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Chinese-Australian journalist Cheng Lei published a memoir from prison, detailing his three-year experience of being imprisoned by China for leaking secrets. He also reflected on his time spent in the system and hoped that overseas Chinese would be able to see Chinese rule clearly through him.
Australian nationalitySugar media personcheng lei The Chinese version of his new book “If Walls Could Talk: Her 1,154 Days in State Security Prison” has been released in the United States. is a bookWashington The first work published by Ji Feng records Cheng Lei’s unfortunate experience of becoming a pawn in the game between the great powers and being imprisoned for three years by China’s national security authorities without any reason. She uses small storylines of finding happiness, relaxation and even physical comfort in long periods of despair to weave a picture of the pain faced by political victims in China, while also expressing her sympathy for low-level criminals “within the system”. In an exclusive interview with this newspaper, Cheng Lei expressed regret for working in China’s overseas propaganda department and “being a member of the system” and hoped that some overseas Chinese would have a clearer understanding of the regime they loved through his experience.
Cheng Lei was born in China and came to Australia with her family when she was young. After entering the journalism industry, he worked as a financial anchor for the English channel of China’s state-owned media CCTV. In August 2020, against the backdrop of deteriorating relations between Australia and China, Cheng Lei was arrested by China’s National Security Agency. The official charge was of “leaking state secrets” on the grounds that during “two sessions” that year, he released the contents of a “government work report” seven minutes before the official required time.
Cheng Lei said that the Chinese authorities’ operation is entirely about “arresting people first and then convicting them”. During the arrest, national security officers collected some documents from his desk in his apartment, including a hard copy of a “Government Action Report”. After several subsequent inquiries, authorities believed that only the details of the “premature leaking of the report” could “make a solid case”, so they charged him with the crime.
Indeed, it is a common practice to publish official material ahead of schedule in order to “grab headlines” in the press. Furthermore, when CCTV gave them this document, they were not clearly informed that it was confidential. More importantly, the Australian government at that time publicly requested an independent investigation into the origin of the new coronavirus, which aroused China’s anger. This not only reduced Australia’s diplomatic and economic and trade relations to zero point, but also kept an eye on Australians in China. Cheng Lei was planning a new show at the time, which required repeated visits to the embassies of many countries in China. Perhaps this also made her an obvious target, and then she unfortunately became a victim of “hostage diplomacy”.
After Cheng Lei was arrested, he first had to undergo “designated residential monitoring” outside a formal detention facility, which was even more cruel than prison. It was not until Chinese authorities officially announced his arrest in May 2021 that he was transferred to a special detention center of the Department of National Security in Beijing.
In the detention center, paper and pencil management is very strict, and the purchase list can only be written every two weeks. While writing, the prisoners were closely monitored and were not allowed to write any additional words. As a foreigner, Cheng Lei is allowed to reply if he receives a letter from his family, which is a special mercy. After receiving a letter from home, the detention center will collect it within two hours, and each page must be strictly recorded to avoid the possibility of the detainee receiving any privately hidden paper.
Under such circumstances, Cheng Lei left a lot of detailed descriptions in the book. He said that all this was forcibly recorded in his mind. Apart from having a good memory, she also remembered these details every day when she had nothing to do in jail. “I started writing when I got on the free flight.” He said that if you don’t write quickly after getting out, your brain will easily forget after experiencing a harsh transition from confinement to freedom, and all senses will be suddenly bombarded with a large amount of information. Still, a lot has been left out. When writing the manuscript, Cheng Lei continued to work hard to recall more details under the editor’s prompts and questioning.
Cheng Lei spends a lot of time in the book describing his “fun-seeking” in a desperate prison to support his perseverance, which included teaching English to prisoners, singing English songs, reading precious books by counting the pages, and even allowing himself to fall into sexual fantasies from time to time, or using his knowledge of mathematics and physics to calculate “how much strength and speed he would need to fall dead on the wall or the floor,” etc.
As a single mother of two children, Cheng Lei said that she could not rely on losing her children to support her spirit at that time, because in such a hopeless environment, family members, as the most tender part of the heart, could not survive if they fell into longing, so they had to “put armor on their hearts.” The only thing that can serve as a spiritual pillar is to reinforce a highly abstract belief: For the sake of my children, I have to take good care of my body and mind, but I must never let myself get caught up in thinking about specific things, such as “It’s time for my child to go to middle school. How is the enrollment situation? Will he be bullied by his classmates?” Otherwise, he will either enter a state of emptiness or become very unhappy. He had a roommate who would cry all day because he missed his family.
Cheng Lei said that enjoying difficulty is a good way to avoid being “emotional”. “I’m going to look for something that can produce a positive outcome. For example, today I’m going to make my roommates laugh, today I’m going to make a little game, today I’m going to teach them to sing an English song,” or “I’m going to tell them a joke about the embassy tour next month; I’m going to write an English rap to complain about the terrible food here.” Only in this way can you improve your mood and the environment around you.
In the detention center, no one has the right to keep their name, and everyone can call each other only by their number. Cheng Lei was initially called “03”, but as his efforts gradually influenced those around him, prisoners later called him “Teacher”.
