Description

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In a dim afternoon of May in 1954, two young Chinese lovers are surrounded by four or five fully armed Burmese Policemen, standing on the bank of the Shweli river. They are Hun Jin and Shou Chan, both are just finished high school, and because of the Cultural Revolution raging in China, all the students are being ordered Chinese Communist Government, to go the countryside to live and learn from the poor farmers and the simplicity of the agricultural life style. Instead of doing what they're been forced to do they've escaped. So innocently, they're thinking the US embassy would shelter them and the Burmese Government would embrace them with a big warm hug, but no, people are being violently gunned down or jailed. Hun Jin and Shou Chan are just about to be pushed out onto a violent river for a long perilous voyage on a tiny boat. On the other side of the river, the Communists Soldiers of the Burmese are guarding closely with machine guns, and are ready to shoot at any intruders. An older local Chinese man who acts as the translator, whispers to them "no worries, people are crossing this river all the time, and are not being gunned down by hundreds of bullets or drowned in the river;" If they can swim their way back, he'll shelter them and point them to a safer direction. The two young lovers, holding their hands tight and facing their dooms together; realizing how naive they were; their dreams and hopes have sunken to the deepest and darkest place without a sound. The police pushed the little canoe into to the open river, as they are drifting away, the China man sighs, he prays for the young and innocent lives. The waves are crashing and tumbling, Hun Jin is an athletically built man, swimming across this river for him is not a big deal, but for his high school sweetheart- Shou Chan, it could be fatal. They hold on to each other, as if there are only them two left on the earth, and all they'll need is each other. The bushes are beginning to shake, some dark shadows circling closer and closer. They see the men with machine guns are ambushed along the river bank, Shou Chan turns and tells Hun Jin to jump in the water and swim away. Hun Jin dives into the water then he hears the gun shots surrounding them, the phantoms in the bushes have opened fire at them. Hun Jin swims near the canoe, yells to Shou Chan asking her to jump in the water. Shou Chan cannot swim, but the bullets are shooting closely and even thrusting into the boat. The world seems to be silent, Shou Chan can't hear anything anymore, in her heart thinking - if I had to die, at this moment, I am glad to die with you, Hun Jin.

About the Author

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Tseng Yen is a multiple award winning author from Taipei, Taiwan. She was born in the city of Kunming of China. She escaped from China while the atrocities of the Cultural Revolution were crippling the country. She was only a high school student, schools were shut down, educators were accused as the anti-communists right wings. She and her high school sweet heart, Yang Lin, then husband with four other students crossed the boarder of China to Burma, and were captured and were put in the jail as illegal immigrants. Some local Chinese people helped her and her husband got out of jail a year after the captures. They finally got to Thailand where both of them were teaching in a school of a refugee village in Northern Thailand. She began her writing career during the nights, under a tiny yellow oil lit light, after long days of teaching and taking care of her two little daughters. Her first book the "Rainbow Jade" quickly became the sensation in Taiwan and in the Chinese communities around the world. This development has ignited attentions to the destitute Village, and eventually led her to the free world - Taiwan. She had about twenty books published, and was a literature editor in the Youth Daily News of Ministry of National Defense for thirty years. She is now retired and enjoying taking care of and playing with her beloved first granddaughter.