Hu Wenli, a reporter of China Youth Daily and China Youth Network
As the Russian-Ukrainian conflict escalated, China began a large-scale evacuation operation in Ukraine. Evacuating Ukraine in the context of localized regional fighting is in full swing, where the hardships and dangers are unimaginable to those living in peaceful areas. The reporter of China Youth Daily and China Youth Network contacted three Chinese who had successfully transferred from Kiev to neighboring Countries in Ukraine and asked them to tell their respective evacuation and transfer experiences.
Chinese await entry at the Ukrainian-Moldovan border. (Courtesy of the interviewee)
At the moment of transferring to Romania, international student Xiao Shi "wanted to cry"
After the first round of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine ended on February 28, Chinese students surnamed Shi in Kiev and two classmates drove from the city to brovary village in eastern Kiev. They wanted to survive the war "relatively far from the war zone", but they did not expect to feel the shelling on the first night of their stay. Xiao Shi told the China Youth Daily and China Youth Network reporter that they experienced three shelling attacks that night, the most recent of which, the shells exploded violently at the intersection less than 300 meters from their residence, and "a room full of people gathered together in fright."
That was the first time That Xiao Shi felt "the smoke of war in the war film appeared in reality": "The ground is shaking, the building is shaking, the invisible shock wave is skimming over people's hearts, livers, spleens, stomachs and kidneys, and the thoughts flashing in the brain are to run and leave quickly." At that time I had only one thought, I was going home. ”
On the morning of March 1, local time, Xiao Shi received a notice of evacuation from the Chinese Embassy in Ukraine and immediately returned to Kiev from Brovary Village. On the way, they saw a bridge with destroyed armored vehicles, "and several empty shells of cars that had been blown up"; the remains of soldiers along the way that had not had time to deal with them; and Ukrainian soldiers wearing yellow armbands checking the documents of passers-by at temporary checkpoints.
After arriving at the kiev blue line subway terminal of the meeting place, the students stopped the car on the side of the road, and Xiao Shi rushed to the meeting place with their luggage, "The car does not matter, the important thing is the person." At about 4 p.m. local time, buses carrying Chinese students and Chinese arrived one after another. According to Xiao Shi's understanding, these buses were coordinated and organized by the Chinese Embassy in Ukraine and the local Overseas Chinese Chamber of Commerce. Everyone let the girls and ladies get on the bus first. Worried about not having enough seats, some students volunteered to stand.
The convoy of buses departed outside Of Kiev. On the way, Xiao Shi saw many military vehicles and armored vehicles carrying weapons, and some military vehicles had the "Azov Battalion" logo, and he felt vaguely uneasy in his heart, "People who know a little know what that means." For safety reasons, the bus turned off its headlights and drove south in the dark. Along the way, there were Ukrainian soldiers loaded with guns, "Fortunately, they knew that we were a Convoy of Chinese evacuated overseas Chinese, and with the Chinese Chamber of Commerce in front of us, we successfully left the city from the reserved road." ”
At about 00:00 a.m. local time on March 2, the bus convoy arrived at the Ukraine-Moldova border. After sending all the people in the car out of the Ukrainian border, the representative of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce waved at everyone: "I wish you all the best!" "They also have to rush back to Kiev overnight to help the next batch of Chinese evacuate."
The process of entering Moldova is very simple, and the clerk simply compares the identity information and then stamps it and releases it. But when we were about to arrive in Romania, an accident occurred. The bus stopped in the rest area of a gas station, and the driver asked passengers to get off the bus to pick up their luggage. Several Ukrainian cadres studying abroad, including Xiao Shi, felt that the situation was not right, "Why didn't we put us at the border checkpoint?" ”
It was learned that the Romanian border checkpoint requires people to stay in the car to enter the country, but the bus driver lacks valid documents and cannot clear customs. After learning of this incident, the Chinese Embassy in Romania urgently mobilized buses that met the transit conditions to come to the aid. But they had to wait at the border until the next batch of buses arrived.
The snow was getting heavier and heavier, "when I first got off the bus, it was snow flakes, and then it was snow blocks." A group of more than 200 people stood on the side of the road without any shelter for 5 hours. "Boys are more frost-resistant on the outside and girls on the inside. Everyone wrapped clothes and scarves on their heads to block the snow, girls ate bubble peppers to warm their stomachs, and when their hands were cold and numb, they carried them in their arms..." But Xiao Shi did not hear a complaint, only heard a sentence of "hard work", and many passers-by gave them a thumbs up.
Finally, after waiting for the bus that can be cleared, the international students boarded the bus in an orderly manner under the leadership of the embassy and the chamber of commerce. After getting on the bus, the embassy staff said to them, "You can rest assured." This sentence makes Xiao Shi feel both relaxed and mixed in his heart, "70% is touching, 30% is peace of mind."
At about 8 p.m. local time on March 2, a group of people arrived in Bucharest, the capital of Romania, and embassy personnel and representatives of local chambers of commerce came to pick them up. After getting out of the car, Xiao Shi sat in a chair at the "Chinatown" Red Dragon Market and ate a whole box of fried rice noodles. At that moment he wanted to cry. He said that the taste of the box of fried rice noodles "probably can't be forgotten for a lifetime."
Transfer with a black-and-white fiancée and a cat
Compared with Xiao Shi, Jason (pseudonym)'s evacuation experience is relatively smooth. As he recalls, from February 25, the Kiev government began firing shots at Ukrainian nationals and foreigners with Ukrainian permanent residency, which gave him a dangerous smell, and he decided to leave Kiev with his fiancée.
Jason and his white-Ukrainian fiancée arrived safely in Slovakia to stay at a resort arranged by the local embassy and the Chinese Chamber of Commerce. Pictured is Jason's fiancée. (Courtesy of the interviewee)
On February 26, Jason and they found a train that could leave immediately. The bus was temporarily opened by the Government of Kiev, without buying a ticket and without a clear destination, "as long as you can leave Kiev and go to a relatively safe place." In addition to their documents and a small amount of daily necessities, they also brought with them "Cocos", a silver gradient cat. Jason explained to the reporter of China Youth Daily and China Youth Network that in Ukraine, people treat pets as family. As the train was reaching Vinnytsya, the conductor received word that the train immediately changed course and drove to Lviv because of the air raids ahead. Jason and his fiancée had to stay in Lviv temporarily.
The situation in Lviv is relatively calm, but air defense sirens sound every night. Jason stays in the apartment during the day and moves to the bomb shelter at night with his fiancée and cat. There are no toilets in the bomb shelters, and people sleep on hard, cold ground, possibly a thin blanket. After dawn, an air defense siren that symbolizes safety will sound, and then they will leave the air raid shelter and return to the "rental house of about 300 yuan per day before the war, and now about 1,000 yuan a day."
The rent also puts Jason under pressure — he, like Ukrainians, "earns as much as he spends" and doesn't save much. He was originally an anchor, with 2 million fans on "Kuaishou", and the live broadcast would rest for a month or two in ten days, and when he remembered to go live again. It wasn't until the war broke out that he realized "how wrong it had been before."
This kind of bad eating and sleeping made Jason's fiancée begin to feel hopeless. "She was very low and sad every day, and I tried a little hard to let her see the hope of life." Jason exchanged the borrowed money for some hryvnia (Ukrainian currency) and walked out of the house to buy gifts for his fiancée amid air raid sirens. He walked about two kilometers and finally found a shop that was still open, bought a rose, and a box of chocolates. "It's a gift, it's also a food. She was very happy. ”
Jason They also face another problem. Jason's fiancée is of mixed Ukrainian-Belarusian descent, and because of the good relations between Russia and Belarus, she is in a very awkward situation after the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, "if she stays in Ukraine, some Ukrainians do not recognize her; if she goes to Belarus, some Belarusians do not recognize her." And, in her capacity, Jason wasn't sure if she could evacuate the expatriates together, "If she can't go with me, I'll stay with her."
On the morning of March 1, local time, Jason sent a message to the reporter of the China Youth Daily and the China Youth Network that the Chinese Embassy in Ukraine had notified the evacuation of overseas Chinese, and his fiancée could also go with him, which made Jason very happy. According to this, he doubted the authenticity of the video circulating on the Internet that "the Chinese man in Ukraine is reluctant to give up his wife and children and tearfully give up returning to China", and speculated that the man "may just be unwilling to give up his house and property in the local area" and that "I can understand his feelings." ”
Jason told the China Youth Daily on March 2 that they had safely moved to Slovakia. The Chinese Embassy in Sri Lanka and the local Chinese Chamber of Commerce have placed them in a "very upscale resort" where there are currently about 30 Chinese. "As soon as the people in the Chamber of Commerce saw us, we asked, 'It's all right, it's not hurt, right? They gave us some clothes and blankets, even toiletries and the like, and provided three meals a day. Jason said that by this time, the mood of the pet cat "Cocos" was much more stable.
After a while, settling down, Jason would register his marriage with his fiancée and get a job to "start saving some money." After the transfer and evacuation, Jason said that for them, a simple, peaceful life is the greatest happiness.
"We felt the kindness of ukrainians"
Xiao Zhu (pseudonym), a Chinese student in a junior year in Kiev, was interviewed by a reporter from the China Youth Daily and the China Youth Daily during an intermittent network signal on the special train for evacuating overseas Chinese.
The train from Kiev to Lviv was crowded with people, and Xiao Zhu and his classmates stood all the way. (Courtesy of the interviewee)
Before receiving the evacuation notice, Zhu and his roommate decided to leave Kiev on their own. On the evening of March 1, the three of them stayed sleepless and prepared to go to kiev railway station at 7 a.m. the next morning. They placed an order through the local taxi app Uklon, and half an hour later the driver took the order. When we got to the train station, "as soon as we saw that there were too many people in the station, we took the fastest train to Lviv. Xiao Zhu said that the train did not have to buy a ticket, but the carriage was particularly crowded, and it took 9 hours to drive from Kiev to Lviv, and they stood all the way.
"There are more Ukrainians on the train, but fewer Chinese." In such a cramped environment, Xiao Zhu did not feel the "hostility of Ukrainians to the Chinese" circulating on the Internet. When the train reached a stopway, everyone took food from their luggage, and a Ukrainian man took an apple and signaled to give them food, but they did not accept it, because they did not want to take off the mask, "It is still the epidemic period, but due to the outbreak of war, there is no one to count the epidemic data." Xiao Zhu believes that the friendly behavior of the Ukrainians to them may be because there was a child in the car who had been crying, and one of his classmates gave the child a few pieces of candy.
At about 5:30 a.m. local time on March 2, Xiao Zhu sent a voice message to the reporter of the China Youth Daily and the China Youth Network saying that they had arrived at the temporary resettlement place found for them by their roommate's Ukrainian friends - the Lviv Gymnasium. After a short rest, Xiao Zhu and his party will soon be transferred again, this time the means of transportation is chartered. His voice sounded hoarse and tired.
At about 11:00 a.m. local time on March 2, Xiao Zhu and his party arrived at the border between Ukraine and Hungary, got off the bus and walked to the Hungarian entry point, and the entry procedures were completed quickly. At about 8 p.m. that night, Xiao Zhu reported safety in the circle of friends: "Everything is going well, waiting for the state to arrange for the evacuation of overseas Chinese." I'm safe in Hungary, don't worry. ”
Xiao Zhu's circle of friends began to change the style of painting a week ago. Previously, his circle of friends photos had the early morning scene of Kiev at dawn, his RAP recording, his own bun and flower roll... On Feb. 24, he released a video of nothing in the night, but the sound of gunfire not far away was clearly audible.
On the way to Hungary, Xiao Zhu posted a photo in the circle of friends - at the border between Ukraine and Hungary, the sky is overcast, and the mountains in early spring are still covered with patches of snow. The text he assigned was: "The world is too big to see, and man is like a boat floating in the sea." ”
China Youth Daily client Beijing, March 4
Source: China Youth Daily client