It took another four years before Tow received another letter from his son Fah in China. The letter was opened before being sent out. Some parts were clearly blanked out.
Fah had got married to a woman from the same hospital. Her father was a teacher from a town near Khang. This meant she was more used to the cold weather and he had a larger circle of relatives.
Fah also had some news of his sister Teh. She was asked to change to a lower ranked university. But she finally graduated with a education degree. the letter's blanked off part was about her treatment. Tow subsequently knew she was also badly treated for the same reason as her brother. It was no use to defend herself that she volunteered to stay on in China after 1949 out of revolutionary patriotism. Fortunately her English skills learnt while in Hong Kong was useful. She was assigned to teach English and translation at a foreign language College. It was subsequently revealed that she was closely monitored in this College.
In Hong Kong, Tow and his wife were happy with their second daughter Sie. She could not enter the only university as it was very difficult to enter. Instead she took nursing studies and got qualified. Due to her good looks and pleasant personality, she got on well with and married a medical doctor.
In subsequent years, Tow got some indirect news from time to times of Fah and family and of Teh. In general, times were difficult in China. Many in China died of starvation at the time of the 'Great Leap Forward' from 1958 to 1961. Fah and Teh continued to get bad treatment and distrust due to their overseas Chinese bourgeois background. Generally, treatment of anyone with both educated and bourgeois background very harsh during the time of the 'Cultural Revolution'. This
started in 1966 for about 10 years. Many were sent to the villages to do manual work.
Tow, his wife, and Sie were still not allowed to enter China to visit Fah and Teh, due very much to Tow being an overseas Chinese bourgeois. Even money and food sent up were not received. The family had find this emotionally very difficult.
It was only in 1970 that there were slight relaxation of the entry restrictions. Sie was the first to enter China and had touching separate meetings with his sister, and his brother which she had never seen since 1949.
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