14…..Consulate to the Rescue

    After the fourth day, a guard came to our door in the mid-afternoon. Most of the time the only reason a guard would come during this time was to take someone out for an interrogation by detectives or bringing in a new inmate. My name was called so I came forward to the door. The guard said something in Chinese I didn’t understand and John told me that I had visitors. I got my slippers on and went back to the door. The guard hand cuffed me through a square opening in the barred gate, then opened it and led me away.

 

    Waiting for me on the other side of the control room gate was a young Chinese woman. Once on the other side, she and a policeman walked with me down to the main floor. She told me she worked for the American Consulate! I was so elated! Maybe now I may have refuge or some answers at least. Once downstairs, we walked across the garage area, that now had a large truck parked upon it, deliveries no doubt. In the reception area a tall Caucasian man walked over at once and introduced himself. “Hello Mr. Lovett, I am Richard, the Vice Consulate for the American Consulate in Guangzhou, please to meet you; we don’t have long so let’s go.”

 

    We went outside to the drive that ran between the main building and the prison wall. Along the wall side was a low, long one story building with several doors every fifteen feet or so. We stopped by the third door and Richard opened it, allowing me to enter first, then the policeman, the young Chinese girl and finally Richard himself. The room was air conditioned, which was a pleasant surprise. They also had a bottle of water for me, another plus. A large conference table dominated the small room. Before a single window next to the entry door was a desk and the policeman sat there. Richard and his assistant sat opposite me at the table, and soon Blue Sky’s assistant and another detective I had not seen before came in and sat on a sofa behind Richard. He began speaking to me.

 

    ”We only have about twenty five minutes, thirty if we push it. First sign these papers as I talk with you. These just give me the right to represent you for various reasons. I can’t give you legal advice, but I have a list of lawyers here we can get in touch with for you. Pick out one or two and we’ll do the rest.” I busily signed various forms as he asked me some questions.

 

    ”Are you being treated humanely? Any problems you wish to tell me about?” I told him everything was reasonable, but I had issues concerning a nerve injury that was aggravated by sitting constantly on hard surfaces, and I needed him to relay to the doctor that I needed daily pain reliever for it. He said he would talk with the doctor. Then he continued with some questions. Was there anyone I wanted to contact? I gave him my sister’s name and the city she lived in, but I didn’t have any phone number memorized or address. He said that if they had ever applied for a passport then they would be in the database. I gave him the names of some friends at Hill Bar that he could contact. He took their names down. He asked if I had money there in the prison. I told him no, so he wrote this down. He said he didn’t have any details about why I was there, only that the authorities had contacted him.

 

    He then gave me a booklet, which he had to show the detectives first. It contained a set of rules and laws agreed upon by both China and the United States on right of Americans imprisoned in China. It was written in both Chinese and English. He also gave me two “Time” magazines to read and some blank paper for writing. Before I knew it our time was up and I had to go. We all returned to the reception area and I was about to be taken upstairs when the policeman who had sat behind the desk pointed out the papers and magazines in my hand. A female officer of the prison looked at the papers, returned them to me, but didn’t return the magazines and told Richard in Chinese I couldn’t have them. He talked to her in very good Chinese, which surprised me, and said that yes, by law I was entitled to them. She shook her head. Richard got tough. He at once took out his mobile phone and made a quick call. While it was ringing he said, “They always try to do something like this, but I’ll play hardball. They don’t want to mess with me!” He got through to someone and spoke in Chinese about the situation. Then he handed the phone to the policewoman who listened to it for awhile. Richard said to me quietly, “She is now talking to no.1 police chief in Guangzhou; this shouldn’t take long.” She answered softly a few times on the phone, then handed the phone back to Richard and then handed the magazines to me, but she flipped through them quickly, as if she was going to read something derogatory about China within five seconds. I thanked Richard heartily. He said he would be back within a month at a minimum, perhaps sooner. Then I was led back upstairs.

 

    At the gate to the long hallway, once I was let in, a guard wanted to take my magazines and papers yet again. The young Chinese woman told him in Chinese that that had been cleared already downstairs, but they ignored her. The policeman behind her however must have reiterated, because they looked at him, then handed me the materials somewhat reluctantly. Even so, before I got back into my cell, our guard did take them and told me he would return them shortly; he was required to look them over. This guard had been very curt and kind with me so far, so I didn’t argue. And sure enough, within a few hours I had all my things returned to me. I made a point in thanking him for returning them quickly. Of course everyone in the room didn’t care about my visitors, although they all read the business card Richard had given me. They looked at it like it was a signed photo of Mao himself; it really seemed to impress them all. The magazines were another story. Everyone wanted to look at them. I almost had to fight them off, and then I had an idea. I went to Mr. Li and Mr. Chen and handed each of them a magazine. They  were happy to look at them and with that I established myself even more with them. They were returned directly to me and only a few of the Chinese asked me rather sheepishly later if they could look at them. I gave out only one of them, while I sat and read an article from the other. I also gave the Chinese-American law book to Mr. Li, who was very interested in looking at it, once he saw the Chinese title. I wasn’t very concerned with that for now, so it got passed around for about three days before I ever saw it again. For the first time in the few days I had been there, I felt somewhat more secure.

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