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In the case of a resident who is considered to be hiding something or is "not frank enough," casual visitors will call on him, each using a different form of approach. These visitors, assigned by the police, may consist of Youth Corps League members, party members, unit chiefs, members of the Sino-Soviet Friendship Association, activists from peasants' or workers' organizations. This will go on until the man is cleared or arrested. Said a middle-aged housewife who came to Hong Kong a few months ago: "You people outside always pity us for our short rations, dirty rice and scanty clothing. I tell you that's nothing compared to the nameless fear and suspense one suffers from each time the Household policeman knocks on the door."
Ordinary people stay off the streets after 8 p.m., and people who do venture out are shadowed by police, often disguised as beggars or pedicab drivers. Although today the mass trials are mostly held in country areas, arrests are still frequent in the big cities. In Shanghai bodies are still hauled to the crematories in lowsided trucks, with splashes of blood visible on the victim's clothing. Said a Shanghai housewife, recently arrived in Hong Kong: "If you hailed me in the street as a friend,
I would ignore you and think you were very inconsiderate. Who knows whether you will be arrested for something the very next day, and I will be in trouble for talking to you? Spies are everywhere, and they might have seen us talking."
Reform Through Labor. A feature of Lo's system is collective responsibility and collective punishment. A neighborhood may be punished for a misdemeanor committed by one family. Fishermen are forced to guarantee each other mutually, in units of from five to 15 fishing boats. Peasants must join Peasant Associations, which are collectively responsible for the behavior of individual members. In state factories and mines, Comrade Tribunals, composed of Communist workers, conduct "cases that are of educational significance and are related to labor discipline and work regulations," i.e., workers suppress workers. At a recent mass trial at Tenckuang football field in Nanchung, 4,000 people cheered while four workers were sentenced to prison for "larceny and corruption." The trial was cited as "a mobilization meeting for increased production, practicing economy, and opposing corruption and waste."
In the background of the terrorist picture there are the forced labor camps. Why kill opponents when work can be got out of them? Like the Soviet Communists, the Chinese believe in the theory of "reform through labor." Millions, including many with "suspended death sentences," have been trucked to railroad and water conservation projects all over China and to lumber camps in Manchuria.