In the first years after the separation, some soldiers had tried to swim to the mainland, but fierce currents swirled around the islands, and the defectors, washed back up, exhausted, and were arrested as traitors.
To deter others, the army destroyed most of the island’s fishing boats, and the few that remained were required to lock up their oars at night. Over the years, anything that might be turned into a flotation device – a basketball, a bicycle tire – had to be registered, like a weapon, and the army conducted spot checks around the island, knocking on doors and demanding to see that all balls and inner tubes were accounted for.
Source:
Osnos, Evan. “Unfettered” Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth and Faith in the New China. London: Vintage, 2014. 18. Print.
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