A leading figure of the Red Guards, who symbolized glory in China during the Cultural Revolution and eventually escaped to Hong Kong, said he has seen history repeat for the city’s freedom seekers.
“The spirits of heroes are always here, no matter how many mountains, rivers, or oceans lie between,” reads the inscription on the black stone engraved with 176 Chinese names, which was inaugurated at the Eternal Sunset Memorial Park in New Jersey in June 2022.
Mr. Lau believes that erecting a monument for those who died fleeing to Hong Kong was a testament to an era he experienced. After three attempts at escaping, he and his wife finally reached Hong Kong, which allowed him to document that period of history.
The Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) was a violent mass political movement launched by then-Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Mao Zedong to consolidate his power and eradicate traditional Chinese culture and Western ideals of democracy and freedom.
The CCP mobilized people to destroy temples, historical buildings, books, and artifacts and to fight each other. Officials, intellectuals, professionals, and other innocent people were subjected to public humiliation parades and beatings. As many as 2 million people died unnatural deaths during the Cultural Revolution.
In the “ten years of havoc,” as Chinese people call it, Mao used “Red Guards” to persecute those identified as the CCP’s “class enemies.” These communist youths are known for beating up their teachers in public and tearing down temples and statues.
“I was a Red Guard before,” said Mr. Lau, who candidly shared his past. “I was the commander of the largest high school Red Guard organization in Guangzhou—the Guangzhou Corps.”
As a third-year high school student, Mr. Lau founded “Red East Commune,” the largest Red Guard student organization at Guangzhou No. 21 High School, and formed “Guangzhou Corps,” the largest Red Guard coalition of Guangzhou high schools, becoming its commander.
The Guangzhou Corps, which peaked at 14,000 members during the Cultural Revolution, saw its commander end up as a prisoner rather than a hero.
40-Year-Old Cultural Revolution Manuscript
During the interview, Mr. Lau supplied a thick manuscript, “I feel my work in this world is done, and I have no regrets. To understand my Cultural Revolution experience, read this material.”The “Manuscript of the Cultural Revolution in Guangzhou—From the 21st High School” is a handwritten document completed in Hong Kong in 1977. The manuscript lay hidden for nearly 40 years until 2018.
After escaping to Hong Kong, Mr. Lau’s first job was an assistant at a university research center. A Jewish professor interested in China’s Cultural Revolution asked him to document his experiences as a case study.
“The professor suggested I analyze how my Red Guard organization developed, and this manuscript was my response,” he said.
From the perspective of a first-hand witness, the author chronicles how a group of secondary school students in Guangzhou, in the summer of 1966, joined the Red Guards led by the children of revolutionary cadres to vandalize and rob, creating a “Red Terror.”
‘Rebels’ Deceived by the CCP
Believing that two other former CCP leaders, Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping, had usurped his power, Mao initiated the Cultural Revolution and encouraged Red Guards of civilian backgrounds to oppose local authorities.However, two to three years after the Cultural Revolution, Mao regained control and wanted to end the campaign. At this time, the Red Guard “rebels” became targets of suppression. Many leaders were arrested and punished.
In the fall of 1968, most of these students were sent to rural areas for “re-education” by peasants, a form of punishment. Mr. Lau, imprisoned during this wave, experienced firsthand the betrayal and despair under Mao’s regime. The proximity to Hong Kong allowed Guangdong residents to receive shortwave information and news from abroad, inspiring him to escape.
“We never believed such things would happen, but they did,” he said. “I was considered a leader and had to suffer. When I was in prison, I was alone for nearly a year. I feared I wouldn’t know how to speak when I was released.”
The years 1972 and 1979 marked two major increases in illegal emigration to Hong Kong as mainland Chinese suffered from the Cultural Revolution and its aftermath. Many mainland refugees were usually accompanied by great personal loss. A great number died on their way or were repatriated.
Mr. Lau highlighted that many who attempted to escape to Hong Kong were disillusioned former Red Guards.
“The educated youth fleeing to Hong Kong was a continuation of the Cultural Revolution. At that time, there were no schools to attend. Everything was chaotic,” he said.
Reflecting on the persecution he and his peers suffered, Mr. Lau shuddered, remembering the lost and disheartened students who were once ambitious.
Two Failed Attempts to Escape
After his release from prison, Mr. Lau applied to join his fiancée in Zhongshan City in southern Guangdong Province for farm work. However, his “black history” led to his rejection and transfer to the Jiufo Farm near Guangzhou City. During the Cultural Revolution, those who were reformed through labor were punished harshly and even beaten to death.Having seen that both supporters and opponents of the CCP were persecuted after the Cultural Revolution, Mr. Lau had seen through the communist regime at the time. While working at the farm, he made up his mind to flee to Hong Kong.
In 1972, Mr. Lau and his fiancée, dressed in military attire, boarded a train to Shenzhen to meet a friend for their escape.
“We were sitting opposite each other. A table was in front of us with two cups of tea,” he recollected. “After the train passed Dongguan City, [the train] shook, and the two cups of tea spilled, wetting the ground. My heart sank, sensing it was a bad omen.”
It turned out true.
“After getting off the bus, we didn’t see our friend who had promised to meet us. He was stuck on his production team. With no one coming to meet us, we aroused the suspicion of the border guards, who searched our bags and found that we were carrying field rations and some equipment. judged that we were trying to sneak across the border, so they arrested us and put us in jail for two months.”
At Jiufo Farm, Mr. Lau maintained a good relationship with others thanks to his good manners and letter-writing skills. Therefore, his first failed escape did not bring any serious consequences, just some lecturing.
Undeterred, Mr. Lau continued to plan his second escape, this time through the waters of Macao with his fiancée and a companion. After a long, arduous journey to the Macao border, they were thwarted by an oyster field when landing on the shore.
“We were not prepared for it at all, wearing ordinary sneakers,” he said. “Walking the oyster beds requires special equipment, with steel plates for the soles, so they would not be easily cut through.”
Mr. Lau and his fiancée were trapped in the oyster beds and could not move an inch. His companion, who had been caught multiple times and would be arrested if he failed again, struggled to cross the field and was finally freed.
The young couple, who had no experience crossing an oyster field, were trapped and later discovered by the police. Since Macao did not have a policy of accepting illegal immigrants back then, they were interrogated at the police station and spent a few days in the “foreign prison” before being repatriated to China.
Third Attempt: Miraculous Survival
In 1975, after two full years of preparation, Mr. Lau set out again.At the time, he married his fiancée in a very simple ceremony. The two families had a meal together, and then they were united in marriage.
“I thought getting married could save [us] trouble when we went outside, so I organized the marriage first.”
With previous experience, Mr. Lau and his team studied the route and weather in depth this time.
“We turned on the radio every day for the fishing news, which broadcasted information about the high and low tides,” he said. “This information was key to planning for when to go into the water and how to get to the shore. We listened to the news for two years.”
Using medical rubber canvas and other materials, Mr. Lau made two rubber dinghies that could be blown up and carry five people, including his wife and three other friends.
This time, they still planned to go through Macao. To avoid the border guards, they took a detour to a remote beach. While having prepared seven days of food, the group got lost in the mountains and walked for over ten days:
“We went to a pond to get water, which smelled like cow poop. In the dark of night, we went to a farm to scrape sweet potatoes, which smelled like mud, but we ate it all the same in hunger.”
In this way, over hill after hill, moving in the direction of the lighted sky, the group finally reached their destination. By then, they were tired, hungry, and exhausted. After arriving at the waterfront, they were dumbfounded to realize that the terrain was a cliff.
Steadying their thumping hearts, they found bamboo on the cliff edge, which they believed to be used by the oystercatchers in the vicinity. They slid down the bamboo to the sea.
The sea voyage was initially smooth, but soon after, a big storm overturned the dinghy and everyone fell into the water. In a moment of despair, they accidentally found another bamboo pole stuck in the middle of the sea.
“The appearance of the second bamboo pole is really a miracle!” exclaimed Mr. Lau’s wife.
With the power of this bamboo pole, they turned the dinghy back up and supported it all the way to a nearby island, where they spent the night patching up the dinghy.
On the second day, the group blew up a spare boat they brought with them and went on their way. Upon the excitement of seeing the breakwater in Macau, they mistook that they had docked and abandoned the boat.
Nevertheless, they soon realized there was still a long way to go to Macau after the breakwater. Luckily, they still had the refitted boat with them, which could last for a while after being blown up. When they resumed their voyage, they suddenly heard a motor in the sea, and a speedboat stopped beside them.
“I didn’t know who it was, but I didn’t think it was the marine police who were trying to catch us,” Mr. Lau said. “After talking, we learned that they were in the smuggling business. They took us in and brought us to Macao to settle down.”
In this way, Mr. Lau and his wife made it safely to Macao and contacted the friend who had successfully escaped during their second try. Later, they moved to Hong Kong and started a new life.
In 1977, he and his friend founded Big Dipper, the first overseas magazine founded by Red Guards who fled Hong Kong. The couple joined the editorial team and published their own experiences during the Cultural Revolution.
Revolving History
Commenting on the current emigration wave of Hongkongers, Mr. Lau saw a parallel with the great escape to Hong Kong he experienced, both driven by a desire to escape the CCP.“These two groups are of the same nature, both wishing to leave the CCP,” he said.
“These parents who have left Hong Kong with their children now are the same. Their parents were our age and chose to stay in Hong Kong at the time. Now, this card has been passed to the next generation, who will have to leave Hong Kong.”
His own harsh experience also allowed Mr. Lau to easily understand the CCP’s later persecution of Chinese citizens in the 1980s and 1990s.
“We came out of that tide,” he said. “The June Fourth incident (Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989) is familiar to us.”
“[That’s why when I heard about] the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners [in 1999], including the organ harvesting, it made sense to me right away … A good human body can be sold for money. They would definitely do so. The CCP is ruthless.”
Facing the revolving history, Mr. Lau wished to collect as many names of those who died while fleeing to Hong Kong as possible and inscribe them on the Monument so the stories of their generation and the spirit of pursuing freedom will be remembered and passed down.
