Last night rains slight winds blow,
Deep sleep not gone wine's show.
Try asking the one who draws the shade,
Her reply the begonias remain in row.
Do you know? Do you know?
The red shall wither, the green shall grow.
China's most famous female poet. She had a pamphlet of all her poetry, most of which are very famous. There is a story that she and her husband were both literature lovers but most people valued her as more talented than her husband. Once they both wrote a poem and gave them to someone else to exam, and the ones her chose were predominantly written by her. At the time, her poems were more famous than her husband's. Sometimes, he worked really hard to make several poems and asked one of his friends to evaluate. Unfortunately, this friend said these three sentences are the best--they were quoted from his wife. From that time on, he admitted she was much better.
For the first part of her life, they had a good marriage and life was nice even though they weren't rich. After her husband died, her life became sad and sorrowful and her poems reflect that.
1933 - age 32
Ever since I got the government grant for my studies, I saved as much as I could. Every month, there was some leftover and when it reached a certain amount, I mailed it back home to Huangmei for my family to pay back my debts and for their household expenses. So the financial situation of my home improved a little. The past August, when I went home, it was already pretty good. My mother ran the household well and there wasn't much lacking. My father had a little enjoyment: he took a little wine with each evening meal.* My younger brother Siling was already grown and he helped with the farming at home. The previous year, in October, when I had returned to Tokyo and I still had thirty Chinese dollars in my account. In January, because of the lunar new year, I sent $20 home. Even though $20 wasn't a lot, because our hometown living standards were low, it was a big help.
When the new year started, the most important thing I needed to do was prepare for my graduation exam. According to the business university regulations, if I took all the required classes and passed the examination, I would have a bachelor's degree. This year, March 15, I finished all my exams and on the 28th, we had our graduation ceremony. I received my diploma of a bachelor's degree. This diploma and my 1929 diploma from prep school I sent to the Chinese Bureau of certifying students studying in Japan. After they examined both documents, they sent me another certificate which was dated China Year 22, which was 1933. On the certificate there was my name and birthplace and the date of my graduation and from which department. I was done with my higher education.
After graduating from university, there were two major things I need to do: 1) find a job; 2) get married. In view of my present situation, I needed to find a job first, then talk about marriage. I left the doors of the university with just me and myself. In those days, everything was getting more expensive. If I got married, our lives would depend on my paycheck. In those days, most of my fellow classmates had strong family networks and didn't have to worry about finding a job. Some people participated in political parties and had lots of connections. As for me, I didn't have either. Ever since I went to business university, I only wanted to do real work to serve the society. I didn't aim at either fame or wealth. But at this time, I received a letter from Guangxi from Mr Wu. He sent me a letter asking me to take a job in Guangxi because he had founded a hydraulic farming company and he wanted me to be their accountant and designer. He also sent me 200 dollars for traveling. The way he sincerely wanted to hire me was very touching. However, I had some considerations at this time: 1) even though I had the highest education in business university, it was only book knowledge and I didn't have any real business experience. I needed to have an internship, even if for a short time, it would still be very beneficial for me; 2) according to the transportation facilities at the time, Shanghai and Nanjing were centers and Guangxi was remote. For a young person who had just come out of school, if I went to such a remote place, what would happen if I found out the job wasn't suitable? I wouldn't have much chance of change. Also, I was already engaged to Diqing and we wanted to get married soon. So wherever I went, I needed to discuss it with her. So at this point, I returned the money and told Mr Wu, whether I come to Guangxi or not, I need to decide after I get back to Shanghai.
In this bureau was a man named Ye Caojun from Jiangsu. He and Pan Xulen were relatives. I told Mr Ye about my intention to get an internship in business. Mr Ye suggested I tell Mr Pan directly. Mr Pan was a leader in business in China at that time. When the country started (1911), he came from a poor family, but studied really hard. Both his Chinese and English were highly valued. After the revolution, there was an overseas company that wanted to expand their business in China. They hired Mr Pan and sent him to the US to have advanced studies. After he finished studies and came back, he established several companies including a legal and accounting firm in China to regulate and audit systems. Besides that, he also opened some tutoring places to train people. He made many contributions to China at that time. So I followed Mr Ye's suggestion and wrote a letter to Mr Pan stating I had just graduated and would like to know if he could give me an internship opportunity. Pretty soon, I got his reply saying, "When you get back to China, you can come to my accounting company to work." He also asked me buy several books from Japan. There was another Mr Cen from Guangxi Liouzhou. He asked me to buy a lot of hydro facility books.
As for my job search, this first step was settled. As for the eight years studying in Japan, I needed to conclude my sojourn and the life of being a student. Besides all these people asking me to buy books and packing, a lot of my acquaintances and friends knew I was returning to China. So everyone came to say farewell, there were lots of farewell parties and dinners and suddenly I was very busy and full of things to do. In the following, I'm going to record a few of the most important things.
*My mom adds her grandpa kept that up when he lived with them in Taiwan, drinking Gaoliang which is sorghum liquor.
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