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SMHRIC . New York
Ms.Huuchinhuu, ethnic Mongolian dissident writer in Southern (Inner)
Mongolia. (SMHRIC photo)
The following is an essay by Ms. Huuchinhuu, an ethnic Mongolian
dissident writer, who has been put under house arrest recently by
the Chinese authorities for rallying the Mongols to greet the
prominent ethnic Mongolian political prisoner Hada upon his release
on December 10, 2010. The essay was originally written in Chinese
and sent to the Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Center (SMHRIC)
via email through one of Huuchinhuu's friends. The English
translation is by SMHRIC:
My 56th Birthday
By Huuchinhuu
Tongliao City, Southern (Inner) Mongolia
November 26, 2010
Today I spent my birthday under house arrest.
On this same day in 2007, annoyed by the confiscation of my book and
a sciatica attack, I marked my birthday with two friends, moving my
body in a way that can only be described as crawling. I can never
forget how I was attempting to find a little bit of solace and
happiness out of the frustration and pain I felt that day. The
following year, 2008, a nephew and a niece of mine brought me gifts
and we celebrated my birthday together. My son sent me some clothes
and cosmetics as well. I was living my life feeling so adrift,
without that single place that one calls home. Unhappy events, cold
weather and social injustice frequently were visited upon me. In
2009 with my son I had a small but very pleasant birthday in Qiong
Hai City. I was still drifting around. Today I am spending my 56th
birthday in a cage with a profound feeling of accepting myself as
both a stranger and a prisoner. Since 2007 I have been living a life
just drifting from place to place. This drifting life and suffering
were a direct result of the confiscation of my book which brought me
a 30,000 yuan (approx 5,000 USD) huge debt. I had no choice. I had
to sell my apartment, my only property, to pay this debt and the
remainder I used as a down-payment on my future house. Destiny makes
fools of people. But in a society where trust means nothing, the
construction contractor of the apartment complex fled with the
down-payments collected from the applicants leaving just the shell
of a building. At the same time, heartbreaking news: 40 boxes of my
books that I had managed to hide in my relative¡¯s basement were
flooded several times by water. My relatives had no other safe place
to store them. Nearly 200 CDs that I always regarded as my small
library where the big portion of my book contents was saved were
also destroyed by the floods. Forget about my other items damaged by
the floods, some electronics and book shelves.
Now, I am put under house arrest in my rented house by the Public
Security Bureau. Therefore I always say to myself that I am
guest-cum-prisoner. Some Public Security personnel reminded me that
¡°in fact they are very kind to me¡±. Perhaps they are right, because
they haven¡¯t beaten me up yet. They haven¡¯t thrown bad words at me
either. I¡¯ve come around to thinking that the saddest event in human
life is when one drops tears in thanks for the mercy of those who
deprived one¡¯s freedom? Luckily, I don¡¯t have this feeling of
thankfulness to drop my tears. What I am really desperately longing
for is freedom and a normal human life. To me having a normal human
life in my own home, cold and small as it may be, means so much.
Unfortunately this simple hope seems too distant from me, and there
is no sign telling me when it might arrive.
My imprisonment is my misfortune. However, the most unfortunate
event is that the Southern Mongolians have lost their freedom as a
people. My personal misery would be nothing if the Mongolian people
enjoyed freedom. A middle-aged Mongolian man had been arrested and
detained for 97 days merely for running a Mongolian website. He was
released on bail, but has no freedom at all; a young Mongolian was
locked up for writing and singing a song. No one knows if he is
freed or not. Friends of mine were planning to meet Hada upon his
release, but they were ¡°advised¡± not to meet with Hada. I heard
these while under house arrest. How many others have been ¡°advised¡±
or locked up is completely beyond knowledge.
Isn¡¯t it reasonable and expected that friends meet with a prisoner
upon his release after their jail term even if he or she was a
criminal? Let alone Hada, a prisoner of conscience, imprisoned
purely for his political opinions. It really does not matter what he
advocated as far as right or wrong. Above all, he is an individual
human being who has been arbitrarily jailed for 15 years. As
friends, people who respect and admire him, what is wrong to welcome
and cheer for him. But the Chinese authorities have no tolerance for
this most fundamental, humane and universal human emotion ---
personal friendship. I am totally puzzled with their behavior. Are
they afraid that a few cheering people might cause trouble? Is that
even possible under the tight control of the authorities¡¯ massive
police and army? I am still totally puzzled.
Waking up in the morning with a headache and fever I wanted to go to
the doctor. Three plain-clothes police followed me closely.
Frustrated I went shopping instead and wanted to buy a scarf or
something I might like to congratulate myself for surviving the dark
and uneasy 56 years. But I didn¡¯t buy anything. There was nothing I
liked. Then I went to the Telecommunications Bureau to apply for an
Internet access. They told me earlier that once I have a base phone
unit it can be setup any time since the cable is already there. The
¡°visitors¡± from the Public Security Bureau delayed my request
yesterday for setting this up. Today the Telecommunication people
asked me this and that and the final answer was ¡°No!¡± Had I come
yesterday would it have been ok? I don¡¯t think so. I forgot that
this is a government that is afraid of the Internet. Actually even
if I had the Internet it is impossible for me to tell people what is
happening in plain and simple language. In fact the Public Security
have no need to conceal things so carefully because people already
know about those things. If you don¡¯t want people to know what you
do, don¡¯t do it.
That¡¯s how my birthday passed. It is worth celebrating because I am
still alive. To a person who does not really care about dying, life
has its own meaning as does death. Let me celebrate my own 56 years
of rough and rugged way of life.
In the evening, relatives and friends came with cakes and wines to
celebrate my birthday. I felt happiness out of unhappiness. Every
one pretended to ignore the watchers outside the door and tried to
be happy. In the midst of the celebration I received a phone call
from a customer who ordered an item from my small online business
that I setup for myself to make ends meet. Friends are happy for me
for my birthday gift is sold. In order to provide a satisfactory
service to my customer I rushed to an Internet caf¨¦ nearby. Two
plain-clothes police, an older one and a young one, followed me to
the Internet caf¨¦. I gave my identity card and the fee to the
Internet caf¨¦ attendant. But the followers got them back from the
attendant and told me that ¡°this is not allowed by the higher-ups¡±.
I called the Director of State Internal Security Protection
Department of Public Security Bureau immediately about this. He
asked me to ¡°do it tomorrow¡±. I raised my voice and told him, ¡°you
have forcibly locked me up, and harassed my business for 8 days
already. The customer has made the payment and is waiting for the
item. Isn¡¯t it too much for you to interfere in this?¡± He asked me
not to do anything but the business. I was allowed to go online
once. It was difficult ¡. (2010-11-18).
On the morning of November 23, Wang Bo, Director of the State
Internal Security Protection Brigade, along with other police came
to my house and took me to their leader. They took me to the office
of Geng Shuying, Deputy Director of Horchin District Public Security
Bureau. He showed me a print-out and asked me to confirm if it was
my article. I took a quick look at it. They were my posts to the
Internet as early as 2001 to 2004. While taking notes himself of
what I said he asked me to explain about a sentence from the posts,
¡°what did you mean by saying that there is a conspiracy going on to
wipe out the Mongolian language and culture from Southern Mongolia?
Who is the conspirator?¡± I told him, ¡°the Chinese Communist Party¡¯s
policy is to wipe out Mongolian language and culture from Southern
Mongolia!¡± He continues, ¡°what do you mean by ¡®we need a popular
project¡¯? what is this project?¡± I told him, ¡°you should write down
the whole sentence. Otherwise, I suspect you will just pick what you
need to accuse me.¡± He said I omitted some part in the post that he
has in his hands. I said to him, ¡°the post is very clear. One should
learn how to tell truth and learn how to strive for their rights.¡±
He continues his question, ¡°where is the so-called ¡®Southern
Mongolia¡¯ you mentioned in your posts?¡± I answered ¡°it is the
Mongolia south of Gobi Desert.¡± ¡°What is the Mongolia south of Gobi
Desert?¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t you claim you majored in history? It is a name
descended from history referring to the Mongolia south of the Gobi
Desert.¡± ¡°What is the Mongolia north of the Gobi Desert then?¡± I
told him, ¡°it is the independent country of Mongolia. Historically
Southern Mongolia and Northern Mongolia had always been an integral
part of Mongolia, an independent nation. Before Qing Dynasty there
was no such thing as ¡®Northern Mongolia¡¯ and ¡®Southern Mongolia¡¯.¡±
He asked, ¡°we Chinese call it ¡®Inner Mongolia¡¯, but you say it is
¡®Southern Mongolia¡¯. Do you think it is appropriate?¡± I asked him,
¡°are you trying to persecute me for what words I picked from my
vocabulary as was the case during the Cultural Revolution? I will
still say it is Southern Mongolia.¡± ¡°Who did you write these posts
for?¡± he continues the interrogation. ¡°I wrote them to whoever can
read them. Now it is for you. In fact, I was calling on my fellow
Mongolians with them,¡± I replied.
He asked: ¡°why do you need to call on them?¡±
I said: ¡°I call on them to fight for their legal rights. I call on
them not to send their children to Chinese schools.¡±
He said: ¡°Sending the children to which school is not important.¡±
I said: ¡°It is extremely important, because language and literature
are determinants of the culture of a nation. Without language and
literature a people or nation will go extinct.¡±
He said: ¡°Language and literature are not important. But learning
foreign language is important.¡±
I asked: ¡°Are you suggesting to learn foreign language? I guess your
children learned two languages. My son learned four languages. I am
not an anti-foreign-language. What I am saying is not to forget the
native language. How would you feel if you were schooled in
English?¡±
He said: ¡°My people did not give up our native language, but your
people have given up your language. You should not blame others for
this.¡±
I said: ¡°It is the Government that has caused the marginalization of
the Mongolian language.¡±
He asked: ¡°Why do you say the current policy is intended to wipe out
Mongolian language and culture?¡±
I said: ¡°It is so because the Mongolian language and culture are
marginalized under Government led initiatives. For example, November
3, 2003 is the first time that prospective government employees had
to compete through oral presentations. All nine judges are Chinese,
none of whom understands Mongolian. Every minute or two, the
Mongolian presenters were interrupted for the Chinese
interpretation. Forget about the accuracy of the interpretation. Who
can perform well with this type of frequent interruption? Do you
think this type of interview is fair?¡±
He said: ¡°If your knowledge level is high enough you would not be
affected by even more frequent interruption.¡±
The conversation went on without any organization until I was tired
of talking to him any more. For example, I told him, ¡°the reason why
the international community pays close attentions to the Chinese
human rights condition is that the Chinese human rights problem is
indeed very serious.¡± He asked me, ¡°paying attention? What¡¯s the use
of it?¡± Like this the conversation turned into an argument only for
the sake of arguing. The main content of his notes are about my
internet posts. He asked me to admit that I wrote these posts, and
forced me to leave my finger prints on them. After I left my finger
prints I told him, ¡°Hada will be freed soon. He is a sign and symbol
of our Mongolian people. I am sure you are collecting evidence to
throw me into jail after Hada¡¯s release. Aren¡¯t you? I don¡¯t mind
being jailed because in fact Southern Mongolians need this symbol
anyway.¡± He said, ¡°I will visit your home again¡±. I objected, ¡°I
don¡¯t welcome people who are not honest. Citizens¡¯ residence should
be free from invader¡¯s harassment.¡± I left his office.
In the evening, students of mine invited me to have dinner together.
The plain-clothes police who followed me like shadows also came to
the restaurant and occupied a table ordering dinner as well. After
the dinner when with my nieces we four ladies chatted in my home,
PSB Director Geng Shuying along with four people from the State
Internal Security Protection Brigade rushed into my home and started
questioning who these visitors are, what work they do, where they
live and what relationship they have with me. It was already 8:00
PM. I asked him, ¡°Mr. Director, you are not a census worker. Why are
you questioning about their personal information?¡± When he asked
again about the relationship with one of my students, I told him,
¡°she is my student. That is none of your business here. Get out of
my house. Give us our privacy.¡± Angered by my attitude, one female
police grabbed my student¡¯s bag and pulled her out of my home and
left. Now the PSB Director Geng started yelling at me and complained
that I never stopped making trouble by ¡°messing with them¡±. I asked
him to explain who ¡°they¡± is referring to and what he means by
¡°messing up¡±. He gave me a ferocious stare and said ¡°you know what I
am talking about.¡± In fact one of these police had accompanied me
the entire afternoon. He told me, ¡°you had talked with this student
about your house arrest.¡± I replied, ¡°You have done it. Why am I not
allowed to talk about it?¡± He angrily stood up and pointed his
finger at my nieces, ¡°stop buying her any phone card! From now on
all of her outdoor activities will be strictly prohibited!¡± Then he
turned to me and pointed his finger at me, and shouted, ¡°originally
we did not plan to lock you up. But you want it. We have no choice!¡±
At that moment, I received a phone call. Since I was not in the mood
for talking I hung up the phone after excusing myself from the
caller. He scolded me angrily and asked who the caller was. ¡°None of
your business,¡± I told him. He pointed his finger at me again and
said ¡°fine, you will see what will happen to you!¡± as he slammed the
door behind him. I was not able to find the answer to my question:
why is Chinese law so arbitrary that the enforcers can imprison
whoever they want to imprison?
In fact today¡¯s dinner was the only normal meal that I had since my
house arrest on November 11. Yet, it brought trouble to those who
invited me. After Geng left, I called my student and asked to make
sure she was not taken away or threatened. She appeased me and told
me that she was brought back to her home by the police. In fact I
had the right and courage to resist their unlawful act of harassing
my guests. But I tolerated it because I was aware that that would
have caused even more trouble to them and even others. I asked the
Director to think about his own image and to be aware of the
¡°appropriate etiquette for a visitor¡±. He yelled at me and said he
is not a visitor, but he is here to do his work. I told him, ¡°this
is not your office. You should know intruding people¡¯s residence is
illegal.¡± I did not chase him away in order not to embarrass him in
front of his followers. But I know this doesn¡¯t mean it is the end
of the story.
Today is November 24. I have already been under house arrest for two
weeks. Before noon, I went to complete some paper work for my sick
sister¡¯s medical records with police at my side. Shortly after I
arrived home, Wang Bo, Director of State Security Protection
Brigade, and Wang Aijun, Deputy Director of the Brigade, came to my
house. With a very serious attitude Wang Bo said, ¡°you should
respect our leader. In fact, he had helped you a lot. Otherwise you
would have been imprisoned long ago.¡± I said immediately back to
him, ¡°you are law enforcers. If I violated the law I should have
been brought to justice.¡± Wang Aijun asked, ¡°where is your medical
record? Bring it to us.¡± I told them, ¡°my medical record is at the
hospital. Why are you searching for it?¡±. He said, ¡°we are still
trying to help you.¡± I shouted, ¡°stop pretending to help me. I don¡¯t
mind being arrested if I violate the law. None of you is taking my
case seriously. After depriving me of my freedom, under the excuse
of helping me you intruders are now threatening and harassing me. I
warn you to not even think of giving me this type of help which I
don¡¯t need. Instead return my freedom and legal rights. You have
already violated the law. You must end your violation of my rights.
I assure you that I will refuse to talk to your Bureau Director next
time. I will not authorize you to go to the hospital to make a copy
of my medical records. I don¡¯t need your ¡°kind help¡±. Have you
thought about how rudely you treat those who are weaker than you
using your state apparatus and forceful sanctions? If you are
confident about your strength then go ahead and bring those corrupt
officials and gangs who are posing imminent threats to society to
justice. I cried and criticized them without hesitation. Wang Bo
pointed his finger at me and said before leaving, ¡°you will see, you
pigheaded old lady!¡±
Two weeks of nightmare has passed. Originally I thought they are
just preventing me from seeing Hada by guarding me. Now I think it
is not that simple. They are trying to anger me to want me to say
something that can be used as evidence for their legal accusations
against me. They think their world will be free from trouble if they
put me into jail. Is this the so-called ¡°stability maintenance¡±? I
laugh at them.
Who is the real actor causing the instability? Is it the citizens or
the Government and its officials? As early as July 2 this year, two
police officers named Pan Haibo and Wang Aijun came to my house,
claiming that they are ¡°investigating the potential factors of
social conflict¡±. I told them that social conflict is not caused by
citizens but by the system. Changing this system can¡¯t be done by
the citizens, but can be done by the Central Government and other
local governments. When I asked if the word of their commander is a
law to them, they said yes. I laughed at them and told them, ¡°you
are wrong, because you call yourself ¡®people¡¯s police¡±. Neither do
you call yourself ¡®government¡¯s police¡¯ or ¡®Party¡¯s police or
Commanders¡¯ police¡¯. You are duty bound to guard the people¡¯s
well-being. There are so many corrupt officials who ask you to act
for their interest. You still carry out whatever tasks they have
given to you. Isn¡¯t that kind of conduct evil? Now you say you are
inspecting the factors of social instability. In fact you are spying
on who is thinking and doing what¡..¡± I mentioned to them various
issues regarding the ethnic problems. I also gave them a copy of my
open letter to President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao.
Under my current circumstances I don¡¯t feel this is my personal
misfortune. It is a nation¡¯s tragedy created by another nation¡¯s
dictatorial repression. The marginalization of Mongolian culture,
its continuing deterioration that is not effectively mitigated, and
people¡¯s frustration and disaffection that can¡¯t be expressed are
all a direct result of the authorities¡¯ brutal violation of human
rights. It is the authorities¡¯ will to create an atmosphere of
terror under which people are fearful of everything. This type of
¡°stability maintenance¡±, I think, in fact is very weak. The real
instability has been created by the government. In his speech in Xia
Men University, the Chinese dissident Han Han said, ¡°masked word
terms have their limits. The increase in the number of masked word
terms speeds up its extinction.¡± The same is true for systems that
subvert their own laws and cause havoc, those too have their own
limits. What they carry are the root-cause seeds of the very
destruction of what they are attempting to protect. If a system
refuses to learn lessons from its own malfeasances the social
environment it created will become increasingly darker and darker.
Many individuals will sacrifice everything and even possibly give up
their lives in protest. This will more and more lead to general
condemnation and remove any validity to the entire system.
What is the true cause of various international and national
conflicts? It is the nationality question. Plundering resources and
marginalizing national cultures will, sooner or later, disintegrate
a country. It is a natural law that this as a factor of opposition
will swell proportionately to the level of suppression until a
massive explosion occurs that might become a golden opportunity not
only for the suppressed national minorities but also for all people
under the dictatorship systems to reorganize themselves and redirect
their future. ¡°Since the fierce winter is here, wouldn¡¯t the warm
spring soon arrive?¡± I have always given myself courage to wait for
the arrival of this hopeful season for 30 years since I first saw
this well-known saying. Time has left many changes, but the
political environment is still so dark. The night has really been
long, but the dawn must arrive for sure¡
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