ASIATIC OFFFENDER '666'

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP83-00423R000300500003-0
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: R
• Document Page Count: 52
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 18, 2001
• Sequence Number: 3
• Content Type: REPORT

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1 L 3'1'RICTKD
DEPARTMENT OF STATE
DIVISION OF LANGUAGE SERVICES
TC NO.
52605
T-44/Rw-XV
Italian
4s.SIATIO OFF'LNDER "666"
To Fro. F'loriano Ronceri , rp-ldio ";,ria Fnvhin,
]entile I a1, and to my leer Confreres Giusenre
Andreatta, Stanlalno Rossato, Enifanio Cardin,
who suffered with me for two years under Com-
munism in China, I dedicate these few rages of
memories,
Chronological introduction
I left Genoa on "May 22, 1948, Arriving at Shanghai on
July 16. I reached Moaimien on >er-tember 23, together with
t3r. ET-,Ifanio and x3r. Stanislso.
At the recuest of Mfona. 'V lentin, 91sho!) of Ksngting,
toward the end of February 1949, 1 went to Kongting (Tetsienlou )
to study the Chinese language.
On June 4, 1 returned to =sosirien, where we ecleled
to build our convent as soon as nosslottiner with them. scanning the streenc th of the
rious nartiee and exchanwinp; advice!. very lay we a ached
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with anxiety the flag of these two hundred anlr'iers, fear-
ing that it might be re.-,laced at any moment by the Zed Star.
Meanwhile, a few hundred ntwtionalists hz;,, come d
from the north and recrt"ttired Kanrting aniolitical but -Aso in ec-anemic matters. Incoming and
outgoing mail was inspected by the Cornvun alts. C'ith the
grey=test nonchalance they would enter any home, those of us
'oroneane included, without asking nerr^iseion, 7:nd would
= rooeed to conduct a veritable search of the rooms, orening
closet doors and fulling out furniture drawers. They would
never accept food, or a drink or a smoke. ''ce learned later
that they took notes of everything' they saw or heard. I
learned also that at the mrl,ret rlace they showed interest
in finding out hence this car that Jerson dame, and if any-
one cfkwe from renote Lregions in the mountains, he we.s sub-
jected to on endless series of interrovations.
t blackboard wee set up in a nublio sousre, a and earth
day a passage from the 'oarel of Marx would be written on it.
her or not the peo' le read .it Eras imrnterial; the im-
portant Poet for the Corariunists wr?e to keen on writing it,
for sooner or later someone w' old read it. Id(-,as of and
plane for social reforms, often in contradiction with one
another, were tossed t the unwary ;.?c-)ulation which became
enthusiastic at first, then bewildered and, finally,
frightened.
The Communists preferred to take ounrters here and there,
so that they might personally check the financial cnnditicn
of this or that family. And those who chose to stay with the
chieftains of the 14osirrTien valley had all the air of warrens
watching over their warns to --revcnt their escape.
hirnevsr they needed aorsethinV, they would come "kingly"
to borrow it, and we knew that this meant, most of the time,
losing
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losing the thing borrowed. They had a eY)eaial fondness for
watches, vietrolas, cameras, radio sets....
Fortunately for us, the word "lenroey" scared the life
out of them and they would not take anything if we told them
that it had been used by the leers. But, esrecially in the
case of victrolas, which they seemed to want more than any-
thing else, it did not take them long to catch on to the
fact thnt we had rur-~osely broken them or nut them out of
order.
The Communists were narticularly attentive to the
,~rinc ial chieftains of the valley. They questioned them
on how the conditions of the nooulation might be improved.;
they sought their advice on this or that matter, even bestow-
ing u''on them offices and honorary titles. For Instance,
Chief 3antong was entrusted with the task of arousing the
enthusiasm of the population in the struggle a ainst Tibet.
He was 1x,ter invited to become an officer of the Communist
Army, but he declined such an honor with the excuse that he
wished to live by working the land like the poor people. He
was one of the richest and rust powerful chiefs of the valley.
The other chiefs were unA er the irr'?ree s i on that under
the Communists all you had to do in order tc be left in
peace was to lower yourself to wirkin; the land. But it was
not so. The Co! m>>nlets knew, as everyone did, how great was
the no 'er of those native chieftains, eancoially $antong's.
A modern Don Rodrigo, he made use of the lobs to carry out
his private deal.gns, and --hen he had some goal to attain, he
would seek it by an., and all mnane. The Com-runists feared
that he might any moment incite the bloc and the po??ulation
to rebel against them. Thus it --ta s that in early July 19503,
5entong, together with Chief Centetse and a few others, was
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invited by the Communists to attend a series of important
conferences in the city of Kangting, seat of the province.
This was nothing new; similar meetings had been held before
and the chieftains had been asked to attend, and the Com-
munists had already recruited a doren or so farmers (men and
women) and had sent them to other cities to attend the Com-
munist ebhoole. Anyway, everyone was convinced that Santong
and Cen.tetse were dectined to a rapid and brilliant career
under the Communists. Instead, it was learned suddenly that,
as they arrived at Kangting in their secondary school, the
two were arrested. Away from Mos?mien, alone, they did not
have any power; they were separated and ouestioned on their
real or alleged misdeeds (the neonle were later told that
santong had 60 murders on his conscience, while uentetse had
no less than 40), were beaten up and sent to do hard labor.
Other chiefs of the Mosimien region were with them, such as
Regolo, who had been in his decline for many years. Accord-
ing to rumors, Regolo was found blameless and was sent, free,
back to Mosimien.
Other important manifestations of the Communist program
took place in the second half of the year 1950. It was no
longer possible to travel freely from one town to another.
At the beginning it seemed as though this restriction applied
only to the Europeans, but it sOon writs evident that it
covered the Chinese also. A s.3eei,] rermit 9 P ranpssary to
go from one place to another; thus, every town became a con-
centration camp in diag,nise. It became very difficult to
learn what was taking nlFce elsewhere, and each community we
out off from the rest of the world. We noticed that grass
w =s crowing on the road 1eiding from ' osimien to Lamas and
Kangting!
The
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The Cont'uniste then ordered a house-to-house census,
under their control. In order to Practice my Chinese, I
lived for a few months in our ?4osimien residence; when I
returned Tjermenently to tr~rtgtse, a patrol of soldiers was
sent there to watch my recidenee. And titan -tse is only
three-:nd?one-h'.1f Cilometere from 'Aosimien! Then they
requested of each family a financial account covering the
last three years: what had been the income and the expenses.
=zany (lid not keen records, and in such cases the information
was extracted by long .^uestloning. Everything hal to be
accounted for!
There were cases where someone had, in orevicue years,
been living in another house or another town. In these cases,
also, a thorough extrmination w e in order, with the bringing
up of old. matters which finally ended with the incredible
verdict: "f3c back where you came from!* It did not matter
whether another family was already there; orders were to be
obeyed and one family after another had to move, ad. infinitum,
according to the orders and the whims of the Communists!
A little booth was built in the town's square where all
complaints, even anouirous ones, could be submitted. The
Comm uniste always stated that they would act only on the
basis of Just accusations. It was natural, therefore, that
every time one found himself irvnlved in some "redicament, he
would try to find out who night have been his accuser and the
cause of his woes. This led to etisnicion, hatred, revenge.
A few months after the coming of the Co uniste to cower, no
one trusted anyone else, no family showed resnect for another
family or came to its help. Nosimien was already one of Hall's
antechAmbera, and this was only the beginning!
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Disliked as we were because of our foreign correspondence,
hindered in our relations with the Bishop in Kangting, and
unable to collect any substantial tributes from the Bishop's
tenants, our concern over being able to provide for the lepers
Increased day by day.
By taking advantage of the fact that the Chinese could
still move about if they held a permit, which at that time
was easy to secure, a Chinese Sister went to Kangting and
received from the Bishop a sum of money for the needs of the
lepers, since the Communists had stated that they were not
going to worry about them. On her return trip, on the eve of
the Assumption of the t3leeeed 'Virgin, her mule stumbled while
crossing a email bridge and the poor nun fell into the whirl-
ing waters of the iiirsenkuang. Her decayed body was recovered
on November 7. Thus, one more grief who added to our anxieties.
Meanwhile, an edict had been issued by the Communists:
all weapons were to be reported, under penalty of... (at the
beginning nothing was said, but it soon became clear that
whoever failed to report his area.- ons was subject to military
executidn) The weapons thus collected were later re-
distributed to the people--that is to say, to those whom the
Communists trusted.
I no longer remember the exact time: in 1935 there al-
ready was in Mosimien a Communist who, on the occasion of
Mao Tse--tung's passimg through the town had the honor of hiving
him for dinner in this home. When the Communist came Into
power, one clay this man was found dead from xolsoning. I
could not say whether it was murder or suicide.
The situation became worse every day because of the Com-
munists' insistence on yoking their noses into rublic as well
as private affairs in order to have a hand in everything
concerning
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concerning the neonle, not only nolLticRily but also economically
and socially. Mr:ny wore those who no longer felt safe, and fled.
fi_*.ured that there mueet hive been at least fifty of them,
esc)eclally from the T ayang area. Those who were caught while
fleeing were sent to -)ri eon. ^he only ones who still commanded
re.arect in the valley seemed to be the Lobos. When invited to
abandon their customs and uaa-es and aom:-'letely adernt themselves
to everything C lneee, they, who ur, to thrt time h'd been without
a leader, held a meeting c.ndl elected a king, with ant rejoicing
amid feetivitiee and ;;arv.des.
I heard someone sf=.y th.st It v,n a the Com,nuni stet who wrinted the
Loloea of "oeimien to ht ve a leader-king; it mey even be that this
is true, beeai se through this king the Co*roRaniests Inter had control
over all the lobos of the vs1.ley. x?,wever, on that occfi.sion every-
one was ; ma?ed to see ttv^t not f cirgle one of the lobs was with-
out a gun: 'erhf~;-s it t, r:e beenaaae of this that the Cor r'unleta
tre,=ted them with every respect; but It was only a matter of
prudence, for later they, too, had to submit to the laws of sharing
the land....
An t+.ckno?-1 eegmPnt which rs t that time vas on everyone's lips
Wfle this: "THE: DO K II..L!", and In the v sled comments
It was said that -erha;-)e the frond sense of the Chinese would In the
end rev= ;1 over the Com-nist e!,irit and ch- nfre At. ,)thers con-
sidered thin fact o iRn of -rult-nos: Corr-unist fear an ir-
ritated :?o aul'tion becrtuse they -}re not ;et ateon:,, ;:n^ugh." It was
avid that in the "onRcong rr.ount