3. Family Reunion

The 'Cultural Revolution' went on until Mao died in 1976. In the same year, the 'gang of four' who pursued the excesses in the name of Mao were also arrested.

Tow right away arranged to visit his son and daughter in China. He first got help from some friends in position in China. Then he asked his wife to go. She did get permission to enter China to visit both her son and her daughter separately. They also had not seen each other since 1949 although they had since talked on the long distance telephone.

After his wife's visit, Tow arranged a family get together at Khang where Fah and his family still stayed. To travel to the city Khang, Teh needed permission which she got. Finally they held this happy reunion in 1977.

By then, Fah had two children. His wife was not in good health, very much due to the excessive sufferings during the Cultural Revolution. Tow's wife was also not in good health. Teh was still not married. Her patriotic revolutionary zeal was already gone.

By 1978, in China, Deng Xiaoping took over leadership and turned China around to go for economic reform. He also gradually removed some unrealistic excesses of the past political policies.

Tow wasted no time to arrange getting Teh out of China. It was very useful that Teh was born in Hong Kong and not mainland China. He got the permission for her and she got out in 1979 to a very different sociey, very commercial. At first she had difficulty finding a good job. After getting used to the Hong Kong society, she got a job doing translation.

Getting Fah and family out of China was more difficult. Fah first came over himself for a visit to check on the new environment and his medical qualification. The latter was unfortunately not recognised. Schools for his children were also a problem. Thus Fah and his family stayed on longer in a slowly transforming China.