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    A Fight to Win or Die: Destination Hong Kong

    The Perilous Path of Fleeing to Hong Kong from Guangdong Since the Communists to-ok power and blocked the border beginning in July 1950, due to the economic dow-nturn, and the persecution from the political campaigns again and again, the tr-end of fleeing to Hong Kong and Macao never ceased and became more and more int-ense, especially during the so-called "three-year natural disasters" the Great Famine and the Cultural Revolution. Until the 1980's "Reform and Opening up”, the trend gradually was suppressed. Being adjacent to Hong Kong and Macao, many Guangdong families have relatives or friends in those places. What they saw and
    heard from them were in a sharp contrast to domestic conditions. Near the border in Bao-an County (now Shenzhen), most of the young and middle-aged people fled, leaving the so-called "women village”, "senior village”, or “no resident village”. Even from "Red Flag village" which had been set up as a model of “anti-fleeing to Hong Kong”, all residents eventually fled. Those living far from the border or coast would make every effort to contact border area residents for as-sistance or use other ways for fleeing. In Guangzhou circulated the talk such a-s: "Every street has heroes, each alley has brave men.” Actually it was far mo-re than that because even a single family might have several “heroes”, manife-sting the popularity of fleeing to Hong Kong. The numbers of people of other pr-ovinces fleeing via Guangdong were smaller. The methods of fleeing were varied. Some hid in a train or truck, but this was not common and very difficult. Most people used one of the following three ways: walking, swimming, or taking a boa-t. No matter which way was chosen, the traveler must first enter the "border zo-nes" which were divided into first, second, and third zones from the border to the inland area. Since the government strictly controlled the flow of people, a-nyone who wanted to buy a long distance ticket must produce a travel certificat-e from the unit or commune or production brigade. Entering the first zone close-st to the border, he must have a special border pass issued by the public secur-ity organization. If he chose walking or swimming, the traveler took a car to a place near the outer third zone using an ordinary true or fake certificate of t-ravel, then found an opportunity to slip into the mountains. At first he identi-fied a mountain peak or ridge toward the south as a target, and walked toward t-hat target all night. At dawn he hid in a hollow or ravine. While walking for s-everal consecutive nights, he might be seized any time by the militiamen, disco-vered by firewood or herbs pickers or passersby. He also needed to beware of snakes and avoid falling from a cliff. As for the hunger, thirst, fatigue or exhau-stion, it was an inevitable part of the routine. The closer to the boundary the traveler came, the more guards or militia patrol and open or hidden sentries we-re around. Near the boundary there were strings or wires deployed on the groun-d. If the traveler accidentally touched it, the alarm would be sounded, the bord-er patrol with a fierce dog would come right away, and he would be caught and s-ometimes even be bitten by the dog. But if everything went well and he reached the boundary or the seaside, then he had to climb over the barbed wire entangle-ment, or jump into the sea to swim many hours to Hong Kong. Along the boundary were high multilevel barbed wire entanglements; some areas even had a power gri-d. When the traveler successfully arrived at the barbed wire entanglement, he p-ut his backpack or a jacket on it and climbed over quickly. This was the socal-led "pounce on the barbed wire entanglement”. If he could safely climb over the Chinese side of the entanglement, he still had to climb over another entangleme-nt on the opposite side erected by the British Hong Kong government. If he were
     spotted by a Hong Kong police car patrolling along the border he could be caugh-t and deported back to mainland China. Many people failed right on the verge of success after so many hardships, and were saddened almost to death. If the trav-eler chose to swim, usually he did not need to "pounce on the barbed wire entan-glement" in most areas but went directly to the sea and swam. Here there were o
     ther difficulties: First he must calculate the date and time suitable to swim w-ith the ebb tide, according to the lunar calendar, and he must be able to swim for at least several hours. Many who tried were drowned, exhausted, frozen to d-eath, killed by sharks or caught by a patrol boat. If the swimmer was lucky eno-ugh and reached the other side, he still had to beware of the British Hong Kong coast patrol, had to hide somewhere until nightfall, then sneak into the urban district. Of course, taking a boat was the most comfortable means of escape but also the most difficult. First of all, the traveler must have a lot of money to buy a boat, utensils and food plus pay a reward to people who could help. But i-t was expensive and risky to find a trustworthy person who could really handle these things. He had to rely on one and another and finally reach a border resi-dent or a boatman. The result could be fraud and deception. The traveler might spend a lot of money (people were impoverished, who could have a lot of money?) but never see a boat after all. If he were entrapped by the police or by a stoo-l pigeon, then both he and his money would be gone. Even if he found a reliable fisherman and boat, it did not mean all would be well. Perils included checkpoi-nts on the inland waterway, patrol boats on the sea, and a sudden change in the direction of wind and current. Any one of them might mean failure. Favorable
    climate, geographical and human conditions, each factor was indispensable. Even if he arrived on the coast of Hong Kong, he must elude the British Hong Kong co-ast patrol. Whether walking, swimming or taking a boat, if he could evade the b-order patrol and enter the urban district, the escapee would be safe. He then c-ould be accompanied by a local relative or a friend to the Immigration Bureau t-o apply for entry as a "refugee”. The task of the border police was to catch t-he intruder, while the duty of the urban police was to enforce the public secur-ity, so they were not a threat to the escapee. Just because of this glimmer of hope, people “fleeing to Hong Kong” thus came one after another without end.
    Macao: A Place of Refuge for Some Fleeing to the Portuguese territory of Macao w-as usually by water, either swimming or taking a boat. Prior to 1968, if he cou-ld successfully reach Macao waters, the traveler had succeeded because the Port-uguese authority had no border interception and would not deport a person who a-rrived. Some churches or charities often drove boats out to rescue the swimmer-s. But Macao was small, employment and wages not as good as in Hong Kong, so mos-t Chinese escapees would prefer to move on and illegally enter Hong Kong. They then risked again interception by Chinese or Hong Kong patrol boats and Hong Ko-ng coast guards, although the risk was lower when coming from Macao. The policy of no interception by Macao was changed after 1968 when the Portuguese-Macao au-thority bowed to Chinese Communist pressure. Macao police then began to repatri-ate escapees back to mainland China. Those already in Macao also were at risk a-nd needed to find a way to Hong Kong as soon as possible. According to Chinese officials, the success rate of fleeing to Hong Kong or Macao was about one tent-h, but it was said by others that the actual rate might be much lower than thi-s. Consequences of Getting Caught What would happen if one was caught in fleeing to Hong Kong? Historically, Guangdong is the hometown of the overseas Chinese. Beginning in the Qing Dynasty many residents of Guangdong went abroad to make a living. After the Communist government blocked the border in 1950, fleeing to H-ong Kong was strictly banned. However, because of the strength folk customs, th-e authority still had scruples about imposing a harsh sentence on those caught. Moreover, because there were so many fleeing to Hong Kong, and the majority of them were common civilians including poor and lowermiddle peasants, if all were sent to jail, the prisons could not accommodate them. Therefore, persons caught fleeing to Hong Kong were generally not regarded as "breaking the law" to be se-ntenced, but as "violating the border control regulations" and simply were sent to the nearest detention center. There they would be identified. Anyone with a criminal record or other problems would be taken away by the police; if not, he would be transferred to the commune or street police substation or work unit wh-ere the registered residence was identified. The commune or street police subst-ation or work unit could treat him in its own way. The treatment varied widely. In the countryside, he would be sent back to the commune and ordered to write a self criticism, or be handed to the production team and released. If he had bad records, or his family background (“class status”) was not good, he might be beaten or subjected to other physical torture. In the city, if he had no formal job or only worked in the "street service station"*, he might be released by th-e local police substation after reprimand, or be supervised by the residents co-mmittee for some time. If he was an employee of a formal unit, there might be
    -administrative sanctions. If the case was serious or repeated many times, he mi-ght be sent to "Reeducation through Penal Labor (Labor Education)”. It was sai-d that once during the Cultural Revolution, Jiang Qing, wife of Chairman Mao, c-ame to Guangzhou. After learning from local officers of the situation of fleein-g to Hong Kong and the relatively mild punishments, she furiously said, "No! It must be dealt with seriously!" The border became tense for some time, and borde-r guards shot at those fleeing to Hong Kong (A doctor friend of mine was so kil-led). However, the fundamental problem causing fleeing to Hong Kong was not sol-ved. How could it be "stopped" by simply "ban”? In the face of so large a numb-er of those fleeing to Hong Kong every day, what could the local government do but "catch" and "release" again and again? In provinces other than Guangdong, there were fewer people fleeing to Hong Kong, and the punishment was more severe. They might be sent to Labor Education or be sentenced to prison for "treason", or even be killed.
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    * Urban residents without formal jobs were organized by the local police substat-ion to undertake the production of relatively simple crafts for the factories s-o to earn the living. They usually did it in their own homes or small workshop-s. In Guangzhou, such an organization was called a "street service station".
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    My First Attempt at Fleeing to Hong Kong
    I requested friends to help me find ways for fleeing to Hong Kong. After many we-eks had elapsed and a lot of money was spent, I still had no way at all. I was worried about checking residence and worried that Kunming authorities would sen-d someone to return me there. One day a friend introduced a man named Mo to me. He was about thirty with unusually small eyes. He said he had a link to a fishe-rman of Wanqingsha (a fishing village) in Panyu County. The method proposed was to use a fake certificate of travel to buy a car ticket to Wanqingsha, and then take a boat at night to bypass the checkpoints and go out to the sea. In good c-onditions (north wind and ebb tide), we could arrive in Hong Kong before dawn. But first we had to buy a small boat. I asked him why we should buy a boat if h-e was a fisherman. Mo laughed at me for not knowing about the ways of world sai-d that fishermen worked on a production team's ship; only very few people had private boats, and we had to buy a boat from them. Without money, who would give you a boat for fleeing? My mother and I had no idea of the specifics about flee-ing to Hong Kong and could only ask some general questions. With no choice but to trust him, my mom gave Mo a piece of gold weighted 2.1 “liang” (about 70 g-rams) - not a small amount at that time - as a deposit and waited for good new-s.Unexpectedly, it was gone just like throwing a piece of meat to a dog. Mo was never seen again. I had never been so deceived and was very upset. My mother wa-s also in a heavy mood but still comforted me: "Let it go, spending money for f-leeing is such, you can't pursue it, there is no account or receipt. This kind of thing has been heard so often." Cousin Yonglie came to Guangzhou from the co-untryside and stayed at his sister’s home. The previous month, he and several fellows from a farm went fleeing to Hong Kong by walking. Approaching the boundary Wutong Mountain they were found and scattered by the militia and border guar-ds. All the others were caught but Younglie escaped. He crossed the boundary by climbing over the barbed wire entanglements of both Chinese and Hong Kong side-s, but was caught by the British Hong Kong border patrol car. At the border poli-ce station he asked a policeman to call his eldest sister in Hong Kong. His sister immediately brought food and clothes to him, saying that she would request
     someone to get him out as soon as possible. Unfortunately, that was half a beat too slow, for the very next day he was deported back. His sister shed many tear-s. Younglie was sent back to the commune. Because he was born into a landlord f-amily and was caught escaping for a second or third time, he was beaten up terr-ibly. Then he was forced to kneel on broken glass, they put a wooden board on h-is calves, and two beaters jumped on the board "stepping seesaw" for fun. He wa-s tortured until he almost fainted. The wound not yet completely healed, Yongli-e came again to Guangzhou looking for an opportunity to flee again. Since I als-o was looking a way to flee, we met. His cousin Ho Ping, who just came back fro-m another province, wanted to join us. Yonglie contacted the four zhiqing of a farm in Zengcheng who also had failed in their last fleeing and together planne-d a new course of action. I am cautious and timid. Although determined to flee, I was still full of worries about how to act. The main concern was my registere-d residence in Kunming. If I failed and was sent back, I most likely would be charged with "committing treason" and the consequences could be disastrous. The o-nly thing I could rely on was that Yonglie had the experience of two previous t-ries. However, there were too many unknowns and the risk of failure was very hi-gh. Yonglie said, "In case of being caught, you can fake your address back to t-he hometown Xingning County. You and Ho Ping had left Xingning for many years, so no one would recognize you. And things about fleeing to Hong Kong were commo-n in Xingning, thus many communes would not take it seriously. If you are not born into a landlord family, or don't have any record, you would be only repriman-ded or be ordered to write a self-criticism and then be released.” I was dubio-us, but there was no other way but to prepare to fake a name and address in cas-e of failure. Retreat was a dead end, and going forward might force a way out. Go! Everything was trusted to destiny. Pray God to help me. Preparing for the J-ourney With excitement and anxiety, we actively collected our supplies: dry foo-ds, water bottles, plastic clothes, etc. Yonglie said the best dry food was the military compressed cookies of which he had gotten a few pieces. It was about t-wo finger wide rectangular hard cake with bean flavor. Smashed and dissolved in water to eat, it would last for a long time. We also bought biscuits, candies, and some highpriced pork jerky. Yonglie told us that water was very important, so each person had a canteen and a strong plastic bag for water storage. They also prepared two pocket knives and several ropes.
    [ 这个贴子最后由冰云在2020-2-3 12:21:13编辑过 ]
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