2 B
SUNDAY. JUNE 10. 1962
MEDFORD MAIL TRIBUNE. MEDFOHD, OREGON
Chinese Refugees Tell Story o
(Editor'! not: During tht
past month, i curioui social
drama was portrayed on tht
r o n 1 1 r of Communist
China. For a law days, th
Red Chinas seaming
ly threw open the usually
lightly controlled border to
Hong Kong. An estimated
60,000 persons eagerly
streamed into the British
administered enclave. For
economic and political re
tons, most oi them were
tent back.
(A few of the refugees
evaded deportation. UPI
correspondent Arthur Dom
men interviewed three tuch
recent arrival! from the
China Mainland. He report!
on the reaiom which com
pelled them to forsake their
homeland for what they be
lieve will be a better lite
in Hong Kong's teeming
slums.
By ARTHUR J. DOMMEN
United Press International
Hong Kong-IUPIl-The three
young men sat opposite tills
correspondent in a bare room
One was a carpenter, one an
unemployed factory worker
and the third an 18-year-old
student from a rural village.
They had one thing in com
mon: they had fled from
Communist China a fortnight
ago.
It would be misleading (o
assume that the stories these
men told me were representa
tive of the 39 million inhabi
tants of Kwangtung province
which borders Hong Kong in
South China. Generalizations
applicable to the whole of
China would be even less just
ified. Each of the three young
men appeared physically able.
Certainly, none was starving
although there are persistent
reports of widespread famine
and starvation in China. But
each told a story of hardship
and despair under the Red
Chinese "great leap forward."
All three crossed the border
in the floodtide of HO, 000
would-be refugees, All three
had somehow evaded depor
tation by the Hong Kong police-one
by lumping from a
rolling police truck as it was
carrying him back to the
border.
Their reasons for deciding
to leave their homes and try
to find a haven in Hong Kong
were simple. They had had
three long years of scarce
food, when a balanced meal
was unheard of, when getting
rice and vegetables meant
buying ration cards at black
market rales, when meat was
available in two-ounce por-
.v -
" :-
REACH FOR FOOD For a few days last
month, the Communist Chinese relaxed their
usually firm grip on the border between
Red China and Hong Kong. An estimated
60,000 persons eagerly streamed across the
frontier into the British-administered en
clave. But, for economic and political reas
sons, most of them were sent back. Here,
eager hands reach for food parcels thrown
by residents of Hong Kong as a truck car
ries refugees back to the border. (UPI)
tions only once a year-at New
Year's.
They were tired of invent
ing Ingenious devices to ex
tend their clothing rations.
They were jealous of watch
ing regular army soldiers eat
ing well.
Upsot Pattern of Lives
They were angry at seeing
Northerners running the coun
try, graduully ruining their
formerly rich Kwangtung ag
riculture with flat directives
from Pciping and upsetting
the pattern of their lives with
constant reorganizations and
campaigns.
The carpenter and factory
workers from Canton were
ngry at being displaced to
the countryside to work; the
(arm lad was angry at seeing
the rice fields invaded by
unemployed urban workers.
In short, they were fed up.
When the word went
around that the cadres were
no longer preventing mass
escapes Into Hong Kong, they
went.
Take the case of Lee Ying
Sun, 24. He was ordered in
March, 1950, to return to his
parent's farm village of Goi
san. He fled back to Canton
that August as a hawker.
There were more arrests and
more trips to the country.
"Hut it was better eating
in Canton than in the coun
try," he said. "At least in
Canton you had the black
market."
After May 1 this year, peo
ple in Canton began talking
openly of the fact that guards
were no longer preventing
people from going to Hong
Kong, even without officially ;
issued exit permits.
Lee bought a train ticket
to Ping Wu, the nearest stop
to the border. All the people
in the train were going to
make the crossing into Hong
Kong.
From Ping Wu. station it
was' a four-hour walk to the
next town, Shumchun, There,
Lee and his friends rested
until dark, when they made
their way to the border.
They met one guard. He
asked them where they were
coming from and where they
were going. They said. "Can
ton, going to Hong Kong."
The guard said to them: "Not
this way. That way, over
there."
They crossed the border on
the night of May 7. About 10
persons pushed down the frail
wire fence on the British
side.
On the morning of May 8.
Lee was arrested by Hong
Kong police. On the ride back
to the border for deportation
he jumped from a truck and
ran, losing himself in the
crowd.
Chou Shin-Fun, a student
at Sai Wu Middle school in
Wai Chow, a town of 18.000
about 60 miles from the bor
der, reached safe haven four
days- earlier.
"Village by village around
the town people wjre desert
ing the countryside to jour
ney to Hong Kong,'" he re
called. The cadres made no
effort to stop them. But offi
cially the travelers never re
ceived any sanction for the
exodus.
The word in town was that
the Hong Kong police were
sending everyone back. Still,
they went.
Chou, who was alone, dug
a hole under the British
fence. He hid in some bushes
for three days. Then he hid
in a farmhouse for three days.
When the farmer refused to
harbor him any longer for
fear of trouble with the po
lice, Chou hid in a country
school for another three days.
Smuggled Into City
Then he met a group of
students, who smuggled him
into the city.
As a student, Chou was re
ceiving 15 catties (14 pounds)
of rice per month. He took
some rice ration cards from
his pocket and showed them
to this correspondent. He also
ate some vegetable! and meat
only once a year.
Soldiers stationed in Wai
Chow had a ration of 45 cat
ties (45 pounds) of rice per
month, as well at receiving
four ounces of precious oil,
which the Chinese use for
cooking.
Chou said he often saw
soldiers buying potatoes on
the black market. Wai Chow
is well-known for its pota
toes. Wong Ying, 30, described
himself as an "occasional fac
tory worker," meaning he
was mostly unemployed.
A friend bought a railway
ticket for him on May 18. On
May 19 he took the 9:30 a.m.
train from Canton station to
Ping Wu. When he reached
Shumchun on foot it was al
most dark.
He hid in the bushes for
some time.
Then walking along the
border looking for an open
ing, Wong saw about 20 regu
lar communist soldiers on
guard. They asked no ques
tions, however.
"If you were going to Hong
Hardship, Despair
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Kong they would not ask any will apply for a Hong Kong
questions, Wong said. "But
if you were returning from
Hong Kong they would
search your pockets and ques
tion you.
Wong slept in a clump of
bushes for three days in the
hills on the British side of
the border while police comb
ed the area with searchlights
and armed patrols.
He reached the town of
Sheung Shui, near Hong Kong
at 9 p.m. on May 22, and was
there taken in hand by some
students who smuggled him
to the city past police road
blocks. Wone Than Before
Conditions in Canton were
now worse than before "lib
eration" in 1949. "Everything
is limited," he said.
People in Canton broke
shop windows in order to
obtain food, especially in
1960.
Wong said 1960 and 1961
were bad years.
"While I was eating in a
restaurant once someone
grabbed my bowl of noodles
and ran away with it to eat.
I've heard of similar things
happening td other people."
.
Lee, Chou and Wong had
never met before they reach
ed Hong Kong. Yet, they had
this in common: they belong
ed to the small minority of
the 60,000 who crossed the
border who managed to re
main here.
After a suitable period they
identity card. If they get it,
they will just become three
more additions to the swarm
ing masses of Hong Kong's
tenement dwellers.
PARENTS : V
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