Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
As we heard the doors being locked in preparation for turning in, Jeng
Ai-ling suddenly asked, “What have you been thinking about the last
couple of hours?”
Tears of self-pity welled in my eyes as I answered, “I've been think-
ing about all the terrible things the imperialists have done in China.”
Jen Ai-ling exploded, “Filthy spy! You really have all the tricks!” She
turned to Mei Chi-y ¨ n, “Just look at her, trying to gain our sympathy.
She's running true to form.” Then back to me, “You don't have a human
heart at all. You've got a dog's heart, haven't you?”
Afraid that denial would bring on further accusation of obstinacy,
I remained silent, head drooping.
“Answer me! You've got a dog's heart, haven't you?”
I nodded and replied in a tiny voice, “Yes, I guess I have.”
“Ha! Shouted Mei Chi-y
¨
n. “That's a fine thing. Defiling your
parents like that. If you're a dog, what does that make them? Really
you have the character of a filthy spy.”
Just then the whistle blew. The two women looked at each other hesi-
tantly for a moment and then Jeng Ai-ling said, disgustedly, “Get to bed.
And you'd better think about your attitude.”
The next two or three days were spent in a struggle to make me face
up to those elements in my character which made me one moment
cringing and fawning, the next obstinate and defiant. Over and over
they resorted to the method of having me stand on the floor two or three
hours at a time, hoping that this would stir me to take a serious look at
myself. It was obvious, however, that my continued standing weighted
on Jeng Ai-ling's mind, for she used the flimsiest of pretexts to excuse
me and let me sit down.
(Rickett 1981, 246)
After their release from Chinese Communist captivity in 1955 and
their subsequent return to the United States, the Ricketts continued
to have generally positive opinions of the Chinese Communists
and of their experience in China. “In our own personal lives we have
found that the experience in China has been of tremendous value,”
they wrote in 1981. “
[W]e are both convinced that what we learned
during our prison experience has made us far happier and more active
people” (Rickett 1981, 343).
Life in the thought reform camps was sometimes unspeakably
brutal. Bao Ruo-wang (Jean Pasqualini) recalls a summary execution
inmates at his prison farm were required to witness:
...
The first one to come before us was Wang, our one-armed warder, and
he was quickly joined by the brigade leader in charge of production, a
man named Yen, [and] perhaps a dozen guards.
Inthemiddleof
them all was the barber, tied up in chains and fetters. A rope around
...
