Yellowbird: A ray of light in the bleak political landscpape of China

Yellowbird’s legacy is a bright ray of light in the bleak Chinese political landscape, writes Melinda Liu.

PASTOR Bob Fu knows about life on the run. Back in 1996, when he and his wife lived in Beijing, they spent two months behind bars because of their work in the underground Protestant ‘house church’ movement.

Friends warned they’d be jailed again soon. They hid out in the countryside, then escaped to then-British colony of Hong Kong via Bangkok. Friends — and strangers — pulled strings so Fu’s wife could give birth in a local hospital and the couple could gain asylum in the West. When they finally boarded a flight for America in June 1997, “we knew what it meant to be rescued”, recalls Fu, now based in Midland, Texas, “what it meant to feel desperate”.