CONTENTS
1) Early Days
2) The Shape of Things to Come
3) No Looking Back
4) Survival in the Mills
5) The Cultural Revolution
6) The Future
Introduction
In 1947 H.M.S. Dampier a ship of His Majesty's Navy set out on a voyage to survey the Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean, the Indian Ocean and the South China sea. On board was a young engine-room artificer,what would have been his thoughts had he known then that he would not see is homeland or family for nearly 40 years
David Young was born in Hebburn on the 27th of July 1926 and was one of five children, his childhood was no different to any of the other children in the town at that time. He went to Hebburn Quay Junior School and later on to the recently opened Clegwell Secondary Modern. While here the war broke out and shortly after he was evacuated to Gainford, which is on the border between Durham and North Yorkshire. David's memories of his early life at that time was of an awful lot of unemployment in the North East and his father was one of them. He used to see his father, an ex-army sergeant and a very proud and intelligent man coming home, looking so crestfallen, after trudging for miles in the search for employment to give him enough money to buy food and unable to put anything on the table to eat, through this David felt a deep sense of resentment. It was these early experiences that were to shape his future life and way of thinking.
But David was one of the lucky ones, as work was hard to find if you had a trade, never mind as a young boy just out of school. So at the age of fourteen he was taken on by Sigmund Pumps, a small Czech owned engineering company in Gateshead. The owner of the company realized that David had remarkable potential and offered him the chance of an apprenticeship when he became 16 and to sponsor him so that he could further his education in engineering at Technical College. This would give him the required qualifications he would need to go to University and gain a degree in engineering, but at the age of 15 David had high ideals. He wished to join the Royal Navy, but had to sit the entrance exam before he reached 16 years of age. This was in conflict with the offer from Signum Pumps but David was determined to go to sea. He sat the exam, passed and was offered an apprenticeship. So in 1942 at the age of 16 David signed on as a regular in the Royal Navy, it was on H.M.S. Caladonia at Rosyth on the banks of the Forth that he studied and completed his training as an artificer apprentice.
During one of his visits home on leave from H.M.S.Caladonia he was given a book by his uncle called "Red Star Over China" by Edgar Snow which was to plant in his mind the seeds of his strange adventurous future as Britain's most exotic exile.
David had not long finished reading the book "The Town That Was Murdered" by Ellen Wilkinson about Jarrow, when he was given Edgar Snow's account of life in the East and he could not put the book down, he read and re- read the book many times and found himself attracted to life in Yunan, a Province of China which Edgar Snow had described so beautifully. It was around this time that David got into quite a few arguments in his mess about his left wing views and the account of Edgar Snow's book only increased his determination to become a socialist. His naval career took another blow when he went up before a panel with a view to becoming an officer. When they learned that his father was nothing more than a labourer they dismissed his application with the comment "It is not the right social standing for an officer to have a labourer for a father "In David's eye this was a slur on his father's name and another reason to leave democracy far behind. David was then posted and spent about 2 years on the destroyer H.M.S. Dido as engine-room artificer before the transfer that was to change his life.
David was transfered aboard the survey ship H.M.S.Dampier, bound for the Far East. The ship that was to take him to his destiny, took nearly 12 months to reach Hong Kong. Luck was with David as he was due to sail with Dampier, as he had the sea time in to give him his watch keeping certificate and another shore based sailor did not a transfer took place that meant David staying in Hong Kong on the shore base H.M.S. Tamar. In bustling Hong Kong the inexorable pull of China began to increase it's influence on the young sailor. As the battles raged in China between the Communists and the Kuomintang, refugees by there thousands poured across the border into the safety of Hong Kong. The plight of these people made David all the more determined to go to China.
By chance David met some of the Chinese Revolutionary Youth who were in Hong Kong in large numbers. What he heard and saw made him even more determined to go to China and help these youngsters rebuild society there. China was building up for the time it could drive out the Nationalist Kuomintang Government.
As battles continued between the Kuomintang and the Communists they fought their way Northward, untill they eventually faced each other across the great Yangtze river in April of 1949. At this time the frigate H.M.S. Amethyst was ordered to sail up river to take supplies to Nan King and the British Embassy there. No one thought to try and inform the opposing forces, in consequence the Amethyst was caught up in the ensuing battle, she was after heavy fighting eventually captured and held. Although the Navy tried to extradite the Amethyst by sending other ships up river they were beaten back by the Chinese forces and suffered heavy casualties. After several months of captivity, the Amethyst made a break and ran for the safety of Shanghai. After her arrival in Shanghai, a young gunner was charged with disobeying an order to open fire on the Chinese and faced the disciplinary action of a court martial.
While David was trying to defend this young gunner trouble was being stirred up for him. Due to his left wing views, his actions were being kept under very close scrutiny by his superiors and his friendships with the Chinese were now common Knowledge throughout H.M.S. Tamar. Word was sent to London about his political views and his activities, the Admiralty felt uneasy especially with the Amethyst incident on the Yangtze river still fresh in there minds. London acted quickly and David was told he was to be transferred to H.M.S. Forth presently in Malta, he realised time was running out and decided that his future was in China. He therefore arranged a meeting with two members of the Revolutionary Youth and explained his wish to learn revolutionary theory and his desire to help there construction of a new China. The two Revolutionary's seemed to make a quick decision about David and told him he could not expect any special privileges but that according to Chairman Mao, foreigners should be allowed to work on the mainland like any Chinese. David told them he expected absolutely no privileges and he was to get none for the next 33 years.
The next day he packed his bag and within 48 hours, on the 24th July 1949 he boarded a small boat and sailed secretly to the mainland, un-sure of what the future held for him and unable to speak a word of Chinese. When he landed he was taken into the blistering 100 degree heat of South Naton Province to a village where he found the centre of the districts Chinese Revolutionary Youth.
It was here that he was processed by the Communist Guerrilla Army before being sent into a liberated area to prepare for the capture of Canton.
David remembers he had to learn to speak Chinese rather quickly to help him survive. He picked up the language very much like a small child would and without the influence of English speaking people around him learned quite quickly.
When asked if he took the decision to desert lightly, he said "When you are 23 years old, have high ideals and hopes you do not think of the consequences, I was looking forward not back". This is the decision that meant David could not return to Hong Kong or his homeland without the fear of arrest and imprisonment for desertion. For the rest of his life he would have to live in self imposed exile.
David remembers life then as being very rough. "We lived on a mug of rice and 10 people would share a plate of soya beans or dried fish, they'd put the food in the middle and we'd sit around it in a circle, when the platoon leader blew a whistle we'd all dig in". That was where David learned his first Chinese survival lesson. David could not use chopsticks and no one cared to show him so all he would end up with was a couple of beans, he solved that problem by taking chopsticks with him when he went for a wash in the stream. He would practice picking up small pebbles untill he had perfected the technique. The next time the whistle blew he was in with a fighting chance. David believes that even at this time with the rationing he ate better than he did as a child on Tyneside. During these early months with not being used to the conditions and without proper medication David caught Malaria.
In November 1949 he was ordered to the See Tow sugar mill on the Pearl river in Wan Dong province to live in a simple thatched hut and work alongside the other Chinese artisans. It was here he remembers feeling really ill from the malaria he had contracted earlier and someone spoon feeding him. It was not untill about three months later he found out that they had actually been feeding him dog meat every day for a couple of months, which is a very rich food and it had aided his recovery. It was while at See Tow that David re-discovered his "Bible", an old copy of the novel which had lured him to the orient "Red Star Over China", it was lying in an old book shop. He could not believe his luck, he bought it, read it and re-read it. He has had the book rebound by a friend and today it is his most treasured possession.
By the summer of 1950 he was totally accepted into factory life in See Tow sharing a spartan, stone floored room with three other Chinese workers, sleeping on make shift beds with no air conditioning save for the open windows, he laboured in the mill for a minimum of 9 hours a day. In May 1958 he moved to Terng Gong, yet another sugar mill in the province, to work in the maintenance shop in primitive conditions which would be the despair of any British Trade Unionist, he improvised and battled against all odds to adapt antiquated machinery to the factory's needs, this is where David excelled as he was by trade an engineer and enjoyed the work immensely. But quite often, as was expected, he would move into the fields to labour alongside the peasants.
David admits in quieter moments that the romance of the East had touched him several times in his thirty years alone in the Orient. He admits to have fallen in love a few times with Chinese girls during his three decade stay in China.
There was one girl in particular he will never forget, her name was So Man Lan. They worked together at the mill and spent a lot of time together. David asked her to marry him but she refused as she was afraid of the repercussions linked to marrying a foreigner so she chose to return to Northern China with her family. In David's words " That set me back six or seven years". But he was so interested in his work that it helped him to get over the affair. Asked if this upset him his comment was "There are lot more Chinese girls in China".
Five years in the maintenance shop were followed by transfer to the motor lorry repair depot at Jam Gong in August 1962, to help to repair the old and battered but functional vehicles that rattled the long and impossible roads of the province. Then to return to See Tow in February 1964, content and happy at the life he had made for himself unaware of the dark clouds looming up on the horizon.
Even when Chairman Mao was forced to resign as president of The Peoples China he kept the important position as chairman of the party. In August 1966 he began to make a come back supported by Lin Piao who was the Minister of Defence. Between them they launched the Cultural Revolution aimed at party officials who showed little enthusiasm for further struggles to build communism They were to be driven forward by the exuberance of the young people inspired by the thoughts of Chairman Mao.
Schools and colleges were closed, young people were recruited into the Red Guard and flocked in large numbers to mass meetings held in Peking. They were sent on their way to carry the Cultural Revolution to the furthest most corners of China. In every city Red Guards painted large caricature's of their leader Chairman Mao along with his thoughts, they changed street names that seemed to them to be anti-communist, forced rickshaw passengers to change places with the men between the shafts. Some of the activities of the Red Guard were uglier, men and women they considered enemies of the people were mobbed and often killed.
The real point of the Revolution was seen when the Red Guard tried to take over the party committees and trade unions but were resisted by the older party officials and in towns such as Shanghai and Canton fierce fighting broke out.
By early 1967 the Cultural Revolution was weakening China's economic and industrial growth and some peasants took the opportunity to leave the communes. A slowing down of this action was called for in the spring, but this call fell on ears deafened by the fanatics who spurred on the communists with the shout of a new China, these disturbances went on for another two years before they ceased.
During this time "The clean up of the Puritan Classes", David was advised by a friend to go home when the rulers in one province were using anti foreign feelings to try to stir up the overthrow of Chairman Moa but David was determined to stay. Then came a nightmare at the height of the notorious Cultural Revolution.
It was around midnight one night early in 1968 when the Red Guards came for him at See Tow mill. There had been rumours that an Air Force helicopter had been flying low over the area looking for a secret radio transmitter. The next thing David knew he was hauled of to prison, for the next 10 months his home was Pan Yung County jail.
"They accused me of spying on the first day, by the next day I found I was being accused of being the leader of a big spy ring". But David believes that months of imprisonment probably saved his life. Outside the walls of Pan Yung China was in turmoil, he believes now "I was safer on the inside, I might have been killed or at least seriously beaten up by the Red Guards, many people were for simply having so called right wing view's".
In David's own words "Pan Yung prison was not the nicest of places". The Red Guards treated him with hostility and frequently beat him, he also went for days without food or water. David was lucky enough to have a friend Ah Ling who held quite a high position in the Communist Party and who's brother was an officer in the Chinese Army. It was only through the intervention of Ah Ling and the fact he was willing to put his name to paper, a brave thing to do considering the circumstances, that David was released from prison although it cost Ah Lings brother his job as he was thrown out of the army accused of collaborating with the enemy. When David was released he went looking for the man who had accused him of spying, found him and knocked him out cold, that punch cost David another month in Pan Yung, a sentence he did not mind serving.
After the Cultural Revolution David helped to to rebuild society at See Tow, Chin Mun Geen a former apprentice from See Tow is now the Assistant Manager at the plant said "David is one of our oldest comrades here. He was one of the first to work at See Tow after the liberation and is warmly remembered for his friendship, hard work and un-tiring interest in the children and the young people. When David comes to See Tow on visits he is refered to by the other workers as Seefo, this means teacher or master, quite a accolade for a European".
It was in 1975 six years later, after the revolution that his three surviving sisters received news that he was still alive as they thought he had perished during the revolution. David was persuaded by friends to write home and let his family know that he was still alive. So out of the blue they each received a Christmas card. By this time a lot of water had flowed under the bridge for David and his sisters, unknown to David his sister Kathrine had died. But his sisters relief and joy of finding out that their brother was still alive after 14 years of hope was enough to spur them into action. They decided to visit David in China, this was easier said than done as it took nearly 12 months to obtain visas from the Chinese Legation in London.
It was not untill late 1979 that David had his first contact with Europeans from the outside world. His only previous contact was when Dr.George Hatern an American lecturer from Peking University came to Canton to see him.
Then 18 months later his three sisters went to China to visit him, unaware of what they would find. Remembering that they went to China on their own and not as part of an official party, they stayed with Chinese friends of David's and not in the luxury of a hotel, you can say that for 3 weeks they lived as Chinese and found them to be generous and friendly. When the time came they left content in the knowledge that their only brother had a life, which though totally beyond their own experiences, had provided him with fulfilment and a host of good friends.
It was around this time David met the girl again who was to become his wife, Lian a divorcee with a young son. It was Lian's sister that suggested to David that he might consider marrying Lian, whom he had first met as a child. David recalls "I thought the sister was joking at first but then I began to take her seriously and told her to write to Lian and ask her if she would consider becoming my wife". Lian wrote and accepted and they were married within a couple of months. Then David was offered a new job, which he accepted, as the official translator and engineering consultant at the China National Machinery and Equipment Import and Export Corporation, a grand sounding title perhaps and the pay too is good,127 yuan a month, about #38, marvellous by other Chinese workers standards. It took David four months of wages to buy his bike and it is one of the most expensive possessions he owns.
He gets up at six every morning, just as the sun rises over the city and most evenings he tries to be in bed by eleven. He works a six day week as all Chinese workers do and on his day of rest usually a Sunday he visits friends in the Chinese fashion to talk about politics, philosophy and life in general.
He is perfectly content with what he has in China, he now has his own family a wide range of friends and enjoys life to the full. His leisure time is spent reading, always returning to his "Bible" from 30 years ago. David has never flown in a plane and heard of the King's death and the lunar landings courtesy of the BBC overseas service, relayed from Hong Kong and has few luxuries. One is a small tape recorder, sent by his sisters and the other is a collection of old records on tape which his family on Tyneside clubbed together to buy. Jerusalem is one of his favourite songs and often becomes quite emotional when he hears it, David's view is that it sums up all of England's traditions and her hopes. This man who often dreamed of going to South Shield's beach to see the sea and longed for the day he could walk along the sands again might have his dreams come true as the Admiralty granted a protection from arrest certificate for his act of desertion from H.M.S. Tamar in 1949.
In June 1982 David had his dreams come true when he set foot on British soil for the first time in 33 years. He came to Britain as the official interpreter with a Chinese Trade Delegation, he also brought with him his wife and stepson Gar.He met his new relatives for the first time and during his stay seen all the places he thought he would never see again. David said "During all my years in China I would never let myself even dream of being back in England, I suppose I was too afraid of becoming homesick". He also commented that England had not changed that much but the roads were better and that everybody seemed to have a car.
Its ironic that he left when the country was still under the dark cloud of a depression and returned 30 years later to the same.
David was very emotional when he visited his old home town of Hebburn, he said " Hebburn has been tidied up a lot, now there is a park that used to be derelict factories when I was a child. The house I was brought up in has been demolished". For over quarter of a century, David has treasured a photograph of Durham Cathedral and went to see it again, he said he still thinks Durham is a beautiful place one of the most beautiful in the country in actual fact. Whilst here he celebrated his 57th birthday. This was an opportunity not to be missed so the family arranged a surprise party where he met more of his relations and renewed old aquaintences from long ago. He said "I will remember my 57th birthday as long as I live". David's wife, Lian was over whelmed by the roses in her new found relatives garden, she could not get over the size or the colours, keeping in mind that they do not have roses in China. She was also caught by Western technology, David's sisters automatic washing machine and insisted on doing all the laundry, this included dirty and not so dirty clothes.
Gar, David's stepson excitedly ran to the field to stare at the horses grazing, Gar had never seen a horse in his life.
He also picked up English quite quickly which was an advantage to him as the education in China is now turning more and more to the West. David said when the holiday was over he hopes to come back to Britain to see all his family again. The day he had to fly back to China was a very upsetting day for the sisters as one minute they had their long lost brother back with them and all to quickly he was leaving them again, would it be another three decades before they met again. Then about five months later a letter arrived with news of an arrival, David's wife had a baby girl, they named her Cathy partly in memory of David's sister and partly because it is also a Northern Chinese name.
What would David like to see in the future "I would like to see a China where the best of British technology is used to benefit the Chinese economy and a Britain where the social benefits of China are put into practice.
Will David die a Chinaman, or a Geordie "Die a Geordie? There is not a country in the world that hasn't got the grave of an Englishman in it. I'll just be an English grave in China".
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