Fisherman on the River by Song dynasty Fan Zhongyen
On the river, people come and go,
Everyone loves the taste of bass;
You see one slip of a boat,
To and fro in the wind and waves.
Fan Zhongyen was a governor and was famous for saying, "I am ahead of all in concerns of state affairs; as for pleasure, I am behind all."
1932 - age 31 continued
I thought, to solve this problem, to form farmer co-ops. These co-ops, since they are organizations, can help farmers spend money and buy their necessary merchandise. As a co-op, the capital sum is greater than any individual's. This helps with purchasing, transportation, and expenses. They can lower their price when they buy and raise the price when they sell. They can save the farmers a lot of money and headache and give them a lot of convenience. Besides these, the department of agriculture had new methods of fertilization, irrigation, breeding technology and advances to make the farmers' lives richer and better. Mr Wu made lots of surveys of these organizations and returned to Guangxi, China very satisfied.
The director of YMCA, Mr Zhang Qinjian, was a hard worker and fervently wanted to serve people. Besides his job at the YMCA, he also wanted to improve the education of the children of the overseas Chinese. He established an overseas school and was the principal. He wanted me to teach at the school. I viewed this as a benefit to the Chinese society here and also I was and continue to be a patriot, so I happily accepted and volunteered to work without pay. In December of this year, Mr. Zhang had to go on a business trip for a week and he asked me to cover his principal's job. I gladly agreed to this. Mr Zhang, besides running a school, also partnered with several Japanese friends to open a Chinese restaurant called Beijing Pagoda. I went there a lot because it was low-priced and served foods with a hometown taste. [In July 1970, I was in Taipei at the time, and received a phone call from a friend, Mr Zhu. He had recently gone to China as an American citizen and met Mr Zhang's two daughters in Hankou. Both of them wrote letters asking Mr Zhu to send them to me. In the letters, they wrote to say Mr Zhang had died the year before and that they didn't know what had happened to Beijing Pagoda because Mr Zhang had returned to China in a hurry. (Note: "worldly things foggy mystifying, where to start writing? where to end?" an emotional statement indicating how out of our control life is and how we grow nostalgic especially when someone dies.)]
Sunday, December 30, 2018
Sunday, December 16, 2018
1932: Farming families
Farmer's Family by Five Dynasties poet Yen Renyu
Before dawn, wake sons, take advantage of morning to till,
Haggard ox, no strength, gradually hard to walk;
Common people don't know the farmers' suffering,
And say, the grain of the fields grows by itself.
1932 - age 31 (continued)
All these years in Japan, I lived a simple, frugal life. Besides when I graduated and took a trip with my fellow classmates to Guandong Guanxi, I seldom traveled for pleasure. After I started at my college department, my school work has lessened and I still had government money coming in. Usually, I had more spending money. One day, I went with my YMCA friends to take a trip around Japan's famous tourist spots: Riguang, Shanggen, Rihai, Ido. I also wrote poems about these places.
Since 1924 when I came to Japan, it had been eight years. My studies were almost done, so during the summer, I decided to go back to China. On July 20, I took a train from Tokyo to Changqi (Hiroshima). From Changqi, I took a ship. At that time between China and Japan, there was a regular shipping schedule. When my boat was close to Changjiang, and I could see Wusong, I wrote a poem and then I arrived in Shanghai and stayed at the China Arts & Literature Institute. It was built by earlier graduates Zou, Zhen, and Wang. Located in the French Concession, the building was big and wide and well managed. The rent was quite low because I was a member and I could move in right away. In the meantime, I asked the Institute to publish my articles on accounting basics.
After I settled in at the Institute, Mr Hu Zongyuan introduced me to Miss Xu Diqing. We agreed to all go on July 24 to Trinity Church on Jioujiang Road to attend Sunday service. On that Sunday, I accompanied by Zongyuan and Diqing accompanied by Lioujie (6th sister), we all went to church. After service, we all met at the door of the church. Because of so many years in Tokyo, I usually wore the student uniform. When I came back, I changed into a Chinese outfit: inside is a long pant and outerwear is a long robe. The one I wore that day was an old robe from many years ago, of bad material and out of fashion. It was quite short for me. After we got married, Diqing often said, "The first time I saw you, your robe was a foot from the ground."
After July 24, on the 25th, we had dinner at Gong Deling's vegetarian restaurant. That finished the introduction process. From then on, we just wrote letters. On the 26th, I accompanied Zongyuan on the express railroad from Shanghai to Nanjing, and then on the 27th, we took the ship from Nanjing to Jioujiang. From Jioujiang, I visited my Yang family side uncles and cousins, and visited my grandmother's old residence to pay respects. On the 28th, I started writing letters to Diqing. I started with, "Miss Diqing, this is the first time I've written a letter, and I don't know the appropriate way to address you, please forgive my ill manners. This letter I am mailing from Jioujiang, addressed to Four Banks, 60 Sichuan Road, Shanghai. I am using the return address Jioujiang, Main Road. I discussed with the company about using the address as your mailing address." This was the first letter I wrote to Diqing. I have kept it to this day. After we were engaged and married, any time we were not together, we wrote letters. Both sides would keep the letters, now probably several hundred letters. We always think, someday, we'll have a proper time and we'll let our kids and grandchildren and relatives read these letters for fun.
July 28th, after I wrote the first letter to Diqing, I crossed the river back to my hometown, Huangmei, which I had left for eight years. I paid respect to my parents and all my relatives. On August 3, I left home to Jioujiang and then took a boat to Hankou, then to Wuchang, and I stayed at the YMCA in Wuchang. Besides going to the Hubei provincial government to discuss the grant, I went to my middle and high schools to visit. On August 19, I took a boat from Hankou back to Jioujiang. On the afternoon of the 20th, I arrived in Huangmei and stayed for seven days. On August 27th, I took a boat from Jioujiang to Nanjing. On the morning of the 28th, I arrived at Xiaguang (a Nanjing port). I went to Zongyuan's family to visit them. On September 3, I took the express rail from Nanjing to Shanghai. I stayed at the Institute and now my important business was my engagement.
An important thing of an engagement is to buy a diamond ring. During my studies, I didn't have much money and in everything I was thrifty. But, I thought, an engagement is a once in a lifetime thing, and a token of covenant, I cannot make it too cheap. Because even if you have more money in later days, you cannot correct it. After I discussed this in detail with Diqing, we decided to buy a more expensive diamond ring. In order to be very prudent, we went a long way to a famous and dependable jeweler called De Kangxiang. They sell jewelry and jade. After looking back and forth, finally we agreed on one. On September 20, we celebrated our engagement. I still stayed at the Institute, Diqing still worked at Four Banks Deposits Union. After work, she usually came to the Institute where we had dates. We have lots of nice warm sweet memories of those times. Sometimes we had dinner together, sometimes we went to church service together, sometimes we went to see movies together. Summer vacation over on October 3, I took a ship back to Japan. On the ship, I wrote a poem called Going East in the morning at Huangpu. On my way to Japan, I passed by Senghu (Kobe), and arrived at Dongjing (Tokyo). After I arrived in Tokyo and resumed classes. I wrote many letters to Diqing and many poems.
My friend Zhou Xianwen (the one who started nianpu writing) started a new magazine called New China Magazine and he was the Editor in Chief. He asked me to write an article for the magazine. I wrote about the finances and economics of Japan. Later on, I wrote another article about the Japanese Congress. He wanted to give me payment. I didn't think my articles were that good, so felt bad receiving money from him. He wrote me and said, "f I publish your article and don't give you money, it's not good for our accounting." He suggested that I mail the money to my home in Huangmei. He also suggested that if I wrote these articles and gave our society improvement, it would be quite meaningful. Mr Zhou actually mailed the money to Diqing. When I came back to Shanghai, she gave me all the money.
In the early part of October, Mr Wu came to Japan to survey. The YMCA asked me to receive him. This Mr Wu was a Guangxi military person of an elite branch. He was associated with the five top people in Guangxi. Mr Wu was full of ideas to improve society and very sincerely wanted to do it. When he was discharged from the military, he established a testing facility for hydraulics in the capital of Guangxi. He wanted to improve irrigation. He came to Japan mainly to look at the Japanese agricultural advancements. As for me, I had some ideas about farming coops especially aimed at farming villages. My ideas mainly were from my hometown, the real life situation in Huangmei. In Huangmei, most farmers worked on land that was inherited from their ancestors. Most families' food had to be provided by the fields they worked on. Besides the food they ate, some farmers grew cotton and flax. These farmers, after they consumed their family needs, sold the extra for money to support their families. As for other things like salt, sugar, tobacco, wine, tea, sauce, fabric for clothing, cloth, hard goods, farming tools, all these had to bought from a shop. Before they sold any extra produce, most farmers didn't have any cash. So these shops had to let the farmers buy on credit. But most shops charged interest. When the farmers sold their extra produce, at those times, the sale price was low because everyone was selling the same thing. But the interest had been compounding since they bought things. So usually the farmers are the ones who lost out. Every time a farmer wanted to sell their produce, the big city companies and lenders would send some representative to the country. Sometimes they convinced these farmers to sell to them at a lower value because a lot of the farmers needed cash fast. Since these people were coming to buy, they sold at a low price. These brokers, after buying at a lower value, transported the produce to the city and sold at high mark up.
Before dawn, wake sons, take advantage of morning to till,
Haggard ox, no strength, gradually hard to walk;
Common people don't know the farmers' suffering,
And say, the grain of the fields grows by itself.
1932 - age 31 (continued)
All these years in Japan, I lived a simple, frugal life. Besides when I graduated and took a trip with my fellow classmates to Guandong Guanxi, I seldom traveled for pleasure. After I started at my college department, my school work has lessened and I still had government money coming in. Usually, I had more spending money. One day, I went with my YMCA friends to take a trip around Japan's famous tourist spots: Riguang, Shanggen, Rihai, Ido. I also wrote poems about these places.
Since 1924 when I came to Japan, it had been eight years. My studies were almost done, so during the summer, I decided to go back to China. On July 20, I took a train from Tokyo to Changqi (Hiroshima). From Changqi, I took a ship. At that time between China and Japan, there was a regular shipping schedule. When my boat was close to Changjiang, and I could see Wusong, I wrote a poem and then I arrived in Shanghai and stayed at the China Arts & Literature Institute. It was built by earlier graduates Zou, Zhen, and Wang. Located in the French Concession, the building was big and wide and well managed. The rent was quite low because I was a member and I could move in right away. In the meantime, I asked the Institute to publish my articles on accounting basics.
After I settled in at the Institute, Mr Hu Zongyuan introduced me to Miss Xu Diqing. We agreed to all go on July 24 to Trinity Church on Jioujiang Road to attend Sunday service. On that Sunday, I accompanied by Zongyuan and Diqing accompanied by Lioujie (6th sister), we all went to church. After service, we all met at the door of the church. Because of so many years in Tokyo, I usually wore the student uniform. When I came back, I changed into a Chinese outfit: inside is a long pant and outerwear is a long robe. The one I wore that day was an old robe from many years ago, of bad material and out of fashion. It was quite short for me. After we got married, Diqing often said, "The first time I saw you, your robe was a foot from the ground."
After July 24, on the 25th, we had dinner at Gong Deling's vegetarian restaurant. That finished the introduction process. From then on, we just wrote letters. On the 26th, I accompanied Zongyuan on the express railroad from Shanghai to Nanjing, and then on the 27th, we took the ship from Nanjing to Jioujiang. From Jioujiang, I visited my Yang family side uncles and cousins, and visited my grandmother's old residence to pay respects. On the 28th, I started writing letters to Diqing. I started with, "Miss Diqing, this is the first time I've written a letter, and I don't know the appropriate way to address you, please forgive my ill manners. This letter I am mailing from Jioujiang, addressed to Four Banks, 60 Sichuan Road, Shanghai. I am using the return address Jioujiang, Main Road. I discussed with the company about using the address as your mailing address." This was the first letter I wrote to Diqing. I have kept it to this day. After we were engaged and married, any time we were not together, we wrote letters. Both sides would keep the letters, now probably several hundred letters. We always think, someday, we'll have a proper time and we'll let our kids and grandchildren and relatives read these letters for fun.
July 28th, after I wrote the first letter to Diqing, I crossed the river back to my hometown, Huangmei, which I had left for eight years. I paid respect to my parents and all my relatives. On August 3, I left home to Jioujiang and then took a boat to Hankou, then to Wuchang, and I stayed at the YMCA in Wuchang. Besides going to the Hubei provincial government to discuss the grant, I went to my middle and high schools to visit. On August 19, I took a boat from Hankou back to Jioujiang. On the afternoon of the 20th, I arrived in Huangmei and stayed for seven days. On August 27th, I took a boat from Jioujiang to Nanjing. On the morning of the 28th, I arrived at Xiaguang (a Nanjing port). I went to Zongyuan's family to visit them. On September 3, I took the express rail from Nanjing to Shanghai. I stayed at the Institute and now my important business was my engagement.
An important thing of an engagement is to buy a diamond ring. During my studies, I didn't have much money and in everything I was thrifty. But, I thought, an engagement is a once in a lifetime thing, and a token of covenant, I cannot make it too cheap. Because even if you have more money in later days, you cannot correct it. After I discussed this in detail with Diqing, we decided to buy a more expensive diamond ring. In order to be very prudent, we went a long way to a famous and dependable jeweler called De Kangxiang. They sell jewelry and jade. After looking back and forth, finally we agreed on one. On September 20, we celebrated our engagement. I still stayed at the Institute, Diqing still worked at Four Banks Deposits Union. After work, she usually came to the Institute where we had dates. We have lots of nice warm sweet memories of those times. Sometimes we had dinner together, sometimes we went to church service together, sometimes we went to see movies together. Summer vacation over on October 3, I took a ship back to Japan. On the ship, I wrote a poem called Going East in the morning at Huangpu. On my way to Japan, I passed by Senghu (Kobe), and arrived at Dongjing (Tokyo). After I arrived in Tokyo and resumed classes. I wrote many letters to Diqing and many poems.
My friend Zhou Xianwen (the one who started nianpu writing) started a new magazine called New China Magazine and he was the Editor in Chief. He asked me to write an article for the magazine. I wrote about the finances and economics of Japan. Later on, I wrote another article about the Japanese Congress. He wanted to give me payment. I didn't think my articles were that good, so felt bad receiving money from him. He wrote me and said, "f I publish your article and don't give you money, it's not good for our accounting." He suggested that I mail the money to my home in Huangmei. He also suggested that if I wrote these articles and gave our society improvement, it would be quite meaningful. Mr Zhou actually mailed the money to Diqing. When I came back to Shanghai, she gave me all the money.
In the early part of October, Mr Wu came to Japan to survey. The YMCA asked me to receive him. This Mr Wu was a Guangxi military person of an elite branch. He was associated with the five top people in Guangxi. Mr Wu was full of ideas to improve society and very sincerely wanted to do it. When he was discharged from the military, he established a testing facility for hydraulics in the capital of Guangxi. He wanted to improve irrigation. He came to Japan mainly to look at the Japanese agricultural advancements. As for me, I had some ideas about farming coops especially aimed at farming villages. My ideas mainly were from my hometown, the real life situation in Huangmei. In Huangmei, most farmers worked on land that was inherited from their ancestors. Most families' food had to be provided by the fields they worked on. Besides the food they ate, some farmers grew cotton and flax. These farmers, after they consumed their family needs, sold the extra for money to support their families. As for other things like salt, sugar, tobacco, wine, tea, sauce, fabric for clothing, cloth, hard goods, farming tools, all these had to bought from a shop. Before they sold any extra produce, most farmers didn't have any cash. So these shops had to let the farmers buy on credit. But most shops charged interest. When the farmers sold their extra produce, at those times, the sale price was low because everyone was selling the same thing. But the interest had been compounding since they bought things. So usually the farmers are the ones who lost out. Every time a farmer wanted to sell their produce, the big city companies and lenders would send some representative to the country. Sometimes they convinced these farmers to sell to them at a lower value because a lot of the farmers needed cash fast. Since these people were coming to buy, they sold at a low price. These brokers, after buying at a lower value, transported the produce to the city and sold at high mark up.
Sunday, December 09, 2018
1930-1932: Those who make do not wear
Silkworm Maids by Anonymous
Yesterday, arrived at the city,
Upon return, tears wet handkerchief;
From head to toe, silk wearers,
Are not the ones who tend silk worms.
1930 - age 29 (continued)
The new building of the business college was finished. All the classrooms and lecture halls were big and tall with modern ventilation and lighting systems. There were offices, dining rooms, kitchens, and bathrooms. The most impressive part was the library. The architecture was classical with a bell tower and stood facing a pond, beautifully landscaped. Inside, there were huge reading rooms and all the seats were so comfortable with huge tables. Every chair had a lamp. Those few years when I was at the school, besides spending time in classroom listening to lectures, the rest of the time I usually spent in the library. I had a favorite seat where I usually sat. After graduation, I left the school, and had very complicated emotions. The thing that was the hardest to give up was my seat in the library. Later on, when I was sent to Japan to work in the embassy or any time I had some business passing by Tokyo, I always visited my alma mater and had to go to the library to look at my seat. Don't you think that's kind of silly?
There was another student from Bowen High School, named Chen Shushen. He was two years ahead of me and he also had a full scholarship. This Mr Chen was a very talented young scholar. Every year, Hubei province had a special kind of exam for the students studying abroad. He scored the highest on this exam and was sent to the US to study. During this exam, he met a female student, also with the last name Chen, and she was a petite beauty. She took the exam and also passed and was sent to Japan to study. Mr Chen fell in love with Miss Chen and when he went to the US, he passed by Tokyo and came to me to help him find Miss Chen. Miss Chen, because she was so popular, when she arrived in Tokyo, everyone wanted to contact her. Because I was also from Hubei, I only saw her once. I thought Mr. Chen was so crazy about her, it wasn't appropriate. As a bystander, even though Mr Chen is a capable person, she has no reason to make his acquaintance. When I found out about the situation, I convinced him not to pursue her, advising him to take it easy. He went sadly on to the US. Later, he wrote me a letter from the US saying that he had found somebody else. In the meantime, he was hired by a newspaper to be an editor and asked me to write for this publication. I wrote an article about Japanese commerce and industry and mailed it to him. He published my article in the paper and in large print it said it was by Mr Qu from Tokyo, which made me feel uneasy as he made such a big deal about it.
1931 - age 30
The subjects I took in business school were accounting from Prof. Xiaye Zhitailang, economics from Prof. Futian, and business management from Prof. Santian. The business management class was the best in Japanese academia. There was also a class called banking and currency. This subject in this school was the authoritative course. Most of the professors who taught were the top in their field, lauded by the Japanese business industry. The one who had the highest honor was Mr Gaohuan. His lectures were so in depth and referenced the best Western European and American business schools. He was very good in English, French, German and was not only fluent but had studied their new knowledge. He was over the age of 80 and still worked very hard and loved to teach, a good professor. After the war, I was sent to Japan on government duty, and went to visit him. We talked about Taiwan's banking and currency and he gave me a lot of outstanding counsel. After I finished my government duties, and returned home, the late President Jiang called me to give a report and asked me what I learned in Japan. I used Mr Gaohuan's suggestions to reply. The late President Jiang valued the Japanese opinion. After he heard my report, he hesitated but told me if necessary, we could invite Mr Gaohuan to Taiwan to improve our currency and banking. I was very impressed with his conclusion. When I spoke with the President, I used Mr Gaohuan's Japanese name and he replied to tell me he used the Japanese pronunciation because he knew Japanese. Even though I knew he could speak Japanese, he hadn't used it in a long time. When he said Gaohuan, his pronunciation was so accurate I assumed he had a friend named Gaohuan as well.
In the business university, there was a system that all junior year students had to pick a research subject and choose an adviser for study and thesis. As for writing thesis, the subject and how you're going to write it, you had to have a proposal for the professor to approve. Some professors were very strict and we students were nervous to approach them, for example, Professor Santian. Another professor named Jingten, his way of teaching was more free and liberal. You could pick a subject as you liked. He didn't interfere, so most students chose him for adviser. For my thesis, because for the past few years I had written a lot about accounting basics, I wanted to compile my articles together. I went to Jingten and he approved it, I was grateful to him. Mr Jingten's subject was finance. He already had a PhD in economics. He published a book called Principles of Finance which was the best known in Japan. In Japan, many of the economics clubs united together and became a powerful group, almost as strong as the political groups. The united economic group was of citizens, not politicians. Every year, they had a lot of input in the tax system. Because most of the tax systems were implemented by political groups, they had a lot of influence. There was a person who was a leading researcher among these experts named Fanzhong. One day, I went to visit Mr Fanzhong at the united ecenomics group and I saw on his desk was a copy of Jingten's book. Prof. Jingten was elected as president of the business school and his students after all these years numbered about 700. There was a club called Ten Friends Meeting. Today, in Taiwan, of all the alumni of this business university, only Mr Yang Langzhou and I were members of Ten Friends. In the autumn of 1970, I was working in the embassy and Mr Yang passed by Tokyo and we made a special trip to Prof. Jingten's home to visit him. We brought a dozen bottles of Shaoxing wine as a present as he famously had an evening drink. Everyone was very happy about this visit.
There was a school requirement that besides English, every student needed to choose another foreign language: Chinese, German, French, Italian, or Spanish. Most Japanese students chose Chinese, reasoning 1) it was pretty similar to Japanese and would be easier to learn than a Western language, 2) if Japan wanted to expand, China is a good aim so the Chinese language would be useful, and 3) the one who taught Chinese was called Chang Jingren and it was easy to pass his exams. I am Chinese and didn't want to pick Chinese, so I chose French. The one who taught French was a French professor our university recruited with a high salary. He was very serious in teaching, that's why we all worked very hard. At the final exam, there were several people who didn't pass and needed more tutoring. I barely passed, fortunately.
The military was fighting in the north to unite China. One of the generals was from Hubei, Mr Hu Zhongtuo. He was the head of the 7th regiment. He won Wuhan and was assigned as Hubei's governor. He is the kind of person who has vision and sent his fifth younger brother to study in Japan. Mr Hu's family was from Huangmei and between his family and my family were only a few miles. The family of Qu and family of Hu had a lot of marital relations. This fifth brother who came to Tokyo, I accepted as a kinsmen. We were very close. At that time, he was a newlywed and brought his new bride Xu Lingqing with him to Tokyo to study. Everybody was very envious because he had a wife to bring with him to study. At that time, I was already an old hand in Tokyo and took care of a lot of their miscellaneous aspects of Tokyo life. Later on, they introduced me to Diqin. From engagement to wedding, everything was arranged by this couple. (In Chinese, lianjing is the name of the son in laws. Zouli is what the daughter in laws are called.) It is a honor for me to be Mr Hu's lianjing.
1932 - age 31
My grades in business school were average but the advisory professors thought I was pretty good in banking and currency. According to their standards, I needed to take more classes in insurance so they suggested that I delay my graduation to the following year and continue the government grant. But I reflected on my life, to have an opportunity to study is not common, but I was already 31. Compared to the average college kid, I was already ten years behind. Even though I was already late, I still wanted to take the opportunity to get more knowledge. So I decided to take another year. As for the study of insurance, I needed to learn under several professors. In order to read reference materials, after passing the French exam, I decided to study German on my own. Every morning, I needed to study at least an hour. The reason is that Japan valued German articles. A lot of the students studied German on their own. There were lots of materials to aid this endeavor for sale in the market.
Yesterday, arrived at the city,
Upon return, tears wet handkerchief;
From head to toe, silk wearers,
Are not the ones who tend silk worms.
1930 - age 29 (continued)
The new building of the business college was finished. All the classrooms and lecture halls were big and tall with modern ventilation and lighting systems. There were offices, dining rooms, kitchens, and bathrooms. The most impressive part was the library. The architecture was classical with a bell tower and stood facing a pond, beautifully landscaped. Inside, there were huge reading rooms and all the seats were so comfortable with huge tables. Every chair had a lamp. Those few years when I was at the school, besides spending time in classroom listening to lectures, the rest of the time I usually spent in the library. I had a favorite seat where I usually sat. After graduation, I left the school, and had very complicated emotions. The thing that was the hardest to give up was my seat in the library. Later on, when I was sent to Japan to work in the embassy or any time I had some business passing by Tokyo, I always visited my alma mater and had to go to the library to look at my seat. Don't you think that's kind of silly?
There was another student from Bowen High School, named Chen Shushen. He was two years ahead of me and he also had a full scholarship. This Mr Chen was a very talented young scholar. Every year, Hubei province had a special kind of exam for the students studying abroad. He scored the highest on this exam and was sent to the US to study. During this exam, he met a female student, also with the last name Chen, and she was a petite beauty. She took the exam and also passed and was sent to Japan to study. Mr Chen fell in love with Miss Chen and when he went to the US, he passed by Tokyo and came to me to help him find Miss Chen. Miss Chen, because she was so popular, when she arrived in Tokyo, everyone wanted to contact her. Because I was also from Hubei, I only saw her once. I thought Mr. Chen was so crazy about her, it wasn't appropriate. As a bystander, even though Mr Chen is a capable person, she has no reason to make his acquaintance. When I found out about the situation, I convinced him not to pursue her, advising him to take it easy. He went sadly on to the US. Later, he wrote me a letter from the US saying that he had found somebody else. In the meantime, he was hired by a newspaper to be an editor and asked me to write for this publication. I wrote an article about Japanese commerce and industry and mailed it to him. He published my article in the paper and in large print it said it was by Mr Qu from Tokyo, which made me feel uneasy as he made such a big deal about it.
1931 - age 30
The subjects I took in business school were accounting from Prof. Xiaye Zhitailang, economics from Prof. Futian, and business management from Prof. Santian. The business management class was the best in Japanese academia. There was also a class called banking and currency. This subject in this school was the authoritative course. Most of the professors who taught were the top in their field, lauded by the Japanese business industry. The one who had the highest honor was Mr Gaohuan. His lectures were so in depth and referenced the best Western European and American business schools. He was very good in English, French, German and was not only fluent but had studied their new knowledge. He was over the age of 80 and still worked very hard and loved to teach, a good professor. After the war, I was sent to Japan on government duty, and went to visit him. We talked about Taiwan's banking and currency and he gave me a lot of outstanding counsel. After I finished my government duties, and returned home, the late President Jiang called me to give a report and asked me what I learned in Japan. I used Mr Gaohuan's suggestions to reply. The late President Jiang valued the Japanese opinion. After he heard my report, he hesitated but told me if necessary, we could invite Mr Gaohuan to Taiwan to improve our currency and banking. I was very impressed with his conclusion. When I spoke with the President, I used Mr Gaohuan's Japanese name and he replied to tell me he used the Japanese pronunciation because he knew Japanese. Even though I knew he could speak Japanese, he hadn't used it in a long time. When he said Gaohuan, his pronunciation was so accurate I assumed he had a friend named Gaohuan as well.
In the business university, there was a system that all junior year students had to pick a research subject and choose an adviser for study and thesis. As for writing thesis, the subject and how you're going to write it, you had to have a proposal for the professor to approve. Some professors were very strict and we students were nervous to approach them, for example, Professor Santian. Another professor named Jingten, his way of teaching was more free and liberal. You could pick a subject as you liked. He didn't interfere, so most students chose him for adviser. For my thesis, because for the past few years I had written a lot about accounting basics, I wanted to compile my articles together. I went to Jingten and he approved it, I was grateful to him. Mr Jingten's subject was finance. He already had a PhD in economics. He published a book called Principles of Finance which was the best known in Japan. In Japan, many of the economics clubs united together and became a powerful group, almost as strong as the political groups. The united economic group was of citizens, not politicians. Every year, they had a lot of input in the tax system. Because most of the tax systems were implemented by political groups, they had a lot of influence. There was a person who was a leading researcher among these experts named Fanzhong. One day, I went to visit Mr Fanzhong at the united ecenomics group and I saw on his desk was a copy of Jingten's book. Prof. Jingten was elected as president of the business school and his students after all these years numbered about 700. There was a club called Ten Friends Meeting. Today, in Taiwan, of all the alumni of this business university, only Mr Yang Langzhou and I were members of Ten Friends. In the autumn of 1970, I was working in the embassy and Mr Yang passed by Tokyo and we made a special trip to Prof. Jingten's home to visit him. We brought a dozen bottles of Shaoxing wine as a present as he famously had an evening drink. Everyone was very happy about this visit.
There was a school requirement that besides English, every student needed to choose another foreign language: Chinese, German, French, Italian, or Spanish. Most Japanese students chose Chinese, reasoning 1) it was pretty similar to Japanese and would be easier to learn than a Western language, 2) if Japan wanted to expand, China is a good aim so the Chinese language would be useful, and 3) the one who taught Chinese was called Chang Jingren and it was easy to pass his exams. I am Chinese and didn't want to pick Chinese, so I chose French. The one who taught French was a French professor our university recruited with a high salary. He was very serious in teaching, that's why we all worked very hard. At the final exam, there were several people who didn't pass and needed more tutoring. I barely passed, fortunately.
The military was fighting in the north to unite China. One of the generals was from Hubei, Mr Hu Zhongtuo. He was the head of the 7th regiment. He won Wuhan and was assigned as Hubei's governor. He is the kind of person who has vision and sent his fifth younger brother to study in Japan. Mr Hu's family was from Huangmei and between his family and my family were only a few miles. The family of Qu and family of Hu had a lot of marital relations. This fifth brother who came to Tokyo, I accepted as a kinsmen. We were very close. At that time, he was a newlywed and brought his new bride Xu Lingqing with him to Tokyo to study. Everybody was very envious because he had a wife to bring with him to study. At that time, I was already an old hand in Tokyo and took care of a lot of their miscellaneous aspects of Tokyo life. Later on, they introduced me to Diqin. From engagement to wedding, everything was arranged by this couple. (In Chinese, lianjing is the name of the son in laws. Zouli is what the daughter in laws are called.) It is a honor for me to be Mr Hu's lianjing.
1932 - age 31
My grades in business school were average but the advisory professors thought I was pretty good in banking and currency. According to their standards, I needed to take more classes in insurance so they suggested that I delay my graduation to the following year and continue the government grant. But I reflected on my life, to have an opportunity to study is not common, but I was already 31. Compared to the average college kid, I was already ten years behind. Even though I was already late, I still wanted to take the opportunity to get more knowledge. So I decided to take another year. As for the study of insurance, I needed to learn under several professors. In order to read reference materials, after passing the French exam, I decided to study German on my own. Every morning, I needed to study at least an hour. The reason is that Japan valued German articles. A lot of the students studied German on their own. There were lots of materials to aid this endeavor for sale in the market.
Sunday, December 02, 2018
1929: Hermits and scholars
Reply to the People by Most Wise Hermit
Happen to come under a pine tree,
Without a care, a rock for a pillow.
In the mountain, there are no dates, no calendar,
The cold weather's gone, but what year is it?
He lived on Zhongnan Mountain.
1929 - age 28
The business university relocated to Guoliding and the university built several wooden buildings to provide temporary space for classes. The formal permanent site had not been yet constructed. On the right side, there was a lot of construction for a huge building of classrooms. The money was donated by one of the largest Japanese car manufacturers. From our university, several tens of graduates had taken the exam and worked for Jiansong. After several years, the other departments were jealous of the building. After a while, all the teachers were alumni. It was very easy to pass these classes and they profited the students. They planned to build a big building in memory of Jiansong. All of my classmates watched with their own eyes every level of construction: roof, walls, floors, decoration. We supervised from groundbreaking to completion. Our special department graduation was set in this building. Our diplomas have this building on it. My diploma is dated the 4th year of (Japanese) Emperor Zaohe's reign March 30. I received this diploma and have kept it until 1933.
I sent my diploma and my certification of BS in Business to the Bureau of Overseas Students to verify. As for the diploma issued by my business university, there was an attached clarification about my graduation from Wuchang Bouwen six years of high school. Because there had been an incident in 1933, I lacked proof of my Bouwen graduation. The Bureau issued a document to officially certify that I graduated Bouwen. When I graduated business college, my age was 28 but on the diploma it was listed as 32.
Graduating with us at Zaohe, there was a training facility for teachers. Their training was similar to a normal university. Their training and ours was more or less the same. The only thing was they had more instruction on how to teach. Most of the students in this program were from poorer families. After graduation, they needed to find a job immediately to help their families. That's why they enrolled in the teachers program because it was easier for them to find a job right away upon graduation. Even though we studied different subjects, after graduation, we united in alumnae association. We called our association Zaosi Menyang.
There was a famous graduate Zhentian Silong from the teaching program. He did not go into teaching and went to graduate school in business and later on got his doctorate degree. After he graduated, he started teaching there as a lecturer, then promoted to associate professor, then tenured professor, and finally president of the university. He would still attend alumnae meetings. Our alumnae association was called Zaoba (Zao was the name of the emperor, ba for 8th year). Later on, I went to more schooling. I was an automatic member. The Zaoba association had monthly meetings; I attended two to three times a year. Zaoba members had spent four years in the same class. Zaosi meetings were so joyous. Inside the Zao da hui they divided into six branches and I belonged one.
Happen to come under a pine tree,
Without a care, a rock for a pillow.
In the mountain, there are no dates, no calendar,
The cold weather's gone, but what year is it?
He lived on Zhongnan Mountain.
1929 - age 28
The business university relocated to Guoliding and the university built several wooden buildings to provide temporary space for classes. The formal permanent site had not been yet constructed. On the right side, there was a lot of construction for a huge building of classrooms. The money was donated by one of the largest Japanese car manufacturers. From our university, several tens of graduates had taken the exam and worked for Jiansong. After several years, the other departments were jealous of the building. After a while, all the teachers were alumni. It was very easy to pass these classes and they profited the students. They planned to build a big building in memory of Jiansong. All of my classmates watched with their own eyes every level of construction: roof, walls, floors, decoration. We supervised from groundbreaking to completion. Our special department graduation was set in this building. Our diplomas have this building on it. My diploma is dated the 4th year of (Japanese) Emperor Zaohe's reign March 30. I received this diploma and have kept it until 1933.
I sent my diploma and my certification of BS in Business to the Bureau of Overseas Students to verify. As for the diploma issued by my business university, there was an attached clarification about my graduation from Wuchang Bouwen six years of high school. Because there had been an incident in 1933, I lacked proof of my Bouwen graduation. The Bureau issued a document to officially certify that I graduated Bouwen. When I graduated business college, my age was 28 but on the diploma it was listed as 32.
Graduating with us at Zaohe, there was a training facility for teachers. Their training was similar to a normal university. Their training and ours was more or less the same. The only thing was they had more instruction on how to teach. Most of the students in this program were from poorer families. After graduation, they needed to find a job immediately to help their families. That's why they enrolled in the teachers program because it was easier for them to find a job right away upon graduation. Even though we studied different subjects, after graduation, we united in alumnae association. We called our association Zaosi Menyang.
There was a famous graduate Zhentian Silong from the teaching program. He did not go into teaching and went to graduate school in business and later on got his doctorate degree. After he graduated, he started teaching there as a lecturer, then promoted to associate professor, then tenured professor, and finally president of the university. He would still attend alumnae meetings. Our alumnae association was called Zaoba (Zao was the name of the emperor, ba for 8th year). Later on, I went to more schooling. I was an automatic member. The Zaoba association had monthly meetings; I attended two to three times a year. Zaoba members had spent four years in the same class. Zaosi meetings were so joyous. Inside the Zao da hui they divided into six branches and I belonged one.
During that time in Japan, there were two economics schools of thought: traditional and leftist. The leading professor of the traditional school was called Futian Deshan. The leftist school leading professor was He Songzhao. Futian had a lot of publications and was from the Adam Smith line of thinking. There were lots of scholars from England and Europe and traditional schools of business and established Japanese economic foundation. The leftist He Songzhao, his foundation of scholarship was Marxist. All his teaching materials were from Das Kapital. He was serious and strict about his teaching. Every year, he revised his teaching materials. His materials were translated into Chinese by Mr Chen. This helped the development of Chinese Communism and hurt the Chinese a lot. I am quite saddened by the effects of this translation. This year, I was promoted into the business department, I took a class by Futian. His class was so comprehensive and deep, I was impressed. There were other professors teaching about the history of economics and were all taught by these famous professors. There was a professor named Da Zuan, he did not seek fame but quietly did a lot of study and research. He translated Marshall's Principles of Economics. Before I took their classes, I knew nothing. After, I got in the door.
Inside China, there were lots of changes in the military. This branch of army called Northwest Expansion, led by Fong Yushang. In the western part of China, Mr Fong was a Christian and people called him General Christian. The director of the YMCA Ma Buoyuan used his position to contact Fong Yushang to convince him to follow more centrist views. Mr Ma also suggested to Mr Fong revolutionize his military base, which he accepted. Mr Fong sent twenty of his young officers to Japan for training. As for how these people were to go to military school in Japan and how to get money, Mr Fong asked Mr Ma to take care of. As for a lot of other matters, Mr Ma asked me to help. Because of this, I exerted a lot of time and effort. The good part was most of these young officers were excellent students and also had good character. One named Zhang Xiaofong, after he graduated, went back to China and made a lot of contributions to the improvement of the military. This is one of the memorable things of this year.
Inside China, there were lots of changes in the military. This branch of army called Northwest Expansion, led by Fong Yushang. In the western part of China, Mr Fong was a Christian and people called him General Christian. The director of the YMCA Ma Buoyuan used his position to contact Fong Yushang to convince him to follow more centrist views. Mr Ma also suggested to Mr Fong revolutionize his military base, which he accepted. Mr Fong sent twenty of his young officers to Japan for training. As for how these people were to go to military school in Japan and how to get money, Mr Fong asked Mr Ma to take care of. As for a lot of other matters, Mr Ma asked me to help. Because of this, I exerted a lot of time and effort. The good part was most of these young officers were excellent students and also had good character. One named Zhang Xiaofong, after he graduated, went back to China and made a lot of contributions to the improvement of the military. This is one of the memorable things of this year.
There is another related event, Mr Ma and Mr Fong contacted each other quite often. Many subordinates of Mr Fong--Misters Xe, Zhang, Liu--they all came to Japan and went through Mr Ma's management. Of special note was Mr Liu, who was my Hubei countryman. He was chief of staff for Mr Fong. He was quite smart, and had his family with him in Japan and he visited Mr Ma quite often. He told a true story as follows. He said: one year he was sent to Nanjing on business. Staying in one of the hotels, he went into the room and looked around for an emergency exit. He said, "This is my habit: every time I go to a new place, I look for an emergency exit. While I was looking around, one of the waiters asked me what I was looking for. I frankly said, 'I am taking a look at the exits so if there's a fire, I know where to go.' The waiter was unhappy at my speech in terms of superstition. I saw the waiter was upset and I thought, I would rather change hotels than be unwelcome here. So I changed hotels and, what do you know, that night the hotel had a fire. A lot of the guests were injured. What a coincidence!"
1930 - age 29
This year was my sophomore year. The most important class was the management of commerce and business, a required course. The professor was Santian Zhencilang, he was the highest of the Japanese scholars. He authored a book called Revolution of Wealth and it was most popular. He taught very strictly and had exams all the time. If your answer had a little mistake, you would not pass. Because it was a required class, we could not escape and our only choice was to study hard. Mr Santian also had a seminar, it was so tough. But many students applied for the seminar. Why? Because famous companies liked to hire graduates from our university and anyone who passed Santian's seminar had preference to be hired with high position and salary. Many years' results, proved this was truly a trend. That's why his seminar was such a hot class. Later on, professor Santian became president of the university. He had students everywhere. His residence was an old style Japanese house. After he retired, all his students gave money to build him a western style house with a beautiful garden for him to spend his retirement. There was a photo in a magazine of him sweeping leaves in his garden, showing he had very nice retirement years, looking like he was enjoying his life. The Japanese treat their retired scholars very well.
One of the directors of the YMCA Qu Dachen was sent back to China and his residence in Japan was vacant. Mr Ma assigned me to move in. At that time, Mr Liu, Mr Gao, all Mr Tang--all my countrymen--didn't have a place to live. They wanted to find a bigger house so they could all move in. When I moved into Mr Qu's house, the downstairs had a big room, I put a bed and desk there that fit comfortably. Upstairs were two bedrooms which could house four people, and there were only three who needed board. Later on, Mr Li joined us. Everyone had space. After we moved in, we divided household chores. I was in charge of groceries, Mr Gao was a good cook so he cooked. Mr Tang cooked rice. Mr Liu washed dishes. Mr Li was in charge of cleaning. Everyone was a government-sponsored student. Sometimes, our funding didn't arrive on time and when it came, it was sent in two or three month's worth of money. If they had a lot of money, they spent a lot, and if it was late, they were broke. When they didn't have savings, they didn't have food to eat. On the other hand, since I came from a poor family, I had the habit of being frugal. When I received money from the government, I deposited it in one of the accounts in the post office. When I accumulated so much money, I mailed it back home. When I came to Japan, I borrowed so much money from our relatives, I was gradually trying to repay my debt. The remaining money was for unexpected expenses. Since I was in charge of groceries, all the expenses like gas and rice and noodles, I paid monthly. And as for the others, when the government money came, they would pay me back. Most of the year, we lived in harmony. The desk I set downstairs faced a window and it was a good place to write and read. When I read, I usually recited aloud and across from the window lived a family named Neisan, facing their garden. Mr Neisan had a daughter who usually stood outside the window and listened to me recite. Every so often, she would pick flowers and give them to me. One evening, when I came back from school, when I entered my room, I smelled a beautiful fragrance. On my desk was a bunch of flowers in a vase and I knew they were from this little girl. The flowers were called Linglan, from the most northern island in Japan. Since these flowers were from far away, I appreciated her love. So I wrote a poem which I put in my collection.
1930 - age 29
This year was my sophomore year. The most important class was the management of commerce and business, a required course. The professor was Santian Zhencilang, he was the highest of the Japanese scholars. He authored a book called Revolution of Wealth and it was most popular. He taught very strictly and had exams all the time. If your answer had a little mistake, you would not pass. Because it was a required class, we could not escape and our only choice was to study hard. Mr Santian also had a seminar, it was so tough. But many students applied for the seminar. Why? Because famous companies liked to hire graduates from our university and anyone who passed Santian's seminar had preference to be hired with high position and salary. Many years' results, proved this was truly a trend. That's why his seminar was such a hot class. Later on, professor Santian became president of the university. He had students everywhere. His residence was an old style Japanese house. After he retired, all his students gave money to build him a western style house with a beautiful garden for him to spend his retirement. There was a photo in a magazine of him sweeping leaves in his garden, showing he had very nice retirement years, looking like he was enjoying his life. The Japanese treat their retired scholars very well.
One of the directors of the YMCA Qu Dachen was sent back to China and his residence in Japan was vacant. Mr Ma assigned me to move in. At that time, Mr Liu, Mr Gao, all Mr Tang--all my countrymen--didn't have a place to live. They wanted to find a bigger house so they could all move in. When I moved into Mr Qu's house, the downstairs had a big room, I put a bed and desk there that fit comfortably. Upstairs were two bedrooms which could house four people, and there were only three who needed board. Later on, Mr Li joined us. Everyone had space. After we moved in, we divided household chores. I was in charge of groceries, Mr Gao was a good cook so he cooked. Mr Tang cooked rice. Mr Liu washed dishes. Mr Li was in charge of cleaning. Everyone was a government-sponsored student. Sometimes, our funding didn't arrive on time and when it came, it was sent in two or three month's worth of money. If they had a lot of money, they spent a lot, and if it was late, they were broke. When they didn't have savings, they didn't have food to eat. On the other hand, since I came from a poor family, I had the habit of being frugal. When I received money from the government, I deposited it in one of the accounts in the post office. When I accumulated so much money, I mailed it back home. When I came to Japan, I borrowed so much money from our relatives, I was gradually trying to repay my debt. The remaining money was for unexpected expenses. Since I was in charge of groceries, all the expenses like gas and rice and noodles, I paid monthly. And as for the others, when the government money came, they would pay me back. Most of the year, we lived in harmony. The desk I set downstairs faced a window and it was a good place to write and read. When I read, I usually recited aloud and across from the window lived a family named Neisan, facing their garden. Mr Neisan had a daughter who usually stood outside the window and listened to me recite. Every so often, she would pick flowers and give them to me. One evening, when I came back from school, when I entered my room, I smelled a beautiful fragrance. On my desk was a bunch of flowers in a vase and I knew they were from this little girl. The flowers were called Linglan, from the most northern island in Japan. Since these flowers were from far away, I appreciated her love. So I wrote a poem which I put in my collection.
1928: Changed by the wind and determined
Kite by Tang dynasty poet Gao Ping
A quiet evening, sound of strings, clear sky,
Notes depend upon the direction of the wind;
Like a composed song appreciated,
Again changed into another key by the blowing wind.
1928 - age 27 continued
This year was my third year in Business University and I would graduate next year. I already had three consecutive years of military training, now I needed to conclude. Besides finishing coaching the students, I needed to take shooting lessons with real ammunition. They chose this lesson place by Fuji Mountain. There was a military place where they could do this kind of training. Most of the students from my same year, they all lived in this military camp and lived a total military person's life. The camp grounds were fields, without pavement or roads. We needed to run on it and also carry weapons. After three days of drills, we were all very tired, even though our minds were relaxed. At this time, there were some students who suggested that since we were at the bottom of Fuji Mountain and since it was climbing season, how about we form some mountain climbing groups. Once the suggestion was out, everyone wanted to go. Only our military teacher warned us: he said, this is our national mountain. At the bottom of the mountain, it was hot, but at the top, it was severely cold. If you were not well equipped, it was hard to climb. And if you didn't have confidence, please do not try. There was one military teacher who had visited China. Usually, he was very friendly with me. He specifically told me, you Chinese are not as physically strong, please do not participate. He meant well but I think he looked down on us Chinese so I told him, physically I'm not that weak and I want to participate, so he didn't say anything. Everybody formed groups and started climbing. The mountains roads were very rugged. And it was so hot, we were sweating drops. Gradually, as we climbed higher, it became cooler. There were lots of students who usually prided themselves in their physical strength but when they climbed the mountain, a lot of people collapsed. Some were altitude sick. They sat by the roadside and quit. I also felt very tired and hungry and cold and almost could not continue but I remembered what I had told the teacher and revived my will. I struggled like this off and on for eight waves of fatigue. Coming to a rest stop, there was a little house with mats on the floor for resting. Outside of the house there was snow that had been accumulating since the beginning of time. The ice has never melted and the wind pierced through your bones. We had several tens of people, everyone slept like a flower with their feet in the center with only one little blanket to keep our feet warm. The next morning, we wanted to watch the sunrise so we continued to climb and arrived at the summit. Mt Fuji used to be a volcano. When it erupted, the dried lava looked like embers. After the eruption, the summit became a big deep hole. Going through all the cold winters, it wasn't very scenic. Called the gold water and silver water, a residue of the past. My military teacher saw that I was quite well and walking upright and with strength. He praised me a lot. After we came back, I wrote a poem called "Climbing Fuji Mountain."
A quiet evening, sound of strings, clear sky,
Notes depend upon the direction of the wind;
Like a composed song appreciated,
Again changed into another key by the blowing wind.
1928 - age 27 continued
This year was my third year in Business University and I would graduate next year. I already had three consecutive years of military training, now I needed to conclude. Besides finishing coaching the students, I needed to take shooting lessons with real ammunition. They chose this lesson place by Fuji Mountain. There was a military place where they could do this kind of training. Most of the students from my same year, they all lived in this military camp and lived a total military person's life. The camp grounds were fields, without pavement or roads. We needed to run on it and also carry weapons. After three days of drills, we were all very tired, even though our minds were relaxed. At this time, there were some students who suggested that since we were at the bottom of Fuji Mountain and since it was climbing season, how about we form some mountain climbing groups. Once the suggestion was out, everyone wanted to go. Only our military teacher warned us: he said, this is our national mountain. At the bottom of the mountain, it was hot, but at the top, it was severely cold. If you were not well equipped, it was hard to climb. And if you didn't have confidence, please do not try. There was one military teacher who had visited China. Usually, he was very friendly with me. He specifically told me, you Chinese are not as physically strong, please do not participate. He meant well but I think he looked down on us Chinese so I told him, physically I'm not that weak and I want to participate, so he didn't say anything. Everybody formed groups and started climbing. The mountains roads were very rugged. And it was so hot, we were sweating drops. Gradually, as we climbed higher, it became cooler. There were lots of students who usually prided themselves in their physical strength but when they climbed the mountain, a lot of people collapsed. Some were altitude sick. They sat by the roadside and quit. I also felt very tired and hungry and cold and almost could not continue but I remembered what I had told the teacher and revived my will. I struggled like this off and on for eight waves of fatigue. Coming to a rest stop, there was a little house with mats on the floor for resting. Outside of the house there was snow that had been accumulating since the beginning of time. The ice has never melted and the wind pierced through your bones. We had several tens of people, everyone slept like a flower with their feet in the center with only one little blanket to keep our feet warm. The next morning, we wanted to watch the sunrise so we continued to climb and arrived at the summit. Mt Fuji used to be a volcano. When it erupted, the dried lava looked like embers. After the eruption, the summit became a big deep hole. Going through all the cold winters, it wasn't very scenic. Called the gold water and silver water, a residue of the past. My military teacher saw that I was quite well and walking upright and with strength. He praised me a lot. After we came back, I wrote a poem called "Climbing Fuji Mountain."
Sunday, October 21, 2018
1927: Work the land
Pity Peasant Song by Tang dynasty poet Li Sen (780-846)
Hoe crop sun high noon,
Sweat drops field down earth.
Who knows food on plate,
Each grain by hard toil.
1927 - age 26 continued
One day at the YMCA, the nationalist party called for a meeting and the auditorium was full inside and out. Because I didn't need to do any service for this meeting, I went to my room to rest. But after a little while, I heard fighting in the auditorium. It started with a quarrel and grew into a fist fight. The members used chairs as weapons. A lot of people got hurt. The two party leaders fled from the chaos and came into my room. I welcomed them and said here we don't separate people by party, we only recognize people by province. I gave each one a glass of water. Mr Cen and Mr He became very cordial and gentleman like. After the chaos died down, both of them left smiling.
Ever since the business school relocated to Guoliding, each class was in a wooden classroom. Because the transportation to and from the main area was infrequent, a lot of students couldn't make it to class. As for my department, there was a professor named Qu Guanggui who was very strict on attendance. Every class, he had someone perform roll call. Each student had a name tag to flip over when they entered class. So he knew who attended. But the students were crafty and had their peers turned their name tags over for them. At the beginning of class, there were so many tags being flipped, it was hard to tell who was doing what. This method was a flop, so after a while, he cancelled this practice.
There were many people who stayed with me at the YMCA dormitory. One man from Jiangxi named Cen Maoying was kind of short and fat but he majored in music in voice. He was quite talented and sang baritone. Every time we had a chance, people in the dormitory asked him to sing. He never said no. Everybody liked it very much. There was one day he and I didn't have class, and both of us came back to the dorm to rest. At that time, the Chinese national anthem had words but the government was asking for the song. Cen had composed a version to submit to see if he would win and receive the award. He told me there was a part of the song which he wasn't satisfied with. His roommate Mr Liang wrote down his song in notation. Even though he didn't like it, I told him to go ahead and submit it to make the deadline. After Mr Liang wrote it in musical notation, he wrote down Mr Cen's name and it won. It is the tune of the Nationalist anthem.
1928 - age 27
Inside China, there was war. The government sent troops into Wuchang and Hankou. There was a policy to centralize currency. Most of the money was used for the military. So the funding for education was very lacking. Sometime we didn't have any money come for one or two months. Most of the students panicked. If they sent a letter back home, there was no reply. So we went to the embassy for help. At that time, the ambassador Mr Jiang was from Hubei. He participated in Sen Yishen's revolution. Even though he was very sympathetic to the students, there were too many of us and the money was a large amount so he had no way of solving the problem and refused to see us. So all the students loitered in the embassy and wouldn't leave. We occupied the embassy until the next morning. Ambassador Jiang, after seeing us occupy for so long, came to talk to us. He told us to return to school and study hard and, "The money the government owes you, I will send a telegram." He gave us some assurance so we went back to school. The governor of Hubei at that time used to work for this ambassador. So after he received the telegram, as compared to the military money, this amount wasn't that much, so they sent funds to the ambassador and the students were satisfied.
As I mentioned before, I lived in the YMCA dorm. Because I had to go to school for class, my mealtimes weren't regular and I didn't dine regularly at the YMCA. To save money, I usually ate at public diners because they were cheap. Even though they weren't tasty, they had sufficient nutrition. These diners were established for common people's convenience. But they had hours and if you missed closing time, you didn't eat. Sometimes I got so focused on studying, I lost track of time and by the time I made it to the diner, they were closed and I had to find other places to eat. About this experience of hunger, I wrote a poem. In order to manage my time better, I set a certain time to take the train to the university. If there was class I went. If not, I studied by myself. At noon time, I always went to the school dining room for lunch because at that time we had the government funding, I had more money and every meal I could choose better food so I had better nutrition. In the evening, I took the train back to YMCA and sometimes saw people rowing boats and by the bridge there were some slums. I wrote some poems about that too.
I worked as assistant director of the YMCA for quite a while. This year, the YMCA bought a piece of land and planned to build five dorms for staff and workers. Mr Ma named this area East Youth Village. There were four directors: Zhang, Qu, Xie, and Lao. Each stayed in one dorm. Another bigger building was assigned to Mr Ma. Mr Ma had quite a few children, his eldest and second daughter were in Japanese elementary school. They asked me to tutor them in Chinese, so they gave me a little side room as my dormitory. Because of this, I also was a member at East Youth Village. I left the YMCA dorm where I stayed for three years and moved to East Youth Village. From East Youth Village to Business University was a lot closer, so it was more convenient. The only thing was this whole area was residential with no stores. If I needed to buy something, I had to go to Silver Chair (my mom notes this is a well known shopping area).
Hoe crop sun high noon,
Sweat drops field down earth.
Who knows food on plate,
Each grain by hard toil.
1927 - age 26 continued
One day at the YMCA, the nationalist party called for a meeting and the auditorium was full inside and out. Because I didn't need to do any service for this meeting, I went to my room to rest. But after a little while, I heard fighting in the auditorium. It started with a quarrel and grew into a fist fight. The members used chairs as weapons. A lot of people got hurt. The two party leaders fled from the chaos and came into my room. I welcomed them and said here we don't separate people by party, we only recognize people by province. I gave each one a glass of water. Mr Cen and Mr He became very cordial and gentleman like. After the chaos died down, both of them left smiling.
Ever since the business school relocated to Guoliding, each class was in a wooden classroom. Because the transportation to and from the main area was infrequent, a lot of students couldn't make it to class. As for my department, there was a professor named Qu Guanggui who was very strict on attendance. Every class, he had someone perform roll call. Each student had a name tag to flip over when they entered class. So he knew who attended. But the students were crafty and had their peers turned their name tags over for them. At the beginning of class, there were so many tags being flipped, it was hard to tell who was doing what. This method was a flop, so after a while, he cancelled this practice.
There were many people who stayed with me at the YMCA dormitory. One man from Jiangxi named Cen Maoying was kind of short and fat but he majored in music in voice. He was quite talented and sang baritone. Every time we had a chance, people in the dormitory asked him to sing. He never said no. Everybody liked it very much. There was one day he and I didn't have class, and both of us came back to the dorm to rest. At that time, the Chinese national anthem had words but the government was asking for the song. Cen had composed a version to submit to see if he would win and receive the award. He told me there was a part of the song which he wasn't satisfied with. His roommate Mr Liang wrote down his song in notation. Even though he didn't like it, I told him to go ahead and submit it to make the deadline. After Mr Liang wrote it in musical notation, he wrote down Mr Cen's name and it won. It is the tune of the Nationalist anthem.
1928 - age 27
Inside China, there was war. The government sent troops into Wuchang and Hankou. There was a policy to centralize currency. Most of the money was used for the military. So the funding for education was very lacking. Sometime we didn't have any money come for one or two months. Most of the students panicked. If they sent a letter back home, there was no reply. So we went to the embassy for help. At that time, the ambassador Mr Jiang was from Hubei. He participated in Sen Yishen's revolution. Even though he was very sympathetic to the students, there were too many of us and the money was a large amount so he had no way of solving the problem and refused to see us. So all the students loitered in the embassy and wouldn't leave. We occupied the embassy until the next morning. Ambassador Jiang, after seeing us occupy for so long, came to talk to us. He told us to return to school and study hard and, "The money the government owes you, I will send a telegram." He gave us some assurance so we went back to school. The governor of Hubei at that time used to work for this ambassador. So after he received the telegram, as compared to the military money, this amount wasn't that much, so they sent funds to the ambassador and the students were satisfied.
As I mentioned before, I lived in the YMCA dorm. Because I had to go to school for class, my mealtimes weren't regular and I didn't dine regularly at the YMCA. To save money, I usually ate at public diners because they were cheap. Even though they weren't tasty, they had sufficient nutrition. These diners were established for common people's convenience. But they had hours and if you missed closing time, you didn't eat. Sometimes I got so focused on studying, I lost track of time and by the time I made it to the diner, they were closed and I had to find other places to eat. About this experience of hunger, I wrote a poem. In order to manage my time better, I set a certain time to take the train to the university. If there was class I went. If not, I studied by myself. At noon time, I always went to the school dining room for lunch because at that time we had the government funding, I had more money and every meal I could choose better food so I had better nutrition. In the evening, I took the train back to YMCA and sometimes saw people rowing boats and by the bridge there were some slums. I wrote some poems about that too.
I worked as assistant director of the YMCA for quite a while. This year, the YMCA bought a piece of land and planned to build five dorms for staff and workers. Mr Ma named this area East Youth Village. There were four directors: Zhang, Qu, Xie, and Lao. Each stayed in one dorm. Another bigger building was assigned to Mr Ma. Mr Ma had quite a few children, his eldest and second daughter were in Japanese elementary school. They asked me to tutor them in Chinese, so they gave me a little side room as my dormitory. Because of this, I also was a member at East Youth Village. I left the YMCA dorm where I stayed for three years and moved to East Youth Village. From East Youth Village to Business University was a lot closer, so it was more convenient. The only thing was this whole area was residential with no stores. If I needed to buy something, I had to go to Silver Chair (my mom notes this is a well known shopping area).
Sunday, October 14, 2018
1927: Taste and see
Newlywed Bride by Tang dynasty poet Wang Jian
Three days after, into the kitchen,
Wash hands, make meaty broth;
Doesn't know mother-in-law's food preferences,
First send to sister-in-law to taste.
1927 - age 26
As previously stated, the Business School building was located at One Bridge, and was destroyed by the earthquake. In the business district, there was not much available land. Then, the president at that time, Mr Zuoye, had great vision and obtained approval from the government to buy several hundred acres of empty lots in the suburbs of Tokyo, called Guoliding. He planned to relocate the university. At first, he built some wooden buildings closer to the railroad. These preliminary buildings were used as classrooms. My department used to hold class at the old location, and in this year, we moved to Guoliding. (The U.S. had their air force headquarters located in this place during WWII. Therefore, this location was quite well known.) At that time, there was an electric train to Guoliding from Toyko, but every day there was only one run. If we missed this train, we needed to walk about 2 km. We had to walk through the fields and crops to reach our school. It was quite difficult. Sometimes we walked with quite a few classmates together but everyone walked without complaining. I was very impressed by these Japanese, they could take hardship. I followed their lead in not complaining. Until the 1970s, when Japan became more developed and rich, when I visited Guoliding, it had elevated from a city under state rule but reported directly to the federal government. When I visited in the 70s, and reflected upon what it used to be like, I thought it was another world. All the alumni, in order to memorialize how we walked to school in the olden days, established a pioneer club. I was a basic member and there was an annual meeting every fall. Later on, when I was appointed to the embassy, I always made time to attend the annual meeting.
When we moved to Guoliding, among all the subjects, we had bookkeeping. The teacher was Xiaye Zitailang. He was quite the authority in the accounting field in Japan. A lot of the famous scholars were his students. He used to tell us, "The principles of bookkeeping in Japan: there's only one person who understands, that's me. Even your teachers Ji Tian and Tai Tian, they don't quite understand either. So you of course do not understand. But don't worry, I have pity on all of you and will pass all of you." He always saw himself as a business scholar. A lot of his students already had PhDs but he himself only held a Bachelor's. According to the regulations of that time, in order to get a doctorate, you had to have a thesis. Xiaye did not want to write a thesis, saying, "The reason I don't want to write one is because there is no one qualified to examine my thesis." He was so arrogant. I heard that the education department of Japan asked him to be the president of the university and every time he rejected it. His reason was, "If you want to be president, you need to be humble and patient. I'm not that kind of person, I'm hot-tempered, so I'm not suitable to be president." He knew himself.
Inside China, there were lots of wars. Militarily and politically, all the parties had lots of changes. Tokyo used to be the location of our united forces. Because of all the changes from war, we were heavily influenced. After Sen Yaoxian died, Guomingdang had several people the press called the Xisan party. Another branch party formed by Guomingdang members because there was a period of time they would include the Communist party--this was called the Left by the press. The Xisan and Left parties used to confront each other in Tokyo. Xisan was considered the legitimate party; whereas the Left was considered more radical and diverse, with more young people. The Left party usually had meetings in the YMCA. Both party leaders I was friends with. Usually, even though there were two parties, most the leaders were very capable people. Because I was very busy with studies and also needed to work at the YMCA I didn't have time to participate in any political parties and I did not claim either one. Both parties understood my position.
Three days after, into the kitchen,
Wash hands, make meaty broth;
Doesn't know mother-in-law's food preferences,
First send to sister-in-law to taste.
1927 - age 26
As previously stated, the Business School building was located at One Bridge, and was destroyed by the earthquake. In the business district, there was not much available land. Then, the president at that time, Mr Zuoye, had great vision and obtained approval from the government to buy several hundred acres of empty lots in the suburbs of Tokyo, called Guoliding. He planned to relocate the university. At first, he built some wooden buildings closer to the railroad. These preliminary buildings were used as classrooms. My department used to hold class at the old location, and in this year, we moved to Guoliding. (The U.S. had their air force headquarters located in this place during WWII. Therefore, this location was quite well known.) At that time, there was an electric train to Guoliding from Toyko, but every day there was only one run. If we missed this train, we needed to walk about 2 km. We had to walk through the fields and crops to reach our school. It was quite difficult. Sometimes we walked with quite a few classmates together but everyone walked without complaining. I was very impressed by these Japanese, they could take hardship. I followed their lead in not complaining. Until the 1970s, when Japan became more developed and rich, when I visited Guoliding, it had elevated from a city under state rule but reported directly to the federal government. When I visited in the 70s, and reflected upon what it used to be like, I thought it was another world. All the alumni, in order to memorialize how we walked to school in the olden days, established a pioneer club. I was a basic member and there was an annual meeting every fall. Later on, when I was appointed to the embassy, I always made time to attend the annual meeting.
When we moved to Guoliding, among all the subjects, we had bookkeeping. The teacher was Xiaye Zitailang. He was quite the authority in the accounting field in Japan. A lot of the famous scholars were his students. He used to tell us, "The principles of bookkeeping in Japan: there's only one person who understands, that's me. Even your teachers Ji Tian and Tai Tian, they don't quite understand either. So you of course do not understand. But don't worry, I have pity on all of you and will pass all of you." He always saw himself as a business scholar. A lot of his students already had PhDs but he himself only held a Bachelor's. According to the regulations of that time, in order to get a doctorate, you had to have a thesis. Xiaye did not want to write a thesis, saying, "The reason I don't want to write one is because there is no one qualified to examine my thesis." He was so arrogant. I heard that the education department of Japan asked him to be the president of the university and every time he rejected it. His reason was, "If you want to be president, you need to be humble and patient. I'm not that kind of person, I'm hot-tempered, so I'm not suitable to be president." He knew himself.
Inside China, there were lots of wars. Militarily and politically, all the parties had lots of changes. Tokyo used to be the location of our united forces. Because of all the changes from war, we were heavily influenced. After Sen Yaoxian died, Guomingdang had several people the press called the Xisan party. Another branch party formed by Guomingdang members because there was a period of time they would include the Communist party--this was called the Left by the press. The Xisan and Left parties used to confront each other in Tokyo. Xisan was considered the legitimate party; whereas the Left was considered more radical and diverse, with more young people. The Left party usually had meetings in the YMCA. Both party leaders I was friends with. Usually, even though there were two parties, most the leaders were very capable people. Because I was very busy with studies and also needed to work at the YMCA I didn't have time to participate in any political parties and I did not claim either one. Both parties understood my position.
Sunday, September 30, 2018
1926: Friends
River Bend Drinks with Another by Tang dynasty poet Du Pu
Back from court day after day pawn my shirt,
Every day at head waters quite drunk return;
Bar tabs usually one at every place,
Living until 70 since ancient times is rare.
Flitting among the flowers butterflies plainly see,
Tapping on the water dragonflies graceful float:
Tell them wind light go with the flow and turns,
Though fleeting, appreciate each other, don't push back.
Note: Qujiang is in modern day Xi'an and in ancient times was reserved for Han dynasty emperors, by the Tang dynasty, it was open to public so people like Du Pu could go there for entertainment.
1926 - age 25
Sangda (Business University) was located by One Bridge. (After WWII, Sangda was called One Bridge University.) This university was close to the YMCA where I stayed. Because it was very close, it was very convenient to go there. The only thing was most of the college buildings had been damaged by the earthquake. Even though it was damaged, it did not get repaired, so the buildings were broken and old. However the curriculum was quite modern and stringent. The thing that impressed me the most was a professor named Luye Qing. Mr Lu taught bookkeeping. This was the beginning of accounting. This class was the business school's main subject. Mr Luye taught bookkeeping very well and I was very interested. When he said bookkeeping, he put the capital as a debt. At that time, from my humble understanding, capital was my money, I can use capital to pay my debt. How can you say capital is debt? After the explanation by Mr Luye and some back and forth, I started to understand. From then on, I was most interested in accounting. We had four professors, they were all authoritative scholars in the Japanese school of accounting. I took their lecture notes and I also collected a lot of references through my senior year, which I compiled into the Essence of Accounting. It was published by a Shanghai company. At that time in China there were not many textbooks on accounting. This might be one of the greatest accomplishments of my studying in Japan, even though it was established at the beginning of my studies.
Mr Sanko taught English at the university. He had very good knowledge of English and his method of teaching was very strict. Most Japanese students because of the Japanese language their pronunciation in English was pretty awful. Because I had trained in English during high school, most of the English teachers being from England, my pronunciation was more accurate. Mr Sanko really appreciated my pronunciation. Every time he needed someone to read a part, he always called me to read aloud in class. When he called on me, I usually humbly accepted. Fellow classmates didn't feel I was showing off. Among my classmates was a person called Congye Jishong. He spoke better English than most of my classmates. He liked to talk with me in English. He and I became pretty close friends. In 1971, when I was working at the Chinese embassy in Japan as an official, I left that job to return to Taiwan, and the alumni of Sangda gave me a farewell party. Mr Congye came and gave a speech wherein he mentioned that forty years ago we chatted in English and told lots of jokes and everyone had a good laugh.
The Japanese language is one of the most difficult languages in the world. I went to the prep school to be tutored in Japanese, and because of my age, I was 25, I didn't learn the Japanese language very well. Most of the Japanese professors, when they gave lectures, most of the students took notes right away. But my comprehension was not that good so I couldn't take very good notes. One way to compensate was that I sat by whomever took the best notes. Anytime I could not understand, I looked at his notes. After class, I would borrow his notes to review. Among my classmates, there were two or three who were my best friends. Especially Gang Tian, his penmanship was beautiful and he took thorough notes that were the best in the whole class. Another was named Si Jing. I depended on both of them to understand most of the lectures from the professors. Gradually, my comprehension improved and the degree to which I depended on them lessened. After I graduated from business university, I went back to China to work and serve. During the Sino-Japanese war, I lost contact with most of my Japanese classmates. After the war, I was sent to Japan to work. I tried to find Gang Tian and Si Jing. I learned that Si Jing died quite early due to illness. And Gang Tian had been killed by a motorcycle while he was a pedestrian. I was very sad about their passing.
In my freshman year, I got a certificate stating I was studying at this university. I used this certificate to send to a Chinese office in Tokyo which was in charge of the Chinese students in Japan. This office sent it to the Chinese central government department of education to give me a certificate that said I was studying in Japan. The date on the certificate was Republic of China year 15 June 1. It had my name, age, hometown, and said that I was a visiting student. I write this because before this time, junior and high schools were not accredited with the Chinese government, so I didn't have any documentation of my education. This certificate was the first to prove my education. I still have the original. On the left upper corner was my picture. This was my earlier photo. Even though there were photography studios in Jioujiang and Huangmei, I never had one taken in those early years. Starting in Republic of China year 4 (1915), when I went to Wucang to junior and senior high, I had photos taken but I lost them. So this certificate with my photo is quite precious.
After I got the certificate, I could apply to the Hubei province department of education sponsorship for my studies. The money came monthly and it greatly helped my studying so I didn't need to worry, so I could study. This fund required that I had to solely study and not work. So after I started receiving the Hubei sponsorship, I stopped my pay from the YMCA. Even though I didn't get paid, I still did the 5-10pm job. It didn't hinder my grades. As for the extra YMCA activities, if I had time, I still participated. I was a volunteer assistant worker. Ma Buoyuan also took me as a staff member. Anytime we had special speeches or discussions or staff meetings, I was the secretary and took all the minutes and made correspondence and did bookkeeping. Most of these clerical tasks were through me. Most of these records I kept as a memento and I wrote two poems about this time when I worked in the YMCA.
Back from court day after day pawn my shirt,
Every day at head waters quite drunk return;
Bar tabs usually one at every place,
Living until 70 since ancient times is rare.
Flitting among the flowers butterflies plainly see,
Tapping on the water dragonflies graceful float:
Tell them wind light go with the flow and turns,
Though fleeting, appreciate each other, don't push back.
Note: Qujiang is in modern day Xi'an and in ancient times was reserved for Han dynasty emperors, by the Tang dynasty, it was open to public so people like Du Pu could go there for entertainment.
1926 - age 25
Sangda (Business University) was located by One Bridge. (After WWII, Sangda was called One Bridge University.) This university was close to the YMCA where I stayed. Because it was very close, it was very convenient to go there. The only thing was most of the college buildings had been damaged by the earthquake. Even though it was damaged, it did not get repaired, so the buildings were broken and old. However the curriculum was quite modern and stringent. The thing that impressed me the most was a professor named Luye Qing. Mr Lu taught bookkeeping. This was the beginning of accounting. This class was the business school's main subject. Mr Luye taught bookkeeping very well and I was very interested. When he said bookkeeping, he put the capital as a debt. At that time, from my humble understanding, capital was my money, I can use capital to pay my debt. How can you say capital is debt? After the explanation by Mr Luye and some back and forth, I started to understand. From then on, I was most interested in accounting. We had four professors, they were all authoritative scholars in the Japanese school of accounting. I took their lecture notes and I also collected a lot of references through my senior year, which I compiled into the Essence of Accounting. It was published by a Shanghai company. At that time in China there were not many textbooks on accounting. This might be one of the greatest accomplishments of my studying in Japan, even though it was established at the beginning of my studies.
Mr Sanko taught English at the university. He had very good knowledge of English and his method of teaching was very strict. Most Japanese students because of the Japanese language their pronunciation in English was pretty awful. Because I had trained in English during high school, most of the English teachers being from England, my pronunciation was more accurate. Mr Sanko really appreciated my pronunciation. Every time he needed someone to read a part, he always called me to read aloud in class. When he called on me, I usually humbly accepted. Fellow classmates didn't feel I was showing off. Among my classmates was a person called Congye Jishong. He spoke better English than most of my classmates. He liked to talk with me in English. He and I became pretty close friends. In 1971, when I was working at the Chinese embassy in Japan as an official, I left that job to return to Taiwan, and the alumni of Sangda gave me a farewell party. Mr Congye came and gave a speech wherein he mentioned that forty years ago we chatted in English and told lots of jokes and everyone had a good laugh.
The Japanese language is one of the most difficult languages in the world. I went to the prep school to be tutored in Japanese, and because of my age, I was 25, I didn't learn the Japanese language very well. Most of the Japanese professors, when they gave lectures, most of the students took notes right away. But my comprehension was not that good so I couldn't take very good notes. One way to compensate was that I sat by whomever took the best notes. Anytime I could not understand, I looked at his notes. After class, I would borrow his notes to review. Among my classmates, there were two or three who were my best friends. Especially Gang Tian, his penmanship was beautiful and he took thorough notes that were the best in the whole class. Another was named Si Jing. I depended on both of them to understand most of the lectures from the professors. Gradually, my comprehension improved and the degree to which I depended on them lessened. After I graduated from business university, I went back to China to work and serve. During the Sino-Japanese war, I lost contact with most of my Japanese classmates. After the war, I was sent to Japan to work. I tried to find Gang Tian and Si Jing. I learned that Si Jing died quite early due to illness. And Gang Tian had been killed by a motorcycle while he was a pedestrian. I was very sad about their passing.
In my freshman year, I got a certificate stating I was studying at this university. I used this certificate to send to a Chinese office in Tokyo which was in charge of the Chinese students in Japan. This office sent it to the Chinese central government department of education to give me a certificate that said I was studying in Japan. The date on the certificate was Republic of China year 15 June 1. It had my name, age, hometown, and said that I was a visiting student. I write this because before this time, junior and high schools were not accredited with the Chinese government, so I didn't have any documentation of my education. This certificate was the first to prove my education. I still have the original. On the left upper corner was my picture. This was my earlier photo. Even though there were photography studios in Jioujiang and Huangmei, I never had one taken in those early years. Starting in Republic of China year 4 (1915), when I went to Wucang to junior and senior high, I had photos taken but I lost them. So this certificate with my photo is quite precious.
After I got the certificate, I could apply to the Hubei province department of education sponsorship for my studies. The money came monthly and it greatly helped my studying so I didn't need to worry, so I could study. This fund required that I had to solely study and not work. So after I started receiving the Hubei sponsorship, I stopped my pay from the YMCA. Even though I didn't get paid, I still did the 5-10pm job. It didn't hinder my grades. As for the extra YMCA activities, if I had time, I still participated. I was a volunteer assistant worker. Ma Buoyuan also took me as a staff member. Anytime we had special speeches or discussions or staff meetings, I was the secretary and took all the minutes and made correspondence and did bookkeeping. Most of these clerical tasks were through me. Most of these records I kept as a memento and I wrote two poems about this time when I worked in the YMCA.
Sunday, September 23, 2018
Poem about another poem
River Wei Country House by Tang dynasty poet Wang Wei
Setting sun shines upon the village,
Shabby alley cows and sheep return.
Old folks worry about herdsmen,
Leaning on cane waiting by the wooden gate.
Pheasant calls wheat sprouts appear,
Silkworms sleep mulberry leaves sparse.
Field workers shoulder hoes home,
Meet each other and talk on and on.
All this, admire the leisure and ease,
Regretfully recite a poem of going back.*
*Si wei is the title of one of the poems in the volume of classic poems.
Setting sun shines upon the village,
Shabby alley cows and sheep return.
Old folks worry about herdsmen,
Leaning on cane waiting by the wooden gate.
Pheasant calls wheat sprouts appear,
Silkworms sleep mulberry leaves sparse.
Field workers shoulder hoes home,
Meet each other and talk on and on.
All this, admire the leisure and ease,
Regretfully recite a poem of going back.*
*Si wei is the title of one of the poems in the volume of classic poems.
Sunday, September 09, 2018
1925: Good company
Under the moon, drinking alone by Tang poet Li Bai (701-762)
Among the flowers, one pitcher of wine,
Drinking alone, without intimate friends,
Raise my glass to the bright moon,
With my shadow forms a party of three.
Since the moon doesn't understand drink,
And my shadow vainly follows my body,
For now, keep company with the moon and my shadow,
Should enjoy while it's spring!
I sing, the moon lingers about,
I dance, my shadow flits amok;
When sober, all pleasant and agreeable,
Later drunk, each goes off.
Lasting connection, without an end,
Mutually set a date far on Cloudy Han*!
*Cloudy Han is another name for the galactic plane/Milky Way.
1925 - age 24
The Tokyo Chinese YMCA was established at the end of the Qing dynasty when there were Chinese students in Japan. The first director was Wang Zhenting. Mr Wang later on became our secretary of state. The second director was Kong Qiangxi. Mr Kong later on became secretary of commerce and Prime Minister. Also, he was president of the Central Bank. He married Song Ailing. Their wedding was at the YMCA. The father of our country Sen Zhongshan established the United Aim (Tong Men) meeting, which directed the revolution and allied with Japanese sympathizers. Sen Zhongshan married Song Qingling. They used the YMCA as a communication center. The present director, Ma Buoyuan, was a basic member of United Aim. He was crucial in connecting with Japan and worked hard for the revolution. Below Mr Ma, there were four branches with assistant directors: character (Qu Dacen), academics (Xe Jiemei), physical ed (Lao Yuenpei), general service (Zhang Qingjian). These four plus Mr Ma were all outstanding people.
The YMCA building was built after an earthquake, made of wood. Upstairs was a student dormitory, downstairs were offices, living room, kitchen, bathroom, and a huge auditorium with capacity for several hundred. When there were meetings, it was used as a auditorium, when not, it was a gymnasium. This was the best place for Chinese students to assemble. For character education, activities included bible study, prayer, service, evangelism, etc. Academics consisted of speech and discussion. PE included all the ballgames, sports, training, and competition. I was an assistant worker, so besides my duties 5-10pm, for all the activities, I needed to help. Also I needed to entertain everybody from China coming here passing by Tokyo. I picked them up and sent them back. All these miscellaneous things were all my duties.
Mr Qu Dacen saw that I was very hardworking for the Christian church. He often invited me to attend the activities of the character education branch. Especially, he was interested in inviting me to evangelical meetings in the Chinese residential areas in the suburbs of Tokyo. I was very grateful to the Lord, so I loved to go. Every time it was my turn to preach, I usually talked about the suffering of mankind. There is individual suffering, family suffering, and societal and national suffering. Suffering usually comes from sin. Our own sin or somebody else's sin. (Mr Qu Dacen usually forbid me from talking about personal suffering.) According to the basis of justice, when you commit sin, you need to be punished. The most severe punishment is death. According to the bible, everyone commits sin and everyone dies. And this is a fact since human history. Now, the question: how are we going to be forgiven from our sin so we can be free from death and go to everlasting life to enjoy the rest in the Lord? There is one and only way: to trust in Jesus Christ. I often preached this way. And those overseas Chinese laborers liked to listen. Every time I finish the meeting, they always said, "Come again. Come again, tell us more."
The Tokyo YMCA main focus was Chinese students. Besides the four branch activities, they invited students to participate during summer conference. Usually they pick a place near Chien Ye Shen. Since I was the student worker, I was usually sent to do the planning and work. The schedule of the summer conference included early morning hymn singing, prayer, bible study, a short message, breakfast, study, lunch, nap, and swimming by the beach. Sometimes we had swimming competitions. After dinner, worship service, speeches or variety show. Then bed time. The schedule was like this for two months. So it was very beneficial to the members of the YMCA in these four areas. My own gains were that I had good time to study and one big thing was that I learned how to swim. I learned an ancient Japanese swimming technique Sueifuliou--which I was especially good at. From then on, if I saw any place to swim, I liked to show off. This actually was a joy of my life.
After all this tutoring and studying, I decided to take college entrance exams. At that time, the best college was Tokyo Imperial University. This was the most competitive school, usually only students who graduated from the best high schools got in. They established a special class for foreign students. Usually, candidates had to take one year in this high school. I was already 24, other people had already graduated college at 21 or 22. If I took the prep class, it would take me another year and didn't really fit with my situation. So I decided to take the exam for Tokyo Business University, which was a close second best school. Graduates from Business University got jobs. It fit my situation better so I decided to apply. There was another university called Qingyin University that was private and attracted a lot of young people at that time. Because it was private, it was easier to get in. So I also applied there in case I didn't get into Sang Da (Business University). Because of tutoring and studying really hard, I got into both. Because Qingyin was so expensive, I gave it up. Sang Da was one of five schools recognized by China. According to Hubei provincial rules, anyone who was accepted to a recognized university, the province would automatically support with government money. Based on my financial situation, I decided to study at Sang Da. I finished tutoring at the prep school. About that, I wrote a poem.
Among the flowers, one pitcher of wine,
Drinking alone, without intimate friends,
Raise my glass to the bright moon,
With my shadow forms a party of three.
Since the moon doesn't understand drink,
And my shadow vainly follows my body,
For now, keep company with the moon and my shadow,
Should enjoy while it's spring!
I sing, the moon lingers about,
I dance, my shadow flits amok;
When sober, all pleasant and agreeable,
Later drunk, each goes off.
Lasting connection, without an end,
Mutually set a date far on Cloudy Han*!
*Cloudy Han is another name for the galactic plane/Milky Way.
1925 - age 24
The Tokyo Chinese YMCA was established at the end of the Qing dynasty when there were Chinese students in Japan. The first director was Wang Zhenting. Mr Wang later on became our secretary of state. The second director was Kong Qiangxi. Mr Kong later on became secretary of commerce and Prime Minister. Also, he was president of the Central Bank. He married Song Ailing. Their wedding was at the YMCA. The father of our country Sen Zhongshan established the United Aim (Tong Men) meeting, which directed the revolution and allied with Japanese sympathizers. Sen Zhongshan married Song Qingling. They used the YMCA as a communication center. The present director, Ma Buoyuan, was a basic member of United Aim. He was crucial in connecting with Japan and worked hard for the revolution. Below Mr Ma, there were four branches with assistant directors: character (Qu Dacen), academics (Xe Jiemei), physical ed (Lao Yuenpei), general service (Zhang Qingjian). These four plus Mr Ma were all outstanding people.
The YMCA building was built after an earthquake, made of wood. Upstairs was a student dormitory, downstairs were offices, living room, kitchen, bathroom, and a huge auditorium with capacity for several hundred. When there were meetings, it was used as a auditorium, when not, it was a gymnasium. This was the best place for Chinese students to assemble. For character education, activities included bible study, prayer, service, evangelism, etc. Academics consisted of speech and discussion. PE included all the ballgames, sports, training, and competition. I was an assistant worker, so besides my duties 5-10pm, for all the activities, I needed to help. Also I needed to entertain everybody from China coming here passing by Tokyo. I picked them up and sent them back. All these miscellaneous things were all my duties.
Mr Qu Dacen saw that I was very hardworking for the Christian church. He often invited me to attend the activities of the character education branch. Especially, he was interested in inviting me to evangelical meetings in the Chinese residential areas in the suburbs of Tokyo. I was very grateful to the Lord, so I loved to go. Every time it was my turn to preach, I usually talked about the suffering of mankind. There is individual suffering, family suffering, and societal and national suffering. Suffering usually comes from sin. Our own sin or somebody else's sin. (Mr Qu Dacen usually forbid me from talking about personal suffering.) According to the basis of justice, when you commit sin, you need to be punished. The most severe punishment is death. According to the bible, everyone commits sin and everyone dies. And this is a fact since human history. Now, the question: how are we going to be forgiven from our sin so we can be free from death and go to everlasting life to enjoy the rest in the Lord? There is one and only way: to trust in Jesus Christ. I often preached this way. And those overseas Chinese laborers liked to listen. Every time I finish the meeting, they always said, "Come again. Come again, tell us more."
The Tokyo YMCA main focus was Chinese students. Besides the four branch activities, they invited students to participate during summer conference. Usually they pick a place near Chien Ye Shen. Since I was the student worker, I was usually sent to do the planning and work. The schedule of the summer conference included early morning hymn singing, prayer, bible study, a short message, breakfast, study, lunch, nap, and swimming by the beach. Sometimes we had swimming competitions. After dinner, worship service, speeches or variety show. Then bed time. The schedule was like this for two months. So it was very beneficial to the members of the YMCA in these four areas. My own gains were that I had good time to study and one big thing was that I learned how to swim. I learned an ancient Japanese swimming technique Sueifuliou--which I was especially good at. From then on, if I saw any place to swim, I liked to show off. This actually was a joy of my life.
After all this tutoring and studying, I decided to take college entrance exams. At that time, the best college was Tokyo Imperial University. This was the most competitive school, usually only students who graduated from the best high schools got in. They established a special class for foreign students. Usually, candidates had to take one year in this high school. I was already 24, other people had already graduated college at 21 or 22. If I took the prep class, it would take me another year and didn't really fit with my situation. So I decided to take the exam for Tokyo Business University, which was a close second best school. Graduates from Business University got jobs. It fit my situation better so I decided to apply. There was another university called Qingyin University that was private and attracted a lot of young people at that time. Because it was private, it was easier to get in. So I also applied there in case I didn't get into Sang Da (Business University). Because of tutoring and studying really hard, I got into both. Because Qingyin was so expensive, I gave it up. Sang Da was one of five schools recognized by China. According to Hubei provincial rules, anyone who was accepted to a recognized university, the province would automatically support with government money. Based on my financial situation, I decided to study at Sang Da. I finished tutoring at the prep school. About that, I wrote a poem.
Sunday, August 26, 2018
1924: Clothes don't care
Homeward Garden Field Life by Tao Yuenming
Planting beans below the south mountain,
Grass abound bean sprouts sparse;
Rising early clean weeds and mess,
Shining moon shoulder hoe homeward.
Path narrow grass and woods tall,
Evening dew wets my clothes;
Wet clothes not enough to care,
Only that dreams aren't dashed.
1924 - age 23
After lunar new year, my classmate Zhou Ciqing came to my home via Hankou from Congyang. He stayed at a store opened by my cousin Wenlong. We discussed the necessary things and planned to go to Jioujiang in March, I forgot the date. From Jioujiang to Shanghai. Zhou Ciqing's family was better off than mine and for going to Japan he bought some new stylish clothing. But I only had $120 (my cousin Wenlong took $2 for an emergency so I only had $118) for the most necessary use, so I didn’t have any extra money for new clothes, I wore my old long robe. My mother was concerned about me, that I didn’t have any clothes for traveling. When I left home, she was standing by the door and I couldn’t even look back. Because of this memory, I wrote a poem "Starting Journey to Japan". In the past, I had only traveled between Jioujiang and Hankou upstream. This time, I was going downstream and saw Small Solo (Xiaogu) Mountain. It had beautiful scenery which inspired me to write several poems.
We arrived in Shanghai, the biggest port in China. We didn't have the leisure to tour. Most importantly, we stayed at the Peace (Ping’an) Hotel run by people from our hometown, it was the cheapest and had the best service we could find. At the hotel, we were informed that there was a cargo ship owned by Japanese called Zubuowan. This ship was headed directly to Huenbing (Yokohama). It took ten passengers and the fees were not high, so we decided to take this ship. At that time, between China and Japan, it was very convenient to travel and you didn’t need a visa. The ship's course from Shanghai to Nagasaki was smooth, however, from Nagasaki to Yokohama, it was very rough. The waves were huge and the boat rocked back and forth, because it was on the open Pacific Ocean. Most the passengers got dizzy and couldn't eat. There were several Japanese ladies who were so sick, they vomited continuously. But they cleaned up their mess with paper and that surprised me a lot. I, on the other hand, felt so well, I got up and ate and did things as usual. I have a very strong stomach and didn't suffer a bit. When we arrived in Yokohama, the people from the customs office came aboard to inspect. They saw me wearing my old long Chinese robe and thought that I was a laborer (kuli). At that time, Japan was trying to get rid of Chinese kuli so they did not let me disembark. I used English to explain I was not a kuli and the officers understood me a little. Then they saw I had some English books in my luggage and one of the officers picked one up, opened it at random, and told me to read. The book was Ivanhoe, one of my favorites. I could almost recite it. After I did that, they believed that I was there to study and not work as a kuli. During this incident, Zhou Ciqing's uncle Zhou Jiyang accompanied by Xu Zhendong arrived to meet us. So all four of us traveled from Yokohama to Tokyo together. We stayed at the same boarding house the Zhous rented called Sanqi House, specifically for foreign students. They provided breakfast and dinner. It was quite cheap and I exchanged all my silver dollars into Japanese yuen. I paid a month's rent and we temporarily settled in Tokyo.
In Sanqi House, there were more than ten Chinese students. Besides Zhou and Xu, there were several Hubei guys. They saw my situation and they all thought it was improper to wear the long Chinese robe to go out. Mr Xu gave me a shirt and another Hubei guy, Li Tiezhen, gave me a pair of pants. I barely had clothes to go out. The next day, I wore the clothing they gave me and Zhou Jiyang took me and Zhou Ciqing to ride on the electric bus to Dongya Prep School and registered to learn Japanese. We started at A YO EYO (the real beginning) and this was the beginning of my studies in Japan.
After a month, several tongshang (hometown people) were concerned about my money situation and thought I shouldn't stay at Sanqi House longterm. It was run by Japanese and was a small business. The money I had was so little, pretty soon, it would run out. If I didn't have any other income, I could not stay at Sanqi and the Japanese would not let me stay there without money. So they thought I should move to Sentian YMCA, but I needed to wait for a vacancy. I applied there and moved in April from Sanqi to YMCA. I had a roommate Shong Daomei who was also from Hubei. He studied and had good character, but he was a Buddhist. Everyday, he meditated and recited mantras. I read the Bible and prayed. We did not bother each other. We got along well. After he graduated, someone from Hunan, Tang Qikuen took his place. Mr Tang was also studious, honest, and straightforward. After a few months, we became very good friends.
The dorm at the YMCA was managed by a man named Qu Dacen from Shanxi. He was a devout Christian. Since I had arrived, he had looked after me in many ways. We got along really well but come mid-May, I only had $.50 left in my pocket. I didn't have any other income and didn't want to borrow money from people and I couldn't ask for money from home because that $120 was already everyone's best. But the next month, I had to pay room and board. So this was the mountain was behind and water near (end of the rope) situation. The only thing I could do was kneel down and pray to God. I prayed so fervently and for quite a while. I felt peace as if God already had answered me. So I went to bed and slept. The next afternoon, I went to take a bath. Inside the YMCA there is Japanese bathing pool. In the middle there's hot water and around the side were showers. After you soaked in the hot pool, then you used soap and washed yourself. I had just came out of the hot tub and was going to shower when all of a sudden a huge tall person came in. It was the YMCA director Ma Buoyuen. The year before, when we had the summer conference at Lian Huagu, I had made his acquaintance. He also recognized me as a student from Buowen. He asked me when I had arrived to Japan and had my other classmate Li Cuenguang come. Li Cuenguang had been in Ma Buoyuen's small group at the conference. I told him everything. Li Cuenguang was from Jianxi, at a little church, apprenticing at a tailor. He served the Lord fervently at the little church and was very impressed by the pastor there. That's why when he graduated from junior high the church pastor had sent him to Buowen and paid all his fees. They told him, when you graduate, you need to come back to the little church to serve. So that's what Li Cuenguang did and I related everything to Ma Buoyuen. Mr Ma said: I need someone just like him, too bad he could not come here. When he said that, I immediately asked Mr Ma if there was anything I could do to take his place. Mr Ma knew I was a representative from Buowen and now was in Japan studying so thought I must come from a wealthy family and be a spoiled rotten kid and would not want to take up a low position job. While he was wondering about the situation, I frankly told him, I only have very little money and now I am almost penniless. My family cannot give me any money and I desperately need a job. Mr Ma looked at me and said our YMCA activities have expanded. Every afternoon when people get off work from 5-10pm, we need a person to stand post. If you want to lower yourself to take this position, it would be beyond my imagination. We had been talking so long, we had dried off. After we got dressed, we went to his office and he called his service manager Zhang Qingjian and introduced me to him and said, "Mr Xu I was acquainted with in Lu Mountain and he's willing to take up this assistant service. It's hard to get, let's decide his job." I had lived in YMCA for more than a month and I knew Mr Zhang and we liked each other. So that same night, he wanted me to start working from 5-10pm. During this time, anybody, member or guest, who needed any service, I performed it. I already lived there so even after 10pm if there were special circumstances, I still could manage it. From that day on, all my room and board were free. They needed to wait til the next day for the staff meeting to discuss my pay. They decided upon several tens of Japanese dollars for tuition and spending money. So because of this job, it solved both my problems. That night, I went back to my room and knelt down and fervently thanked God for his abundant grace.
Every afternoon, before 5pm, it was my free time. I used most my time to study at the prep school. Besides Japanese language, I was taught by the principal Mr Song translation from English to Japanese, Japanese to English, and also mathematics, physics, and chemistry. We received extra tutoring at this prep school. As for the translation, there were established formulas if you studied real well that helped your sentences and essay writing. During my working hours, if there were no guests or nothing to be taken care of, I could study. So this whole year was preparation for studying.
Planting beans below the south mountain,
Grass abound bean sprouts sparse;
Rising early clean weeds and mess,
Shining moon shoulder hoe homeward.
Path narrow grass and woods tall,
Evening dew wets my clothes;
Wet clothes not enough to care,
Only that dreams aren't dashed.
1924 - age 23
After lunar new year, my classmate Zhou Ciqing came to my home via Hankou from Congyang. He stayed at a store opened by my cousin Wenlong. We discussed the necessary things and planned to go to Jioujiang in March, I forgot the date. From Jioujiang to Shanghai. Zhou Ciqing's family was better off than mine and for going to Japan he bought some new stylish clothing. But I only had $120 (my cousin Wenlong took $2 for an emergency so I only had $118) for the most necessary use, so I didn’t have any extra money for new clothes, I wore my old long robe. My mother was concerned about me, that I didn’t have any clothes for traveling. When I left home, she was standing by the door and I couldn’t even look back. Because of this memory, I wrote a poem "Starting Journey to Japan". In the past, I had only traveled between Jioujiang and Hankou upstream. This time, I was going downstream and saw Small Solo (Xiaogu) Mountain. It had beautiful scenery which inspired me to write several poems.
We arrived in Shanghai, the biggest port in China. We didn't have the leisure to tour. Most importantly, we stayed at the Peace (Ping’an) Hotel run by people from our hometown, it was the cheapest and had the best service we could find. At the hotel, we were informed that there was a cargo ship owned by Japanese called Zubuowan. This ship was headed directly to Huenbing (Yokohama). It took ten passengers and the fees were not high, so we decided to take this ship. At that time, between China and Japan, it was very convenient to travel and you didn’t need a visa. The ship's course from Shanghai to Nagasaki was smooth, however, from Nagasaki to Yokohama, it was very rough. The waves were huge and the boat rocked back and forth, because it was on the open Pacific Ocean. Most the passengers got dizzy and couldn't eat. There were several Japanese ladies who were so sick, they vomited continuously. But they cleaned up their mess with paper and that surprised me a lot. I, on the other hand, felt so well, I got up and ate and did things as usual. I have a very strong stomach and didn't suffer a bit. When we arrived in Yokohama, the people from the customs office came aboard to inspect. They saw me wearing my old long Chinese robe and thought that I was a laborer (kuli). At that time, Japan was trying to get rid of Chinese kuli so they did not let me disembark. I used English to explain I was not a kuli and the officers understood me a little. Then they saw I had some English books in my luggage and one of the officers picked one up, opened it at random, and told me to read. The book was Ivanhoe, one of my favorites. I could almost recite it. After I did that, they believed that I was there to study and not work as a kuli. During this incident, Zhou Ciqing's uncle Zhou Jiyang accompanied by Xu Zhendong arrived to meet us. So all four of us traveled from Yokohama to Tokyo together. We stayed at the same boarding house the Zhous rented called Sanqi House, specifically for foreign students. They provided breakfast and dinner. It was quite cheap and I exchanged all my silver dollars into Japanese yuen. I paid a month's rent and we temporarily settled in Tokyo.
In Sanqi House, there were more than ten Chinese students. Besides Zhou and Xu, there were several Hubei guys. They saw my situation and they all thought it was improper to wear the long Chinese robe to go out. Mr Xu gave me a shirt and another Hubei guy, Li Tiezhen, gave me a pair of pants. I barely had clothes to go out. The next day, I wore the clothing they gave me and Zhou Jiyang took me and Zhou Ciqing to ride on the electric bus to Dongya Prep School and registered to learn Japanese. We started at A YO EYO (the real beginning) and this was the beginning of my studies in Japan.
After a month, several tongshang (hometown people) were concerned about my money situation and thought I shouldn't stay at Sanqi House longterm. It was run by Japanese and was a small business. The money I had was so little, pretty soon, it would run out. If I didn't have any other income, I could not stay at Sanqi and the Japanese would not let me stay there without money. So they thought I should move to Sentian YMCA, but I needed to wait for a vacancy. I applied there and moved in April from Sanqi to YMCA. I had a roommate Shong Daomei who was also from Hubei. He studied and had good character, but he was a Buddhist. Everyday, he meditated and recited mantras. I read the Bible and prayed. We did not bother each other. We got along well. After he graduated, someone from Hunan, Tang Qikuen took his place. Mr Tang was also studious, honest, and straightforward. After a few months, we became very good friends.
The dorm at the YMCA was managed by a man named Qu Dacen from Shanxi. He was a devout Christian. Since I had arrived, he had looked after me in many ways. We got along really well but come mid-May, I only had $.50 left in my pocket. I didn't have any other income and didn't want to borrow money from people and I couldn't ask for money from home because that $120 was already everyone's best. But the next month, I had to pay room and board. So this was the mountain was behind and water near (end of the rope) situation. The only thing I could do was kneel down and pray to God. I prayed so fervently and for quite a while. I felt peace as if God already had answered me. So I went to bed and slept. The next afternoon, I went to take a bath. Inside the YMCA there is Japanese bathing pool. In the middle there's hot water and around the side were showers. After you soaked in the hot pool, then you used soap and washed yourself. I had just came out of the hot tub and was going to shower when all of a sudden a huge tall person came in. It was the YMCA director Ma Buoyuen. The year before, when we had the summer conference at Lian Huagu, I had made his acquaintance. He also recognized me as a student from Buowen. He asked me when I had arrived to Japan and had my other classmate Li Cuenguang come. Li Cuenguang had been in Ma Buoyuen's small group at the conference. I told him everything. Li Cuenguang was from Jianxi, at a little church, apprenticing at a tailor. He served the Lord fervently at the little church and was very impressed by the pastor there. That's why when he graduated from junior high the church pastor had sent him to Buowen and paid all his fees. They told him, when you graduate, you need to come back to the little church to serve. So that's what Li Cuenguang did and I related everything to Ma Buoyuen. Mr Ma said: I need someone just like him, too bad he could not come here. When he said that, I immediately asked Mr Ma if there was anything I could do to take his place. Mr Ma knew I was a representative from Buowen and now was in Japan studying so thought I must come from a wealthy family and be a spoiled rotten kid and would not want to take up a low position job. While he was wondering about the situation, I frankly told him, I only have very little money and now I am almost penniless. My family cannot give me any money and I desperately need a job. Mr Ma looked at me and said our YMCA activities have expanded. Every afternoon when people get off work from 5-10pm, we need a person to stand post. If you want to lower yourself to take this position, it would be beyond my imagination. We had been talking so long, we had dried off. After we got dressed, we went to his office and he called his service manager Zhang Qingjian and introduced me to him and said, "Mr Xu I was acquainted with in Lu Mountain and he's willing to take up this assistant service. It's hard to get, let's decide his job." I had lived in YMCA for more than a month and I knew Mr Zhang and we liked each other. So that same night, he wanted me to start working from 5-10pm. During this time, anybody, member or guest, who needed any service, I performed it. I already lived there so even after 10pm if there were special circumstances, I still could manage it. From that day on, all my room and board were free. They needed to wait til the next day for the staff meeting to discuss my pay. They decided upon several tens of Japanese dollars for tuition and spending money. So because of this job, it solved both my problems. That night, I went back to my room and knelt down and fervently thanked God for his abundant grace.
Every afternoon, before 5pm, it was my free time. I used most my time to study at the prep school. Besides Japanese language, I was taught by the principal Mr Song translation from English to Japanese, Japanese to English, and also mathematics, physics, and chemistry. We received extra tutoring at this prep school. As for the translation, there were established formulas if you studied real well that helped your sentences and essay writing. During my working hours, if there were no guests or nothing to be taken care of, I could study. So this whole year was preparation for studying.
Sunday, August 19, 2018
1922-1923: How can you do that?
Drinking Wine by Jing dynasty poet Tao Yuenming 373-437
Bound hut where people live,
But heedless of car and horse noise.
Someone asks me, "How can you be like that?"
Heart far, land becomes desolate.
Picking chrysanthemum by the eastern bamboo fence,
Suddenly see the southern mountain,
Mountain air, day night: fine,
Birds fly circle and flit about.
Among these, there is true meaning:
Want to argue, forgot what to say.
1922 - age 21 (continued)
My classmate Wang Jiabing's older brother was a graduate of our school and had a job at the main customs office. He got a very good salary (our faculty monthly earned about $30, whereas his brother earned over $100) so everyone was very envious of that. He had a huge mansion in Hankou and was very hospitable and loved to entertain us students. There was a long weekend, a two-day holiday, and some of us suggested we use this holiday to go see a play. At that time, there was a show called Just Me playing at New Market. It starred Wang Wukong, he played a detective, and was so good the whole city was buzzing about him. In our class, several of us went together and let it all go and had fun. We saw the show and came back the next day, and everything we did and ate were all paid by Mr Wang. This was our special entertainment outside of school.
1923 - age 22
This year, I graduated. Our school was a high school and there are three ways to go after graduation: first, the school would send graduates to certain offices and companies for work; second, graduates were sent to Hong Kong University and from there to England to study--this was the hardest and most difficult because the entrance exam was very hard, if you didn't have much confidence, you'd better not try; third, look for a job by yourself--some people go to the post office, customs office, salt dealers, and foreign companies. Among all these, customs office paid the best, then the salt dealership, post office, and foreign companies. When someone wanted to apply for these jobs, they needed a letter of recommendation from the school principal.
One day, our acting principal, Thomas, asked me to come to his office to talk to me. He knew I was a pretty good student and was baptized and enjoyed a full scholarship for six years. He said after graduation, he recommended I go to seminary. Before, I had had a good idea and some desire to go to seminary, however, Thomas made the decision before asking me. Thomas thought since I had six years of scholarship, he didn't have to discuss it with me. I didn't like this at all. Because I was young, my knee jerk reaction was, "How can you do that?" I took six years' scholarship, I'm very grateful. And studying in seminary fits my wish, but these two things shouldn't be mixed together because in the beginning the school didn't say I had to go to seminary or make any other requirements. I answered Thomas, "Would you give me some time to consider?" Thomas usually had a superior air, and because I did not accept it right away, he was upset. He said, "Since you don't accept it now, you won't have to consider it anymore." Before we parted, he said, "If you want to apply to these jobs, I will not recommend you." I asked Thomas, "Isn't writing recommendation letters a duty of the principal?" He said, "Not necessarily, I can but don't have to." I replied, "Since it's like that, I can't make you." He said our school wasn't accredited by the Chinese government, so our studies weren't recognized by China. So the graduates of this school could only go to foreign companies to take jobs, but without the recommendation of the principal, there was no way. This was a big challenge for me.
We had upperclassmen leaders for the lowerclassmen. You could serve and supervise the lowerclass. So the lowerclassmen, if they had some behavior or talk that wasn't proper, the leaders could punish them. So the lowerclassmen, anytime they met the leaders, they were unhappy to be with them. All of my classmates knew what it was like. There were several leaders who wanted to advocate for reform. It used to be every dining room table was supervised by a leader. Several leaders said they didn't want to do that, instead they wanted to sit together and leave the lowerclassmen tables alone, those lowerclassmen were happy and did what they liked. Plus, the leaders who were graduating all got to talk together--everyone had a better time. Some people reported this to the superintendent Teacher Xu because the revolting leaders' actions weren't approved by the administration. So they put up an announcement in the dining room that everyone should sit in their assigned seat. This announcement told that these leaders were rebellious. There was a rule that any announcement should be approved by the leaders. Since this announcement was not approved by the leaders committee, it was invalid. So everyone debated the issue, a student took the announcement down and put it in the garbage. The next day, Teacher Xu argued with a student Guan and got in a fist fight. So the incident developed terribly, and everyone stopped class and assembled on the school field to confront the situation. During this assembly, I stood up and said this system of leaders was bad and everyone applauded. The acting principal Thomas came and wanted to say something to the students. Whatever he said was not appropriate and no one wanted to listen and everyone dispersed. He had no graceful way to come down from the stage. That night, the school required us to write apologies. All our leaders requested the school to get rid of this system. We all declined our diplomas and left the school to live in a little hotel in the city while we waited for the conclusion of this event. The acting principal Thomas, during his year, there were no graduates. He couldn't take responsibility for this so he requested our first year alumnus Sen Wenching, who was already quite famous, to serve as moderator and go to the hotel. On the other hand, the students who remained at school, who saw these leaders revolt, thought it was good for the lowerclassmen. So they did some special fundraising and collected a lot of money. So this added to their support. In this way, there were no developments for quite a few days. So the school thought a good strategy was to talk to the students separately, not as a group. Several families who were helped financially, the school asked them to ask their kids to come back and write confessions and the school would let them graduate and write recommendations for new jobs. Several other students from wealthy families didn't need the recommendations of the principal, they just took the exams to test into these jobs. Only me and Zhou Ciching and the wealthy kids didn't compromise. Summer vacation came and everyone went home.
All my relatives and friends knew that I studied in Wuchang for eight years. Finishing studies, they all came to congratulate me. I also returned the visits one by one and planned a dinner party to invite them to. Everyone came with heyi (congratulation money) and it paid for all the dinner expenses with some leftover. Later on, it supported part of the funds I needed to go to Japan.
Later that year, Zhou Ciching wrote a letter saying his uncle Zhou Jiyang was studying in Japan at that time. He knew from Zhou Ciqing's report about what happened at the school and sympathized with our situation. Urgently, he told us to study in Japan. He could afford some guidance and help. Since we don't have an alternative in Wuhan, I told my parents and discussed with my cousins Wen Long and Wen Ya of my plan to go to Japan. They thought of ways to collect $120 silver dollars to support me to go to Japan.
Bound hut where people live,
But heedless of car and horse noise.
Someone asks me, "How can you be like that?"
Heart far, land becomes desolate.
Picking chrysanthemum by the eastern bamboo fence,
Suddenly see the southern mountain,
Mountain air, day night: fine,
Birds fly circle and flit about.
Among these, there is true meaning:
Want to argue, forgot what to say.
1922 - age 21 (continued)
My classmate Wang Jiabing's older brother was a graduate of our school and had a job at the main customs office. He got a very good salary (our faculty monthly earned about $30, whereas his brother earned over $100) so everyone was very envious of that. He had a huge mansion in Hankou and was very hospitable and loved to entertain us students. There was a long weekend, a two-day holiday, and some of us suggested we use this holiday to go see a play. At that time, there was a show called Just Me playing at New Market. It starred Wang Wukong, he played a detective, and was so good the whole city was buzzing about him. In our class, several of us went together and let it all go and had fun. We saw the show and came back the next day, and everything we did and ate were all paid by Mr Wang. This was our special entertainment outside of school.
1923 - age 22
This year, I graduated. Our school was a high school and there are three ways to go after graduation: first, the school would send graduates to certain offices and companies for work; second, graduates were sent to Hong Kong University and from there to England to study--this was the hardest and most difficult because the entrance exam was very hard, if you didn't have much confidence, you'd better not try; third, look for a job by yourself--some people go to the post office, customs office, salt dealers, and foreign companies. Among all these, customs office paid the best, then the salt dealership, post office, and foreign companies. When someone wanted to apply for these jobs, they needed a letter of recommendation from the school principal.
One day, our acting principal, Thomas, asked me to come to his office to talk to me. He knew I was a pretty good student and was baptized and enjoyed a full scholarship for six years. He said after graduation, he recommended I go to seminary. Before, I had had a good idea and some desire to go to seminary, however, Thomas made the decision before asking me. Thomas thought since I had six years of scholarship, he didn't have to discuss it with me. I didn't like this at all. Because I was young, my knee jerk reaction was, "How can you do that?" I took six years' scholarship, I'm very grateful. And studying in seminary fits my wish, but these two things shouldn't be mixed together because in the beginning the school didn't say I had to go to seminary or make any other requirements. I answered Thomas, "Would you give me some time to consider?" Thomas usually had a superior air, and because I did not accept it right away, he was upset. He said, "Since you don't accept it now, you won't have to consider it anymore." Before we parted, he said, "If you want to apply to these jobs, I will not recommend you." I asked Thomas, "Isn't writing recommendation letters a duty of the principal?" He said, "Not necessarily, I can but don't have to." I replied, "Since it's like that, I can't make you." He said our school wasn't accredited by the Chinese government, so our studies weren't recognized by China. So the graduates of this school could only go to foreign companies to take jobs, but without the recommendation of the principal, there was no way. This was a big challenge for me.
We had upperclassmen leaders for the lowerclassmen. You could serve and supervise the lowerclass. So the lowerclassmen, if they had some behavior or talk that wasn't proper, the leaders could punish them. So the lowerclassmen, anytime they met the leaders, they were unhappy to be with them. All of my classmates knew what it was like. There were several leaders who wanted to advocate for reform. It used to be every dining room table was supervised by a leader. Several leaders said they didn't want to do that, instead they wanted to sit together and leave the lowerclassmen tables alone, those lowerclassmen were happy and did what they liked. Plus, the leaders who were graduating all got to talk together--everyone had a better time. Some people reported this to the superintendent Teacher Xu because the revolting leaders' actions weren't approved by the administration. So they put up an announcement in the dining room that everyone should sit in their assigned seat. This announcement told that these leaders were rebellious. There was a rule that any announcement should be approved by the leaders. Since this announcement was not approved by the leaders committee, it was invalid. So everyone debated the issue, a student took the announcement down and put it in the garbage. The next day, Teacher Xu argued with a student Guan and got in a fist fight. So the incident developed terribly, and everyone stopped class and assembled on the school field to confront the situation. During this assembly, I stood up and said this system of leaders was bad and everyone applauded. The acting principal Thomas came and wanted to say something to the students. Whatever he said was not appropriate and no one wanted to listen and everyone dispersed. He had no graceful way to come down from the stage. That night, the school required us to write apologies. All our leaders requested the school to get rid of this system. We all declined our diplomas and left the school to live in a little hotel in the city while we waited for the conclusion of this event. The acting principal Thomas, during his year, there were no graduates. He couldn't take responsibility for this so he requested our first year alumnus Sen Wenching, who was already quite famous, to serve as moderator and go to the hotel. On the other hand, the students who remained at school, who saw these leaders revolt, thought it was good for the lowerclassmen. So they did some special fundraising and collected a lot of money. So this added to their support. In this way, there were no developments for quite a few days. So the school thought a good strategy was to talk to the students separately, not as a group. Several families who were helped financially, the school asked them to ask their kids to come back and write confessions and the school would let them graduate and write recommendations for new jobs. Several other students from wealthy families didn't need the recommendations of the principal, they just took the exams to test into these jobs. Only me and Zhou Ciching and the wealthy kids didn't compromise. Summer vacation came and everyone went home.
All my relatives and friends knew that I studied in Wuchang for eight years. Finishing studies, they all came to congratulate me. I also returned the visits one by one and planned a dinner party to invite them to. Everyone came with heyi (congratulation money) and it paid for all the dinner expenses with some leftover. Later on, it supported part of the funds I needed to go to Japan.
Later that year, Zhou Ciching wrote a letter saying his uncle Zhou Jiyang was studying in Japan at that time. He knew from Zhou Ciqing's report about what happened at the school and sympathized with our situation. Urgently, he told us to study in Japan. He could afford some guidance and help. Since we don't have an alternative in Wuhan, I told my parents and discussed with my cousins Wen Long and Wen Ya of my plan to go to Japan. They thought of ways to collect $120 silver dollars to support me to go to Japan.
Sunday, July 29, 2018
1922: Going out to wed and climb
Peach Blossom, from a classic collection of poetry from the Zhou dynasty
Peach's bud bud
Bright bright its flowers (beauty)
This one goes to wed
Suitable its place and family.
Peach's bud bud
Has size its fruit
This one goes to wed
Suitable its family and place.
Peach's bud bud
Its leaves abundant abundant
This one goes to wed
Suitable its family people.
1922 - age 21
About the YMCA, I've already told a lot. This year, the national YMCA had a summer conference in July at Lu Mountain's Lily of the Valley. They invited all the YMCAs from every school to attend. My school selected me and Li Cuenguang as representatives to go. From Hankou, we rode a boat to Jioujiang and then we arrived at Lily of the Valley. There's a bus that goes from the bottom of Lu Mountain to the top. The road was very precarious. There were several thousand steps up. They named the steps Strong Man Stairs. If you could walk up the stairs, you would be called a Strong Man. For those who couldn't make it, there was a chair lift (carried by people) to ride but it was quite expensive. Li Cuenguang and I were young and strong and in order to save money, we tried to walk up the Strong Man Stairs. It was very hard to stay on the path. We arrived at our destination nearly at evening. At the Lily of the Valley site, the national YMCA had built many facilities: dormitories, classrooms, dining hall, kitchen, bathroom, and an auditorium. The capacity was several hundred persons. When all the representatives from the different parts of the country registered, they were assigned rooms. Every day, we gathered together to sing hymns, read the bible, pray, and listen to sermons. Besides these, we were divided into small groups. The leaders of all these small groups were quite famous people. Every small group had discussion and Q&A. The group I participated in, our leader, Zhao Zihuan, was a good theologian. At that time, I had a lot of questions about the resurrection and the end of the world. All my questions received good answers from him. As for Li Cuenguang, he joined another small group led by Mr Ma. Li Cuenguang told Mr Ma his life story. When we had free time, Li Cuenguang and I toured around Lily of the Valley and Guling peak. The board of the summer conference specially arranged for us to visit a place called Mountain Range Fountain. After breakfast, we were split up into groups to climb the mountain. There was a small path up Lu Mountain. Not long after we started, all of a sudden there was a rain shower, everyone got wet. By the time we arrived, it was midday. Some board members from Wuchang, two Americans--Song Ruhai and Zhu Erdeng--brought bread and canned sardines for everybody's lunch. Because we were very tired and hungry, when we ate this lunch, it was unforgettably delicious. This was the first time I ate canned food from a foreign country.
After the summer conference, I came down the mountain and returned home for the rest of summer vacation. I reported everything that happened to all my relatives and neighbors. My family has been staying at Qu Hill. Most of my Qu family's houses faced south. Everybody, when they open their door, see Lu Mountain. It has been this way for several generations. But very few people went up Lu Mountain and probably none had seen Lu Mountain's true face. After summer break, I returned to school and took classes and also reported to our school's YMCA what had taken place at the conference. From then on, my school and Wuchang's YMCA had more frequent contact. The Wuchang YMCA put on lots of activities like speeches and performances; they invited the surrounding schools to join. There was a famous person Ling Daoyang, his speech was about the relationship between forest and land preservation. Another person Mr Han talked about the balance between physics and gymnastics, they set up wires like in the circus and put some wheels on the wire for people to ride across. The most interesting thing was a national YMCA board member, a woman named Wang. She was very talented and she came to the school to give a speech about the harm of smoking and drinking. She gave this speech at our school chapel Red Way Church. During her speech, one of our faculty Mr Tan emceed. He used a beautiful introduction, like an elaborate poem. Everybody thought it was very funny and that he wanted to make a good impression with her.
Peach's bud bud
Bright bright its flowers (beauty)
This one goes to wed
Suitable its place and family.
Peach's bud bud
Has size its fruit
This one goes to wed
Suitable its family and place.
Peach's bud bud
Its leaves abundant abundant
This one goes to wed
Suitable its family people.
1922 - age 21
About the YMCA, I've already told a lot. This year, the national YMCA had a summer conference in July at Lu Mountain's Lily of the Valley. They invited all the YMCAs from every school to attend. My school selected me and Li Cuenguang as representatives to go. From Hankou, we rode a boat to Jioujiang and then we arrived at Lily of the Valley. There's a bus that goes from the bottom of Lu Mountain to the top. The road was very precarious. There were several thousand steps up. They named the steps Strong Man Stairs. If you could walk up the stairs, you would be called a Strong Man. For those who couldn't make it, there was a chair lift (carried by people) to ride but it was quite expensive. Li Cuenguang and I were young and strong and in order to save money, we tried to walk up the Strong Man Stairs. It was very hard to stay on the path. We arrived at our destination nearly at evening. At the Lily of the Valley site, the national YMCA had built many facilities: dormitories, classrooms, dining hall, kitchen, bathroom, and an auditorium. The capacity was several hundred persons. When all the representatives from the different parts of the country registered, they were assigned rooms. Every day, we gathered together to sing hymns, read the bible, pray, and listen to sermons. Besides these, we were divided into small groups. The leaders of all these small groups were quite famous people. Every small group had discussion and Q&A. The group I participated in, our leader, Zhao Zihuan, was a good theologian. At that time, I had a lot of questions about the resurrection and the end of the world. All my questions received good answers from him. As for Li Cuenguang, he joined another small group led by Mr Ma. Li Cuenguang told Mr Ma his life story. When we had free time, Li Cuenguang and I toured around Lily of the Valley and Guling peak. The board of the summer conference specially arranged for us to visit a place called Mountain Range Fountain. After breakfast, we were split up into groups to climb the mountain. There was a small path up Lu Mountain. Not long after we started, all of a sudden there was a rain shower, everyone got wet. By the time we arrived, it was midday. Some board members from Wuchang, two Americans--Song Ruhai and Zhu Erdeng--brought bread and canned sardines for everybody's lunch. Because we were very tired and hungry, when we ate this lunch, it was unforgettably delicious. This was the first time I ate canned food from a foreign country.
After the summer conference, I came down the mountain and returned home for the rest of summer vacation. I reported everything that happened to all my relatives and neighbors. My family has been staying at Qu Hill. Most of my Qu family's houses faced south. Everybody, when they open their door, see Lu Mountain. It has been this way for several generations. But very few people went up Lu Mountain and probably none had seen Lu Mountain's true face. After summer break, I returned to school and took classes and also reported to our school's YMCA what had taken place at the conference. From then on, my school and Wuchang's YMCA had more frequent contact. The Wuchang YMCA put on lots of activities like speeches and performances; they invited the surrounding schools to join. There was a famous person Ling Daoyang, his speech was about the relationship between forest and land preservation. Another person Mr Han talked about the balance between physics and gymnastics, they set up wires like in the circus and put some wheels on the wire for people to ride across. The most interesting thing was a national YMCA board member, a woman named Wang. She was very talented and she came to the school to give a speech about the harm of smoking and drinking. She gave this speech at our school chapel Red Way Church. During her speech, one of our faculty Mr Tan emceed. He used a beautiful introduction, like an elaborate poem. Everybody thought it was very funny and that he wanted to make a good impression with her.
Sunday, July 15, 2018
Traveler's song
West River Moon (Traveling at Night on Yellow Sand Way) a song by Song dynasty poet Xin Qiji
Moon light several branches startling magpie,
Soft breeze mid night buzzing cicada.
Rice flower fragrance midst talk of abundant year,
Hear frog sounds an orchestra.
Seven or eight dots of stars out in the sky,
One or two drops of rain before the mountain.
Old time straw hut village by the woods,
Road winds a bridge over a stream suddenly see.
Moon light several branches startling magpie,
Soft breeze mid night buzzing cicada.
Rice flower fragrance midst talk of abundant year,
Hear frog sounds an orchestra.
Seven or eight dots of stars out in the sky,
One or two drops of rain before the mountain.
Old time straw hut village by the woods,
Road winds a bridge over a stream suddenly see.
Sunday, July 08, 2018
1921: Little rain, lots of activity
Misting Rain by Song dynasty poet Yang Wanli
Rain comes thin thin and sparse sparse,
Not much, but not nothing.*
Like an envious poet with a mountain in his eyes:**
To block ten-thousand ranges by a curtain of pearls.
*this line is a specific description of how not heavy the rain is
**the poet wants to see the mountain
1921 - age 20
There was a Young Men's Christian Association at my school. YMCA is focused on cities and started in England with more than a hundred year's of history. In the US and Canada, there are many associations. They called themselves North America YMCA. The NAYMCA established China YMCA with headquarters in Shanghai on Museum Street. The Executive Director was Yu Rizhang. Mr Yu was quite well known in China. The association's function was twofold: YMCA in schools, and YMCA in cities. The YMCAs in schools were set in bigger missionary schools. The city YMCAs were in big cities like Shanghai, Nanjing, and Tianjing, Beijing, Wuchang, Hankou, Fuzhou, Guangzhou, etc. The school YMCA was the first line of their work. The YMCA in our school had already been established for quite a few years. Every Christian student in our school was called a basic member. The rest of the students were called general members. The YMCA had several workers and one chief worker. The workers were elected from the basic members. They advocated four principles: moral character, academic excellence, physical education, and teamwork. This year, I was elected chief worker. As for academic excellence, I invited professor Cen Si to give a talk. Most of the people in our school had knowledge limited to within the church. Mr Cen was from Huangpi, and came from a long line of scholars who donated lots of money to schools. His family established a university in Wuchang and they educated many students and had a very good reputation in China. The reason I invited him to talk was to let everyone in the school have something new and interesting to hear and see. Deep inside, I wanted to let all the foreign faculty and staff see what an excellent scholar he was, and see how good we Chinese people were. I didn't ask anyone to go between, I wrote a letter inviting him to the YMCA myself. He replied very quickly and arrived punctually at our school as he said. The content of his speech showed outstanding worldview, his words were so appropriate, his gestures and manner were very at ease. Everybody was so impressed, especially those foreign faculty and staff. From then on, they would never say there are no cultured people in China.
My school was located in Wuchang, outside Bingyang Gate. Around the area, in the olden days, there were lots of farms. And most farmers were very conservative, and seldom heard the gospel of Jesus Christ. There were quite a few very fervent people in our school who wanted to evangelize. We formed a special evangelical team. I joined them. We used Sunday, our day off school, to go to several of the farms to hold meetings. Every time we arrived in a place, the classmates who sang well would sing hymns very loudly to attract attention. After people gathered, we would start to preach. Usually we would say: people are full of suffering and worry. Most suffering and worry came from sin. Once people sin, they cannot save themselves, only by trusting Jesus can your sins be forgiven and you have new life. Then you can throw off the burdens of suffering and worry and exchange them for peace and joy. It was simple preaching, but if not empowered by the Holy Spirit, it was hard for people to accept. These farmers also couldn't understand our dialect and it was hard from them to accept new things, and our team wasn't a well established group. Since we didn't go regularly, it wasn't very effective.
There was an upperclassman two years ahead of me named Chen Yenshou, from Hanyang, who was quite capable and had graduated from our school this spring. He was appointed by the Methodist Church to be the principal of the elementary school in Hangkou. Mr Chen and I were very good friends. He and I talked about our summer plans: he wanted to open a tutoring class in English and math. ... So I became an English and math tutor over the summer. Everyone advanced very well and everyone was very happy, this was my first experience as a teacher. The elementary school was called Bridge Opening. In this neighborhood, the Methodist Church established a school for the blind. They accepted several tens of students. Besides using Braille, they also learned crafts. The blind people made all kinds of craft products, very well made. The blind people lived at the school because they knew the area and were very familiar with the surroundings and moved around freely without canes. When visitors came, they could guide them around their factory. There was also a church for prayer meetings and bible study. One time, I went and joined their service as a Christian friend. When we studied the bible, we used the regular printed bible, and they used their Braille. There was a power failure and we couldn't read but the blind people could. In that instance, the seeing people were not as well off as the blind people. Our school Hongdao chapel invited a graduate from the school of the blind to serve as our pianist. At the start of every service, the leader would say, we're going to sing hymn number such and such. This pianist didn't need the book and would just start playing, having memorized all hundred such of the hymns in the book very accurately and better than sighted players. This is my eye witness account.
Every afternoon, we all went to the school field for exercise or sports. Quite a few track athletes trained. To encourage physical activity, every year our school held a competition. This year, our PE teacher Mr Dong, who was trained in Shanghai and had recently graduated, built up the competition with more activities. Because he wanted to promote competition, it required more manpower and money. Every student was either competing or volunteering, no one was left out doing nothing. One of the interesting jobs was to entertain visitors. Because of this big event, there were lots of important officials from the government, as well as parents and friends, and a girls school in Hanyang joined. According to the Methodist Church, in their bylaws, they stipulated single sex education. But the boys school and girls school did not communicate; the exception was this competition when we invited them as a sister school. Besides track and ballgames, these girls toured our dorms, dining rooms, and classrooms. Because of the guests, we paid special attention to cleaning and decorating. These girls, when they came to our school, wore makeup and dressed nicely. Even though the girls and boys did not mingle often, but since we had mutual relatives and friends, and our teachers made introductions, many couples got married between the two schools. One of the main activities for introduction was this competition.
Most of the students in our school came from elementary schools established by the church and had been educated in the Western style since childhood. Most of the students hadn't studied Chinese very well. Our school invited retired people who had tested into the imperial court to tutor us in Chinese. These old folks dressed in their customary clothing and knew nothing of the modern education practices. We saw these Chinese teachers as artifacts. Because the church established the school, our focus was on English, math, and science and paid little attention to Chinese literature. But several of my classmates were well educated in Chinese because of their family backgrounds. Four of my classmates [names and hometowns] and I often got together to read poems and sonnets, reciting them and writing replies. Because we were all young, we had lots of fun doing this. In these days, I joined them a lot and tried to write lots of poetry. It's too bad most of our poems were lost. I remember one poem that I put in my poetry volume:
Night Moon Spontaneously Written
As usual, the same pretty moon,
But tonight: circling, doubting.
Heedless of the lonesome person sleeping alone,
The late flower's shadow reflection moves across the window.
Rain comes thin thin and sparse sparse,
Not much, but not nothing.*
Like an envious poet with a mountain in his eyes:**
To block ten-thousand ranges by a curtain of pearls.
*this line is a specific description of how not heavy the rain is
**the poet wants to see the mountain
1921 - age 20
There was a Young Men's Christian Association at my school. YMCA is focused on cities and started in England with more than a hundred year's of history. In the US and Canada, there are many associations. They called themselves North America YMCA. The NAYMCA established China YMCA with headquarters in Shanghai on Museum Street. The Executive Director was Yu Rizhang. Mr Yu was quite well known in China. The association's function was twofold: YMCA in schools, and YMCA in cities. The YMCAs in schools were set in bigger missionary schools. The city YMCAs were in big cities like Shanghai, Nanjing, and Tianjing, Beijing, Wuchang, Hankou, Fuzhou, Guangzhou, etc. The school YMCA was the first line of their work. The YMCA in our school had already been established for quite a few years. Every Christian student in our school was called a basic member. The rest of the students were called general members. The YMCA had several workers and one chief worker. The workers were elected from the basic members. They advocated four principles: moral character, academic excellence, physical education, and teamwork. This year, I was elected chief worker. As for academic excellence, I invited professor Cen Si to give a talk. Most of the people in our school had knowledge limited to within the church. Mr Cen was from Huangpi, and came from a long line of scholars who donated lots of money to schools. His family established a university in Wuchang and they educated many students and had a very good reputation in China. The reason I invited him to talk was to let everyone in the school have something new and interesting to hear and see. Deep inside, I wanted to let all the foreign faculty and staff see what an excellent scholar he was, and see how good we Chinese people were. I didn't ask anyone to go between, I wrote a letter inviting him to the YMCA myself. He replied very quickly and arrived punctually at our school as he said. The content of his speech showed outstanding worldview, his words were so appropriate, his gestures and manner were very at ease. Everybody was so impressed, especially those foreign faculty and staff. From then on, they would never say there are no cultured people in China.
My school was located in Wuchang, outside Bingyang Gate. Around the area, in the olden days, there were lots of farms. And most farmers were very conservative, and seldom heard the gospel of Jesus Christ. There were quite a few very fervent people in our school who wanted to evangelize. We formed a special evangelical team. I joined them. We used Sunday, our day off school, to go to several of the farms to hold meetings. Every time we arrived in a place, the classmates who sang well would sing hymns very loudly to attract attention. After people gathered, we would start to preach. Usually we would say: people are full of suffering and worry. Most suffering and worry came from sin. Once people sin, they cannot save themselves, only by trusting Jesus can your sins be forgiven and you have new life. Then you can throw off the burdens of suffering and worry and exchange them for peace and joy. It was simple preaching, but if not empowered by the Holy Spirit, it was hard for people to accept. These farmers also couldn't understand our dialect and it was hard from them to accept new things, and our team wasn't a well established group. Since we didn't go regularly, it wasn't very effective.
There was an upperclassman two years ahead of me named Chen Yenshou, from Hanyang, who was quite capable and had graduated from our school this spring. He was appointed by the Methodist Church to be the principal of the elementary school in Hangkou. Mr Chen and I were very good friends. He and I talked about our summer plans: he wanted to open a tutoring class in English and math. ... So I became an English and math tutor over the summer. Everyone advanced very well and everyone was very happy, this was my first experience as a teacher. The elementary school was called Bridge Opening. In this neighborhood, the Methodist Church established a school for the blind. They accepted several tens of students. Besides using Braille, they also learned crafts. The blind people made all kinds of craft products, very well made. The blind people lived at the school because they knew the area and were very familiar with the surroundings and moved around freely without canes. When visitors came, they could guide them around their factory. There was also a church for prayer meetings and bible study. One time, I went and joined their service as a Christian friend. When we studied the bible, we used the regular printed bible, and they used their Braille. There was a power failure and we couldn't read but the blind people could. In that instance, the seeing people were not as well off as the blind people. Our school Hongdao chapel invited a graduate from the school of the blind to serve as our pianist. At the start of every service, the leader would say, we're going to sing hymn number such and such. This pianist didn't need the book and would just start playing, having memorized all hundred such of the hymns in the book very accurately and better than sighted players. This is my eye witness account.
Every afternoon, we all went to the school field for exercise or sports. Quite a few track athletes trained. To encourage physical activity, every year our school held a competition. This year, our PE teacher Mr Dong, who was trained in Shanghai and had recently graduated, built up the competition with more activities. Because he wanted to promote competition, it required more manpower and money. Every student was either competing or volunteering, no one was left out doing nothing. One of the interesting jobs was to entertain visitors. Because of this big event, there were lots of important officials from the government, as well as parents and friends, and a girls school in Hanyang joined. According to the Methodist Church, in their bylaws, they stipulated single sex education. But the boys school and girls school did not communicate; the exception was this competition when we invited them as a sister school. Besides track and ballgames, these girls toured our dorms, dining rooms, and classrooms. Because of the guests, we paid special attention to cleaning and decorating. These girls, when they came to our school, wore makeup and dressed nicely. Even though the girls and boys did not mingle often, but since we had mutual relatives and friends, and our teachers made introductions, many couples got married between the two schools. One of the main activities for introduction was this competition.
Most of the students in our school came from elementary schools established by the church and had been educated in the Western style since childhood. Most of the students hadn't studied Chinese very well. Our school invited retired people who had tested into the imperial court to tutor us in Chinese. These old folks dressed in their customary clothing and knew nothing of the modern education practices. We saw these Chinese teachers as artifacts. Because the church established the school, our focus was on English, math, and science and paid little attention to Chinese literature. But several of my classmates were well educated in Chinese because of their family backgrounds. Four of my classmates [names and hometowns] and I often got together to read poems and sonnets, reciting them and writing replies. Because we were all young, we had lots of fun doing this. In these days, I joined them a lot and tried to write lots of poetry. It's too bad most of our poems were lost. I remember one poem that I put in my poetry volume:
Night Moon Spontaneously Written
As usual, the same pretty moon,
But tonight: circling, doubting.
Heedless of the lonesome person sleeping alone,
The late flower's shadow reflection moves across the window.
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