The basket on her back was filled with dried human excreta. She was carrying this to the field to be used as a fertilizer. The back of her dress was soaked with the filthy water of the half-dried excreta that seeped through the basket. She shuddered in unbearable discomfort. She was trying to control the urge to throw up with all her strength.

The farm was made up of land taken from the locals as well as some wastelands.

The farms which were allotted to the overseas Chinese had been formed as autonomous organizations. These farms were clearly different from the ones formed with the local people. They were directly under the commanding system of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission. These special category state farms were run by a manager under the collective leadership of the local CPC. Because of this system, the head of the farm could send reports directly and speedily to the provincial government and even to the central government through its own channel.

One year had passed since Mei Lin and the others had arrived. They now lived an entirely different life. Some of them were busy cultivating rice, maize, vegetables and fruits on the land which had been used by the villagers for farming previously, and some were busy with the waste land, trying to make it fertile.

Mei Lin and others were slowly being transformed into farmers under the guidance of the local experts. In the beginning, they cried, unable to bear the toil. But slowly the tears had begun to dry. They had started accepting the tough rules and regulations of Communist China. They had no other option but to work. They had to face punishment if they refused. They didn’t get work points. It was difficult to sustain oneself with no work points. The farm manager made them understand that this was the People’s Republic of China. One could not do things according to one’s wishes.

They had understood. Not a single word of protest rose from them. They worked according to the directions of the manager, silently.

Their day-to-day lives had transformed considerably. Now they took lessons in communism after their work. They were taught complex theories every evening. They read The People’s Daily every day. The party published its agendas and opinions through this newspaper. Selected writings of Mao also appeared here.

The returnees had learned many things within this period. They were beginning to understand China to some extent by listening to the news and the editorials of The People’s Daily, the lectures delivered by the local leaders and the discussions. They had become familiar with phrases like ‘Great Leap Forward’, ‘Socialist Education Movement’, ‘Class War’, and so on. The words they were most familiar with were ‘reactionary’, ‘rightist’, ‘capitalist roader’, among others.