She escaped a devastating famine to China β only to be kidnapped and sold into marriage slavery. Through luck and guile, she escaped and carved out a moderately prosperous life, before β in a strikingly bold move β she escaped to South Korea. It was not the promised land she had anticipated. Crossing borders once more, she now makes her home in Canada.
Part 1 can be read here. Returned to the village she had been sold to, she was confronted by her buyer.
So foolish! Why cause problems? The episode changed her view of the Hebei peasants. She resigned herself to a new life β and made herself a promise. I will survive. She then made her first serious attempt to communicate with her buyer, her wannabe husband. Although she spoke no Chinese, she had learned a number of characters in North Korea. Her buyer turned serious. Jang gradually learned Chinese. She also traveled around back-country Hebei.
To her surprise, she found North Korean women in nearly every village. Some relationships shocked her. The women believed the relationships they had been sold into were preferable to returning to North Korea. But Jang could not accept her own situation. But she had no income. Then the couple decided to move to a city, Tangshan. She decided to abort. The operation went without a hitch, but the physical procedure sparked a psychological change. Acting on a whim β once again, without planning or preparation β Jang abandoned Guo.
On a freezing February day, she discharged herself from a hospital. Once again, a total stranger took pity on her. A man took her in, gave her medicine and introduced her to a restaurant. She worked there for eight months before β with the money she had saved from her wages β she returned to her uncle in Longjing. But he warned her that the area bordering North Korea was β unlike Hebei β dangerous for her. She could be kidnapped again, or worse, repatriated.
