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.

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.

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.