On the morning of April 30, Eastern Time, in the cold wind and rain, about 120 Hong Kong survivors and their relatives from all over the United States, Canada, and Australia came to the Eternal Sunset Memorial Park and Cemetery in New Jersey, USA to participate in the remembrance activities, to commemorate for those who escape from mainland China during the Culture revolution.
The commemorative activities started every May 1 since the year of 2014, a group of gray-haired elders and their family members went to the outlying islands of Hong Kong to hold commemorative activities for the educated youth who tried to escape (from China) to Hong Kong and died.
After 2019, due to pressure from many local groups, it could not be held anymore in public.
It serves as a promise to continue Hong Kong’s “May Day Remembrance” tradition and let the “lost generation of Chinese people” rest in peace on the free land of the United States.
From the 1960s to the end of the ‘70s, young people in mainland China, known as “educated youths,” were told to participate in the “Down to the Countryside” movement (dispatched from cities to work within the countryside, one of the several hallmark events of the Cultural Revolution).
To break free from the shackles of the Cultural Revolution during the period, quite a number of them tried to escape to Hong Kong but unfortunately lost their lives in their pursuit of freedom. Some were buried at sea, starved to death en route, shot dead, or died during imprisonment.
105-year-old Zhang
On the morning of April 30, Eastern Time, they brought with them flowers and other sacrificial offerings and offer their deepest condolences to the relatives and friends who died.The oldest among them is 105-year-old Zhang Wuzhou, who came to commemorate his brother-in-law. The names of the deceased are engraved on the second monument erected recently.
A Bamboo Pole
Some second and third-generation family members came to this event. Among them were more than 20 people from the Bob Lau family.Lau recalled his experience of fleeing China to Hong Kong three times in the past. The images engraved on the stone tablet are the true portrayal of himself and his wife fleeing to Hong Kong together. Walking until the edge of a cliff, at the very moment when his life was hanging by a thread, he found a fisherman’s bamboo pole and successfully waded to the seaside in the end.
Liu Yuxin, a member of the second generation, said, “My elders have not forgotten those companions for a single day. They were all passionate young people full of pride and ambition. Although they were swallowed by darkness, they and their deeds are worthy of being remembered by future generations. Today, my elders and their friends finally realized their long-cherished wish: to erect a monument in the land of freedom to commemorate their companions.”
“They proved once again that the state machine can dictate one’s body, but it can hardly annihilate human conscience!” added Liu.
Six Attempts to Escape
Lou Peng, who came to the United States from Sydney, Australia, to participate in the event, once attended Guangzhou No. 29 Middle School. He experienced five failed escape attempts and nine times in detention centers.He finally managed to escape to Macau on the sixth attempt and later settled in Australia.
On the second monument of, the “Monument to the Educated Youth Who Fled to Hong Kong,” he found the names of six of his former colleagues and neighbors. He wanted to come to the commemorative event last year but was unable to do so due to the pandemic and other reasons.
This year, he planned to participate in the activities early in the morning: “Rainy day or sunny day, even if only one person comes, that will be me!” he said.
No Trust in the Communist Regime
George Choi, former president of the Overseas Chinese Writers Club in New York, wrote the human smuggling literary work “Escape to Hong Kong and Macau Before and After the Cultural Revolution.”He was asked by the reporter: You were a college student in the 1960s, and during the Cultural Revolution, you could enjoy a monthly salary of more than 50 yuan (US$ 7), you could be called a “diamond bachelor (a super-wealthy single man),” how could you risk your life to flee to Hong Kong and Macau?”
Choi’s reply is very simple: “There is nothing worse than heartbreak, when you have no trust in the communist regime anymore, you have all the courage to fight.”
Pursuit of Freedom and Democracy
Yu Luo Ke, who was purged because of his writing “The Birth Theory,” was executed during the Cultural Revolution. His younger brother Yu Luo Wen also came to participate in the commemorative activities.Yu said that the persecution of people by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) created a deep wound among all Chinese worldwide, so it is invaluable to be able to erect a monument to commemorate our pioneers and not forget history.
He believes that the actual number of victims far exceeds the current statistics suggest, and the pursuit of freedom and democracy is extremely valuable.
He hopes that in the United States and even other regions, monuments of the same kind to commemorate the Chinese who died in their pursuit of freedom can continue to go up one after another.
Rest in Peace
Jello Tan, a member of the U.S. East Monument Construction Team, expressed the hope that the collection of names of victims who escaped to Hong Kong can continue. And through the “Hong Kong Educated Youth Network (U.S. East)” and the continued erection of small monuments, more and more people can learn about China’s past. May the victims rest in peace in a free land.
