On a quiet beach in Xiamen, the sound of gunshots shattered the air. A young life came to an abrupt end during the Cultural Revolution.
Hong Canghai, a 21-year-old student who had returned from Singapore, was executed by the Xiamen Revolutionary Committee on charges of being a “counter-revolutionary.” His crime? Expressing dissatisfaction with the Cultural Revolution.
Dreams of a new China turn to despair
Hong Canghai was born in Singapore, but his family’s roots traced back to Tong’an in Fujian Province. He received a traditional Chinese education, attending Chongfu Primary School, organized by the Singapore Fujian Association, and later Zhongzheng Secondary School, known for its leftist leanings. Idealistic and full of youthful enthusiasm, Hong was drawn to the promise of a “New China.”
In March 1967, his grandfather took him and his older brother, Hong Cangjiang, back to China, settling in Xiamen. Yet, instead of finding the utopia they had imagined, the brothers were thrust into the harsh reality of the Cultural Revolution. Schools had shut down, and society was consumed by political struggle.
Frustrated by what he saw, Hong Canghai wrote candidly in his diary, criticizing the Cultural Revolution and denouncing Mao Zedong’s dictatorship. His outspokenness grew bolder. He posted satirical slogans, mocked Jiang Qing — Mao’s wife and a key figure in the Cultural Revolution — on the back of theater tickets, and openly expressed sympathy for Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping, both of whom had fallen out of favor. It was only a matter of time before authorities took notice.
Arrest and persecution
In November 1968, Hong Canghai was arrested and charged as a “counter-revolutionary.” His home was ransacked, and his grandfather and brother were also detained. Even their landlord and his wife were implicated. The brothers were held at the Diantaishan Detention Center, known as the “Pigeon Caves,” for two months before being transferred back to Jimei Middle School for a public struggle session.
That brutal gathering marked the last time the brothers saw each other. Forbidden from speaking, they exchanged only silent, pained glances.
Following the struggle session, Hong Canghai was paraded through Xiamen’s schools for further humiliation. In early 1970, amid the peak of the “One Strike, Three Anti” campaign, he was sentenced to death. The execution was carried out immediately, and his body was discarded on the beach.
A brother’s heartbreak
At the time of the execution, Hong Cangjiang had already been sent to the countryside for “re-education.” He only learned of his brother’s fate when he stumbled upon a Revolutionary Committee notice at a local market. Desperate to retrieve his brother’s body, he applied for permission to return to Xiamen, only to be denied. Officials claimed he needed approval from the village committee. When he sought that approval, he was met with an even harsher response — orders from higher authorities forbade him from leaving.
Their grandfather, upon hearing the news, collapsed from grief. A great-aunt, the only remaining relative capable of traveling, rushed from Maxiang to Xiamen to claim the body, but was turned away. Ultimately, Hong Canghai’s remains were sent to a hospital for dissection and used for medical research until they were deemed no longer useful. His ashes were discarded three years later, categorized as “unclaimed.”
Isolation and exile
Hong Canghai’s execution cast a long shadow over his brother’s life. Branded by association, Hong Cangjiang faced relentless discrimination. He was denied the standard supplies allotted to those sent to the countryside, and even mailing a letter home became impossible. His parents, still in Singapore, were barred from contact with him. Any attempt at communication was labeled “collusion with foreign forces.”
For eight long years, every letter Hong Cangjiang wrote was intercepted. His parents were left in the dark, unaware that one of their sons had been executed.
When China reinstated the college entrance exam system in 1977, Hong Cangjiang excelled, particularly in English. Yet his brother’s “political problem” continued to haunt him. Foreign-related fields refused to admit him, and it was not until 1978 that he was finally accepted into Xiamen University’s finance program.
Years of silence and eventual vindication
News of Hong Canghai’s death reached Singapore years later through an unlikely source. His uncle stumbled upon a newspaper article titled Once a Pro-Communist, Now a Victim of the Regime’s Wrath. Shocked, he remained silent, fearing the heartbreak it would bring to Hong Canghai’s parents.
It wasn’t until 1976 that the truth finally emerged. A relative visiting China reconnected with Hong Cangjiang and relayed the devastating news to his mother. Her worst fears had come true — her son had been executed years earlier.
In 1980, after more than a decade of injustice, Hong Canghai was officially exonerated. The state quietly admitted its mistake, but no apology could undo the years of suffering.
A tearful reunion after 17 years
In 1981, Hong Cangjiang graduated from Xiamen University and worked in the finance department of the Xiamen Forging Machinery Factory. Three years later, in 1984, his parents finally returned to China after 17 years of separation.
But the family that had once traveled together was now broken. Of the three who had left Singapore with such high hopes — grandfather and two brothers — only Hong Cangjiang remained.
When the long-separated family embraced, tears flowed freely, mourning the irreparable loss and the years stolen by political persecution caused by the Cultural Revolution.
Translated by Chua BC
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