Yao said that her daily schedule in the prison is as same as others: get up at 6 o'clock am, doing morning exercise, 7 am, breakfast time, 8-11 am, study or do some public good labors, 11 am, lunch time, after noon break, 1:30 pm-4 pm is also time for studying or working, supper time is at 4:30 pm, 6:30 pm-7: 30 pm is time to watch TV news, 7: 30pm-9 pm, entertainment activities, 9:30 go to bed.
  
Yao also said that the scheduled everyday study and labor go alternately, and the work for women prisoners is knitting. Yao Jie knew nothing about knitting in the past, however, now she said, "I've finished all the knitting of my whole life in the prison."
    
Yao said, the entertainment activities are usually watching TV series, but she prefers to reading. The latest reading she just finished is "Shen Lu"-"Road to God".
    
In the prison, Yao has chances to meet families once every month. All her families live in Beijing, including husband, son, brother-in-law and sister-in-law, have visited her, her parents, in their 80s,living in faraway central Hubei province also have been visited her. Yao also can connect with her families by telephone two times a month.
    
Reporter has heard that there would have performances in prisons in festivals, so the reporter asked Yao if she would participant in such performance. Yao said that she has done such performance, she has chanted poems written by Mao Zedong and Guo Morou.

    
On August 22, 2000, Yao Jie has been released on bail for medical treatment, while for some proverbial reason, she was retaken into custody on February 2, 2001.

For some sensitive issues, reporter didn't ask her. While Yao did say something indirectly, "like the famous Chinese novel "Encircled City" says, people inside the 'encircled city' have known everything, while outsiders still know nothing, insiders want to go out, but outsiders want to go in. (END)


From China News Service Dec31, 2002
By CHR Version