Post by NZBC on May 26, 2007 23:24:26 GMT 12
TERROR IN TWENTIETH-CENTURY CHINA
Michelle Tom
Today, many people don’t realize the pain and agony that some people went through in the early parts of the 20th century. The life of Kim Ha Lum, my grandmother shows how inadequate and corrupt government ruined many families and made gruesome brutality and torture familiar experiences for millions of people.
Kim Ha Lum was born on July 4, 1931 in Canton, China. Her family was very wealthy. Her father came to the United States to make money. When he made enough money, he went back to Canton, China and bought some land. The family had many servants ?at least two of the servants were to take care of my grandmother. When the Japanese attacked China everything changed. She remembers the day that the Japanese bombed the school she was attending ?she was about 11 years old. Her father was so afraid for his only daughter that he asked the servants to get her from school and she stopped attending for a couple of years. The Japanese men would torture the people in the villages and rape the young women. The torture was something that you couldn’t avoid, but as for the young women, they tried to avoid the rapes by dressing themselves to look like old women. The family was so terrified that they left China and went to Hong Kong.
After living in Hong Kong for a short period of time, the father bought land. The family had decided to stay in Hong Kong until the war died down in China. Unfortunately, Japan started to attack Hong Kong. Once the bombing started, the family went back to China. At this time in China, there were still Japanese men guarding the villages ?where brutality was an ongoing act until the war ended.
World War II ended in 1945 with the help of the United States. The United States had tried to strengthen Chiang Kai-Shek, the leader of the Republic of China, to attack Japan. Unfortunately, Chiang was unwilling to use his forces against Japan because he felt he needed to save them to go against the Communists after the war.
Chiang Kai-Shek, an anti-Communist, feared the future. Chiang knew that the Communists was building up their power while the war was going on. The tension between the two parties ?Nationalist and Communist ?was so deep that any peace talk was out of the question. Eventually, in 1949, the Communists took over China.
Between 1945 and 1949, my grandmother married into a wealthy family. Just before the communists take over, my grandfather left for Hong Kong, leaving my grandmother in China with two children ?a 2-year-old daughter and a newborn son.
My grandmother’s memories of those times were very disturbing. She remembers the Communists taking everything away from people who were wealthy. Wealth was determined by land ?nbsp; if you were a landowner, then you were considered wealthy. Her parents had given everything they had to them but that wasn’t enough. The Communists forced her father to sign papers to give up all properties he had owned, even the property in Hong Kong. Her parents were tortured so much that they decided to commit suicide. Her father and his first wife hanged themselves, but the father did not die because the rope broke and he fell to the ground.
The Communists also tortured my grandmother. They took all her money and kept torturing her even when she had given all she had. They tortured people continuously because they thought that there was more money hidden. My grandmother was severely bruised throughout her body. For example, one way she was tortured was to kneel (bare) on broken glass. The Communists forced her to work by carrying pounds of sand from one destination to another for construction of buildings. One guard was assigned to a worker to make sure no one slacked off. The hard labor was extremely tough on my grandmother because she was carrying her newborn son on her back ?he was less than a month old ?and she had to leave her two-year-old daughter at home alone. One day while she was working, the baby started to cry so my grandmother tried to move a little to quiet him down. Unfortunately, he kept on crying. The guard then started to poke at the newborn on his back continuously because he was annoyed about the crying. The newborn was severely injured and sick, but no one was allowed to go into the city to see a doctor. Fortunately, a person had helped her onto a bus to go into the city to treat her son. By the time she got to the city, the doctor told her it was too late, her son had died.
The gruesome tortures that they did to the people left many to die. Some deaths were from suicides and others were from injuries caused by the brutality. My grandmother tried to commit suicide twice. The first time was when she couldn’t handle the tortures anymore. She left her children in the house and was about to hang herself. Fortunately, a gentleman convinced her not to and tried to help her save her son. The second time was when she found out her son didn’t make it. After hearing the sad news, she felt that there was nothing else to live for and she didn’t want to go through the tortures anymore. She saw the pier and was going to jump into the ocean. My grandmother decided not to jump. Even though my grandmother was devastated by the loss of her son, she knew that she still had a daughter to take care of.
After the takeover of China, people lost all their civil rights ?such as freedom of speech, privacy, etc. The people of China were able to speak only when spoken to. As for privacy, there was none. All homes had to be kept unlocked. The doors were left open so that the Communists could do random searches whenever they wanted.
Eventually, my grandmother left China to go to Hong Kong. The only way she was able to get out of China was because an authority figure vouched for her to the Communist government. He said that she was going to Hong Kong to visit her husband and would be right back. Due to this authority figure, my grandmother was able to get out of China. She had to trick her way from that outrageous government.
The Communists may be summed up in the single sentence: "Abolition of private property…abolishing the right of personally acquiring property…is alleged to be the ground work of all personal freedom, activity and independence.?span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> This is a quote from Manifesto of the Communist Party by Marx and Engels. In my opinion, Marx may have wanted everyone to be equal but he didn’t expect Communism to turn out the way it had in China. After viewing Communism through the eyes of my grandmother, I realize how many people take freedom and civil rights for granted today. Even though I didn’t go through this experience, listening to my grandmother made me feel the emotions that she had felt. Yet, no one can really feel the pain and agony that all the people felt at that time unless they’ve lived under that type of government.
Michelle Tom
Today, many people don’t realize the pain and agony that some people went through in the early parts of the 20th century. The life of Kim Ha Lum, my grandmother shows how inadequate and corrupt government ruined many families and made gruesome brutality and torture familiar experiences for millions of people.
Kim Ha Lum was born on July 4, 1931 in Canton, China. Her family was very wealthy. Her father came to the United States to make money. When he made enough money, he went back to Canton, China and bought some land. The family had many servants ?at least two of the servants were to take care of my grandmother. When the Japanese attacked China everything changed. She remembers the day that the Japanese bombed the school she was attending ?she was about 11 years old. Her father was so afraid for his only daughter that he asked the servants to get her from school and she stopped attending for a couple of years. The Japanese men would torture the people in the villages and rape the young women. The torture was something that you couldn’t avoid, but as for the young women, they tried to avoid the rapes by dressing themselves to look like old women. The family was so terrified that they left China and went to Hong Kong.
After living in Hong Kong for a short period of time, the father bought land. The family had decided to stay in Hong Kong until the war died down in China. Unfortunately, Japan started to attack Hong Kong. Once the bombing started, the family went back to China. At this time in China, there were still Japanese men guarding the villages ?where brutality was an ongoing act until the war ended.
World War II ended in 1945 with the help of the United States. The United States had tried to strengthen Chiang Kai-Shek, the leader of the Republic of China, to attack Japan. Unfortunately, Chiang was unwilling to use his forces against Japan because he felt he needed to save them to go against the Communists after the war.
Chiang Kai-Shek, an anti-Communist, feared the future. Chiang knew that the Communists was building up their power while the war was going on. The tension between the two parties ?Nationalist and Communist ?was so deep that any peace talk was out of the question. Eventually, in 1949, the Communists took over China.
Between 1945 and 1949, my grandmother married into a wealthy family. Just before the communists take over, my grandfather left for Hong Kong, leaving my grandmother in China with two children ?a 2-year-old daughter and a newborn son.
My grandmother’s memories of those times were very disturbing. She remembers the Communists taking everything away from people who were wealthy. Wealth was determined by land ?nbsp; if you were a landowner, then you were considered wealthy. Her parents had given everything they had to them but that wasn’t enough. The Communists forced her father to sign papers to give up all properties he had owned, even the property in Hong Kong. Her parents were tortured so much that they decided to commit suicide. Her father and his first wife hanged themselves, but the father did not die because the rope broke and he fell to the ground.
The Communists also tortured my grandmother. They took all her money and kept torturing her even when she had given all she had. They tortured people continuously because they thought that there was more money hidden. My grandmother was severely bruised throughout her body. For example, one way she was tortured was to kneel (bare) on broken glass. The Communists forced her to work by carrying pounds of sand from one destination to another for construction of buildings. One guard was assigned to a worker to make sure no one slacked off. The hard labor was extremely tough on my grandmother because she was carrying her newborn son on her back ?he was less than a month old ?and she had to leave her two-year-old daughter at home alone. One day while she was working, the baby started to cry so my grandmother tried to move a little to quiet him down. Unfortunately, he kept on crying. The guard then started to poke at the newborn on his back continuously because he was annoyed about the crying. The newborn was severely injured and sick, but no one was allowed to go into the city to see a doctor. Fortunately, a person had helped her onto a bus to go into the city to treat her son. By the time she got to the city, the doctor told her it was too late, her son had died.
The gruesome tortures that they did to the people left many to die. Some deaths were from suicides and others were from injuries caused by the brutality. My grandmother tried to commit suicide twice. The first time was when she couldn’t handle the tortures anymore. She left her children in the house and was about to hang herself. Fortunately, a gentleman convinced her not to and tried to help her save her son. The second time was when she found out her son didn’t make it. After hearing the sad news, she felt that there was nothing else to live for and she didn’t want to go through the tortures anymore. She saw the pier and was going to jump into the ocean. My grandmother decided not to jump. Even though my grandmother was devastated by the loss of her son, she knew that she still had a daughter to take care of.
After the takeover of China, people lost all their civil rights ?such as freedom of speech, privacy, etc. The people of China were able to speak only when spoken to. As for privacy, there was none. All homes had to be kept unlocked. The doors were left open so that the Communists could do random searches whenever they wanted.
Eventually, my grandmother left China to go to Hong Kong. The only way she was able to get out of China was because an authority figure vouched for her to the Communist government. He said that she was going to Hong Kong to visit her husband and would be right back. Due to this authority figure, my grandmother was able to get out of China. She had to trick her way from that outrageous government.
The Communists may be summed up in the single sentence: "Abolition of private property…abolishing the right of personally acquiring property…is alleged to be the ground work of all personal freedom, activity and independence.?span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> This is a quote from Manifesto of the Communist Party by Marx and Engels. In my opinion, Marx may have wanted everyone to be equal but he didn’t expect Communism to turn out the way it had in China. After viewing Communism through the eyes of my grandmother, I realize how many people take freedom and civil rights for granted today. Even though I didn’t go through this experience, listening to my grandmother made me feel the emotions that she had felt. Yet, no one can really feel the pain and agony that all the people felt at that time unless they’ve lived under that type of government.