In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Chapter 3 47 Chapter 3 p Liberation — Journey to Guangzhou After a year in Hong Kong, the whole of mainland China, with the exception of the province of Tibet, was liberated by the Communists, and the Kuomintang headed by Chiang Kai-shek fled to Taiwan. By this time a conviction had been well established in our minds. The Kuomintang was corrupt and decaying. Only the Communists could save China, and we were ready to work under the Communists and do whatever we could for our country. Gong Peng asked us to go back to China and work there. My husband readily accepted and without thinking much I thought it was my duty to go with him. Preparations were made to leave our two children with my parents and we resigned from our teaching posts. The trains between Hong Kong and Guangzhou had stopped and in going to Guangzhou we had to walk for a week. Yang Chi, a communist representative, had taken many batches of people back to Guangzhou on foot through the liberated areas in the Dong Jiang region, the home of Yeh Jian-ying who was the commander of the area and later became our defense minister. Zhao-xin and I were asked to meet Yang Chi at the home of Fang Fang, a high-ranking communist chief in Nathan Road. He became the vice mayor of Guangzhou when the city was liberated. Fang Fang’s daughter, called Fang Yuhua, was to go with us. She later became an executive of the telecommunications ministry in Guangzhou. We were told to dress like peasants and meet in a designated spot in the New Territories. We were not to greet each other and to act like strangers to one another. At the meeting Yang Chi told us what to take with us and all the do’s and don’ts of the journey. After the meeting it was already ten o’clock at night and we hastened to Shanghai Street in Kowloon to buy second-hand peasant clothes. I would have 48 China, Bound and Unbound liked to wash the used clothes before wearing but Zhao-xin said there was no time and they would not be dry in the morning. It was the first time I wore second-hand clothes and wearing them unwashed bothered me. Zhao-xin teased me and said that if I wanted to become a proletariat I might just as well start with wearing used clothes without washing. I retorted that I did not know what it meant to be a proletariat, but the new proletariat of New China should talk about hygiene. I shuddered to think that there might be lice in the used clothing. I wore that one suit of used garments for a week on our way to Guangzhou and I felt itchy all the way. I kept on thinking of the owner of the suit. I imagined that she had pawned it for lack of money. I guessed how much she would have got from the pawn shop, and I had paid $20 for it. On the day of departure, Mr. Yang was waiting for us at the designated spot and everyone followed him at a distance. He led us to the Communist-controlled liberated areas northwest of Hong Kong. We did as we were told and soon after meeting in the New Territories we dispersed and without greeting each other we followed the one before us until we reached the Dong Jiang liberated area by noon. We had lunch at a school which was vacant because of the summer vacation. Yang Chi organized us into groups and Zhao-xin and I were placed in a group of seven.At first, I was the only woman in our group. Soon we were joined by others, and as our group grew in size we became livelier and merrier. One important highlight in the Dong Jiang liberated area was to see for the first time the hoisting of our new five-star flag. My eyes were moist with tears as I saw our flag pulled up on the flag pole. Then we took a group photo under the flag to commemorate this significant occasion. My Chinese name WongYee Sheung was then changed to “Huang Xing” meaning “Yellow Star,” after our flag. After lunch we continued our journey in groups and by nightfall we reached the river. We had our frugal meal at a river boat which we were to board to take us...

Share