To the Edge of the Sky: A Story of Love, Betrayal, Suffering and the Strength of Human Courage by Anhua Gao

Author:Anhua Gao
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Biography
ISBN: 1786080427
Published: 2017-11-29T00:00:00+00:00

12

THE HIDDEN ARROW

Throughout my time in the army, I kept in touch with the important people in my life by regular letters. In return I received a flow of news from Andong, the odd letter from Wei-guo, regular letters from Hui and, as usual, nothing from Pei-gen.

Nanjing was still in the grip of the Cultural Revolution. The army was now in control and occupied all the leadership positions. The old civilian government officials, from the highest to the lowest, had been sent to ‘cadre schools’ in the countryside to do manual labour. They had sprung up all over China as a way of getting rid of those who were of no further use to Mao.

By January 1969 every educational establishment was governed by Workers’ Propaganda Teams, who had been selected and appointed by Maoist Rebels. The students of my old middle school who had not been able to join the army, along with half of the teachers, had been sent to the countryside. Large numbers of university students had been allocated jobs, most of which were on collective farms far away in the border areas. Some luckier ones were given positions in distant cities and towns, where they sat and did nothing. Only a fortunate few were employed in their home cities, where they too had little to occupy them because the factories were closed.

By this time, Andong had married her Zhan, and was about to accompany him to Huhehot in Inner Mongolia, where he had been assigned to work in a boiler factory. I received a long letter from her, pleading with me to try to return to Nanjing for a visit before she left, because Huhehot was 2,000 kilometres away and she knew we might never see each other again. I felt awful. I loved Andong. She had always been more than a sister to me: she was my closest friend too, and I was about to lose her, perhaps for ever, so I applied for leave and was given a week.

Andong and I met and hugged each other in the compound of the Nanjing Municipality. She was staying with a girlfriend because Zhan had left for Huhehot a week previously. Andong told me in a low voice that he had been branded a counter-revolutionary by the Workers’ Propaganda Team because he did not agree with them. He was lucky to get away with his life. Now she was under strong pressure to end the marriage. But she was a fighter: she had refused and been denounced as a counter-revolutionary sympathizer. Luckily, because of her background, the case against her was dropped. Bullies the world over behave in the same way: because they were not sure of her connections, they dared go no further.

During my short stay with Andong, she was surrounded several times by rowdies, but all she would say was, ‘I don’t care if you brand me a counter-revolutionary, too, as long as I can be with my husband. Come on, do your worst, and be sorry for it!’

I had to admire her bluff.

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