1920: West Lake and up from the waters of baptism

On (West) Lake Starting to Rain by Su Dongbuo

Water bright, high mark, sunny, exceptionally nice.
Mountain colors, empty mist, rain, also remarkable.
If one compares West Lake to West Maiden:
Lightly done or heavily touched, always think, beautiful.

1920 - age 19

After my baptism, my spiritual life was renewed. For the past few years, the scripture I read and the sermons I listened to all came alive to me. I really believed Jesus Christ was incarnate as a human being with the omnipotent character of God. And, while on the earth, preached, baptized, healed sickness, cast out demons, and performed miracles, and was crucified and bled on the cross, he forgave all the sins of the human race, and resurrected and ascended to heaven. He manifested the righteousness, love, and glory of God. The pastors of the school knew of my diligent study of the Bible and they knew I did real well on the final exam of Scripture. They knew I already had a lot of teaching and studying of scripture (I received top prize in Bible). But before I was baptized, they didn't take these honors seriously, they viewed me as a Gentile. Now, after baptism, they were overjoyed at my past knowledge in Scripture. So they made me study more of the life changing Scripture and encouraged me to preach from the pulpit, as training. Sometimes, they sent me to smaller services to preach and to smaller schools for Sunday services and evangelical meetings. And there was a place called Thousand Families Street where they sent me the most often. This was the beginning of my volunteer preaching. 

This year, I was in the first year of senior high. Our bible class was on Genesis. The teacher was a reverend from England, named Peng Sou. This person was well educated in theology but his attitude was quite condescending. We kept him at arm's length. After Principal Di's return, his attitude improved and most the students laughed behind his back about the change. Teacher Peng had outstanding explanations of Genesis and most the students benefited from his lectures.

This year, of all the classes, the one most deserving of memory was geometry, taught by teacher Li Pingsan. Teacher Li was an excellent scholar. Strict on studies but he treated people very well. His only hobby was playing the piano. Otherwise, he didn't have any diversions. There was some rumor that his English was extraordinarily good. Among the school, there were lots of English faculty and staff, but in front of Teacher Li, no one dared to goof off, even though he taught geometry. Geometry focuses on logical analysis using the theories already proved to solve other problems. I especially liked this kind of exercise and usually was praised by Teacher Li. My classmate Shong, from Hangkou, was very handsome and knew how to sing and act. Classmate Shong was poor in math and science, he couldn't make out geometry at all. I tutored him a lot but he still couldn't make the grade. I let him copy my homework, which he would do while saying, "How did you figure this out?"

In physical education, besides tennis, I joined the hockey team. Hockey was a popular sport in England, about as popular as soccer. The position set up was almost the same as soccer: five forwards, three midfielders, two defense and one goalkeeper. Besides the basic skills practice, the most important thing was teamwork. The main difference was instead of using your feet, you use the stick. I played midfield. I was good at hockey and was elected varsity team captain. I usually led our team in playing against another high school in Hangkou. Sometimes we played against teams from English warships. There was a school wide competition, my team played a demo. 

[My mom comments that among his contemporaries, her father was quite good at many sports, however his children were not. But, when she was in college, all the science and engineering girls had PE together. Since many athletes couldn't get into Tai Da, she was often surprised that she was faster than many of her peers.]