I hated the China I grew up in, but I am not sure I like it better now.
My parents passed away during the Cultural Revolution. My father was a business man in Shanghai making silk. During the1950s, the communists took over his factories and merged them together with other companies and it became one of Shanghai's national manufacturing companies and is still located on the Wangpo River. I am afraid the communists have now privatized it like many other industries and it is, most probably, in the hands of the communist officials.
Late one night in March 1976 when the Red Guards came to my parents' house to arrest me, I happened to be on the balcony, seeing them knocking the door. I escaped by the way of the neighbor's balcony which was connected to mine. Without thinking, I ran away from Shanghai by train to Hangzhou, where I had a good friend. When I got there, I realized I shouldn't go to my friend's place because it was very possible I might get him in trouble by providing the Red Guards with an excuse to snowball the fabricated case. I spent the night at the railroad station -- not daring to go to hotels in fear of causing suspicion. I wandered around the city for a whole day and decided to go back to Shanghai.
Late one night in March 1976 when the Red Guards came to my parents' house to arrest me, I happened to be on the balcony, seeing them knocking the door. I escaped by the way of the neighbor's balcony which was connected to mine. Without thinking, I ran away from Shanghai by train to Hangzhou, where I had a good friend. When I got there, I realized I shouldn't go to my friend's place because it was very possible I might get him in trouble by providing the Red Guards with an excuse to snowball the fabricated case. I spent the night at the railroad station -- not daring to go to hotels in fear of causing suspicion. I wandered around the city for a whole day and decided to go back to Shanghai.
Back in Shanghai I couldn't go to my parents' or any of my sisters' houses because they searched their houses, too. I spent the second night in the street in Shanghai, seeing all kinds of homeless, persecuted people huddling in street corners.
The third day I went to one of my high school classmates. He tried to hide me in the house, but when his parents knew the real reason of my visit, they were scared. I told him I'd rather leave. He was very nice and took me to his good friend who lived by himself and asked him the favor of letting me stay temporarily. He agreed. They asked me what I was going to do with myself. I told them I didn't want to be caught or tortured by the Red Guards and I asked them to buy a train ticket for me to Qingtao, a beautiful coastal resort city in Shangtong Province.
It was risky for me to go to the ticket office to do it by myself. They knew I didn't have any connections in that city and asked why Qingtao. I gave them a bitter smile and they realized I planned to die there. My friend pretended to purchase the ticket for me but instead went to bring my sisters to me. Both my sisters cried when they saw me and said "You can't just go to die." I said I'd rather go to jail than fall into the hands of Red Guards. They said there was nowhere I could go. "Why don't you just turned yourself in to the police station telling them you have made some bad political jokes?" Eventually I agreed to go to the police station. By them I hadn't had sleep for three nights. The next morning I was told that I would be switched back to the Red Guards of my college.Then my Ordeal began.
