Unbearable Heat
The second month of summer passed and the weather was getting hotter and hotter day by day. The prison room was filled with prisoners like we were in a food steamer. We made fans with any piece of paper, but they all were confiscated. “Let them be steamed,” were the words of the administrators. On such a hot day a towel squeezed in a mug gave off a mildew smell. One day at “let in the fresh air” time, we saw many little stalks on the ground. Everyone took some and inserted them, like matchsticks, in the wall cracks and could then hang a towel. The “bad administrator” discovered it and all the towels were confiscated. One week passed and still the towels were not returned to us. But soon it was time for a “good administrator”. At “let in the fresh air.” time we saw him and implored him to return the towels. The next day all the towels were returned. Can you imagine not having towels to wipe off some of the sweat during the summer heat?
Owing to the severe man-made conditions of our existence, prisoners began dying. In the next room two prisoners died on the same day. One man was of the Hui nationality. Our man who climbed the window and stole a glance said that the dead man had a white cloth wrapped around his body and the guards finally carried him away. The man who was sleeping in the same bag said that in the morning when we got up and he noticed that the dead man did not move, he gave him a push, but there was no reaction.
In the summer another great pain to be suffered was thirst. Prison authorities did not give us more water due to the summer heat. We were given one ladle when thirsty. Sometimes we could not eat green soup, even if we were very hungry because it was too salty. Once a young man was too hungry so he drank more soup. At night he groaned and groaned with thirst.
In order to avoid more deaths prison authorities decided to add an additional “let in the fresh air” at night around 8PM. Two cauldrons were set in the skylight, filled with water. We were allowed the good fortune of washing. The first time we all made a run towards the cauldrons. The first prisoner put his face all the way in the water and began drinking with all his might. An administrator saw it and beat his back with a lock. He was beaten ferociously and ruthlessly, but he paid no attention to the beating until he drank enough and went back to his room. The administrator was in hot pursuit and continued to hit his back for some time in the room. I felt so devastated watching this because it was like we were oxen or horses with no human dignity.
I had recovered from my illness, but I was still very weak. It was a stipulation that during the day we must sit bolt upright on the bed. But I was unable to sit upright. There was no choice, but for me to lie on the floor. The other prisoners did not ask me to take food duty because I think that they feared I might break a bowl or spill a bucket.
During the three months that I had been in prison I had been brought to trial once. The interrogator was a young man about 30 years of age. He was fair and clear, gentile and suave. He went after me out of the public security branch bureau, which was across the street opposite the court. Originally it was the busiest section of town. The street became very familiar to me. At this hearing he ordered me to sit down and inquired about the record of my formal schooling, and the history of my work, in great detail, and at last he asked if I had anything else to say. I told him that I had much to say, but I do not remember now how much I said to him.
He asked me whether I had said Hong Kong engineers work at a wage of 500 Hong Kong yuan a month? That would imply that I longed for a bourgeois life and intended to go over to the enemy. I said, “Yes.” I actually said “affirmative” because it is more polite. This was the first interrogation since October.