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.