1933: Going home

Village Evening by Song dynasty poet Lei Zen

Pond full of grass, water full to the edge,
Mountain eats the setting sun, shining on the cold waves;
Herdsman returns home, across oxen's back,
Short flute, without melody, carelessly blows!

Editor's note: we know the herdsman is relaxed because there is plenty grass and plenty of water.


1933 - age 32 continued

The first important thing is that I went to a place called Sang Luo He. There was a Christian church there where I attended bible study. (In 1970, I worked for the Chinese embassy in Japan. On a holiday, I visited and most the adjacent streets and buildings were all rebuilt. I couldn't recognize the original street and only this church building was still there.) The leader of this bible study was an old American lady, she used English to tell her story. When she was a young girl, her mother died and she was grieved, nearly losing her mind. Later on, she was reborn and knew she would see her mother in heaven one of these days, so she was greatly comforted and she lives in the grace of Jesus Christ.

I went to the Tokyo city government in charge of the international expo for Women and Children. There was a circus from Germany with wild, fierce animals like lions, tiger, bear, and elephant, and lots of sea creatures and birds. Even though I had seen these animals in the zoo, the circus tamed these animals to perform. From these animals, you realize the wisdom of creation. God made these animals so intelligent with training you can reach them. 

Two of my hometown friends invited me to Tokyo to see a new style opera, Revue, a musical. It had very pretty costumes and sets. The performance was luxurious and entertaining. From this, you could see that the Japanese were going to live a more luxurious life. We watched the musical until midnight. After WWII, the United States occupied Japan and supported its development of industry and commerce so Japan became a major economic country, just like most societies, going through corruption and moral decline. 

Several of the YMCA staff and members got together to tour a hot spot. We stayed at a huge hotel that had many man-made beaches, swimming pools, and grand buildings, utilizing the mountains and natural beaches. The natural scenery included many ancient war memorials. Many writers had made novels about these historical narratives. People nowadays can enjoy these stories.

There were a lot more things I don't have time to write in detail. 

By April 5, most the things to be done had been accomplished. Now all that remained was to purchase my boat ticket. Because I had a lot of luggage, it wasn't convenient to take the train and I wanted to find a ship directly from Huengbing to Shanghai. I wanted to bring all my luggage to the ship instead of taking the train. This time, there was a Canadian Pacific ship, The Empress of Japan, run by a British company. This Empress of Japan would start running on April 7 and eleven days later arrive in Shanghai. So I took this ship and arrived in Shanghai safely. I stayed at the China Institute and discussed with Diqing about getting married and getting a job. 

As for this job in Liouzhou, Diqing was very courageous and said, "Most people there are poorer. As long as we can do something to improve their lives, even if our own lives are simpler and harder, it's worth it." I respected her because she was like my own mother, coming to the Qu family's grass-house life. Yet, I wanted to put the Liouzhou job aside temporarily and visit Mr Pan first. Mr Pan interviewed me at the accounting office at Lixin. We had a very pleasant visit. I was very frank with him. After we had a nice talk, he decided to assign me to work in the Lixin accounting office. Besides being an accountant, also he wanted me to teach at the tutoring school and edit an magazine on accounting. So he assigned me a desk across from a very famous accountant named Wang Danru. Mr Pan introduced me to Mr Wang and asked me to learn from him. Mr Wang was a scholar of both Chinese and western knowledge. He was very handsome and had a nice personality. It didn't take long for us to become good friends and I learned a lot from him. At lunch time, the company had its own kitchen and dining room. Most the staff had their lunch there. Mr Pan also invited me to join their lunch group. After lunch, everybody had a little rest time and then continued their work in the afternoon. Because this was my first day, I got off work early and decided to formally start work the next morning. 

There was a letter I sent to Mr Pan that said I only needed to find a commercial internship opportunity. I still had some government money and some savings. During this intern period, I didn't need to have a salary. Mr Pan said everything is expensive in Shanghai, you need money all the time. You cannot live without income. The monthly salary he offered me was much better than most the post graduates. So I decided to work at Lixin. I wrote a letter to Mr Wu and returned the money he had sent for my traveling expense through Xinhua Bank.

I got my job in Lixin, now I needed to arrange my wedding ceremony. We picked the date of April 30. The place we chose was in Nanjing because Diqing's sister and husband could take care of things in Nanjing. The most important thing was that my father and Diqing's uncle jointly print the invitation saying, "My eldest son, Jingzhou, my niece, Diqing. Country year 22 (1933) Nanjing Taiping Street St. Paul Church, Episcopalian District of Jiangsu Director Guo Suqin." The ceremony was according to the Episcopalian standard. The wedding banquet was at the Anle Hotel. All our friends and family came to Nanjing, there were a lot of people. We praised God and celebrated.

After the wedding, we had some vacation days that we used to tour Nanjing's famous sites: Wuzhou Park, Min Dynasty Tombs, Sen Zhong San's Memorial (Sen Yat Shen), Jade Flower Pagoda, Lake Muocou, Swallow Cliffs. On our way back to Shanghai, we went to Mei Garden in Wuxi and Suzhou's Tianping Mountain, Mudu, Huchou, Liou Garden, Sizi Forest. We saw saw all these famous, beautiful heritage sites of our country.

When we returned to Shanghai, we temporarily lived in the Tutorial Institute. Then we moved into the French Concession on Guba Road, Gubou (Old Pin) Apartment Complex, Lane 197, Number 49. This apartment complex was built to house the staff of the Four Banks Association. Diqing applied there because she was an employee. This was a three story house, bathroom, kitchen, and side room. There was a little garden outside the front door. And the second and third floors had porches. On the east side, there were windows and doors; ivy climbed the wall. From 1933, this house was our home in Shanghai--our three children were all born there--until 1949, when the mainland fell. Officially, this building is still under our name, we never went through the process of moving out. So officially, we are still the tenants of this house. 

When I came back to Shanghai, I became a formal accountant of Lixin. The main business of Lixin was to audit the books of other businesses. Our boss, Mr Pan, was very upright and hard working. According to a company's size, he assigned the number of accountants. He needed to go through every company's profits, debts, inventory, bookkeeping, and daily transactions. He made surprise samples to make sure everything was true and made reports on the accuracy of their real dealings. As an accountant, I learned all these business realities. I really liked this work because it matched my expectations of being an accountant. The reality of the job matched what I had in mind. As an accountant, the main skill besides the basic of accounting, is to work an abacus. In my teens, I was very good at abacus. I was taught by my father and uncles. One of my uncles was so famous using abacus, he could calculate square roots. He used to be my teacher, not only to know how to do it but also practicing so you're fast. Even though I had these good teachers and passed all kinds of tests, because I didn't have time to practice, I was still not as good as a lot of the accountants in my company. After several months of practice, I could be a legitimate accountant. 

One incident worth noting is I was sent to a factory of telephone and telegram equipment under the department of transportation. They sent me there to audit their books. I needed to take a ferry from Waitan to their factory. Even though the factory building was old, everything was well organized. For example, for screws, even though there was one item, there were several kinds. Each kind was displayed. My boss asked me to examine by sampling and reviewing their books. Every item followed regulations. So this company, even though the facility was old, had very modern management. The head of the factory, Mr Yu, was a young man, not even forty, and he was assigned to lead. He was outstanding and capable. They treated us auditors very courteously, giving us watermelon. Everyone was pleasant and had good impressions of each other. After the Japanese war, I went to Taiwan ahead of most people. In 1949, we lost the mainland and Mr Yu came to Taiwan with the government. At that time, a Mr Yin, the head of the export import committee, invited Mr Yu to serve as his assistant. I was a committee member. When I met Mr Yu in Taiwan, we talked about the old days of when I was his company's auditor. After Mr Yin died, Mr Yu also retired. There was a famous physician, Dr Dingnong, Mr Yu's son-in-law, who took care of Mr Yu. He died at the age of 80 in 1980. 

Recalling

Something like a Dream (Wine Mood) by Li Qinzhao

By stream pagoda at sunset often mull,
Forgot the way home drunk full.
Excitement gone, late return boat,
Mistake into lotus flower knoll.
Quickly pull, quickly pull,
Startling a bank of cranes and gulls.