THE NEW CHINA POLICY: ITS IMPACT ON THE

UNITED STATES AND ASIA

V. The People's Republic: An Exile's View

WEDNESDAY, MAY 17, 1972

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS,

SUBCOMMITTEE ON ASIAN AND PACIFIC AFFAIRS,

Washington, D.C.

The subcommittee met at 2:15 p.m., in room 2255, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Cornelius E. Gallagher (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding.

Mr. GALLAGHER. The subcommittee will come to order.

Today we continue our indepth inquiry into the impact of the new United States-China policy on our traditional friendships and alliances in Asia. Our focus will be on life in the People's Republic.

INTRODUCTION

We are fortunate to have with us today Miss Yuan Moun-Ru who was born in the People's Republic and thus has firsthand knowledge of what life is like there.

Miss Yuan, thank you for being with us today.

The subcommittee is pleased to have the benefit of your knowledge and views about life in the People's Republic about which we have been reading so much lately.

Miss Yuan was born in Szechuan Province of China. Both her parents were medical doctors. Her father was the chief of staff of the Zen-Gee Hospital of Chungking before World War II. Her family consists of eight children, five of them doctors and three engineers, an outstanding family. Miss Yuan herself is an engineer with a degree in mechanical engineering from Chungking University.

Because of differences with university authorities Miss Yuan was classified as a "rightist" and was assigned by the Communist Party to work as a laborer in the mines and in factories for some 10 years. In May 1969, Miss Yuan escaped from the People's Republic by way of Burma. She now lives with her eldest sister who is a doctor in Ohio. Miss Yuan has since studied at the University of Illinois and now lectures across the United States to Chinese students.

Miss Yuan, your full statement will be submitted for the record. You may proceed as you choose, reading your statement and adding

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any additional thoughts you have. The subcommittee will then have questions for you when you have completed your presentation.

Mr. KOVENOCK. Miss Moun-Ru has asked me to read her prepared

statement.

Mr. GALLAGHER. Please proceed.

STATEMENT OF MISS YUAN MOUN-RU, POLITICAL REFUGEE AND LECTURER, INTERPRETATION BY PAUL KOVENOCK, DEPARTMENT OF STATE

BIOGRAPHY

Miss Yuan Moun-Ru was born in Szechuan Province of China. Both her parents were medical doctors. Her father was the chief of staff of the Zen-Gee Hospital of Chungking before World War II. Her family consists of eight children, five of them doctors and three engineers. Miss Yuan herself is an engineer with a degree in mechanical engineering from Chungking University. Because of differences with university authorities Miss Yuan was classified as a "rightist" and was assigned by the Communist Party to work as a laborer in the mines and in factories for some 10 years. In May 1969, Miss Yuan escaped from the Peoples' Republic by way of Burma. She now lives with her eldest sister who is a doctor in Ohio. Miss Yuan has since studied at the University of Illinois and now lectures across the United States to Chinese students.

Miss YUAN. First, what "democracy" and "liberty" mean on Communist controlled Chinese mainland.

"FREEDOM" AND "DEMOCRACY" UNDER CONSTITUTION

In 1954, the Chinese Communists promulgated their Constitution under which people are supposed to be entitled to the freedom of speech, travel, assembly, religious belief, protection of property, and personal security.

On the surface all that one expects in the constitution of a free and democratic country can be found in the Chinese Communist Constitution. However, the ugly facts of the past 22 years have taught the Chinese people that "freedom" and "democracy" are mockeries under Communist rule.

Thousands of Chinese people have tried to escape from the Chinese Communist rule. After all, the Chinese people love freedom no less than other peoples of the world. Many of them failed to reach freedom and were put in jail or sent to labor reform camps. A lot of them were shot or drowned while trying to escape and turned up as floating

corpses.

Ninety-five percent of those who tried to flee were brought under Chinese Communist domination of mainland China. I am one of them. After 20 years of agonizing experience, I think I know what "democracy" and "freedom" mean under the Chinese Communist rule.

The Chinese Communists claim that the People's Republic is a people's democratic authoritarian regime based upon the coalition of peasants and workers and led by the working class-with the Communists as their leaders.

They say openly that they want to apply democracy to the "people" and "authoritarianism" to the enemy. Not every man and woman in the People's Republic is regarded as people by their definition.

TREATMENT OF "CLASS ENEMIES"

The so-called landlords, rich peasants, counterrevolutionaries, rightists, capitalists, reactionary academic authorities, "three antielements," party deserters, black gang elements, class heretics, opportunists, and so forth belong to the group called "class enemies” and are subjected to criticism, torture, liquidation, whipping, jailing, labor reform, and capital punishment.

Whenever there is a political campaign, a number of people would be condemned as class enemies, which Mao called it a small bunch, about 5 percent of the population-roughly 35,000,000 persons. He said: "To those class enemies, we must practice authoritarianism. We will not offer them democracy, not even half a bit."

He also said that, "We shall throw all the class enemies onto the ground and add a kick to them. Never let them stand up again." The Chinese Communists said that "liberty, equality, and fraternity" is nothing but the false slogan of the capitalists. They believe in class struggle.

Anyone by a slip of the tongue can be treated as a class enemy.

In 1957, during the period of "clean the atmosphere and fight the rightist movement," I myself was labeled as a rightist and was sent to labor reform camp for three and a half years at that time some 300,000 intellectuals were condemned as rightists.

LIMITS ON CIVIL LIBERTIES

On Chinese mainland, there are no lawyers of any kind. Once convicted one has no right to appeal. The victim is indicted by the public security bureau through the so-called "public judge mass rally." What the court has to do is nothing but the announcement of the verdict. The Communist Party has decided the verdict before "public judge mass rally."

The so-called "anti-rightist struggle"-to treat all those who dare to give their own opinion as rightists-is an example of the supression of freedom of speech under the Chinese Communist rule.

Freedom of assembly is also a farce. Unless a gathering is ordered and organized by the authority, such as "May first" rally, "October first" rally or anti-American or anti-Soviet revisionists rally, no meeting of any kind can avoid being taken as a "counterrevolutionary group.'

There is no freedom of travel either.

The Chinese Communists have restricted the movement of populace of big cities. People living in big cities are sometimes allowed to move to small towns or villages but not vice versa.

Even married couples are frequently separated because of the household registration freeze. No registration, no food. If you want to move to somewhere else you have to have the approval of the local authority before you can get the food coupons (food coupons vary in different places). In the factory where I worked, half of the workers could not live together with their wives or husbands.

Freedom of religion is unthinkable. Christian faith, whether Catholic or Protestant, is considered to be the "instrument of cultural aggression of the imperialists against China" and has been denounced.

I am a Christian but I could find no church to go to or to pray in in China in the past 20 years. Church properties were confiscated, priests were either driven away or sent to labor reform camps. No one dares to pray in public.

Believers in Buddhism, Mohammedism or Lamaism are considered as superstitious and are called bad elements. Buddhist monks and nuns were thrown out of their temples.

DENIAL OF PROPERTY RIGHTS

The so-called protection of property and personal security under the constitution is meaningless, too. During the period from July to November 1966, there was a house-searching campaign on the Chinese mainland. The house of the "class enemies" were searched without exception.

My parents' home was searched three times. All that was found valuable was confiscated, including the house built by themselves.

My own home was searched twice. The Red Guards were free to do whatever they liked.

In August 1966, the Communist Party City Committee of Chungking City rallied around 500,000 Red Guards and launched a so-called house-search-annihilation war. They looted private properties including money, clothes, jewels, radios, wrist watches, bicycles, et cetera.

In February 1967, a so-called February suppression of reactionaries movement was launched. From February 17 to the end of the month, more than 100,000 workers, students, and ordinary people were arrested by the Chengtu District Command of the Liberation Army in cooperation with the Chengtu City Public Security Bureau and the so-called Royalists of the Red Guards. No warrant of any kind is needed for the arrest. Anyone, considered as counterrevolutionary, can be arrested on sight. This is what they call the mass dictatorship.

MISTREATMENT OF INTELLECTUALS

Second, the ordeal of the intellectuals on the Chinese mainland. Mao Tse-tung once said:

Revolution relies upon two barrels. One is the barrel of a gun and the other is the barrel of a pen.

He said :

The enemies who carried guns have been destroyed but the enemies without guns still exist. They will no doubt engage us in a life-and-death struggle. We must not belittle them.

What he meant by "enemies without guns" are the intellectuals. The Chinese Communists consider the intellectuals as belonging to the capitalist class. While the Communist revolution is a class struggle between the working and the capitalist classes, the intellectuals have to be persecuted.

Each time there is a political movement, intellectuals are invariably involved and are subject to criticism, liquidation, and punishment, because the Communists believe that intellectuals must go through a process of rebirth by remoulding their thoughts and minds.

In 1950, there was a thought-reform movement among professional intellectuals and students who recently joined the army.

In 1953, coupled with the so-called fight-American and supportKorean movement, and anti-American movement to fight against the slavery thought was launched.

Determined to liquidate the pro-American, admire-American, America-phobia thoughts and firmly establish despise-American, hate-American, and neglect-American thoughts were some of the slogans at the time.

The movement required each and every intellectual to confess and criticize himself and to find out whether he entertained any slavery thought.

In 1955, together with the anti-Hu Fong counterrevolutionaryclique movement, there was a liquidate antis and indict cadres movement, among the graduating university students.

Innumerable people, especially in the literary circles were condemned as Hu Fong elements and were regarded as counterrevolutionaries. In 1956, the uprising in Hungary, though subdued subsequently by the tanks and guns of the Russian troops, aroused a tremendous reaction in the Communist world.

In 1957, this led to the so-called open door liquidation movement and the great discussion, great release of personal opinions movement. Mao Tse-tung said at the time:

We must speak out whatever we know without reservation. Speakers commit no crime, but listeners will be benefited.

He also promised:

We will catch nobody's queue, hit nobody with rod, and put no hat upon anyone. He asked intellectuals to offer whatever suggestion they might have to help the Chinese Communist Party to reform itself. However, it turned out to be a sham.

Some 300,000 intellectuals including university professors, scholars, artists, writers, college students, were condemned as rightists. Wellknown intellectuals such as Chang Pe-chun, Lo Lung-Jee, Chang Naichi, Pu Shi-Shew, Shei Shui-hung, Lung Yeng, Chiang Wei-chang, Tung Shee-Kwang, Tang Tien-rung, Lin Shi-ling, Wu Chu-kwang, et cetera, all were condemned as extreme rightists. I was also among the 300,000 condemned. We received various degrees of punishment. Some were fired by their employers. Some went through labor reform. Some were demoted. Others were forced to quit schools.

I was sent to Nang-Tunge minefield to hard labor reform in the mountainous region in southwestern China for 311⁄2 years.

In 1964, there was a four-clean movement-clean thought, clean politics, clean organization, clean economy-sometimes known as village socialism educational movement.

GREAT CULTURAL REVOLUTION

Then came the Great Cultural Revolution, starting in May 1966. Literary circles became the first target. Schools, government organs, and factories were the next targets. Teachers were persecuted, criticized, paraded in the streets, forced to wear high hats, beaten, forced to wear blackboard, forced to confess mistakes, and their homes were searched.

Many who could not endure the persecution committed suicide, including the famous playwright Chao Yu, movie actress Pai Yang, the