard this with my hair standing on end and expressed concern about the current domestic
situation in China. Was there still random fighting and slaughtering? Chen said it was not as chaotic as
before. However, the two factions were still fighting each other; the targets to be overthrown went
higher and higher, from the city and province to the greater administrative regions, and finally to the
Beijing center. At first it was Liu Shaoji, Deng Xiaoping and Tao Zhu who were "proletarian
revolutionaries" one day but overthrown the next day. The big rebel leaders in Peking University and
Tsinghua University, the members of Central Panel of Cultural Revolution, fell one by one. Later
events were the Lin Biao defection; "Criticize Lin Biao and Criticize Confucius", with its disguised
goal being Zhou Enlai....... "In a word, not a single man is good."
Hearing that there was no longer randomly lawless fighting and killing, I recovered some peace of
mind.
There were four Vietnamese in my cell successively. One was a fisherman from a small island off
the coast. He was in his 30s and had been held for half a year for fighting and wounding somebody. He
was reckless but honest, and I had more contact with him than the others. Another one appeared to be a
minor official and was sophisticated. One was a thief and often a troublemaker, causing the atmosphere
between Chinese and Vietnamese to grow tense from time to time. Another was also a thief in his teen
years; he was temperamental and not always reasonable, once almost fighting with old Chen.
Felony criminals were not held with the border-crossed Chinese.