The phone rang. It was cold that morning in Binzhou, just off the Bohai Bay in northeastern China. Two days before the Lunar New Year, it was time for families to come together. But Qi Guanmei couldn’t expect her daughter to visit. Not for a long time.
She picked up the phone.
“Mom,” she heard a familiar voice say. Tears streamed down her face as she listened to the sobs on the other end. It was the first time Qi heard her daughter in months. They couldn’t speak. Just wept.
They never said another word to each other again….