Heartbreak for a penniless mother
Chan Got Hong-hong recently lost the fight for her husband's freedom. Now, with just 300 yuan to her name, she is facing a day-to-day battle just to survive.
Mrs Chan moved from Hong Kong to Tianjin with her three young sons more than two years ago to fight for the release of her husband, detained on the mainland over two fraud cases. But last month, her spouse Chan Yu-chun, 48, was sentenced to 12-years' jail in Inner Mongolia.
His wife's funds are barely enough to support their family for a week.
While Mrs Chan is thinking of returning to Hong Kong where she can apply for public assistance, the mother said she did not have the money to pay for the train tickets.
'I don't know what to do. I can't plan for tomorrow as I have to think of surviving today first,' said Mrs Chan, speaking from her Tianjin home.
'Happiness seems to have left us the day my husband left our home.'
Their three boys, aged five, 10 and 14, are studying at schools in Tianjin, where they moved in May 2001. But they look set to terminate their studies after the Lunar New Year as Mrs Chan cannot afford to pay next term's school fees. She said her husband's ordeal has left them penniless and she had already borrowed more than 200,000 yuan from her friends to pursue her husband's case.
Her husband was arrested in Fengnan City, Hebei, over a 2.6 million yuan business dispute in August 2000.
After a Fengnan court found he had no case to answer, police transferred him to Baotou, Inner Mongolia, in November 2001 because of another 4.7 million yuan business dispute there.
Chan told the Baotou City Intermediate People's Court he was beaten into confessing as there was insufficient evidence to convict him. He also complained about his prolonged detention. However, he was convicted and sentenced on December 15.
Mrs Chan is now lodging an appeal and vowed to take the case to Beijing if they lost.
'There are times when I think I have had enough and don't want to live anymore. But when I think of my husband and children, I know I can't give up,' Mrs Chan said.
She said her sons formed her only source of comfort, especially the eldest one who has learned to share his mother's worries.
'He'll ask if anything bad has happened if I look sad. When he learned that we're running out of money, he suggested borrowing some from his classmates,' Mrs Chan said.
But she said the two younger sons had no idea about the ordeal of their father.
'My youngest son was just 11/2 years old when his dad was arrested. He learned about his father by looking at his photographs,' the mother said. Mrs Chan said it broke her heart to see her sons being deprived of a happy childhood.
'My second son told me at Christmas that Santa Claus would not visit him anymore as he did not know the way on the mainland.
'He said he knew this because Santa did not come the year before - when I was too busy with my husband's case and had no time to prepare presents for the children.'
