In Ha Jin's short story, "Saboteur," Chiu and his wife are
drinking tea at a restaurant in Muji, China, where they are spending the last day of
their honeymoon. All of a sudden, a police officer seated nearby, for no apparent
reason, flings his tea onto Chiu and his wife.
Chiu can
find no reason for the man's behavior and he lodges a complaint with him. Chiu is
expecting that the officer will apologize, but he does not do so. In fact, he begins to
arrest Chiu for disturbing the peace. When an angry Chiu resists, the policeman becomes
physically aggressive, "manhandling" the university
professor.
Once Chiu is taken to the jail, he is thrown in
a cell, and he fears for his safety as his hepatitis, which he had been recovering from,
reoccurs...causing Chiu to relapse and become very ill in the cell. He resigns himself
to his situation, doing the best he can to control the extent of the advancement of his
illness. The next thing he knows, the police show him a large file they have compiled,
with witnesses supporting the policeman's charges, and an additional charge of sabotage.
They demand that he sign a confession.
Knowing he has done
nothing to warrant the police officer's behavior, Chiu becomes outraged when the officer
"assaults" him and his wife at the restaurant.
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