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PART II
LIFE IN EXILE
CHAPTER 1
Support from Godly Members
How I thank the Lord for two very devout and loving elderly sisters! They were my neighbors in Suzhou. It was by the great grace of the Lord that these two adorable senior sisters were there to lovingly support and pray for me during the days of my trial. One of them was nine years my mother's senior. Every night she waited to ensure my safe return from the Public Security office, checked my complexion and asked a couple of questions. Only then did she feel relieved and retire to bed.
I remember that one time my pregnant wife, a kind-hearted and honest person who would never harm anyone, made a special journey from Shanghai to Suzhou to see me. Because of increasing political pressure and not wanting to involve her, I only let her stay for two to three hours. I could only commit her and our unborn child to the loving Father and pray that He would keep her with peace beyond understanding. At the time I had to report regularly to the Public Affairs Office and to notify them of my visitors; it was therefore better for her to cut short her stay to avoid any trouble. Since I had not committed any crime but had simply refused to join the Three-Self, I was considered to have ideological problem which was not subject to immediate arrest under the existing policy.
In 1957, three years into our marriage, the government announced its policy to honor spousal relationship, and I was consequently transferred from Suzhou to Shanghai. It was not until the latter stage of the "Anti-Rightist Struggle" in May 1958 that I was labeled as a "counter-revolutionary" and exiled under escort to the Labor Camp.
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