In September 1948, a young American couple crossed the Pacific Ocean on an American naval ship with their son John and a 2-year-old girl named Teresa. When they arrived in Shanghai, they placed little Teresa under the care of her grandmother, whom she had never met.
After she had attended high school, Han Xiu (Teresa) learned from her grandmother that she had been born in New York; her father, Willis Hanen, was a U.S. foreign military attaché who was deployed to Chongqing to help China fight Japan from 1943 to 1945, while her mother was a Chinese student who studied in the United States.
Her father only saw her once at the hospital when she was born, and divorced her mother afterward. Han Xiu’s grandmother had planned to go to Taiwan with Chiang Kai-shek’s government, but was bound to China for the rest of her life when she stayed behind to receive Han Xiu.
After she had attended high school, Han Xiu (Teresa) learned from her grandmother that she had been born in New York; her father, Willis Hanen, was a U.S. foreign military attaché who was deployed to Chongqing to help China fight Japan from 1943 to 1945, while her mother was a Chinese student who studied in the United States.
Her father only saw her once at the hospital when she was born, and divorced her mother afterward. Han Xiu’s grandmother had planned to go to Taiwan with Chiang Kai-shek’s government, but was bound to China for the rest of her life when she stayed behind to receive Han Xiu.
Though Han Xiu was an excellent student in high school, she was deemed ineligible for admittance into college because of her family background; her exam papers were automatically left ungraded and stamped with the words “unworthy of admission.”
In 1964, her school’s Party secretary told 17-year-old Han Xiu that she had to denounce her American heritage and write a statement about “severing ties” from her father in order to be allowed to attend college. When Han Xiu refused, she became one of the first Beijing students to be sent to live and settle in the countryside.
“I just thought that I definitely would not betray my father.” Han Xiu said, explaining why she unhesitatingly refused to denounce her American heritage when she was 17 years old.
After the Cultural Revolution started, a big-character poster was displayed at Han Xiu’s school in Shanxi Province hinting that an “advocate of imperialism” was hiding there. Things did not look good for Han Xiu, so she decided to leave Shanxi and headed to Xinjiang.
She spent the next nine years at the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps. It was in a remote desert area in southern Xinjiang where strong winds and sand blew all the time.
She lived in a damp underground, cave home and ate boiled cabbage and steamed cornbread every day. She often had excruciatingly painful back pain after being subjected to extremely harsh labor beyond the limits of her endurance. Yet Han Xiu persevered.
“All I wanted was to leave that place alive. It became my only goal,” she said.
One time Han Xiu was sitting with the crowd during a big public criticism and denunciation meeting initiated by the corp. She found the bloodshed and CCP slogans unbearable, so she wished to leave the meeting. However, as soon as she began to stand up, she was knocked unconscious by the butt of a rifle.
In 1964, her school’s Party secretary told 17-year-old Han Xiu that she had to denounce her American heritage and write a statement about “severing ties” from her father in order to be allowed to attend college. When Han Xiu refused, she became one of the first Beijing students to be sent to live and settle in the countryside.
“I just thought that I definitely would not betray my father.” Han Xiu said, explaining why she unhesitatingly refused to denounce her American heritage when she was 17 years old.
After the Cultural Revolution started, a big-character poster was displayed at Han Xiu’s school in Shanxi Province hinting that an “advocate of imperialism” was hiding there. Things did not look good for Han Xiu, so she decided to leave Shanxi and headed to Xinjiang.
She spent the next nine years at the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps. It was in a remote desert area in southern Xinjiang where strong winds and sand blew all the time.
She lived in a damp underground, cave home and ate boiled cabbage and steamed cornbread every day. She often had excruciatingly painful back pain after being subjected to extremely harsh labor beyond the limits of her endurance. Yet Han Xiu persevered.
“All I wanted was to leave that place alive. It became my only goal,” she said.
One time Han Xiu was sitting with the crowd during a big public criticism and denunciation meeting initiated by the corp. She found the bloodshed and CCP slogans unbearable, so she wished to leave the meeting. However, as soon as she began to stand up, she was knocked unconscious by the butt of a rifle.
When she awoke three days later, she found herself abandoned in the desert and half submerged in sand. She crawled back to the barracks, where she received only light treatment with a Mercurochrome solution, and that was it. However, Han Xiu suffered the effects of her injuries for years.
Han Xiu’s life in the corporation allowed her to see the true face of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and how Chinese society has been affected by it.
“In those nine years, I witnessed many promising individuals die during their exile to the remote desert borders,” she said.
“When the regime suspects something about you, they try to transform you. If they can’t transform you, they send you someplace where the harsh labor eventually kills you, thereby completely destroying your physical body.”
“Throughout the years, the CCP with its unchanging tactics has targeted intellectuals as well as other social groups. The tactics have seemed to work,” she said.
Han Xiu’s life in the corporation allowed her to see the true face of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and how Chinese society has been affected by it.
“In those nine years, I witnessed many promising individuals die during their exile to the remote desert borders,” she said.
“When the regime suspects something about you, they try to transform you. If they can’t transform you, they send you someplace where the harsh labor eventually kills you, thereby completely destroying your physical body.”
“Throughout the years, the CCP with its unchanging tactics has targeted intellectuals as well as other social groups. The tactics have seemed to work,” she said.
Determined to Return to the US
Han Xiu was assigned to work in a large collective factory in Beijing upon her return from Xinjiang in 1976. The Party secretary there was pleased with her work and helped her reclaim her birth certificate and U.S. passport, which had been confiscated by the authorities during the Cultural Revolution, from the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau.
Han Xiu then went to the Beijing Public Security Bureau Foreign Affairs Office in hopes of confirming her American citizenship and returning to the United States. However, the bureau eventually told her that her documents had expired and were useless in both the United States and China.
Yet, Han Xiu did not give up. Instead, she decided to pay a visit to the U.S. Liaison Office in Beijing (established after Nixon’s visit to China, the Liaison Office preceded the establishment of formal diplomatic relations between the United States and China).
It was on Feb. 21, 1977, the most unforgettable day in Han Xiu’s life, when she stepped across the white line at the entrance of the U.S. Liaison Office in Beijing. A rifle-toting military police officer immediately rushed to her. Han Xiu explained that she was an American citizen and needed to replace her expired passport.
“You are definitely not an American.” The military police officer smirked. “An American would know that today is a holiday and no one is in the office.”
Just then, a small vehicle pulled up and a young man got out of the car. He immediately noticed that she was holding an old U.S. passport that was issued in the 1940s. He asked her if he could take a look at her passport.
It was on Feb. 21, 1977, the most unforgettable day in Han Xiu’s life, when she stepped across the white line at the entrance of the U.S. Liaison Office in Beijing. A rifle-toting military police officer immediately rushed to her. Han Xiu explained that she was an American citizen and needed to replace her expired passport.
“You are definitely not an American.” The military police officer smirked. “An American would know that today is a holiday and no one is in the office.”
Just then, a small vehicle pulled up and a young man got out of the car. He immediately noticed that she was holding an old U.S. passport that was issued in the 1940s. He asked her if he could take a look at her passport.
“You must not leave this white line, please. I’ll be right back,” he told Han Xiu. He was U.S. Liaison official Franklin P. Wardlaw. He quickly returned with senior diplomat Jerome Christopher Ogden and they told the military police to let her go into their offices, where, within five minutes they confirmed her American citizenship.
They instructed her to pick up her new passport in a month. However, since Ogden assumed that her documents would again be confiscated, he gave her five U.S. Liaison officials’ phone numbers and asked her to memorize them.
Han Xiu was put under police surveillance when she returned home. She was not able to successfully contact any of the five U.S. Liaison officials. After one month had passed her call to Ogden finally went through. She briefly told him that she would pick up her new passport the next day.
The next day, assuming that she was being followed, she took an indirect route to the U.S. Liaison Office and managed to walk toward the entrance. Ogden was already there waiting for her. He told the military police officer that she was there for her passport. She walked right in before the military police realized what had happened.
They instructed her to pick up her new passport in a month. However, since Ogden assumed that her documents would again be confiscated, he gave her five U.S. Liaison officials’ phone numbers and asked her to memorize them.
Han Xiu was put under police surveillance when she returned home. She was not able to successfully contact any of the five U.S. Liaison officials. After one month had passed her call to Ogden finally went through. She briefly told him that she would pick up her new passport the next day.
The next day, assuming that she was being followed, she took an indirect route to the U.S. Liaison Office and managed to walk toward the entrance. Ogden was already there waiting for her. He told the military police officer that she was there for her passport. She walked right in before the military police realized what had happened.
After she signed her name on the new passport, Ogden told her that she had officially become an American citizen with a legal U.S. passport and that he would give all his attention to helping her return to the United States.
Refuses to Give In
At midnight, police broke into Han Xiu’s house, arrested her, and again confiscated her passport and birth certificate. In the following eight months, she was harassed and underwent numerous “talks” with authorities, yet she handled them with intelligence and determination.
Meanwhile, every week Ogden went to China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and demanded authorities let Han Xiu go and allow her to return to the United States, but Chinese officials answered with scorn.
In August 1977, U.S. Secretary of State Cyrus Vance visited China to talk about establishing full diplomatic relations with China. The two countries had a complicated negotiation regarding Americans who still lived in China. “They eventually put me in a cake box and delivered it to the United States,” Han Xiu said humorously.
When she finally set foot on American soil, America opened its arms to welcome the return of a wandering citizen. Soon after, she went to teach Chinese at the American Foreign Service Institute under the State Department.
The principal of the academy was not happy because a State Department official had told him that he “must” hire Han Xiu. He therefore insisted that he personally interview her.
When she first met with the principal, he took a good look at her. Then his eyes suddenly welled up with tears. “I recognize you! My wife, son, and I were the ones who took you to China. You finally came back! Of course I must hire you.”
In the spring of 1982, Han Xiu married one of her students, a U.S. diplomatic official. They lived in Beijing for three years, where Han Xiu reunited with her grandmother. In the summer of 1986, her grandmother died peacefully just before Han Xiu and her husband returned to the United States.
Han Xiu began writing in 1982 and is currently a well known author who has published 30 books. She lives in a small city near Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, where her father is buried.
Read the original Chinese article.
When she finally set foot on American soil, America opened its arms to welcome the return of a wandering citizen. Soon after, she went to teach Chinese at the American Foreign Service Institute under the State Department.
The principal of the academy was not happy because a State Department official had told him that he “must” hire Han Xiu. He therefore insisted that he personally interview her.
When she first met with the principal, he took a good look at her. Then his eyes suddenly welled up with tears. “I recognize you! My wife, son, and I were the ones who took you to China. You finally came back! Of course I must hire you.”
In the spring of 1982, Han Xiu married one of her students, a U.S. diplomatic official. They lived in Beijing for three years, where Han Xiu reunited with her grandmother. In the summer of 1986, her grandmother died peacefully just before Han Xiu and her husband returned to the United States.
Han Xiu began writing in 1982 and is currently a well known author who has published 30 books. She lives in a small city near Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, where her father is buried.
Read the original Chinese article.
