It was one of the greatest prison breaks of all time, during one of the worst totalitarian tragedies of the 20th Century.
Xu Hongci was an ordinary medical student when he was incarcerated under Mao’s regime and forced to spend years of his youth in some of China’s most brutal labour camps. Three times he tried to escape. And three times he failed. But, determined, he eventually broke free, travelling the length of China, across the Gobi desert, and into Mongolia.
Länk till artikel i LATimes om boken (13/1 2017): Xu Hongci – Mao’s victim, freedom’s hero – tells his story in ’No Wall Too High’
Xu Hongci (1933-2008) lyckades fly från Kinas enorma straffarbetslägersystem. Det beräknas att 550 000 personer som anklagades för att vara ”högervridna” placerades under decennier i Kinas gulagarkipelag. Hongci genomled hunger och tortyr innan han lyckades fly ur landet. PHOTO: Courtesy of Xu family
