Escaping from the Enemy

Herry Li

            My grandmother is Ren. She is from Taishan, China. She was born in the second year during WWII in 1938. She moved into the countryside in order to evade the Japanese. She lived in her uncle’s house, which was small and crowd with her mother and her uncle’s family because her uncle grew crops, so they could keep from starving. Sometimes, they had to hide in the caves that the people dug to avoid bombing; there were more than twenty people lived in the crowd space that was like a half the size of our classroom. Also, she had never seen her father since 1 year old until he escaped from the working camp when she was around 6 years old. Luckily, her uncle treated her as well as his own child.

            One day that my grandmother remembers the most is a day when the Japanese came to the village that she was living. The Japanese soldiers raped Chinese women. Thus, the frightened women in the village were fleeing into the mountain to hide like the scared birds. En route, she was running out from the crowd herself in order to pick the flowers she saw on the grass. Unfortunately, her mother did not know that. After she finished picking, she suddenly realized that she was the only one left on the path. She couldn’t help crying because she was so lonely and scared. As the condition getting worse, she got caught up by the Japanese who were chasing after the women. There were around twenty Japanese soldiers and a traitor to China. The traitor was an interpreter. He was translating the Japanese words for the grandmother.  He seemed like a very kind uncle who treats children well even though he helped the Japanese to harm his compatriots. He smiled to my grandmother and told her that he would give her snacks and candies as long as she told them about the whereabouts of the rest of people. While the traitor was trying to be nice to her, a Japanese officer was shouting. I still remember what my grandmother told me about him. She said that she had never seen any face that is fiercer than this face. He was a demon from the heck with hands covered in blood. Even my granny couldn’t understand what he shouted, she thought there must be a threaten sentence. Of course she was not going to tell them about where the rest of people went, so then she was at risk of being killed by the Japanese’s bayonet which was next to her neck. Dramatically, a soldier reported something to this officer, and he decided to leave this area. Meanwhile, my granny made a smart decision; she took advantage to run away while the Japanese soldiers were not paying attention. She kept running into the woods until she couldn’t run anymore. Eventually, she found a huge boulder where seemed safe so she hid behind there. After this horrible journey, she was exhausted, therefore she fell asleep. At last, she was discovered by the villagers who were looking for her about four hours later. Even though she was saved, this had had become the most terrific memory in her brain. Whenever she recalls it, she still cannot get rid of terror from seventy years ago. In 1945, the Japanese finally were defeated and expelled out of China.  During the chaos in the retreat of the Japanese army, my great grandfather escaped from the working camp successfully. It had taken 5 years to have a sight to his own daughter. The condition was much better for them, which they finally had a chance to move back home. Though, their family still suffered from poverty and famine. Even worse, the civil war of China happened after several months. The government increased different taxes in order to fight the communist, which they could not afford. There was no more food for her family and no warm clothes to last the winter. It was extremely difficult for her family, especially her mother was pregnant. Her childhood was totally destroyed by the horrible wars. After three years, the communist came to power, which was a turning point for her family. She felt very thankful to Mao, the communist leader because his government allocated her family farming fields to grow food so they could have money and stop starving anymore. Also, she finally got the chance to go to school to be educated.