Chapter 1

“if you say yes you must leave tomorrow morning, Jenny”.

“Say yes to what”? I asked.

John looked a bit troubled as he asked me to sit down. “Well, Sarah has quit as our Chinese correspondent with immediate affect and we need someone to replace her straight away. I’ve had a chat with Peter and we both agree you would be perfect for the job”.

“Me? Wow, I don’t know what to say”. My heart was racing and I began to feel a bit anxious, this is something I had always wanted and I just couldn’t believe John was offering me the job. I was still so very young and had only been with the station two years. Sure, I had a first class degree in journalism from a top college but still, political correspondent in China, fuck, fuck, fuck. My smile must have given John his answer.

“Ok, he said, but first I have to tell you a few things and if you want to change your mind I will completely understand”.

Hmmmm, I thought, this sounds a bit scary.

“Tell me” I said, hoping it wasn’t too awful.

“I’m just going to say it straight without any sugar coating”, John said, looking very serious.

“From as soon as you arrive at Bejing airport you will be harassed by the Chinese secret service. The first thing they will do is take to a room and strip search you. They won’t bother with female officers doing it, the men will do it themselves and they won’t be nice about it”.

“What the fuck, I cried, are you serious?” “Yes I am and it gets worse. Now listen, as well as the strip search they will do an internal examination as well, oh yes, and they won”t bother with gloves”.

My face must have looked a real picture as John put a hand on my shoulder and told me to take a deep breath.

He then continued: “And all the time this is happening they will laugh and insult you and probably call in their other colleagues to watch. They will also touch you and, well, you get the picture. I know this is a lot to take in but I’m afraid it goes with the territory when working in countries with no democracy or independent legal system. And it will happen on a regular basis, perhaps twice a week. Sarah put up with it so she could get her stories out about the oppression the ordinary people were suffering at the hands of the regime. If it helps, Sarah did say they never raped her just touched her all over. Now you know what to expect are you still as enthusiastic? I can give you a few hours to think about it but I need an answer soon, sorry to rush you but with the trial of a major dissident coming up we need someone there to cover it straight away”.

It had been two hours since John had offered me the job of a lifetime, a job every journalist dreamed of. A job that could promote me all the way to the top, holy fuck, I thought, I just have to say yes. I could put up with the sexual harassment if it meant my career going all the way, I know it will be awful and humiliating and I will probably cry like a baby and look like a weak western middle class capitalist but, hey. Fuck, I thought, I’m getting a bit turned on, what is that all about? I put my hand down my pants just to check and yes I was actually wet down there,”you fucking slut, jenny”, I said to myself, heading to John’s office to tell him my decision.