Goodness and Lovingkindness Will Follow Me All The Days of My Life (#2)

My sister got married shortly after the liberation of South Vietnam. All along her husband had been looking for a way to escape out of Vietnam, but the cost of escaping by boat to Thailand or Malaysia was too high, and he couldn’t afford it. When he found out that my uncle wanted me to go to Guangzhou, he came up with an idea: Take the train from Saigon to Hanoi, the capital of North Vietnam, and from there find ways to cross the border into China. The price for a train ticket from Saigon to Hanoi was relatively low, and my brother-in-law knew some Chinese Vietnamese who were living in North Vietnam and would often cross the border into China to buy goods to bring back to Vietnam. So they were very familiar with the roads in that area. My brother-in-law knew that he only had to pay these Chinese Vietnamese a small sum of money, and they would be willing to lead us into China. He was planning to use this way to escape out of Vietnam because the cost was very low.

I asked my father for his opinion about the plan, and he felt that it would be good for me to follow my brother-in-law and my sister to escape out of Vietnam by this means. Even though my family was poor, my father had some savings. He gave me an amount needed for the escape, and took me out to buy clothes and a knapsack. I put my mother’s ashes in a few layers of plastic bags, then wrap the whole thing with clothes and put it in the knapsack. In early February 1978, on the second day of the Chinese Lunar New Year, I ate my last New Year’s meal at home. At 1 o’clock in the morning my eldest brother picked me up with a motor­cycle to bring me to the train station. My father stood at the door to send me off. I met up with my sister, my brother-in-law, and their one year old son at the train station, and then took the train up north together.

After the train had arrived at Hanoi, we transferred to a bus to go to Hai Phong, a coastal city that had a lot of Chinese Vietnamese living there. We stayed in a house that belonged to a friend of my brother-in-law’s. A few days later, this friend made all the arrangements for us, and led us to a small boat to go to another small town. From that town we went into a village that was within walking distance of the border river between Vietnam and China. We hid in the village for a few days. One night, when the river was in low tide, two of my brother-in-law’s friends led us to wade through the river. The water level reached my chest, and I didn’t know how to swim. Normally I would have been very scared, but amazingly I wasn’t scared at all. Peace and warmth filled my heart, and I was thinking about finally bringing my mother back home.

The other side of the river is Chinese territory, a small town called Dongxing of Guangxi province. Our guides took us to a market place there, but the place was desolate at around 3 o’clock in the morning. They told us to wait there until dawn, and when we see people coming in, we will ask them for directions to the police station. The guides said we will need to report ourselves to the police, tell them the reason for crossing the border, and plead with the government to allow us to stay. Then our guides waded through the river back to Vietnam. We all sat on a bench, and at around 5 o’clock, workers started coming to the market place. We asked them for the directions to the police station, and went there to report ourselves.

When we arrived at the police station, we frankly told them that we were Chinese who had escaped out of Vietnam, and pleaded with the government to take us in. At first the police staff didn’t want to accept us, and repeatedly told us to go back to Vietnam. We said in reply that we couldn’t go back to Vietnam, for if we did that, we would be put in jail. The police staff told us to sit aside and wait. I was planning in my heart that if they should force us to go back to Vietnam, I would immediately spread my mother’s ashes on the soil. Even if she couldn’t be buried in Guang­zhou, at least her ashes would be mixed with the soil of the homeland she loved and they would never be separated again. After that I will fight with the police officers and let them shoot me dead, for if I go back to Vietnam and get caught, I would be put in prison for twenty or thirty years. I was still young, so if my whole life is going to be destroyed, it would be better for me to be shot dead now by the police officers. Once I made up my mind to be ready to die, I wasn’t scared at all.

We were sitting on a bench, and soon a couple and their son about one year old walked into the police station. From their clothes I could tell that they were also from South Vietnam. They also came to report themselves and asked the government to take them in. The police officers asked them to sit together with us. Not long after that, a third group came into the police station, then another group. By noon time the reception hall of the station was filled with Chinese Vietnamese, some of whom were from South Vietnam, but most were from North Vietnam. The police officers didn’t know how to handle the situation, so they took us to a small inn nearby. We all carried Renminbi (Chinese cur­rency) and food coupons, so we had lunch and rested in that small inn.

The next day, an officer sent from Nanning (the capital city of Guangxi province), a certain Officer Wu, came to the inn where we were staying, and wanted to talk to the Chinese Vietnamese there. Those from North Vietnam didn’t speak Mandarin Chinese, but even among those from South Vietnam very few could speak Mandarin. But I could speak Mandarin, so Officer Wu asked me to be his translator. He told me that more and more Chinese Vietnamese were arriving in China that day, and that many of them were crossing into China through the border between Vietnam and the two provinces of Guangxi and Yunnan. Some Chinese Vietnamese fishermen families from North Vietnam piloted their fishing boats to the ports along the coast of China. Because of all the things taking place, the central government in Beijing was paying close attention to the development of the situation. When I heard of this, I was very happy, for I knew that the Chinese government will not force us to go back to Vietnam.

We stayed in that small inn temporarily, and I wrote a letter to my uncle in Guangzhou to tell him that I had arrived at the town of Dongxing in Guangxi province with my mother’s ashes. Within a few days, I received a letter from him, telling me that he will come immediately to Dongxing with my cousin. A few days later, my uncle and my cousin arrived from Guangzhou. It’s my first time to see my uncle, and he looked very much like my mother. When he looked at my mother’s ashes, his tears almost poured down. After being separated for thirty something years, they thought that the whole family could be reunited soon, but in the end all they could see was a bag of ashes.

The only true God opened the way to Guangzhou

The next day my uncle and my cousin departed, taking my mother’s ashes. Before my uncle left, he gave me a proof of an official business trip, and told me to use it to buy a train ticket to Guangzhou. He gave me sufficient money and nationwide food coupons for my expenses on the journey.

Every day more and more groups of Chinese Vietnamese were streaming into Dongxing, and soon the number of Chinese Vietnamese in this small town went up to around thirty thousand, outnumbering Dongxing’s local population. Because there was not enough space to house all the Chinese Vietnamese, the government moved us to a school. From the reports by the new arrivals, we got to know that most of the Chinese Vietnamese farmers and fishermen in North Vietnam were preparing to come to China. There was a dispute between China and Vietnam at the border, and the Chinese government was evacuating the people living in the towns along the border. They were preparing for war, and it looked like war will break out soon. My brother-in-law, my sister, and I all realized that it was time for us to leave Dongxing for Guangzhou. We decided that I would leave first; then one or two days later, my brother-in-law and my sister would leave with their son.

Dongxing was a small place, and was not serviced by any train in Guangxi. So the journey from Dongxing to Guangzhou was quite complicated. I had to take a long-distance bus from Dongxing to Nanning, the capital city of Guangxi; from Nanning I would transfer to the train heading to the city of Hengyang of Hunan province; then from Hengyang I would take another train from Beijing to Guangzhou. It would be the first time I traveled by myself, and I was very scared. But it was during this journey that I experienced a whole series of amazing and inexplicable things.

I bought a bus ticket with the proof of official business trip that my uncle had given me. The departure time was six o’clock in the morning of the next day. I got up early in the morning before dawn when the people in the school were still asleep, carried my knapsack, and walked to the bus station. The streets were empty and desolate, which was truly amazing. If there had been police officers patrolling the streets, I would have been doomed because they all recognized my face. If they had seen me walking to the bus station with a knapsack, they would definitely inter­rogate me. If that had happened, not only would I be arrested, even my uncle would get into trouble. Again the loving true God Yahweh raised His mighty hand to send away the people so that I could walk peacefully to the bus station and get on the bus.

On the bus I chose a window seat. Soon a man around fifty years old with a gentle face and mild manners sat next to me. The bus de­parted on time at six o’clock. I looked at the streets of Dongxing, and saw them getting farther and farther away from me. I had been living in this small town for three months, not knowing if I will ever come back here in the future. (As of this date in 2017, thirty nine years have passed, and I still have not gone back to Dongxing).

The gentleman sitting next to me and I started a conversation. I don’t remember who took the initiative to talk first. His family name was Xia, so I called him Uncle Xia. He was on an official trip from Gansu province to Dongxing, Nanning, and Hengyang. I told him a big lie, saying that I was from Guangzhou. I said I had just graduated from high school, and came to Dongxing to visit my relatives, and now I am going back to Guangzhou. Uncle Xia listened, smiled, and nodded his head. I asked him if the bus station and train station in Nanning were far from each other, and how would one buy a train ticket to Hengyang, and so on. He told me it was not easy to buy a train ticket at the counter. Some people couldn’t buy a ticket and were stranded at the train station for a long time. When I heard that, I was scared, for this was not going according to plan. I thought that so long as I had the proof of official business trip, plus food coupons and money, I could go anywhere I wanted. I was too naive. Uncle Xia encouraged me not to worry, and said once we reach Nanning, he will use his own proof of official business trip to buy me a train ticket.

The bus reached Nanning at around two or three o’clock in the afternoon. Uncle Xia walked me from the bus station to the train station, which was very crowded. He told me to wait at a particular corner and not to wander off. Then he went to the ticket counter to buy the tickets. After some time, he came back with two tickets for an overnight train from Nanning to Hengyang which departed at either seven or eight o’clock, I don’t remember exactly. Because it was still early, Uncle Xia took me to a Muslim restaurant, and we had a Muslim meal together. Only then did I know that he was a Muslim. After dinner, we went back to the train station just when it was time to get on the train. Uncle Xia was very kind to me, taking good care of me like an uncle taking care of a niece. He knew that I liked to watch the scenery, so he let me have the window seat. We talked about many things, and I soon realized that his knowledge was very broad, and he understood all the topics I brought up.

It was deep into the night. The attendant had turned off the lights, and the passengers were falling asleep one by one. I myself had not slept well the night before I left Dongxing because I was too tense. Today I spent the whole day on the bus and the train, so by night time I was very tired. I closed my eyes and fell asleep immediately. When I woke up in the morning, I saw that Uncle Xia was sitting on the corridor floor. He let me take his seat so that I could have two seats and sleep more comforta­bly. When I saw what he had done for me, I kept on apologiz­ing to him and thanking him. He simply smiled and nodded his head without saying a word.

Hunan province is one of the main rice producing regions in China. When the train entered Hunan, from the window I saw huge plots of rice fields; it was very fascinating. Uncle Xia told me that the train was about to arrive at Hengyang. He said that upon arrival, he will need to go to another place, so I will have to buy the train ticket to Guangzhou by myself. When I heard that, I was very scared. Uncle Xia saw that I was scared, and had compass­ion on me. He encouraged me not to worry, saying that after we reach Hengyang, he will make a phone call to his sup­erior to ask for permission to change his itinerary to go to Guangzhou first, then to his final destination.

When the train arrived at Hengyang station, Uncle Xia again told me to wait for him at a corner and not to walk around. He went to make a phone call to his superior. After a while he came back with a big smile saying that he will accompany me to Guangzhou. He again used his official business trip proof to buy two tickets to Guangzhou, and we got on to the train with no difficulty. According to the train schedule, the train is expected to arrive in Guangzhou at around seven o’clock in the evening. I was grateful to Uncle Xia for his care for me, but I had told a big lie to deceive him, and felt ashamed of myself. When the train was approaching Guangzhou, I apologized to him and told him the truth. I wasn’t a student from Guangzhou but a Chinese Vietnamese escaping out of Vietnam. I was going to Guangzhou to look for my uncle. Uncle Xia smiled again and nodded his head, saying, “I knew all along that you didn’t grow up in China, because you are not like the girls in China.”

We got off at Guangzhou station. Uncle Xia said goodbye to me and walked away quietly. I haven’t seen him since. This encounter with Uncle Xia has always been in my mind in the past thirty something years. As I get older and experience more things, the more I see that this encounter is amazing and beyond explanation.

First of all, why was he willing to help me to this extent? In the journey from Nanning to Hengyang he was willing to guide me and buy me a train ticket. That could still be explained because he was travelling on the same route. After we arrived in Hengyang, he was supposed to go to another place for his official duties, but was willing to change his itinerary to help me. Even his superior allowed him to make the change at the last minute, which was amazing. He helped me out of compassion, not for his own benefit. Is there such a good person in the world? All along he knew that I was lying to him, that I wasn’t a student from Guangzhou but someone of suspicious origin, in which case he should have handed me over to the police. Even if he didn’t have the heart to do such a thing, he should at least have distanced himself from me to avoid implicating himself in case I got caught by the police.

Because I didn’t book a train ticket in advance, he used his own official business trip proof to buy me a ticket on the spot. He seemed to be a person of high standing, but the higher his standing in the country, the more he should have been careful to avoid any trouble that could arise from associat­ing with some­one of unknown origin like me. But he was willing to go through a lot of trouble even to the point of asking his superior to change his itinerary in order to accompany me all the way to Guangzhou. That was really beyond comprehension. I know it was again an amazing act of the only true God Yahweh. God used a Muslim to lead me from Dongxing to Guangzhou. Was He giving me a message through this act?

Soon after Uncle Xia and I had parted company at Guangzhou, I went around asking people which bus I should take to go to my uncle’s address. Another uncle told me to take Bus 14. When the bus came, I followed the crowd to board it. While the bus was leaving the train station square, the street lights quickly became dimmer and dimmer. In less than one minute, it was completely dark outside.

I was planning to get off when I see the street name of my uncle’s house, but now I couldn’t see a thing. What should I do? It was already past 7 p.m., almost 8 p.m., and if I should get lost at night time, there could be serious consequences. I was very scared, and my hands were shaking.

Suddenly it seemed as if a voice was speaking to me: “Get off now!” I immediately got off the bus. But after I got off, the street was pitch dark and desolate, with no one walking around. I was standing there alone, shaking. Then I saw a dim light far away, and immediately ran towards it. When I stood in front of the light which was coming from a house, I walked up to knock on the door despite the potential danger.

A middle-aged man opened the door, and asked me who I was looking for. I gave him my uncle’s name and asked if he knew him. It turned out that he was my uncle’s colleague from the same work unit, and that my uncle had already told him that his niece will be coming to town soon. That was another unbelievable and amazing incident!

The man took me to my uncle’s place which was right behind his house. When my uncle and my cousin saw me standing at the door, they were shocked and overjoyed. I told them how I had met Uncle Xia, and how he had brought me all the way to Guangzhou. I told them how I took Bus 14 from the train station to this place, and stumbled upon the house of my uncle’s colleague. They both said it was an extremely dangerous thing for me to do, and I was very lucky. At that time I didn’t understand a lot of things, and thought that I was lucky. But as I get older and become more experienced, I know that everything succeeded not because of luck but because of the grace and compassion of Yahweh, the only true God.

From Guangzhou to the city of Beihai in Guangxi province

I stayed temporarily at my uncle’s place, but I was not a registered resident of Guangzhou. My uncle told me not to worry about it, for he will take care of my registration. Two days later, my sister, my brother-in-law, and their toddler son arrived. Later on, more and more Chinese Vietnamese came to Guangzhou from the border towns, but none of them had a residence permit to stay in Guangzhou. So Guangzhou’s municipal government set up a temporary shelter for them in the district of Sanyuanli. My sister and brother-in-law decided to move to the shelter, but my uncle told me not to move there, but to continue staying at his house.

I would often visit the temporary shelter to see my sister and brother-in-law. The friends whom we got to know in Dongxing also arrived, one group after another. When we got together, we would obviously talk about our future, and where we might end up. Most of the Chinese Vietnamese from North Vietnam did not come to Guangzhou, but were fishermen who kept their fishing boats with them and stayed in the coastal cities of Guangxi province. On the other hand, many of the Chinese Vietnamese in Guangzhou came from South Vietnam, and were planning to negotiate with these Chinese Vietnamese fishermen to take them to Hong Kong on their fishing boats. At the same time, the Chinese government didn’t want us to stay, and encouraged us to leave China.

Not long afterwards, my brother-in-law contacted some friends and they made all the arrangements for him, my sister, and their son, to board a boat at Guangxi. I didn’t have money for the trip, so I couldn’t go along with them. I still hadn’t decided whether to leave or to stay in China. I was staying at my uncle’s place, and he loved me very much. On the other hand, I was thinking about my future. I hadn’t forgotten my childhood dream of studying overseas. My uncle loved me, yet he encouraged me to leave China. My uncle and my aunt knew that I didn’t have money, so they gave me a sum of money that they had been saving for years, and told me to look for a way to go out.

My uncle buried my mother’s ashes next to my grandmother’s tomb. My mother’s dream of thirty something years was finally fulfilled when I brought her back to the homeland. Finally she was buried safely in the soil of her homeland. I stood in front of her tomb, and made my mind to leave China, to go over­seas to rebuild my shattered future.

At the temporary shelter I met some of my old friends from Dongxing. One of them was Aunt Q, a woman in her fifty’s who used to be a businesswoman in Saigon. Her husband had passed away, and her children were staying in the United States and Hong Kong. I brought her back to my uncle’s place for dinner, and he discerned that she was reliable and was experienced in dealing with people in society. He knew that my going to Guangxi to make a deal with the Chinese Vietnamese fisher­men would be risky and that I would be easily deceived. He said he would let me go to Guangxi only on the condition that Aunt Q was willing to take me along with her. When I brought her to my uncle’s place for a second time for dinner, he asked her directly whether she would be willing to take me along with her to leave China. She immediately agreed.

Soon Aunt Q was negotiating with some people to arrange a trip to Guangxi. I didn’t understand many things, and just followed her wherever she went. She was very capable, and everything was arranged within a short time. At the end of 1978, in mid-December, I said goodbye to my uncle’s family and journeyed off once again. I had stayed in Guangzhou for around seven mouths. Aunt Q and I, with seven or eight others, all of them friends we got to know in Dongxing, departed from Guangzhou, passing through Jiangmen and Zhanjiang, and finally reached the city of Beihai in Guangxi province.

There were Chinese Vietnamese everywhere in Beihai, and everyone was talking openly about leaving by fishing boat. The Chinese govern­ment was aware of our purpose in coming to Beihai, and encouraged us to take the fishing boats to leave China. But we were not allowed to take along any Chinese citizen. Therefore whenever a Vietnamese fishing boat was about to leave, the Chinese government would send police officers to check every passenger’s ID to make sure that everyone was Chinese Vietnam­ese, and not a Chinese citizen.

Braving the wind and the waves, we sailed to Hong Kong

We all stayed at a small inn, and every day Aunt Q and several uncles would negotiate with the fishermen. I and some girls of similar age walked to the harbor to gaze at the sea and to daydream about the future. We stayed in Beihai for around one month. After everything had been arranged, in mid-January 1979 we boarded a Vietnamese fishing boat and left China. Looking back, I arrived in China in mid-February 1978, and left China in January 1979, staying in China a total of eleven months.

The fishing boat that we took was primitive, with two sails and no engine. It was operated by a helms­man and two or three sailors who assisted him. There was a total of 23 passengers. The helmsman explained to us that the boat will sail along China’s coast line. The boat will not venture into international waters because it was too small to survive the stormy waves in those waters. He said that the most dangerous segment was the Qiongzhou strait that ran between Guangdong province and Hainan island. Even on sunny days the waves would surge towards the sky, and many boats had gotten into grave danger in that region. He estimated that it would take slightly more than one month to reach Hong Kong. They had sufficient food and water on the boat for around twenty days, but we could sail to the towns along the Chinese coast to buy food and water. He told us to lie on the lower deck and avoid the upper deck because of the strong winds and waves. I didn’t know how to swim, yet the strange thing was that I wasn’t afraid at all, being filled with the same warmth and peace that I had while crossing the China-Vietnam border. The peace filled my heart once again, and I knew with absolute certainty that I will reach Hong Kong safely.

Our fishing boat would sail by day and anchor by night. The winds and waves were truly strong. Most of the people got seasick and vomited, but I was completely fine. All the way from Beihai to Hong Kong I didn’t vomit once, and was even able to help those who were vomiting badly.

After sailing a few days, we encountered a Chinese fishing boat that was much bigger than ours, and was equipped with a powerful engine. We told them that our boat was transporting a group of Chinese Vietnamese out of Vietnam, and that we were planning to sail along China’s coast to go to Hong Kong. We asked them about the situation in Qiongzhou strait, and they said it was really turbulent there. Moreover, there was an undercurrent which could pose a great danger to our boat which was small and lacked an engine. Some people in our boat immediately asked them if they would be willing to pull us through the strait with a rope. We asked them to name a price to begin negotiation. The Chinese fishermen were very interested, and after several offers and counter offers, we agreed on the price. These Chinese fishermen and our sailors used several huge ropes to tie the two boats toget­her, with the Chinese fishing boat in front, and our boat being towed behind, as we travelled together towards Qiong­zhou strait. Our boat was being pulled, so we lowered the two sails.

After one or two days we were approaching Qiongzhou strait, and both boats anchored. Our sailors and the Chinese fishermen listened attentively to the radio weather forecast to decide which day to sail through the strait. Our helmsman told all of us to stay in the lower deck, and not go to the upper deck where he and his assistants were working. We entered Qiongzhou strait around 8 o’clock in the morn­ing. The waves billowed to the skies, tossing our small boat midair, and then throwing it down. Everyone in the lower deck was vomiting except me. I wasn’t scared at all, which is amazing! I was even running back and forth to take care of the others. Later, when the smell was getting unbearable, I went to the upper deck to breath in some fresh air. I was squatting at a corner of the upper deck, and watching wave after wave coming at us. The big Chinese fishing boat was pulling us forward, braving the winds and the waves. Only then did I truly understand what the Chinese phrase “braving wind and waves” meant. I saw the waves going up and down, one moment lifting the big fishing boat mid-air about two stories high, with our small boat below. The next moment things were reversed: we were tossed mid-air while the big fishing boat was below us. Then we would be thrown down again while the big fishing boat was tossed mid-air. I was not afraid at all, for the same peace and warmth surrounded me and wrapped me with a sense of security. I even took in the magnificence of the scene that is seldom seen in one’s lifetime.

A few hours later, at around three or four o’clock in the afternoon, we had safely sailed through Qiongzhou strait, and the waves became calm. We fervently thanked the Chinese fisherman for their help, and they eagerly returned home for the Chinese Lunar New Year. It was only then that I realized that it was the Chinese Lunar New Year. Last year, on the second day of the Lunar New Year, at one o’clock early morning, I left my home in Saigon to go up north. One year had since passed, and I didn’t know when I will ever come back to China again.

Our small boat was sailing slowly towards Hong Kong, but everyone was getting weaker and weaker because they had been vomiting every day. Most of the food they took in had been vomited out. Only I and the helmsman and his assistants were not affected. We were hoping to reach Hong Kong earlier, but our small boat relied on sails; and with the wind against us, we could only sail a short distance every day.

A few days later, we encountered a small boat from South Vietnam. It was even smaller than ours, but it was equipped with an engine. There was only one family on the boat. They had run out of engine fuel, and the boat was floating in the ocean. Their food supply was finished, and they hadn’t eaten for two days. They thought that they would certainly die, and could not imagine that they would run into us. We immediately gave them food. We all felt very excited because having company was the best thing that could happen in the lonely boundless ocean. After they had eaten sufficiently, the sailors from both boats discussed things among themselves and came up with a plan. Because the other boat couldn’t travel after running out of fuel, our boat could pull them to the nearest town to buy fuel and food. Our boat was small, but the other boat was even smaller. Pulling the other boat would slow our sailing considerably, but we only had to travel a short distance, which we believe we would be able to cover. And after they buy enough fuel, it will be their turn to pull us. Their small boat was equipped with a high-powered engine that could tow us to Hong Kong without much problem.

After buying fuel and food from a coastal town, we set off for Hong Kong. The people of both boats wanted to reach Hong Kong as soon as possible after having spent a long time sailing at day and anchoring at night. We didn’t delay further, and decided to have both boats go non-stop day and night, with the sailors taking turns to rest. We estimated that it wouldn’t take more than ten days to reach Hong Kong.

The two boats were tied toget­her to go to Hong Kong non-stop day and night. The engine was very powerful, and we were travelling at relatively high speed. After travelling seven or eight days at high speed, our helmsman told us one afternoon that we had passed Macau, and that we will be reaching Hong Kong in a few hours. The waters between Macau and Hong Kong were very rough, almost as rough as those of the Qiong­zhou strait. Even the helms­man’s assistants were vomiting. Only the helmsman and I were not affected. A girl was vomiting blood because her stomach had been damaged by uncontrollable vomiting. She was crying, “I don’t want to live anymore, just let me die!” I encouraged her, “Don’t just think about yourself, think about your father and mother in Vietnam who are waiting for news from you, think about your brothers and sisters in France who are waiting for news from you, think about your boyfriend in Hong Kong who is waiting for news from you. We have already gone through so much danger and suffering, and we will reach Hong Kong in just a few hours. So you must carry on!”

At around nine o’clock in the evening, a Hong Kong coast guard boat stopped our two boats. We knew that we had reached the territorial waters of Hong Kong, so we all rejoiced, jumping up and down like little children. The Hong Kong coast guards searched the two boats to make sure that there were no weapons or drugs, then they towed our two boats with their huge coast guard boat. Around midnight we reached the piers of Kowloon. We had spent 46 days at sea, setting off from Beihai in January 1979, and finally reaching Hong Kong in mid-February.