Escape From China: The Long Journey From Tiananmen to Freedom
Escape From China: The Long Journey From Tiananmen to Freedom
By Zhang Boli 張伯笠
Translated to English By Kwee Kian Low
The author was a prominent student leader in 1989 during the Tiananmen Square Demonstrations. He was twenty-six years of age and a graduate student in Beijing University. After the Tiananmen Square bloody massacre, Mr. Zhang was put on the “Chinese authority’s 21 most wanted list.” In the next two years, Mr. Zhang had to hide in different places all over the North Eastern provinces. One day, he had a high fever and was hiding in an elder cousin’s place. The elder cousin took care of Zhang and cured his illness. During his recovery, his cousin asked Zhang to read the Bible to her. She was a Christian, but she couldn’t read a word, an illiterate. This was the first time that Zhang held the Bible and learned about Jesus Christ. Once he began to read, he couldn’t stop reading, every day he read and reread the bible while he was waiting for his next move. When Zhang said goodbye to his elder cousin, she said to him “you must pray. Jesus will save you.”
Zhang crossed to Siberia in the hopes of getting to the West through Russia. It was nearly dark when he finally reached a large shed. The temperature was extremely cold. He was cold and tired. Sleepiness got over him. He wanted very much to lie down and sleep. It was too cold to just lie down, so he took some hay from inside and put it outside the door trying to make a fire for warmth. But suddenly, the wolves were howling in the nearby forest; and at the same time a man was approaching from a distance to the shed. He immediately went inside the shed and cut open a bale of dry straw and burrowed himself in the hay. He was worried that in this Siberian blizzard, he would not be able to keep himself alive till daybreak.”
Then he remembered his elder cousin’s last words: Pray to God. Jesus will save you.
So he began to pray and said “Oh, God. If you do exist, why let me die in this deserted snowy plain?” “Lord, I beg you to give me a way to the truth and the life.” On page 129 he says “I was in a state of semi consciousness, but a moment of great clarity had arrived. A blinding ray of light shone through the darkness, and I felt warm all at once. I couldn’t open my eye, but I heard a voice saying, ‘Zhang Boli, you are not going to die. For you will go forth in my name.’ After that he made a promise to God: “Lord, if you let me live through today. I will be forever in your service.” The ray of light disappeared, and at that moment he admitted that he became a believer in Jesus.
Unfortunately Zhang was unable to flee Siberia and was arrested and interrogated by the KGB and soon after was deported back to Heilongjiang—the northern bordering province with the Soviet Union. He spent the next two years trying to escape from China, during that time he received help by many civilians and national policemen. Finally, Zhang was connected by someone in Hong Kong who helped him flee overseas.
The dialogues in the book are very interesting as Zhang exchanged talks under different identities to different people which reflected the true nature of people in China. It is a great book of historical resonance.
Zhang Boli is now a pastor of Harvest Chinese Christian Church in Virginia, USA. His personal website in Chinese is http://www.zhangboli.net/
张伯笠牧师 豐收華夏基督教會
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