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.