逃離中國的 Covid 封鎖走到美國 - 越過中美洲森林 (1/2)

Recently Yahoo News on-line reported the following:

Fleeing China's Covid lockdowns for the US - through a Central American jungle (1/2)

BBC - Mengyu Dong - Palo Alto, California

Fri, December 23, 2022 at 12:19 a.m. GMT+8

China may be easing some of its severe anti-Covid restrictions but its draconian pandemic policies have driven many citizens to seek a better future elsewhere - whatever the risks in getting there.

Three days into their trek through a Central American rainforest, some 9,300 miles (15,000 kilometers) away from home, the Sun family threw away their camping gear to lighten the load, thinking they would be out by nightfall.

Instead, they were stranded in the jungle by heavy rain.

That night, Sun Jincai, his wife and three children - aged six, nine and 11- squeezed into a small tent they found on the trail, likely discarded by other migrants, like themselves, while trying their best to ignore the cold water seeping through the thin fabric.

"Luckily none of us got sick," said Mr. Sun.

It was just one of many perilous steps on their journey from China to the US.

Mr. Sun, 34, his wife and youngest child used to spend the better part of a year living on the coast of China, where jobs were abundant.

The other two children lived with their grandparents about 400 miles away in Jiangxi, a landlocked province in China's east, as it was hard to enroll in school outside their hometown.

But as the Chinese economy lost momentum amid tough Covid-19 restrictions and a growing tide of authoritarianism gripped the country, Mr. Sun began searching for ways for the family to leave the country together.

"China is going backwards," said Mr. Sun. "My wife and I want a better future for the kids."

The US seemed out of reach until earlier this year, when Mr Sun came across a young woman who shared details of her journey on WeChat, a Chinese messaging platform. She said she hiked through rainforests in Central America, then up north across the 2,000-mile US-Mexico border. "If she can do it, why can't we?" Mr. Sun thought.

So in August, he boarded a plane to Ecuador with his family and set out on one of the most dangerous migration routes in the world - one that more and more Chinese are taking.

Mr. Sun's journey would require a multi-day trek through the Darien Gap, a 60-mile stretch of dense, road-less rainforests connecting the north-western tip of Colombia to Central America, with waist-deep rivers to ford and steep slopes to climb.

Along the way, many migrants face attacks by armed bandits and drug cartels.

Yet, propelled by economic hardship and regional conflicts, over 200,000 people from around the world have crossed the Darien since January.

Most are from South America, with others hailing from Africa, the Caribbean and Asia.

The 'walking route' north

Migrants from China remain a smaller group but their presence is growing. According to the Panamanian government, at least 1,300 people from China crossed the Darién in 2022, nearly three times more than in the previous decade. This has contributed to the record number of people eventually arriving at the US southern border.

Though a well-known route to many, the path had been virtually unknown to Chinese people until last year, when a handful of posts describing the trek began popping up on social media.

Then, when the lockdown of Shanghai began in April this year, online searches for "run"- a euphemism for emigration - skyrocketed in China. Many saw the country's draconian pandemic policy as the driving force.

Most online discussions centered on obtaining foreign residency through education and investment. But those like the Sun family, who did not have the means to emigrate legally, are forced to take riskier journeys.

The Darien Gap route that they took is known as zouxian which roughly translates to "walking route".

A search for zouxian returns thousands of posts on Twitter, YouTube, and Chinese apps such as Douyin and Xiaohongshu.

Some Chinese migrants formed chat groups on Telegram to bypass censorship on WeChat.

Those who had completed this journey to the US shared meticulous tips, including places to exchange money, how to avoid immigration enforcement, and how to pack light for the rainforest.

"Always be meticulous with planning your hotel bookings and return flights," advises one traveller.

"You don't need to pack your whole house," says another post, with a photo of a rucksack. "If they can survive with this, so can you."

The recent popularity of zouxian attests to the mounting desperation for some migrants to leave China, said Alexis Zhou, a freelance researcher who writes about Chinese migration in North America. Since the pandemic, it's been very difficult for an average Chinese person to obtain a visa from Mexico or Central American countries, she said.

"Zouxian may well be the only way for them to reach the United States."

(to be continued)

Translation

中國可能正在放鬆一些嚴厲的反新冠病毒限制措施，但其嚴厲的病毒大流行政策已促使許多公民到其他地方尋求更美好的未來 - 無論到達那裡的風險是如何。

在距離家約 9,300 英里（15,000 公里）的中美洲熱帶雨林中跋涉三天后，Sun 一家扔掉了露營裝備以減輕負擔，以為他們會在夜幕降臨時離開。

相反，他們被大雨困在了叢林中。

那天晚上，Sun Jincai、他的妻子和三個孩子 - 分別是 6 歲、9 歲和 11 歲 - 擠進了他們在路上發現的一個小帳篷，它可能是和他們一樣的其他移民丟棄的，同時盡量不去理會這單薄織物帳篷是正有冷水滲入。

Sun 先生說: “幸運的是我們都沒有生病” 。

這只是他們從中國到美國的旅程中的許多危險步驟之一。

34 歲的Sun先生、他的妻子和最小的孩子過去一年中的大部分時間都住在中國沿海地區，那裡的工作機會很多。

另外兩個孩子和他們的祖父母住在大約 400 英里外的中國東部內陸省份江西，他們很難在家鄉以外的地方上學。

但隨著中國經濟在 Covid-19 的嚴格限制和日益盛行的威權主義浪潮中失去動力，Sun先生開始尋找讓家人一起離開這個國家的方法。

孫先生說: “中國正在倒退”; “我和我的妻子希望孩子們有一個更美好的未來。”

美國似乎遙不可及，直到今年早些時候，Sun先生在中國的信息平台微信看留意到了一位年輕女子，她在網上上分享了她的旅行細節。 她說她徒步穿過中美洲的熱帶雨林，然後向北穿越 2,000 英里的美墨邊境。Sun先生想: “如果她能做到，我們為什麼不能？” 。

於是在八月份，他和家人一起登上了飛往厄瓜多爾的飛機，踏上了世界上最危險的移民路線之一 - 越來越多的中國人選擇的一條路線。

Sun先生的旅程需要多日跋涉穿過 Darien 峽谷，這是一片 60 英里長的茂密、沒有道路的熱帶雨林，連接哥倫比亞的西北端到中美洲，要涉過齊腰深的河流渡口和爬過陡峭的斜坡。

一路上，許多移民面臨著武裝土匪和販毒集團的襲擊。

然而，在經濟困難和地區衝突的推動下，自 1 月以來，來自世界各地的超過 200,000 人已經越過Darien。

大多數人來自南美洲，其他人則來自非洲、加勒比地區和亞洲。

北方 “步行路線”

來自中國的移民仍然是一個較小的群體，但他們的存在正在增加。 據巴拿馬政府稱，2022 年至少有 1300 名中國人渡過 Darién，幾乎是過去十年的三倍。 這導致最終抵達美國南部邊境的人數創下歷史新高。

雖然對許多人來說是一條眾所周知的路線，但中國人幾乎都不知道這條路, 直到去年社交媒體上開始出現一些描述這條跋涉通路的帖子之時。

然後，當今年 4 月上海開始封城時， “潤 (run)” （出走的委婉說法）在中國的在線搜索量猛增。 許多人將該國嚴厲的流行病政策視為 “出走 (run)” 的推動力。

大多數在線討論都集中在通過讀書留學和投資獲得外國居留權上。 但像Sun家這樣沒有合法移民途徑的人，不得不走上更危險的旅程。

他們走的Darien峽路線被稱為走線，大致翻譯為 “步行路線” 。

在 Twitter、YouTube 以及中國抖音與小紅書等應用程序上搜索 zouxian (走線)會引出數千條帖子。

一些中國移民在 Telegram 上組建了聊天群，以繞過微信上的審查。

那些已完成這次美國之旅的人分享了詳盡的小貼士，包括換錢的地方、如何躲避移民執法、如何為熱帶雨林輕裝上陣。

一位旅行者建議道: “計劃酒店預訂和回程要一絲不苟” 。

另一篇帖子說: “你不需要帶齊所有家當” ，並附有一張帆布背包的照片。 “如果他們能靠這個活下來，你也能。”

撰寫有關北美華人移民問題的自由研究員 Alexis Zhou 表示，最近走線的流行證明了一些移民越來越迫切地想要離開中國。 她說，自病毒大流行以來，普通中國人很難獲得墨西哥或中美洲國家的簽證。

“走線很可能是他們到達美國的唯一方法。”

(to be continued)