manipulated by a small band of troublemakers. The grain and furniture we’ve confiscated is now state property. Do not touch them . . .’ Blazing torches fly into the playground, lighting up piles of doors, aluminium window frames and wooden rafters expropriated from the demolished houses. Below a locust tree further away, flames begin to rise from a heap of confiscated wardrobes, bookcases, fridges, enamel basins and trussed pigs. A cluster of ducks and chickens scurry off to a dark corner, frightened by the noise, while the family planning officers dart about, trying frantically to put out the flames. Outside in the lane, an angry mob swing their hoes and spades at a white slogan painted on the compound wall which reads: SEVER THE FALLOPIAN TUBES OF POVERTY; INSERT THE IUDS OF PROSPERITY. A crack opens which grows larger and larger until the whole wall tumbles down. Fearing for their lives, the family planning officers run to a ladder and escape over the back compound wall.
Mother stands by the gates and watches villagers surge into the playground and search through the piles, pulling out their spades, basins or chairs. Holding a kitchen clock close to her chest, a frail, spindly woman wanders through the crowd shouting, ‘Xiang, Xiang, where are you?’ Two boys in army caps waving long sticks herd a flock of mongrel ducks over the rubble of the fallen wall and off into a dark lane. Unable to find Father, Mother hurries home. Still gripping her electric torch, she runs down the treeless lanes that are illuminated by the fires’ orange glow. In a corner buffeted by the north wind lies a swept-up heap of snow scattered with dog faeces and the red shells of firecrackers that were detonated at Spring Festival.
KEYWORDS: birth permit, Dark Water River, family planning office, propaganda van, Sky Beyond the Sky, subversive slogans.
JUST AS DAWN is beginning to break, Kongzi creeps back into the house, collapses on the bed and pulls off his grimy glasses. ‘The county authorities are sending a thousand riot police to the village and a truckload of Alsatian dogs. We must escape at once.’
‘Where to?’ Meili says. ‘Why don’t we just hide in the dugout?’
‘No, Kong Guo knows about it. He’s been arrested, and is bound to give us away.’
‘Why are you wearing that black armband?’ She has only just managed to doze off, and her eyes are heavy with sleep.
‘The police beat two villagers to death last night. We were so outraged, we hitched rides to Hexi and joined the protests outside the Party headquarters. There were thirty thousand peasants surrounding it. Can you imagine? They’d come from villages all over the county to protest against the crackdown. The police cordon was four-men thick, but we still managed to set light to the building. The Family Planning Commission nearby had already burnt to a cinder. If the One Child Policy isn’t repealed soon, there’s going to be a revolution.’
‘Is that blood on your hands?’ asks Meili nervously.
‘No, red paint. I wrote some slogans on the wall. If you weren’t pregnant, I would have gone to the county police station today and tried to rescue Kong Guo and the others.’
‘Subversive slogans? Are you mad?’ Meili runs her fingers through the tangles of her hair which still smell of the musty quilt.
‘All I wrote was: “Bring Down the County Party Secretary and Execute the County Chief”. I didn’t dare write “Bring Down the Communist Party”.’
‘Trying to show off your talent for calligraphy again! How could you be so stupid? You could get five years in jail for that.’
‘They won’t be able to pin it on me. The whole county is in revolt. But we must leave today, or the baby won’t survive. The officers are prowling the village with bloodshot eyes, carrying out abortions in broad daylight. I’ve just been told about Yuanyuan. She left our dugout last night and went to hide near the reservoir, but the family planning officers hunted her down. They pushed her against the bank, pinned her arms down with their knees and injected her belly with disinfectant . . . My parents have guessed that you’re pregnant. They would want us to leave. Did Nannan sleep at their house last night? Well, we can collect her on our way, then. Let’s pack our bags. We’ll return once the baby’s born. Hurry! We’ll need our residence permits, the birth permits, our marriage certificate, cash . . .’