漫步人生

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楼主 蕭振于 2020-01-08 10:07:37

[转帖]

      Escape from Mao's Terror

      QING SI ZENG

      Edited by Lee Nichols

Escape from Mao's Terror

Author: QENG SI ZENG
Edited by Lee Nichols
Cover designed by Katherine Castillo-Zeng

Printed and Distributed by
Kindle Direct Publishing
https://amazon.com, Books

Copyright© 2019
All rights reserved

ISBN 9781701586093

Acknowledgment

This book in Chinese version was published in 2003, then followed by 2nd and 3rd edition.
I was much grateful to E. T., Zhang Fang, Zhu Xindi, Zhang Kunpeng, and Liu Jiayou who had given a lot of assistance in preparing the Chinese version.
The English version was written by me in broken English first. Thankfully Mr. Lee Nichols has edited it thoroughly. Without his assistance this book might not have been readable.

Escape from Mao's Terror

PREFACE

In this book I have written my true experiences in China in the middle and late 20th Century. I was born in 1936, my father was a doctor and my mother a midwife. They devoted their lives to healing the sick, and won the respect of the people in their service areas. I was greatly influenced by my parents and determined to devote myself to the cause of medicine.
In 1954 I was admitted to Beijing Medical College (Peking University School of Medicine). After graduation and one year’s advanced study for teacher training I was assigned to Kunming Medical College in southwestern China as a teaching assistant in 1960. It was the time so-called "three years of natural disasters" the Great Famine, and living conditions were extremely harsh. As a medical school teacher, I suffered from hunger and malnutrition. But I was full of enthusiasm entering into work, got good results and won praises. I was introverted and poor in communication but was friendly and lived in harmony with my colleagues. I was not interested in politics and did not join the Youth League or Communist Party. Therefore, I was alleged to be “more professional than red” and was regarded as a “backward person”.
During Mao Zedong’s infamous "Cultural Revolution", I was persecuted for my Roman Catholic religious beliefs, overseas relationships, and for being "more professional than red", I was attacked by Big Character Posters, known as Dazibao, college-wide organized by authorities, denounced at meetings, my room was ransacked, and later I was ordered to "behave yourself strictly and you are not allowed to do anything unruly" - the standard command given to so-called "class enemies”.
Under extreme stress I was forced to take risks: I slipped back home to Guangzhou, attempted twice to flee to British ruled Hong Kong but failed and was sent to a detention centers. At that time people fleeing to Hong Kong was quite common in the Guangdong province. I assumed a false name and address at detention centers and suffered from hunger and illness. I was on tenterhooks, fearing to be identified and escorted back to Kunming. Fortunately by virtue of my family’s and friends’ great efforts, I muddled through and got out of detention centers.
As I was not a registered resident in Guangzhou, facing the checking of the floating population without registered residence by the police again and again, my family and friends could do nothing further to help me. I became homeless and had to hide myself as I moved from place to place.
At first Mao Zedong utilized students of college and high school known as Red Guards to launch the Cultural Revolution. Then two factions of the Red Guards supported by respective officers fought each other violently. The year of 1968 was the most terrible year in the Cultural Revolution. In a new campaign of "purifying the class ranks" ordered by Mao many people were killed indiscriminately. At this time the Revolutionary Committee headed by the military propaganda team at Kunming Medical Collage sent two men to Guangzhou to catch me. In desperation I fled to nearby North Vietnam where I wandered in rural and mountainous areas for about seven years. I had neither kin nor friends there and could not speak Vietnamese. I not only had to worry about the daily meal and lodging, but also to beware of the Vietnamese police and militia. I had meals wherever I could and often slept in the wilderness. I had hairbreadth escapes many times.
Fortunately I encountered Chinese compatriots there who showed sympathy, sheltered me and helped resolve many difficulties. In return, I did my best to serve them by using my medical training to heal the sick. We developed a deep mutual friendship just like fish and water. In 1975, at a friend's suggestion and with his help, I applied to Vietnamese authorities for temporary residence. The authorities requested me twice to apply for a Vietnamese citizenship, but I politely declined. My application ultimately was denied and I was repatriated back to China. After being transferred among several detention centers, I returned to Kunming Medical Collage. Following a period of investigation and labor, I was able to resume my work but under "internal control".
At that time, my family members already in the United States applied for immigration for me and received approval. But I encountered many difficulties in applying for a passport. After three years I received my passport in late 1983 and emigrated to the United States, very thankful that I would suffer no more persecution because of religious belief, and distortion by absurd ideology (“class struggle”, “more professional then red”, etc) .
I started from scratch with my wife Zhangli (pseudonym), also a medical doctor, whom I had met and married before leaving China. We worked hard at different jobs in California for a couple of years. Eventually, both of us were able to obtain our goal of medical employment. I passed the physician examination (ECFMG) and participated in medical research and laboratory work, and was granted two U.S. Patents. As I had always been interested in Chinese Traditional Medicine, so took another exam and obtained an acupuncture license. Then I devoted half my time for clinical practice, integrating Chinese Traditional Medicine with knowledge of Western Medicine to guide my practice, which I found very satisfying. I retired in 2008 at age 72.
This book is to help ensure that a dark time in China when so many of my countrymen suffered greatly will not be forgotten. Tens of thousands of families have stories of painful sorrows. With the elapse of time these events are in danger of being forgotten or deliberately minimized and distorted. In order to prevent the loss of history, many older Chinese have written memoirs to help the younger generation understand the historical truth, realize the original causes of national tragedy, and make every effort to prevent a repeat of Mao’s calamity.
I’m just one of the common people, and my experience is negligible compared with millions who died nursing grievances and hatred. But I think: Torrential river originates from water droplets. I need to write of my experience and hope more of my countrymen also will write and affirm their living witness to history.
I lack literary talent and can only describe facts plainly. Fortunately, family and friends encouraged and supported me. Without their help I could hardly have completed this book. For privacy’s sake, some people named in the book are given pseudonyms. Some details and time of events may be inaccurate. Reader correction and comment would be sincerely appreciated.



Contents

My Background
Calamity Comes - The "Cultural Revolution"
A Fight to Win or Die: Destination Hong Kong
The Years of Wandering North Vietnam
Return to the Mainland China
Immigration to the United States

1楼 蕭振于 2020-01-11 10:05:00

My Background
My Family
My hometown is in Xingning County in the eastern part of Guangdong Province, adjacent to Jiangxi and Fujian provinces. It is a mountainous area with limited fields. The traffic is inconvenient. Residents are mainly Hakka, which is a branch of Han migrated from Central China in different periods since the Jin Dynasty (around 300 AD). Hakka is well known to be assiduous and hardworking. For the
sake of development, people attach great importance to education, so-called Xingning has "three many": Many teachers, many doctors, and many officers. Before 1949, almost every district or market town had a middle school; only in Xingning county town there were more than a dozen physicians graduated from medical colleges; many officers of high rank were from Xingning. A large number of people went out for business or career, most of them went to Guangzhou, Shanghai, or nearby to Jiangxi, Fujian, faraway to Southeast Asia, etc. Our Zeng clan was not a large clan in Xingning County. My grandfather was not a person in power but had certain prestige and served as the executive director of the County Chamber ofComme-rce. He was enthusiastic about public welfare and did many good deeds for the community. In those years, the children of poor families had little opportunities for education. My grandfather, in association with clan squires, created a primary school of modern style - Dexin School. Tuition was reasonable; kids from poor families might get a waiver or deduction. Teachers were persons with true
skills and genuine knowledge. Dexin won good reputation in the County, so until now it still retains the name "Dexin School" and receives donations from alumni at home and abroad. My eldest uncle, my father, and another uncle (a high school teacher) devoted much effort to the school. My eldest uncle had been principal for many years. In the 1930s, Xingning had no hospital, so patients had to see a private doctor of Western Medicine or Traditional Chinese Medicine or a folk herbalist. My grandfather contacted county celebrities and obtained government support, established The Public Hospital of Xingning County in 1938. It provided affordable treatment for the common people with modern Western Medicine, but
Traditional Chinese Medicine was also available. From initiating, financing, planning, site selection to construction, my grandfather participated in detail, later also got my father's strong support. I remembered my grandfather had said that as the selected site was located on the other side of the Ning River, he was really afraid of falling down into the river when he walked each time across the rickety bridge of two planks. The "April Desolation" of every year was the most difficult time for poor peasants. The profiteers bought grain at low prices during the harvest season and sold high in April. My grandfather in view of
this, associated with the county enthusiasts to establish "Huiji (means ‘kindly help’) Granary”. He was appointed as the Director. Huiji Granary bought grain in harvest season and sold it at reasonable price in April. In addition, it set up temporary station to distribute rice porridge to hungry people every day at
noon. This action received widely acclaim and support. In the winter of 1940, th-e Japanese invader attacked Mt. Monkey - a hundred li (equivalent to one half-kilometer) away from Xingning, the Chinese soldiers and civilians fought the enemy bravely, the battle was very fierce and finally turned the tide and won. An anti-Japanese army was stationed at the granary warehouse. With poor equipment and thin clothing, the soldiers groaned during cold winten nights. My grandfather told the warehouse steward to lend the worn-out and pending repaired gunnysacks to soldiers to keep out the cold. When the troops were mobilized, the soldiers begged them to leave the gunnysacks to them. As the gunnysacks were public property, my grandfather together with another squire paid for the gunnysacks and gave them to the soldiers. My grandfather was a devout Catholic. He was kindhearted and always smiled. I never saw him losing his temper, to the most just grumbling awhile. He sympathized with the poor and was always pleased to do something for them, thus setting a good example for us. He loved us and cared about us. Once I found him and said to him jubilantly: "Ah! Grandpa, you are in bad luck, in bad luck! I got the first place once more, so you have to give me two dollars again." He didn't mind but felt naive with children, and happily talked to whomever he met. Grandfather valued the education of his children. After my father graduated from high school, my grandfather wished him to read medicine, saying that it could help many people. With the recommendation of the church, my father was admitted to Shanghai Aurora University School of Medicine (the predecessor of Shanghai Second Medical College). Aurora University was a university sponsored by French Catholics, teaching in French. Students studied seven years per the French
Regulation. After graduation my father worked as a doctor at the famous ShanghaiGuangci Hospital. My grandfather's only photo left, obtained from my uncle in Taiwan. The Christmas tree decoration was added by the uncle When my father was studying in the university, he was introduced by friends, met and married my mother. My grandfather-in-law lived in a mountainous area. When my mother graduated from the elementary school, she won the first place. Due to the local patriarchal custom, my grandfather-in-law did not wish her to go to the high school in the market town. But my mother knew that as long as she could read the first year of high school and earned good credits, parents might let her read on, so in two
years earlier she went with her girl peers to a tea plantation to pick tea leaves for money. At the plantation her companions were dispersed all around, leaving her alone as a little girl. She was often suspicious of imaginary fears and frightened by any unexpected noise. She finally saved enough money to pay tuition for the first year of the middle school, and won the first place again. Her parents commended her aspiration and continued to support her until graduation from junior high after three years. Before long after her graduation, the two families planned a wedding for my mother and father. My mother discussed with my father
that instead of spending money on the wedding ceremony, it was better to beg mygrandfather to save money for her and let her go with her husband to Shanghai soto learn a skill, such as to enroll in a midwifery school. My grandfather was a very open-minded person who totally agreed and announced this to relatives and friends. Since my grandfather was a local celebrity, the wedding expenses were not a small amount. Whether it was enough for three years tuition was not known, anyway my mother was able to complete her courses to graduation, and then shebecam-e a midwife at the Mother Heart Hospital in Shanghai.In August, 1937, the Japanese army invaded Shanghai. My father, taking my mother with a babyin the womb, a-nd me at one and a half year old, hurried back to my hometown Xingning. At beginning my father ran a clinic and my mother was his assistant. Soon my father was appointed the dean of the County Public Hospital and my mother was hired as a m-idwife. After two years, the hospital was well under way in all aspects, my father didn't want tospend much time on administrative duties, so he and my mother both resigned from the hospital, and reopened their own clinic, which was well known in Xingning County. My father liked to make friends with intellectuals and common people. He detested flattering and had little contact with official circles. Similar to my grandfather, he always expressed sympathy for poor patients. Several times I had heard him saying: "The same one dollar may be nothing to the rich, but is not easy for the poor.” He did things step by step, unhurried. My mother’s idea was consistent with my father, but she was more intense, doing her work promptly and without complaint. She often laughed at my father "being hit three sticks on the buttocks but still not put a fart.” First anniversary of the Public Hospital of Xingning County (1939). The fourth from the left of the front row was my father, the sixth was my mother There was a hard time during the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression. One impression left on me was the alarm siren warning of Japanese bombers coming; the second was the waves ofrefugees - fled from Chaozhou and Shantou; the third was we ourselves escaping:In 1940 the Japanese aggressors reached a hundred li away from Xingning and my parents led us to escape to my grandfather-in-law’s home in mountainous area. My brother and I sat on bamboo baskets, one on each side, were carried by a woman with a shoulder pole, walking on the rugged trails. Looking at the deep
ravine, I was scared all the time. Later the Japanese attack was repulsed and wereturned to county town. My father did not participate in politics, but was rich in the sense of justice. He hated the aggression of the Japanese imperialism, and together with a group of intellectuals with the same ideas founded the newspaper "World News". He was elected as the president. The author who wrote commenta-ry on current events was one of my uncles Tsang Hin Wan, who later served as the Editor-inChief of the Central Daily when the Kuomintang (KMT – Chinese Nation-alists) fled to Taiwan. The "World News" together with other newspapers in our county advocated and inspired the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggressio-n. After the war, it continued to publish unbiased views, point out problems, and was once mistaken for the underground publication of the Communist Party. Afte-r the rise of the civil war, my father and his partners felt that continuing publication might encountermany difficulties, so decided to stop publication.
My Childhood

2楼 蕭振于 2020-01-11 10:06:52

I began to attend primary school at six years old (1942). Being afraid of Japanese plane bombing, my younger brother and I entered the Dexin School near the ancestral house in the countryside. A photo of my younger brother at one year old and me at two years old. All of our photographs were destroyed during the Cultural Revolution. This one was preserved by my aunt. In 1945, finally the victory in the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression came. I was nine years old. O-ne night, someone crazily knocked the front door of the ancestral house and sho-uted loudly. All people in the house were scared, and then heard "Japan surrendered!" The whole house of more than 100 people of all ages were boiling up immediately, yelling, making hullabaloo, knocking basins and buckets, then finding gongs and drums and almost breaking them. Someone rushed to Yangli two li away to buy firecrackers and another ran to the town to inquire about the news and buy
newspapers. Later we went back town to attend another school. At that time a new school "Fu Yu Primary School" was established and founded by the Fujian businessmen in Xingning, enrolling their children and local students. Fu Yu had suffici-ent funding but the tuition was a little more expensive. Teachers
came from Fujian or were local. Courses were taught in Mandarin rather than the local dialect Hakka. All students wore light blue uniforms. Teachers guided students to social contact, such as visiting the telephone bureau, power plant, weaving factory, small vegetable and fruit farm, and holding shows of entertainmen-t. These initiatives were different from other schools, and won a good reputatio-n. Many wealthier families including most doctors in Xingning county town sent their children to the school. I, my younger brother and one sister were studyin-g there successively. Fu Yu Primary School had a great influence on me, especially Principal Deng Zhixin. He was tall, quiet, kind and very knowledgeable. He w-as an example for all the teachers and was respected by the parents of the stud-ents. He encouraged us to read extracurricular books. Under his guidance, I changed from a boy playing all day to a good boy who liked both playing and readin-g. Mr. Deng taught me to subscribe to a children’s magazine. The first time he helped me write the order form. When I went to the post office to remit money, my head was just above the counter! Afterwards I myself subscribed almost all the children’s magazines of the country in those years: "Fu You Bao (Kids Welfare)", "Children World", "New World for Children”, "Children Story", "Chinese Youth", as well as "Chinese Children Times" from Hangzhou, and “New Children” fro-m Hong Kong. The school bought a set of "The New Primary School Library" publis-hed by the Commercial Press, a total of 200 books. Mr. Deng saw that I liked to read and let me borrow them before the bibliography was cataloged. My father told me that I could buy a set if I liked, because my younger brother and sisters could also read them, but I must go to the post office to order it myself (my
father always encouraged me to act independently). Soon the books came in the mail and Mr. Deng shared my happiness! Each time before I came home from school, I would go to bookstores first. There were four bookstores on the street where my father’s clinic was located. Whenever I found a good book, I begged my parents for money to buy it. Mr. Deng told us that he had been a propagandist during th-e War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression. He went to the front line to inspire the troops and was chased by Japanese soldiers several times, with bullets flying past and a bomb exploding nearby. Hearing this, we evoked profound respect to Mr. Deng as an Anti-Japanese hero. Fu Yu Primary School developed very fast. Soon after my graduation, it built a magnificent twostory building on the original site. Unfortunately, a year after the communist "liberation", the school
board members were designated as landlords or capitalists in their hometowns andsubjected to thorough liquidation. The school funding collapsed, bringing Fu Yu to a quick end. With no severance payments, teachers could not even afford travel expenses to return home. Mr. Deng and the teachers had to hold a farewell performance party appealing for donations from parents. Accused by the new governme-nt of “defrauding” and the staff had to leave Xingning in embarrassment. Fu Y-u Primary School was like a flower that faded quickly and left everyone feeling
very sad. Later, I heard by chance that Mr. Deng was charged with the “crime" o-f being a Kuomintang propagandist during the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and was purged. We felt great pain and missed him terribly!
Religious Infiltration My grandfather was a devout Catholic. He assisted in building the Xingning Catholic Church in the suburbs belonging to Jia Ying (Meizhou) Diocese. The premises covered a large area. In addition to a church that could accommodate hundreds of people, there were a large dining hall and a dormitory
for believers coming on festival days, as well as a large garden. Behind the church was the cemetery. In my memory there were two priests, one was a Malayan Chinese, Father Ou. In addition to Latin, he spoke English fluently. The second was Father Liao from a neighboring county. His Latin and English also were excellen-t and he had translated and published books. In an affiliated convent two American nuns helped with missionary work and teaching catechism to us children. We loved to listen to Biblical stories, took turns serving as acolytes and participated in various other activities. One of these was "doing good things”, such as doing what you were told by your teachers and parents, helping with housework; giving aid to others, etc. Each time you did a good deed, you cut a piece of straw and put it in a matchbox which you handed it to the nuns every week. Those
straws were collected as the bedding for the manger of Holy Child at Christmas. There was a small library in the convent which often purchased books from Hong Kong. I liked to borrow story books and was always the first reader when the new books arrived. After the communists took power, the priests were arrested and sent to a labor camp; Father Ou and some other priests of the diocese died in the camp. The American nuns were deported; the church estate was confiscated and became the District government office. My mother came from a Buddhist family but after marrying my father became familiar with Catholicism. However, she did not blindly follow my father but read many books comparing Catholicism with Buddhism and other religions. She ultimately converted to the Catholic faith. Because of this, her faith was firm and unshakable. Years later hen a communist official of the Religious Affairs Office interrogated her, she dared to debate with him, knowledgeably quoting science and philosophy. Finally the official had nothing to say but, “You Chen XX are really stubborn!” In the 1950s when the Government swept away religion nationwide, she was “requested” several times by Religious Affairs to learn politics. Later, during the Cultural Revolution, my mother was twice ordered to endure criticism and denouncement at an assembly in the Sacred Heart Cathedral of Guangzhou. When my mother was pregnant with her seventh child, she promised God: "Thank God, I have two sons and four daughters, and the seventh shall be offered unto God. If God is will -g, the boy will be a priest, the girl a nun.” The seventh was a boy, my youngest brother Augustine Tsang, who became a Jesuit priest after great effort, includ-ing prayerful study and many frustrations, but ultimate confirmation in his voc-ation.Under the guidance of my mother and our priests, I read "The Religious Vi-ew of Scientists," "Science and Religion" and other books. The former pointed out that 90 percent of great scientists such as Newton, Pasteur, Mrs. Curie, Einstein and others had clear religious beliefs. The latter described the wonders ofnature: the mystery of the universe, the earth, and especially living creatures, everything operating in order without disturbance. If there were no supernatural power in the design, management and control, it would be as ridiculous as sayi-ng that the musical clock in the hall was "a thing by itself” with no controlling mechanism or intelligent design. Later I studied medicine and learned more about the wonders and mysteries of the human body and life. For example, compared to the function and regulatory mechanism of the human eye, even themost sophisticated camera is but a child’s clumsy toy. The simple life form of a virus withits gene composition and self-replication, is a thousand times more clever than the most complex spacecraft. All sort of facts have convinced me of God's greatness. Just as a kitten cannot understand human thinking, people are not able to fully understand the mystery of God. Because my parents and grandparents set an xample of worshiping God and loving people, and because of my own thinking and understanding during the course of growing up, my religious belief gradually de-epened. I'm glad and grateful to my parents and grandparents for guiding me to
establish this firm belief, so that when I encountered unimaginable hardships later, I wasable to glimpse hope in despair; and miracles emerged again and again. "Liberated!”

3楼 蕭振于 2020-01-11 10:07:42

Soon after I entered the first year of high school, the Communist Party came proclaiming the slogan, "Liberated!” I saw men and women of the Liberation Army staging performances on the streets, dancing the “Farmer Song,” playing waist drums and talking with people in a friendly way, which was quite different from both the apathy and arrogance of the former Kuomintang policemen. I felt a sense
of refreshment, as all this made a good impression in my young brain. In school,the atmosphere also was quite animated. In the election for the president of thestudent union, candidates of the upper grades and their campaign teams delivered lively speeches, performance, slogans and posters. It all felt really democrati-c. I also read many new books such as "Little Erhei’s Marriage," "The Vicissitudes of Li Jia Zhuang," "Rhymes of Li Youcai," "A Brief History of Social Development,” "The Story of Long March" and so on. In my mind everything was fresh, forward-looking and full of vitality. However, the situation quickly changed in less than a year. The first event was the "Suppression of Counter Revolutionaries" campaign which was carried out swiftly and violently. Every couple of days someone was singled out to be shot, a classmate's uncle was killed and the former
high school principal was shot. Once a few hundred students led by teachers of our high school were sent to watch the public execution of a family “counterrevolutionary” group branded as "Wu Jun" (Armed Squad). All 25 members were shot. Several appeared to be children but were listed as being 18 years old. The charge was simply the words: "Harboring Wu Jun.” Then every day at noon when we went back home for lunch, we would see at the exit of the jail a number of prisonerspushed onto a truck and driven to some market town to be shot. My eldest uncle was graduated from the Police Academy of Guangzhou and later was appointed the chief of Xingning County Police Bureau for two years in the pre-communist era. Buthe felt it incompatible with his interests, so resigned and became the principal of Dexin School. Later he was arrested and sentenced to four years in prison. A police chief from the KMT era sentenced to only four years was unusual. Seeing -so many people killed every day, his family and my grandfather were scared hal-f to death. My nascent feeling of freshness and excitement gradually disappeared and I began to feel horror. Land Reform In the late 1950, Xingning County began Land Reform. At the beginning, under the guidance of our teachers, we studied "The Land Reform Law" with great enthusiasm. Then we went to the mountainous ar-ea to publicize the law. At that time the public security was not good in mount-ainous areas, so the government gave the lead teacher a pistol. Nevertheless, w-e were enthusiastic to explainthe Land Reform Law door-to-door, to hold song an-d dance performances and to mobilize poorpeasants to participate in the land re-form.Before long we perceived that many teachers were in low spirits because th-eir families were classified as “landlord” or “rich peasant” and had to “r-eimburse” a lot of money. Almost at the same time the government called for the purchase of "victory bonds." In fact, it was required that each personbuy the-m, with a certain amount deducted from their monthly payroll. We noticed that many teachers soon were frowning. My family was classified as “professional and small land lessor” because my parents were medical persons and with only a littl-e ancestral land for lease. After land reform, my parents offered the
land to the government. So we didn’t suffer direct impact from land reform. Butmy grandfather was classified as "businessman and landlord.” In fact, he was inhis 70s and owned neither a business nor much land. But he was escorted to his village to be denounced and struggled at an assembly several times. Probably because of his popularity, he didn't suffer much torment. Almost everything in my grandfather’s home was confiscated, yet he still was ordered to reimburse the pea-sants for what he had “exploited” from them. Actually, they set an eye on my
parent's part. If my parents would not pay for my grandfather’s alleged exploitation, they would torture my grandfather. So my parents had to pay again and aga-in. Finally my parents sold their new three story building to pay, so the authorities backed off. My parents had worked hard for more than 10 years to save money to construct that building. They were preparing to move in, live upstairs anduse the downstairs as a clinic. Unexpectedly, it had become a political footballand a burden to them. My parents were deeply disappointed and shed many tears.
Many “poor and lower middle peasants” were allocated the lands and properties
of landlords and rich peasants and were happy for a time. But before long the government called for “farming cooperation” and reclaimed all lands for “collective ownership,” forming “agricultural producers' cooperatives” and mandating collective labor. Peasants had to pay “public grain” (agricultural tax ingrai-n) and sell "surplus grain" (a kind of obligatory transaction). The state then
monopolized the purchase and marketing of grain and other produce, leaving peasants with almost nothing. Finally peasants were force to join “people's communes” nationwide. The people's commune plus the other events of “Great Leap Forward” (see below) led the national economy to a depression and finally the Great Famine. More than 30 million Chinese starved to death, a tragedy which authorities blamed on "three years of natural disasters.” Early 1952, the “leaders of top rank” (It was said Chairman Mao Zedong and the Secretary of the Central-south Bureau Tao Zhu) denounced land reform in Guangdong as "right deviation" with “too few counterrevolutionaries killed,” and ordered that "at least one should be killed in every village" (see "Meizhou History" Series Sixteen, 2003). Ther
-e fore they sent cadres from north China to Guangdong to "make amends". A largenumber of the local cadres who had fought bravely in guerrilla warfare were termed "localists" and were purged or put in jail. All landlords and rich peasants were subjected to cruel torture: hands tied across the back or only a thumb tied up and then hung on a tree to swing, mouth filled with slurry or fecal water, beard burned, nostrils penetrated with a rope and pulled like a cow, a snake placed in the crotch, etc. Many were tortured to death on the spot (see "Xingning County Chronicle" 1985). During the most intense period of persecution, every now and then one of my schoolmate’s or teacher’s families was in misfortune. I ha-d an intimate classmate, whose father had gone to Southeast Asia in his teenage to work for years. After saving some money he came back home to buy a few mu (1
mu equals 666.7 square meter) of fields. That caused him to be designated as a landlord. My classmate by then was out of school. Once we met and I asked with concern about his father. His face sank and he turned his head away, saying in a choking voice, "nothing, nothing.” Later I learned that his father had been sho-t. Almost all well-known persons in the county (so called "little and big 'Chiang Kai-sheks’" by Mao) were arrested on trumped up charges and killed. My kindhearted grandfather was not spared because of his position and reputation in the community, especially in the church (a so-called "imperialist lackey"). It was said that one representative of the peasant union recommended sparing my grandfather but was brutally rejected by an official sent from north China. Learning that my grandfather had been killed, my father almost collapsed and all the family w-as left in grief and fear. It was difficult to live any longer in our communit-y. At that time occurred the Korean War, when the government called for physicians with medical college degrees to participate in the "construction of national defense" to support remote areas. My father and two other local physicians enrolled, all the three were prestigious doctors in Xingning County. My father determined to leave forever the place of "heart dripping blood" with grief and indign-ation. The other two choosing to leave their hometown also were bitter. These d-octors were assigned to the remote counties of west Guangdong province, with my father was sent to the People's Hospital of Xinyi County. In 1953, when there w-as still freedom to change residence, my mother moved us seven siblings to Guangzhou. She had to take care of seven children, so decided not to look for a job.

4楼 杨超于 2020-01-12 08:13:00

痛苦、珍贵的历史！

5楼 蕭振于 2020-01-14 08:57:20

Guangzhou and Beijing Medical College

When we arrived in Guangzhou we were complete strangers and could not speak the Cantonese dialect prevalent there. We encountered great difficulties in living, school transferring, etc. The priests and friends of the church helped us to find a house, settle down and enroll my brothers and sisters to different schools. With the help by Yu-ou (pseudonym) who later became my wife, I was admitted to
the Fourth Municipal High School, and became her classmate. In 1954 I was graduated from senior high, decided to study medicine and become a life-saving doctor like my father. I was admitted to Beijing Medical College (formerly Peking University School of Medicine). I understood that this was my last opportunity for exclusively professional studies and must work hard so as later to serve patients well. I was not interested in political activities and did not join the Communist Youth League or Communist Party. Therefore, I was commonly regarded as abackw-ard person "more professional than red" ("Red" here referred to loyalty to the Party, to join the Party organization and to be “a docile tool of Party”; "white" referred to its opposite. "Professional" referred to one’s professional efforts and achievements). This resulted in a degree of discrimination and social isolation. However, the policy of the Communist Party was "Even if you do not concern politics, politics does concern you.” In 1955 and 1956, Mao Zedong launched the liquidation of the "Hu Feng Anti- Party Clique" which led to the “eliminating counterrevolutionary campaign” (in 1950 the other campaign was called "suppressing counterrevolutionary"). The situation was increasingly tense and one
of our classmates was detained. Some schoolmates were called in for interrogation or criticized and denounced at a large class meeting. There were many Christian schoolmates who prayed together regularly, so were alleged to be a
“small clique”. Several were criticized and denounced at meetings and at least one was arrested. Zhou, my classmate since in Guangzhou Fourth Municipal High, was criticized and denounced several times at such a meeting. Party cadres told me several times that they were in possession of sufficient evidence indicating that Zhou was a counterrevolutionary and urged me to expose his “crime”. I wa-s baffled, repeatedly stating that I had never perceived Zhou in any reactionary talk or deed. They were displeased and blamed me for not trusting the Party. However, after being criticized and denounced a couple of times, Zhou was not arrested as a "counterrevolutionary.” So their claim of being “in possession of s-ufficient evidences” was pure bluff and intimidation. Catholic schoolmates were few in number. We had individual contact with each other but no collective activity and no forming of a “small clique.” Anyway, I still was trembling with f-ear, worried that one day something wrong might happened to me. It was said tha-t some Catholic teachers or students were purged. Rectification, Anti-rightists Campaign and ‘Great Leap Forward’ In early 1957, Mao Zedong launched "Rectification of the Party's Work Style,” called on people to "help the Party in Rectification" and “open your heart to the Party,” to “air your views freely” and
“letting a hundred flowers bloom and a hundred schools of thought contend.” The Secretary of the Party branch* at the large class meeting vowed that "We guarantee speaker of innocence," and "not bludgeon, not pulling pigtails, not buckle hat (labeling),” declared "Such a great Party, can the pledge not count?” Therefore, a campaign of "Airing views freely" spread like a wild fire.
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* The rule of the Communist regime consists of two parallel systems: the administrative system and the Party system. As usual, the administrative system has persons in charge of units at all levels. But there is also the parallel Party organization: Party branch, general Party branch, and Party committee, with corresponding secretaries. The secretary of Party organizations at every level is always
higher than the head of corresponding administrative unit. The head of administrative unit may not be a Party member, for example, may be a successful professional person, but he has no real authority, and is always just like a vase and flower for decoration. However, the deputy must be a Party member who has real powe-r. Even if the administrative unit head is a Party member, it is the party or ganization secretary who can decide if the head stays or leaves. In addition, Party members of one or more units (e.g. Departments) together form a Party branch, and the whole unit (or units) staff (including non- Party members) is under the leadership of the Party branch. In this way the Party controls the administrative system.
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I was not interested in politics, nor could I make any comment or criticism to the Party, so I used every way to evade meetings. Whenever there was an opportunity I would run to the Beijing Library. At that time our clinical courses of third and fourth grade were studied in the urban district of the Medical College which was close to Beijing Library. Beijing Library was located on the west side of
Beihai (North Sea) Park, where the environment was quiet and beautiful. I borrowed books and went out near Beihai to read, no class cadres might come there and call me back for a meeting. "Airing views freely" lasted only a few dozen days, and then the situation changed drastically. "Wen Wei Po (Wenhui Bao)" published an editorial full of fight: "What is that for?" (Later known that Mao personally organized and penned it)", declaring to “counteract the attacks from the rightists,” saying that calling for "airing views freely" was "to decoy the snake out of its lair,” and "it’s not a covert conspiracy but an overt conspira y.".......The Anti-rightist Campaign came on overwhelmingly. medical journal, 1963.

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