Chapter 13 Chronicles of Baimao Ridge.1

We went to Baimaoling on an abrupt summer day in June, the temperature was as high as 36 degrees, the car did not have an air conditioner, and the scorching sun penetrated the roof of the car, but it broke down again at noon.The road was dazzled by the sun, and I wanted to find some water to wash my face. A man pointed me to a well. I walked around and didn't see the well, but I went back to the man.Later, a popsicle seller came and bought popsicles.It was nearly three o'clock when we arrived at the head of the Baimaoling labor camp.In the evening, the field department greeted us and arranged to watch a movie "The Great Detective". Because of the hot and tired day, we declined the call.I thought the mountainous area was a place to escape the summer heat, with many towering trees and gurgling springs.But as far as the eye can see, there are only low rolling tea forests and rice fields, and a few cypress trees standing alone, scorched by the last rays of the scorching sun.I later learned that this is a hilly area, even hotter in summer than the plains, and colder in winter.

There are two reasons for coming to Baimaoling for interviews: first, there must be women with the most stories gathered here; second, the women here cannot refuse any questions we ask.That said, we promise to get stories here.What kind of stories will this be?How is it different from our usual experience?How will these stories change our perception of the world and people?This is what makes us excited and full of anticipation.In the previous summer, every Friday, I went to the Shanghai Women's Federation Petition Reception Station to listen in.The problems encountered by women who come to seek help can be roughly divided into two categories. One is difficulties in life, such as obstacles to continuing to ask for leave after childbirth, the handling of single-child fees and child care fees for twins, and compensation from work units for unmarried pregnancy. The unfairness and brutality of the punishment, the amount of sick pay, etc.; the other category is marriage and love disputes, and the stories are often in this category.Most of the women who come to the door are female workers, and there are also some unemployed or unemployed youths.Because intellectual women have more channels and ways to solve problems, they generally don't want others to intervene in their personal affairs, and they have a more private concept!Sitting in the bright hall of the Women's Federation, outside the floor-to-ceiling windows is the sunny garden, sparrows are chirping in the shade of the plane trees, listening to a story that happened in a small self-employed restaurant at the train station, I have a strange feeling in my heart.I thought: at this moment, in many bright or dark corners of this city, what is going on?My own experience seems to be not enough.Sometimes there are some unsolved cases. One day, a mother accompanied her bruised daughter to tell a grievance: the daughter has married into a man’s family and has a child.The father-in-law lived downstairs, and the mother-in-law and a babysitter lived in the next room.One day at six o'clock in the morning, my father-in-law saw a strange man coming down from upstairs, so he called a thief, and stepped forward to grab him. Unexpectedly, the man suddenly showed a fruit knife. The father-in-law was startled and let go, and the man snatched it away. After leaving the door, the knife fell on the ground. It is believed that this is a fruit knife in the wife's room.So the father-in-law mobilized the crowd, called his son back, and forced his daughter-in-law to tell the secret. The daughter-in-law screamed that she was wronged and was beaten all night.The ri committee and various units came to investigate, and the result was: the daughter-in-law refused to admit that she had stayed with a man; the father-in-law insisted that a man walked down the stairs in the early morning; and no one had seen the man he described walking by in the early morning. In the alley, the only evidence is this fruit knife.The daughter-in-law said that the knife was not in her room, so she clamored to check the fingerprints on the knife. She didn't know where to go to check for a while, so she came to the Women's Federation.This is very much like the beginning of a mystery film, with many possibilities.I got together with the comrades at the Petition Station to investigate this incident from various angles, but to no avail.Later, the mother and daughter never came again, so they had no way of understanding the development and ending of the matter.The stories here are often a beginning or a fragment, full of hints and omens, which make us use our imagination, but due to the limitations of experience and understanding, we cannot speculate into a complete story in the end.Some questions can’t be asked too much, which will make people feel violated, especially my status as an observer, I often get people’s wary and disgusting eyes, but Baimaoling is a different place, people’s stories have come to an end , I have the right to ask them questions again, which is not in line with the spirit of human rights, but this is the reason why I came here.

The heat was depressing, the fans were running very slowly and sluggishly due to the lack of electricity, and the lights were dim.You can see an asphalt road through the window, hidden under the street lamps. There are some flower beds beside the road, and people walking or sitting in the shade.The female labor camp is in Fengshulin, thirty miles away. Many reporters, writers, screenwriters, and directors have been there, writing many reports, and filming a multi-episode TV series called "The Female Police Officer". It was staged, and it is said that both police officers and reeducation through labor personnel participated in the performance.I don't know if there will be any new discoveries during this trip.

In the morning, I had dinner in the cafeteria of the guest house, and went to the intersection to wait for the bus.It turned out that there was only one pick-up and drop-off a week, which made it very inconvenient for the police officers.Often their husbands work in another reform-through-labor or labor camp, and they can only go back and forth once a week, leaving the children alone.At Baimaoling Farm, there is only one main occupation: police officer.Now, the women's reeducation through labor brigade picks them up every morning and evening. There is a special bus driven by a young man with curly hair.I drove on time at 7:30, and stopped several times along the way. There were children who were going to Fengshulin Primary School for a ride. When they got off the bus, they shouted in unison: "Thank you, uncle!" "Uncle" is said to be "Grandpa", although Shanghai is a distant and strange city to them.The pioneers who came here from Shanghai in 1953 and overcame all obstacles to start a farm should be their grandfathers or even great-grandfathers.

The car is on a dirt road, which is undulating and winding. When the tractor passes by, it will raise a large amount of dust, covering the sight. There are tea forests and rice fields on the roadside. The cypress trees are always lonely and stay in the field of vision for a long time. Time just disappeared.Most of the girls in the car were in their twenties and thirties, and they often came here with their mothers when they were young.At that time, the fathers had already paved dirt roads and built thatched houses here, leaving them with only vague memories of Shanghai. When we arrived at the women's labor camp, the girls got off the car and went to their respective posts. A brigade internal management surnamed Wang gave us an overview.We know that the Women's RTL Brigade started in 1958 and was closed during the "Cultural Revolution". It was re-established in 1972 with the size of a squadron, and it was reorganized into a brigade in 1984.During this time, there were 700 detainees in the reeducation through labor camp at most, and now it is more than 300.Of the 92 cadres in the ranks, 78 percent were promoted from among the employees, 17 percent were recruited from Tunxi, Anhui (Baimaoling occupies Tunxi, Anhui), and 5 percent were recruited by the Shanghai police. School assigned.The brigade is organized into four squadrons, with three chief and deputy captains, one party branch secretary, and eight principal and deputy squadron leaders.The first and second squadrons are ordinary squadrons.The third squadron is called the "Second Entry Palace" squadron, that is, each person has more than one punishment record before this.Among the 106 people, 81 were sent to labor camps; 11 were sent to women's education (that is, women's correctional centers), and 10 people were sentenced to prison;The No. 4 Squadron is called "Exit Squadron", and they were transferred in three months before they were released from education. The management of them is relatively loose, making it easier for them to adapt when they return to society.Among the current 334 inmates in RTL, 87.6% are "hooligans", 9.7% are "stealers", 1% are "fraudsters", and 1% are "others". Four.The life in the labor camp is mainly productive labor, followed by reading, studying, training in the queue, and so on.Today, Baimaoling strives to achieve economic self-sufficiency, and each brigade has business tasks. The women's reeducation through labor brigade is mainly engaged in the processing of clothing, sweaters and toys.Due to the high turnover of reeducation through labor personnel, it is difficult to find skilled workers, so the quota indicators cannot be increased.Moreover, Baimaoling is located in a remote area, with unfavorable transportation, and it is difficult to obtain processing jobs from the factory. The factory often gives them difficult and low-profit jobs, and the conditions are extremely harsh.So when we went to Baimaoling, the women's reeducation through labor brigade was being swept by a tense production boom. The deputy head of the production brigade was so anxious that he could only hear her voice and see no one. Her instructions were everywhere, and they should not be violated. without delay.At the same time, the cultural examination is imminent, and the team headquarters is organizing a singing competition, and they are all begging for time from the team leader.

In the afternoon, we looked through all the file cards and prepared a list of interviews.The card was made extremely simple, with a small frame of photos, all of which looked hideous and did not stimulate the imagination.We felt that we had no way to choose the interviewees, so we wanted to draw lots to decide. In the end, we still took into consideration, selected some from various cases, and selected some from various family situations.For age, there are choices for "old, middle and young". "Old" refers to those over forty years old, "middle" refers to those over thirty, and "young" refers to those in their twenties.Later, the discipline cadres recommended some to us.The candidates they recommend are indeed very meaningful and have more "stories", but we also found that these people are often selected by cadres to talk to interviewers, and their expressions are too mature and fluent, which makes us suspect: Whether there are many real things is another story.

On the way back to the field department in the evening, the car brought the children home after school. In the morning, they were all clean, and now they were like mud monkeys. They carried a bag of water in a plastic bag, and there were small fish like needles in the water. swimming.The weather was still hot, there was a muffled thunder at night, and a few pea-sized raindrops fell. The interview began on this day. Many people recommended a female labor camp in the Second Squadron to us. This is a very troublesome character. They described her: her temperament is obviously different from that of ordinary labor camps. She is very elegant and looks good. She is very handsome, with fair complexion, high nose and big eyes, never speaks rudely, seems to be well-bred, never quarrels with others, and never talks back to cadres, but does not obey orders and acts on her own.For example, when the captain called to assemble, everyone else ran out to stand in line, but she was the only one lying on the bed, and when the captain ran to the bed, she shouted: Get up!She sat up slowly and said: Get up?Asked her to do work, she was very gentle and he said: I can't do it!So I taught her, such as nailing buttons, she nailed the buttons to places where there were no buttons at all, and others had to work hard to remove them.She was entangled with the captain like this, and the captain couldn't stand her, so he had to let her go, so she didn't go to work, and sat on the edge of the bed every day, very comfortable.She claims that she can speak English, and she often answers the team leader's questions in English, which makes people feel at a loss. On this day, the team leaders are discussing the establishment of a strict supervision team for her, who will supervise her 24 hours a day and live in a single room. She didn't return to the team until she was obedient.At the same time, they doubted whether she was mentally ill, and wanted to find a hospital for a psychiatric evaluation for her.At present, hospitals are generally reluctant to accept this kind of examination, because psychiatric appraisal is inherently extremely complicated, and if it is to be entrusted with legal responsibility, it is even more afraid to make a judgment lightly.They suggested that we talk to her. From their trusting eyes, I felt the expectation. They said: If you writers talk to her, will there be any results?They are all about the same age as her. Although they discipline and are disciplined, they do not have extraordinary experience and means. In comparison, her life is broader and richer than theirs, and she is more experienced and mature than them. A battle of wits between discipline and being disciplined has made these girls lose patience and self-confidence, and even develop a sense of frustration.I would love to try it out, thinking of some readers who used us as doctors, told us their confusion and worries, and hoped to get treatment from us.Maybe, I thought, I could penetrate and subdue her?

Then she came.As they said, she was quiet and delicate, of medium build, thin, with neck-length hair, a light yellow short skirt, a bean paste-colored jacket, white socks on her feet, and a pair of black cloth shoes with tabs.Her eyes were big, her expression was peaceful, and she was a little dazed.The team leader told her that we were reporters from Shanghai, and we wanted to talk to her, and she would answer every question and be honest.She said: OK, OK.The voice was a little floating, like a falsetto for singing, and then we took her away from the Second Squadron to the reception room of the Brigade Headquarters.The courtyard door of the No. 2 Squadron was locked. A tall, dark-faced labor camp came to open the door for us, and smiled at us. Her eyes were very dark. On the way to the brigade headquarters, we seemed a little embarrassed, and at first we didn’t speak. Watching, she walked beside me lightly, with a very leisurely attitude.After a while, I asked her: When did you come in?She sang like he said: I don't know!I asked again: When are you going out?She said: I don't know!I hit a snag, felt a little annoyed, and asked persistently: Why did you come in?She smiled: I don't know!I couldn't hold back anymore, so I attacked him a little bit and said: You don't just come in for no reason!She still smiled and said: I just want to ask you to help me ask why I came in!I also want to ask you, what exactly is reeducation through labor?She became eloquent: I want to read a law book, can you help me find a law book?What is reform through labor and what is reeducation through labor? Can people be handcuffed casually?The rice we eat here is like food for chickens, it's full of sand. You see, so many things grow on my body, all of which come from eating the rice here.She rolled up her sleeves to show me, I said it was mosquito bites, she smiled disdainfully.At this time, we had passed the guards and arrived at the brigade headquarters. She was sitting opposite us, sitting still, her eyes scanning our faces.What should I ask?Feeling a little confused, she stopped and asked her how many people there were in her family. She finally answered the question, saying that there were father, mother and an older brother.I also asked her if she went to and from get off work when she was outside. She said what was the point of going to work?So what do you do when you're not working?She said that of course she was very happy not to go to work, sitting in a cafe and strolling on the road. At this moment, she suddenly shook her legs, and her tone of voice became rough and stiff.She no longer smiled, but there was a kind of tension in her eyes, and she asked what unit we were in Shanghai, if we could invite us to be her teachers and help her write a book about law.My companion Zong Fu first said: It is very tiring to be your teacher!She just laughed, her voice was like a silver bell.We didn't know what else to ask, so we sat for a while and had to send her back to the Second Squadron.It was the black-faced girl who ran out to open the door. There was a hot expression in her eyes. I looked at her very carefully, and she also looked at me. The squadron leaders asked how our conversation was going, and we said that she might be mentally ill. question.The squadron leaders said, but sometimes she is so clear-headed that she can piss her off to death. When her mother and brother come to visit and say something to her, she doesn't answer properly, just smiles mysteriously, and her brother will beat her up. , the mother kept crying.She came here because she was a thief and a hooligan. Her original unit was Shangmian No. 13 Factory. She was born in 1963. She was sentenced to one and a half years of forced labor, which was extended for three months due to her poor performance.