Beijing Bookworm Literary Festival, March 8 - 10

March is international literary festival season in China, and I'm thrilled to be touring five major cities as a guest of the Bookworm Festival and M on the Bund's Shanghai Festival - with extra hospitality from the British Council.

The Beijing Bookworm

I arrive in Beijing on March 8 just a few hours after Malaysian Airlines flight 370 was due to land there, and the plane's disappearance turns into the grim theme tune of my two weeks in Asia. My father, Max Oxford, investigated many a crash when he ran civil aviation in Hong Kong and Malaysia half a century ago - but nothing like this baffling loss.

The Opposite House Atrium

My first festival session is held on Sunday evening in the stylish atrium of the Opposite House - the hotel where I'm also staying. Fergus Naughton (from Jonathan Fenby's company, Trusted Sources) moderates a great discussion of At Least We Lived. I read a few passages and talk about the book, with several Beijing-based journalist friends asking apt questions. Some British diplomats are also in the largely expat audience. Friends take me out for an excellent Yunnanese dinner afterwards. Many plan to relocate from Beijing because of the noxious pollution - you shouldn't be able to smell the air, says one.

Opposite House Atrium from above

The Red Gate

On Monday other friends take me for a splendid lunch at Lost Heaven (also Yunnanese!), a smart restaurant in the historic complex that once housed the American Embassy. Then we stop by the Red Gate Gallery to see up close the watchtower made famous by Paul French's Midnight in Peking. 

At Least We Lived on display at the Beijing Bookworm

               That evening I take part in a panel at the Bookworm on 'Ways of Telling the Past'. Fellow panelists Paul Ham, an Australian historian, Janette Jenkins, an English historical novelist, and moderator Christopher New have refreshingly contrasting views on the topic. Most thought-provoking question posed to me from a crowded room: 'What did I leave out of my parents' story?'

Paul Ham, a volunteer, Emma, Christopher New & Janette Jenkins

We stay on afterwards for pizza and a drink in the busy Bookworm bar - also a chance to chat to the Festival director, Peter Goff.

Huizhou to Hong Kong, December 29

Tuesday 29th

One important task remains: the recreation of the iconic Waichow photo, which captured the bedraggled but triumphant men of the escape on the morning of December 29th. The photographer used his last plate to take the shot, and it's been a key clue in identifying the members of the original party and tracing their descendants. This was the 1941 photo, and this is how we looked on the same date in 2009 outside what is now the People's Hospital.

Next it's on to look at a lovely old Catholic Mission, where our fathers received food and solace, and to walk around downtown Huizhou, both old and new quarters. Most of us resort to MacDonald's (even in Huizhou!) for a quick lunch before saying farewell to our Guangdong hosts and re-boarding the buses for the drive back to the Hong Kong border. Here we're unceremoniously dropped off to trudge across the border and take the metro back to central Hong Kong, which we reach with some relief despite the many high points of our mainland adventure.

Mike and I organize dinner for everyone's who's around at a favorite Italian restaurant, Cine Citta - a wonderful way to finish up an amazing week.

The HERO Committee, 'weary but relieved': Emma, Alison, Russ, Richard, Donald, Sheena and David.

NanAo to Huizhou, December 28

Monday 28th

After breakfast we check out of the NanAo hotel and head north for a morning of Communist history. First we visit the wartime command center of the East River Column guerrillas, housed in a handsome former Catholic mission in the village of Tuyang. We're honored to have had the son of their commander traveling with us since the Shenzhen welcome dinner. The Communist East River guerrillas were highly organized and did a lot of work to prepare the escape route for our party and later breakouts from Hong Kong POW camps. We learn more about their role as we go along, and enjoy viewing an exhibition in the old headquarters. Then it's on to another display on the same theme - the East River Column Museum in the town of Ping Shan. There's a good topographical model of their territory, but no guided tour and no English language signs to explain the exhibits.

It's another chilly day, and the low point for me comes when we're expected to have a picnic lunch with cold drinks (exactly the same inedible sandwich as the day before) on the buses in the carpark of the museum. I blow up at our mainland Chinese organizers, and though no local restaurant can apparently be found, we're offered a welcome cup of hot tea back in the museum. We drive on, unfortunately by-passing much of the escape route on modern highways, to an old Hakka walled village, Dashanxia. This is a gem, and was the very spot where the escapers spent a comfortable night, being generously fed by the local people, on December 28th. They were by this time within the lines of the Chinese army, safely beyond Japanese-held territory.

The countryside is still mountainous. The village is the second-largest walled village remaining in Guangdong province, some buildings are being restored but others are sorely in need of rescue.

We reach the city of Huizhou, Waichow to our fathers, in the late afternoon. We're being lodged at the West Lake Hotel - historically speaking, the wrong Huizhou hotel, as Tim reminds us, but it's quite luxurious compared to the NanAo Hotel and has lovely views of the West Lake. Here we prepare for a farewell dinner, which HERO will host for local officials and the representatives of the East River Column Society who've traveled with us. Philip Snow again provides invaluable help with writing and translating a speech for Rich: a task complicated by

several late additions of dignitaries to be thanked in the remarks. We're hoping for a more informal, buffet dinner but speeches are de rigueur nonetheless. We add a Scottish touch by having the Kennedy family pipe in the VIPs. To our delight, the chief Chinese guest is a smart woman from the Huizhou Foreign Affairs office, who's fluent in English.

It's a convivial evening, and everyone's wistful that our adventure is nearly over - though we won't miss 'fried bumblings' for breakfast! It's a fantastic group of people, all have entered into the spirit of the journey - reading their relatives' letters and diaries to each other on the bus rides, and sharing memories from their own families. It's extraordinary to put faces to the names I've known for years, and to make many new friends.

NanAo, December 27

Sunday 27th

Our hotel is right on the beach, and though the weather is overcast, the shape of Ping Chau can be made out not far away. After breakfast, we go by bus to Shell Beach, the next cove along. Here we're to meet a man in his nineties, who was a witness to the MTBs' landing in 1941. He says that 2 boats landed at Shell Beach, and 3 further along the coast, at the present day harbor, where we go next. In this photo, Donald and the elderly witness are pointing in the direction from which the MTBs arrived. There's much debate among this witness, the son of the head of the East River Column and the son of Chan's bodyguard, Yeung Chuen, about the events of 1941. They say that NanAo people at first thought that the MTBs were Japanese, and were ready with guns to fire at them, but that the boats raised white flags and were then welcomed as allies. Contrary to accounts that we've read, they deny that the Japanese took reprisals against the village for their help in sheltering the escape party. They say that the villagers exploded the wrecks of the MTBs (which our men had scuttled in shallow water) so that no traces could be seen. Much later, when the beach was concreted over to create the harbor in the 1950s, all remaining wreckage was sold for scrap and nothing remains now.

At the back of the village, we take an hour's walk into the hills through pretty orchards of star fruit and lychees. We're not sure that this trail was on the men's route, but it gives us a good idea of the terrain they encountered on heading inland. We have half an hour to explore the back streets and dried sea food market behind NanAo's waterfront - there aren't many old buildings left, and most of the newer ones are pretty dismal. On the edge of the village, there's some fancier new construction underway.

The weather is getting colder and windier so, instead of a picnic in the park, we take our packed lunches back to the hotel and eat at tables on the terrace. It's the worst packed lunch ever - Wonderbread sandwich with layers of fried egg, mystery meat and fish paste, small cookies, an apple, water and a can of Coke. At least we can get coffee from the barman. But we have a fascinating afternoon. Our buses take us up to Wangmu Temple, a few miles above NanAo. On December 26, 1941 the men had holed up for the day 2-3 miles inland from the coast in the sheltered village of Wong Mi Chi, then retraced their steps to NanAo and walked north along the coast and then inland through the evening hours, reaching Wangmu Temple. Colin McEwan said in his diary: "...we reached a large village where we had our first sight of guerrilla organisation - the temple taken over and the floor laid with straw - hot tea ready...."

The ancient Buddhist temple is on a beautiful, steep hillside, and its 'altar' is under a huge slab of granite. There's a well-worn stone floor in the central area, where we can imagine our fathers getting a few hours' sleep on the straw.

Our next stop is Dapeng Fortress, which was a naval base in the nineteenth century, and during World War II the headquarters of Leung Wing Yuen's guerrillas. In the mixed-up politics of wartime China, Leung, a bandit with Communist leanings, had at one time served under Chan, a Nationalist. Whatever the politics, he and his men were essential guides for the escape party, escorting them 80 miles inland to Waichow, and securing food and shelter along the way. The Naval Commander, Montague, said in his official report: "Owing to the masterly scouting of Mr. Leung's guerrillas we had crossed the Tam Shui-Shao - To Kok road without being detected by the Japanese" (this crossing into Free China would occur on 27th).

Dapeng Fortress today is a warren of old shop houses, grain stores and the compounds of wealthier Chinese - partly restored, but with much more work to be done to save the historic site. In one house, a calligrapher writes Roxie's name in Chinese:

We return to the hotel in the late afternoon. By now it's raining, and the hotel is chilly, but we've had a good day. Warwick interviews me for his documentary (most of the interviews were done earlier in England), and we all have dinner in the hotel dining room.

Ping Chau and into China, December 26

Saturday, Boxing Day

After last night's festivities, it's a struggle to be packed and ready by 8:30am to board buses to begin our foray into China. But we all manage it, remembering that, once the 'swimming party' was picked up by the 2nd MTB flotilla, the MTBs had had to motor through the night to make their getaway. In 1941 at least the weather was favorable: "It was one of the most beautiful nights I remember. The sea was calm and the wind was warm," Lt. David Legge wrote later. (His cousin, Susan Scott and her husband, Dermott are on this trip). In 2009 the shipping forecast is for more turbulent conditions, so instead of taking the 'wide circuit of Hong Kong' (Max's words) from Aberdeen to the south and then sweeping up into Mirs Bay to land on the coast of China, we've shortened up our boat trip. We've chartered a ferry to take us from Ma Liu Shui in the New Territories to the island of Ping Chau and back. It's an hour and a half each way - a scenic ride past the deserted hills and beaches on either side of the Tolo Channel and into choppier open waters.

The crescent-shaped island of Ping Chau comes into view through the mists. This most easterly point in Hong Kong territory is important to us because the 5 MTBs carrying the escape party dropped anchor here after midnight. Mike Kendall, the leader of Z Force, Henry Hsu, Chan's aide, and a couple of others went ashore, under cover of the boats' guns, to get local intelligence. The village headman advised that it would be safe to proceed to NanAo to make landing on the coast of Guangdong province. In daylight, NanAo is clearly visible from Ping Chau - now it's developed as a Chinese holiday resort, then it was a small fishing village. Today, we're offered a simple and very tasty lunch by the current village head, Jenny, granddaughter of the 1941 headman.

We have a little time to explore the island's old village, with its charming old houses, mostly crumbling but occasionally restored. From a peak population of 2,000, Ping Chau now has few permanent residents but is a popular spot for weekend day trips.

On our return to Ma Liu Shui we board new buses that will transport us across the border at Shau Tau Kok on the eastern edge of the New Territories. We have to actually cross the border on foot with our luggage, but all goes well. Some of the very young and very elderly members of the group take our bus straight to NanAo, where we'll be spending the next two nights. But most of us head off in the opposite direction to the city of Shenzhen, arriving there about 5:30pm. Our Chinese partners have organized an official reception for HERO with the Deputy Mayor of Shenzhen and other dignitaries at the Wuzhou Guest House. We 7 committee members are invited to a welcome ceremony with the Deputy Mayor before the larger dinner. As luck would have it, 3 of the committee are delayed on the second coach which has been in a minor accident in the crazy traffic of the metropolis. I suggest that we substitute a couple of our expert consultants for the missing members, and am told by a bright young official that "it's complicated". But this is eventually what we do, since the Deputy Mayor can be kept waiting no longer. We enter a long reception room, with armchairs formally arrayed down each side and grander chairs for the Deputy Mayor and our Chairman, Richard at the head of the room.

The D.M. treats us to a cordial but lengthy welcome speech, elaborating on the economic miracle that is Shenzhen, now a municipality of 13 million (extending to NanAo, our destination), then a small fishing port. Rich replies manfully, without the notes that Philip Snow had provided for the dinner remarks, and we are presented with an elaborate ornament and two scrolls (one for the American HQ of HERO!). We all go down to the cavernous banquet hall, where the rest of the party has been waiting, and after more speeches, we enjoy a rather good dinner. At the head table, I'm seated with the son of the wartime leader of the Communist East River Guerrilla Column, and a veteran of the Chinese army. The D.M. then Rich speak again, this time Rich has Philip Snow by his side to translate his prepared remarks. Rich presents our gifts of HERO silk banners. It's been a long day, but it's symbolically important that HERO has been given a grand official welcome to China. We pile back onto the buses for a two-hour drive to the NanAo hotel, and are glad to find our beds for the night.

Hong Kong, December 25

Friday, Christmas Day

Some of us who weren't out partying last

night (and even, impressively, some

who were!) meet at St John's Cathedral for the 9am Christmas morning service. We've been promised a mention of the men who escaped, and of those who lost their lives in the attempt. A somewhat dour Minister welcomes the HERO group at the beginning of the packed-out service, but later includes a lovely remembrance of the escape in prayers. The choral music is fabulous.

Back at our hotel, Mike and I meet up with the girls for a late breakfast, then open Christmas presents. We put out a card from Russ with a picture of a Christmas tree as the closest thing we have to the real thing! Mike has given me a gorgeous black silk dress from Blanc de Chine, which I'll wear tonight. We have a lazy afternoon, but Sheena (HERO coordinator, and middle daughter of David MacDougall) and Alison are not so lucky. They're still negotiating with our Chinese partners over our mainland itinerary - the last thing anyone wants to be doing on this very special Christmas Day. Mike and I put in our tuppence worth of advice, discussions continue...

We need to be ready in our finery at 5pm to take a coach and then a sampan over to the venue for HERO's celebration dinner, the Jumbo floating restaurant in Aberdeen Harbour. The Jumbo, a vast, ornate, multi-tiered restaurant and something of a Hong Kong institution, is moored in the very spot between Aberdeen and Ap Lei Chau where our fathers took to sea. We're gathering there at exactly the date and time when they set off in the Cornflower launch 68 years ago, only to be shot up by Japanese occupying Brick Hill. These were the survivors:

Mason Chan and Sheena have organized a wonderfully festive occasion. Remarkably, 100 HERO family members are present for this, our largest event. With many Scots among the families, there is plentiful tartan and kilts in evidence. After a cocktail hour, we're seated by family - our small group of four is joined by 4 McEwans, Rob Macmillan, and Helen and Lucy Hyatt (daughter and granddaughter of Harry Owen-Hughes). Donald and Richard welcome us and propose toasts to our forebears and absent friends. Warwick and Lindzay Chan act as MCs to go round the tables inviting a representative of each family to introduce themselves.

We are truly a global group, with members from the UK, Canada, America, Australia, Thailand, Hong Kong and elsewhere. No family is more international than the Chans, who have perhaps 30 members here tonight, from all over the world. In addition to his film for the Museum, Warwick has made a tribute to the men of the escape, which we watch before starting dinner. Photos of each escaper as a young man and in later life are set to music

- no words necessary - there's hardly a dry eye in the house during this powerful tribute.

Chan family members

We enjoy getting to know our fellow HEROs better over a twelve-course Chinese banquet, and later absorbing the night views from the lovely terrace of our private dining room. There's dancing to 1940s music, including the tune which famously played at Hong Kong society's last peacetime dance (at the Peninsula hotel): "The Best Things in Life are Free". We're all overjoyed to be here on a happier occasion.

Gina and Roxie, Christmas night

Hong Kong, December 24

Thursday, Christmas Eve

It's another sunny morning, and I find a couple of hours to finish buying Christmas presents in Pacific Place, just below the Marriott. Today's big event is the 3pm opening of "Escape from Hong Kong: The Road to Waichow" at the Museum of Coastal Defence in Shau Kei Wan. This unique museum was created from an old fortified position at Lyemun, overlooking the channel at the northeast of Hong Kong Island which the Japanese crossed to invade the island in 1941.

Roxana at the Museum of Coastal Defence entrance

We were thrilled that the museum agreed to host a special exhibition with HERO. We have brought together for the first time diaries, letters, old uniforms, medals and other memorabilia loaned by HERO families, to tell the story of the escape to a wider public. Everyone on the HERO committee has contributed to making the exhibition a success, but it's our museum liaison, Alison McEwan, and her husband Tim Luard, who've been absolutely tireless in working with the wonderful staff of the museum to create the narrative for the show and assemble all the items in it. Tim has put together a marvelous audio diary of the escape, traveling far and wide to record a dozen different descendants reading extracts from their relative's letters or diaries. Warwick Ross has created a stunning 12-minute video, which will run in the display area, and (as we soon discover) is also an enormous attraction. HERO Chairman, Richard Hide, has overseen the faithful construction of a scale model of MTB 07, another highlight of the show.

Committee members arrive an hour before the official opening to be available for the local press. We're delighted by the turnout of photographers and reporters - here I'm being interviewed in the tunnel at the entrance to our show by a radio Hong Kong reporter.

It's an exciting moment to get our first glimpse of the exhibition which we've been planning for a year. It'll be on display until December 31, 2011 and we hope that lots of people go and see it.

It's equally exciting to enjoy the opening ceremony among a large crowd of HERO members and the Hong Kong friends we've invited. Our 'officiating guests' are Neale Jagoe, the British Deputy Consul-General (who's been a great support all along), and Kay Collingwood, who at nearly 90 is the only first generation participant in the re-

enactment. Her husband, Lt. C. John Collingwood, was the captain of MTB 11. Joining them on the platform to make the opening speeches are HERO President, Donald Chan and the Chief Curator of the HK Museum of History, Esa Leung.

Opening ceremony in the redoubt

Guests stay long after the formal opening to explore the exhibition and chat. It's great to see old friends who've made a special effort on a busy Christmas Eve to come to our event, and it's also the first chance for me to meet HERO members like the Admiral's daughters, Paula, Anita and Diana.

We get taxis back to Central, and our family enjoys a Christmas Eve dinner at the Kee Club in SoHo - an exquisite meal. Then it's back to our temporary home at the Marriott for Mike and me to wrap presents and play Santa, while Roxie and Gina meet up with all the other young HEROs for a night of revelry in Lan Kwai Fong. The streets and bars are packed, with a heavy police presence to keep order, and everybody (so I hear) has a great time!