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Scholars Resume Life After Detention

Gao Zhan speaks at a news conference at Dulles Airport in Chantilly, Va., on July 26. Photo courtesy of AP

By Eun-Kyung Kim/Dirk Beveridge/AP

Gao Zhan tried not to think about her husband and 5-year-old son and simply relied on her faith to see her through her five-month detention in China.

“Missing family members — thinking about them — would make me feel even worse,’’ she said in an interview with The Associated Press on July 27, a day after her return home. “Praying was the only thing I could do to sustain the hardship.’’

For the first time in months, the American University scholar awoke in a familiar bed and to the faces of an elated husband and a little boy who was no longer disconsolate, but once again his chatty self.

Gao’s husband, Xue Donghua, had suggested going away for the weekend, but Gao preferred to unwind at their suburban Virginia home, surrounded by the comforts of her own furniture.

Beijing sentenced Gao to 10 years on spy charges on July 24, but released her a day later on medical parole.

“I still have no idea why they picked me,’’ she said, although she said it may be because of her membership in a Chinese scholars group with ties to the Taiwanese government.

Chinese police detained Gao on Feb. 11 at the Beijing airport. She was formally arrested April 1. “I thought I was the biggest fool in the world,’’ she said Friday.

Gao’s husband and son, Andrew, also were detained and held separately from each other for 26 days before being allowed to return to the United States.

Authorities questioned Gao daily, with interrogators shining a single 300-watt light bulb in her face. Daily meals consisted of “everything stewed,’’ usually onions, potatoes and cabbage. She first rejected the fare, but soon forced herself to eat.

“I said, Gao Zhan, you must eat, otherwise, you will never see your son and husband,’’ she said. “I was swallowing the food in tears.’’

Gao was allowed outside in a “fresh air room’’ for an hour every morning and every night — when the guards remembered to let her out. She was allowed to watch state-run television two hours every evening in her room, but she could only watch it sitting as straight as a board and without moving from her spot the entire time. It was through TV that she learned about Secretary of State Colin Powell’s visit to China. The news gave her hope.

“I know something was going to happen,’’ she said.

That something turned out to be her trial.

“It seems to me it was decided by them and not by us,” she said of her immediate conviction. “In the Chinese courtroom, we don’t have any say ... and I strongly believed I didn’t do anything to violate the Chinese law.’’

Now, at home and resting until she resumes her research and teaching at American University, Gao has been busy expressing her thanks to all who have helped her — lawmakers, government agencies, her friends and neighbors, the media who publicized her case.

Gao, who will become a U.S. citizen next week in a special ceremony on Capitol Hill, said she wants to spend time with her family before she returns to work, particularly her son, who had been told his mother was away at a conference.

“I was telling him I’m so sorry that this conference went so long,’’ she said. “That’s a lie I’m going to tell probably for as long as I could.’’

Li Shaomin returns to Hong Kong

Less than a week after mainland China deported American academic Li Shaomin, he returned to Hong Kong on July 30 to try to resume teaching.

Li’s arrival was viewed by pro-democracy forces as a victory for Hong Kong’s autonomy, which they say has been compromised many times in the four years since Britain returned its former colony to Chinese sovereignty.

It was not clear whether Li can return to his job as a professor of marketing at the City University of Hong Kong. The university has been vague about Li’s status, drawing criticism it was ignoring concerns about academic freedom to pay deference to Beijing’s wishes.

Li, 44, obtained a Ph.D. in sociology from Princeton University in 1988 and became an American citizen in 1995. He had lived in Hong Kong until the Chinese authorities arrested him in the border city of Shenzhen on Feb. 25.

His arrival in Hong Kong came five days after Li flew to the United States, following his conviction and deportation from China. He was found guilty of damaging Chinese national security and spying for Taiwan, but no evidence against him has been publicly released.

Hong Kong’s government has declined to comment on Li, but it issued a statement after he landed saying Hong Kong will “not allow anybody in Hong Kong to undertake espionage activities and jeopardize the interests of Hong Kong and the state.”

There was no indication Li’s activities would be restricted. Many Chinese dissidents live in Hong Kong and campaign here against suppression in the mainland.

Li has said he did not want to become a symbol of the struggle for human rights in China, and kept a low profile after his arrival.

Li’s father, Li Honglin, said his Chinese-born son wanted to return soon to Hong Kong. He declined to comment on his son’s arrest in China but insisted “the spy accusation was absolutely ludicrous.”