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birth-control officers patrol it, trying to stop women who’ve fallen pregnant illegally from fleeing the county. If they come across a pregnant woman who doesn’t have a permit, they drag her off to the station’s family planning clinic and abort the child there and then. Apparently, at the end of each day, there are two or three buckets of dead foetuses in the clinic.’ When the wife spoke, her eyes were brighter than her husband’s.
    ‘If you don’t have a birth permit for this child, the Beijing police will arrest you too.’ My mother looked anxious. She didn’t know what she could do to help.
    ‘We can’t go back,’ the wife said. ‘Our house has probably been ransacked. When the birth-control officers discover that a couple has gone on the run, they come with big vans and take away all the family’s valuables: the radio, the mirror, the wooden chests. I’ve got a feeling that this baby’s a boy. Whatever they say, I’m not getting rid of it.’
    ‘If a couple manages to evade detection and give birth to a second or third child, the birth-control officers force them to pay a huge fine. They’re brutal. If you can’t afford to pay the fine, they beat you up.’
    ‘Government regulations strictly forbid the officers to use force,’ my mother said, trying to defend the Party.
    ‘We heard that the police are less violent in the cities. That’s why we came here. In the countryside it’s terrible. The people’s militia have guns, loaded with live bullets. In some neighbouring villages, if a woman gives birth without a permit, the newborn baby is strangled to death. Some families dig holes in the ground so that the women can give birth in secret.’ Dongsheng’s attention was drawn to the television screen again, and the clip of General Secretary Hu Yaobang’s visit to the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone near the Hong Kong border.
    ‘What if it’s a girl?’ I asked, lighting another cigarette. Ever since my mother had given up complaining about my smoking, I’d been able to get through a packet of cigarettes a day.
    ‘An astrologer told us it’s a boy,’ Dongsheng said. ‘We’ve given him a name already: Dai Jianqiang.’
    ‘Look, another kick!’ the wife said. ‘He’s been moving all the time these last few days. Girls never move this much.’
    ‘You can sleep here tonight,’ my mother said dejectedly. ‘We’ll come up with a plan tomorrow. Dai Wei, go and turn off the kettle.’
    A smile passed over Dongsheng’s face. His wife smiled too, and said, ‘We’re sorry to put you to so much trouble.’
    ‘Who’s looking after your father now?’ my mother asked.
    ‘His mind’s unstable, but he’s able to look after himself,’ Dongsheng replied. ‘If we have a boy, I’ll pick up a job here, make enough money to pay the fine, then we can all go home and be together.’ He paused and stared at the screen again. ‘Look at those tall buildings in Shenzhen. How do people manage to live in them? You’d wet your pants before you had time to make it outside to the latrines.’ He finished his cigarette and spat a glob of phlegm onto the floor.
    ‘The buildings are equipped with lifts. And anyway, all the flats have toilets.’ I glanced at my mother’s face. She hated people spitting onto the floor.
    ‘They’re living in the sky,’ the wife said, smiling. ‘If they opened the windows, the birds could fly straight in.’
    ‘Dai Wei will be going to university soon, I suppose?’ Dongsheng said.
    ‘I’m revising for my high school exams,’ I said, wiping away his spit with the sole of my shoe. I didn’t mention I’d dropped out of school. I hadn’t been back again since the November morning when Lulu was called onto the stage during assembly.
    We had just completed our mass morning exercise routine. The headmaster called Lulu onto the stage at the front of the football pitch. I watched her standing up there, her head bowed low. Her thin, pale neck looked beautiful against