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Peiping Loses A Red Guard

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发表于 2017-4-28 22:13:58 | 显示全部楼层 |阅读模式

President Chiang Kai-shek receives Liu Yueh-sheng (left), former city editor of Peiping's Wen Wei Pao in Hongkong, and Wang Chao-tien (right), a former "Red Guard" cadre.(File photo).

19-Year-Old Who Fled To Freedom Says Mao Will Be Overthrown by The Force He Created To Save His Own Skin
It was Christmas Eve in Hongkong merrymakers were exchanging season's greetings. Gift-laden stores displayed brightly lighted windows. Churches held midnight services and choruses sang of peace on earth, goodwill toward men.

In the dark of the hilly frontier separating Hongkong from the China mainland, a 19-year-old youth was engaged in a game of hare and hounds with the Communists - a game on which he staked his life. He had walked from Canton to the border town of Shumchun in five days. Now he had to face a phalanx of armed guards, sentry dogs, and searchlights. The smallest mistake would mean death. He waited, tense but patient.

Finally the chance came. As the Communists changed border guards, he mustered his courage and began to inch his way through the barbed wire barricades. An hour later he was bleeding, his clothes were in tatters, and he was shaking from exhaustion and fear - but he was free.

The young man was Wang Chao-tien, first Red Guard to defect to the free world. On the mainland he was Chi Shui-sheng, the name given by his foster father. After gaining his liberty, he resumed his own name as part of unswerving determination to lead a whole new life.

Wang's flight to freedom came at a significant moment. On the mainland the "great proletarian cultural revolution" and the Red Guard movement were leading to a massive upheaval that pitted workers, peasants, and intellectuals against Mao Tse-tung's tyranny. Wang's action was one of the first Red Guard blows against Mao; since then some elements of the Guards have denounced Mao in "big-character posters" and joined with forces fighting against the Red dictator. Additionally, Wang was able to throw light on the complicated Communist struggle for mainland power and the misuse of Chinese youth by Mao Tse-tung, Lin Piao, and others who are now fighting to preserve their position as slave masters.


"Red Guard" armband worn by Wang. The three Chinese characters read, from the left, hung-wei-ping, literally "Red Guard Soldier".(File photo).

Soon after reaching Taipei, Wang said: "The purpose of my freedom-seeking is to tell the world that all the people on the mainland, including the Red Guards, can no longer endure the tyranny of the Peiping regime and are longing for the return of the free Chinese to deliver them from hellfire. There is no real government on the mainland, only rampaging Red Guards who do not know what they are doing or why."Born in Mukden, Wang lost his father at an early age. He saw his mother only once after he was adopted by Chi Yu-teh. When the Red Guard movement spread from Peiping to Manchuria last October, Wang was studying at the First High School in Manchouli, a railroad town on the Chinese-Russian border.Everything FreeOvernight all the students became Red Guards. Several students would get together, form a group, and establish a headquarters. Wang organized the "East Wind Rebellion Corps." The Guards tore up books, abused teachers, and denounced the "four olds". Then they set out for Peiping to participate in the big Red Guard ral1ies in Tien An Square.For most Red Guards, the demonstrations in Peiping and other big cities provided an opportunity to "see the country and watch the big shows free of charge". They received free transportation, food, and lodging while on their way to "exchange revolutionary experiences". However, Wang said, "you had to be really tough to get your share of everything. "Train cars with a normal capacity of 108 often were jam-packed with more than 300 Red Guards. Those who couldn't squeeze in vented their spite by throwing human excrement at the trains. As for eating, "If you didn't move fast, you went hungry,”Wang said. Many fights occurred over food.
In Peiping, Wang was among the Red Guards personally received by Mao and heir-apparent Lin Piao. Mao is physically ill and mentally unbalanced, Wang said. Thus he must rely on Lin Piao and the Red Guards to save his tyrannical regime.Later Wang was ordered to go to Canton to take part in a "long march" to the Chingkang Hills and Yenan, Red Chinese former bases. By this time he had become disillusioned with Communism in general and with the Red Guard in particular.Like Locusts"We played the bully, beat up people, and raised hell everywhere we went," he said. "Nobody dared to stop us, because we were doing everything in the name of cultural revolution. Whoever opposed us was branded a counter-revolutionary."We were like locusts. We did not pay for anything we took. If we thought a place was comfortable and the food good, we would stay for a few days. If not, we would stay overnight or just keep going. Some of us felt sorry for what we were doing. But we couldn’t stop; we had to follow the others."


At a Taipei press conference, Wang shows the ragged uniform he wore on the Chinese mainland.
Taking advantage of Canton's closeness to Hongkong, Wang deserted the Red Guard and made his dash to freedom. He reached the Republic of China the day after Christmas. He brought with him Communist literature and an armband bearing the Chinese characters "Hung Wei Ping", meaning Red Guard.In Canton, Wang saw other Red Guards attempt to escape only to be intercepted by the Communist authorities. He also disclosed that Red Guards in northeast China tried to flee to North Korea and Russia. The North Korean regime sent them back to the Chinese mainland. Russian troops were stationed along the border to keep them out.Wang predicted the Mao regime eventually will be overthrown by the very Red Guards Mao created to protect himself. One of Wang's other revelations was that Lo Jui-ching, purged as chief of staff of the Chinese Red army, had attempted suicide by jumping from a building. He only broke a leg. High Red officials who have lost their lives in the purges include Ouyang Chin, first secretary of the Chinese Communist Party in Mukden; Wang Jen-chung, secretary of the Central and South China Bureau; and Chao Chih-yang, first secretary of the Party in Kwangtung.
Like many other freedom-seekers before him, Wang bas begun a new life in free China. He saw the first foreign movie of his life. The Reds had told him the people of Taiwan were eating banana peels and that U.S. "imperialist" planes were dropping rice in daily flights. After sampling Taiwan's plenty, he charged the Communists with being the biggest liars in history.No Student ChoiceWang put his new freedom of speech to quick use. He told some 500 student representatives from colleges and universities throughout the island that students on the mainland cannot choose either schools or courses."The major courses are based on old writings of Mao," Wang said. "Communists do not care whether students learn anything about history, geography, mathematics, chemistry, and so on. Their educational policy is aimed solely at turning students into mechanical men who cannot think for themselves."


Wang's welcome by free Chinese students.(File photo).
Mainland students are not permitted to talk about love and marriage. The Reds try to maintain separation of male and female students."One has no freedom to marry even when he leaves school," Wang said. "Marriage is subject to approval by the Party."In a broadcast to the mainland, Wang called on his former Red Guard comrades to overthrow the Mao regime and prepare for the landing of free Chinese forces from Taiwan."Today you help Mao Tse-tung strike down his opponents, but tomorrow you may be attacked," Wang told them. "Can you compare yourselves with Lo Jui-ching, Lu Ting-yi, and Peng Te-huai in contributions to the Peiping regime? But where are they now? My defection shows what you can do, if you make up your minds."Talent for LyingTo a group of visiting Philippine students, the former Red Guard said the Chinese Communists' greatest talent is for lying. "They can make a whopping falsehood convincing," he said. "So it is that they have ruled the mainland for 16 years." Two Philippines students who had planned to visit the mainland changed their minds after talking to Wang.In January, Wang began a tour of Taiwan to speak on Red Guard activities and the mainland situation, and to take a look at the island. Subsequently he will travel abroad and then return for schooling or employment, as he wishes. Every defector who reaches the Republic of China has the freedom to choose his own future.
http://taiwantoday.tw/news.php?unit=4,29,31,45&post=6885
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