Hu Shuli Retraces Her Forebearers’ Wartime Footsteps in Indonesia (Part 1)

A Wartime Escape’ tells the story of group of Chinese intellectuals who fled from Singapore to Indonesia, where they lived in secret under Japanese occupation

Turning the pages of Hu Shuli’s new book, “A Wartime Escape — Retracing the Footprints of My Granduncle in Sumatra,” one is transported back to the days when our cultural forebears fled to the equatorial highlands in Indonesia amid the ravages of war.

The book recounts how those figures struggled to survive in a world of chaos in the 1940s, embodying the indomitable spirit of the Chinese people, while providing mutual comfort like a family and nurturing love and life in a dire situation — all while taking a keen interest in the exotic cultures they encountered.

Following the outbreak of war in the Pacific, Singapore became an isolated island, besieged by the Japanese. The British Army took the initiative to destroy the Sembawang Naval Base, clearly signaling their intention to abandon the city.

On Feb. 4, 1942, a group of Chinese living in Singapore, including Hu Yuzhi (胡愈之), Yu Dafu (郁达夫), and Wang Renshu (王任叔) were forced to flee. Along with friends and relatives — a total of 28 refugees crammed onto a dilapidated 4-meter-long motorized sampan to escape the city.

Shortly after leaving port, squadrons of enemy aircraft swooped in, an alarm sounded over the city, followed by a series of explosions. Fortunately, the sampan was too small to be much of a target. Being light, it safely navigated through a sea minefield. The journey ahead was uncertain as they embarked on a three-year and eight-month exile in “the country of a thousand islands,” Indonesia, where the talented Yu Dafu would eventually die in the jungles of Sumatra.