‘Freedom swimmers’ from China to Hong Kong who braved deadly waters, and police officers assigned to catch and return them, recall dark days
- Desperate to escape the fallout of the Cultural Revolution, swimmers braved deadly cold water, sharks and police patrols to reach the bright lights of Hong Kong
It was about midnight when Poon Yuen-ching and her fiancé, Lo Ping-sum, stood at the edge of Deep Bay. Some 5km (3 miles) away, across the cold waters, the prospect of a married life in the British colony of Hong Kong awaited, free from the poverty and political turmoil wrought by China’s Cultural Revolution.
The 22-year-old students had trekked nine days to reach this point, from their homes in a fishing commune in Dongguan, 40km away in Huangjiang, evading frontier guards along the way and hiding in bushes whenever flares were fired. They were well prepared for the swim to economic and political freedom: Lo had won several swimming championships at school, while Poon trained each night in secret for the 10-hour swim.
The couple had dated for three years before being separated when they were sent to the fishing commune under the Cultural Revolution, local media reported at the time. Poon told Chinese-language Hong Kong newspaper The Kung Sheung Daily News that working 12 hours a day fishing in peak season, followed by hours of learning the words of Mao Zedong, was too tough.
The pair entered the water during the first hour of November 10, 1970, holding on to rubber bladders in order to stay afloat in the strong current. After 50 minutes, at around 1am, Poon heard her fiancé shouting that it was too cold, asking her to swim faster.
An hour and a half later, Lo was trembling, telling her he could not make it to the other side. Poon strapped the two rubber bladders she had onto Lo, but it was too late. He had fallen unconscious. Poon tried to resuscitate him, but nothing worked.
For the next six hours, she held onto her fiancé with her left hand and paddled with her right, while picking at her numerous cuts and bruises, likely from the oyster beds. A Hong Kong police boat eventually came to the rescue, lifting the pair from the water and ferrying them to a beach in Tsim Bei Tsui, off Lau Fau Shan.
