1937 Part 1

1937 age 36

This year was a big turning point for China. The first thing is about the Hubei governor, originally a person named Yang Yongtai from Guangdong. He was a very ambitious and capable person, trusted by the Hubei people. Even though he was governor of the one province, the neighboring Jiangxi, Henan, Sichuan governors came to consult with him. Mr. Yang was proud to be their head. His policies were very strict; once he used a ruler to mark a red cross on a map of Wuchang City. He sent this map to his department of buildings. Wherever the red cross marked, they were to take down all the houses to make the streets wider. According to his description, it was very dictatorial. There were many examples like this. So he had a lot of enemies. The year before, he was riding on his private boat from Hankou to Wuchang. He was assassinated at the port. After this incident, there were big changes politically. The central government assigned the governer of Zhejian, Huang Saoxiong, to become the governor of Hubei. They asked Zhejiang Secretary of Interior Wu to be the Secretary of Hubei. When Secretary Wu was traveling to Hubei to his new post, passing by Shanghai, he stopped by especially at the Central Bank's Committee of Special Research. He especially thanked my boss for assigning me to help the work in Zhejiang for the past year. Mr. Wu said my help was a great accomplishment. Now that he was going to Hubei, he wanted me to have a leave of absence from the Central Bank and go to Hubei to work for him at the secretariat. He knew my studies in Japan had been sponsored by Hubei's government and said, "Now is the time for you to pay them back." So the Central Bank approved the procedures for me to return to Hubei to work. 

When Diqing and I got married, we settled down in Gubuo Gongyu in Shanghai and we have two babies, Shu-Dong and Shu-Shi. Our lives were pretty smooth: good job, good living. Yet, at this time, we had a new trend: that is our relatives from Huangmei, either close relatives or from the same tribe, they would come to visit us in Shanghai. I was working and going to school for many years outside of my birthplace. I usually didn't have close contact with my kinfolk and missed them a lot. Now, when they came to visit, I really enjoyed them. Most of my tribesmen lived in Huangmei for generations, working in the fields and growing crops. They seldom traveled outside the village. Now they said: wow, Shanghai is the most modern city and business port. Now that they have somebody settled in Shanghai, they can have a place to stop and visit. Also, we'd guide them around to see places. It's a good chance for them to see the city. Besides, Diqing had a good reputation for hospitality and being nice to the tribe's people. Usually, she paid for their traveling and bought them shoes and gave them presents. Making everybody very happy. My late mother came to Shanghai to help out when Diqing gave birth to Shu-Dong and Shu-Shi. Because my late mother was the one who took care of the household in Huangmei, after the baby and new mom settled down, she cannot stay too long in Shanghai and must return to take care of the household in Huangmei. My late father had more leisure time so if he came to Shanghai, he could stay longer. When my late dad came to Shanghai, he loved his grandson Shu-dong best. Just like I love Huangen (my oldest grandson), now I understand why he loves Shu-dong the best. My late dad stayed in Shanghai for a while and then got homesick. At that time, I had already asked the Central Bank to give me vacation time to go to Wuchang, so I could accompany my late father to board the Jiangan Lun, this boat was newly built and the cabins were clean and my late father and I had two beds in one cabin. Even though we stayed in one room, it was pretty nice; I can read and write and it was very convenient. This boat is not only for passengers but also for cargo. So it takes a whole day for the cargo to load. Also, it stopped at every port from Shanghai to Wuchang. Because of the many stops and fog on the river, it traveled very slowly. It took three days to arrive in Nanjing and another day from Nanjing to Wuhu. On the fourth day in the evening, we arrived in Jioujiang. I took my late father to my cousin Yang Chenyi's so he could rest. Also my brother Siling was in Jioujiang, afterward, he would accompany my dad back to Huangmei. I continued on the Jiangan Lun and, on the evening on the fifth day, arrived in Hangkou and then crossed the river to Wuchang. I was going to stay at the YMCA but it was full. So I and another colleague Li Jingxi, who had already rented a big house, lived together. On the sixth day, I went to work to see Secretary Wu. We talked for two hours and in the afternoon I returned to the house Mr. Li rented. I spent two whole days writing down the plan of our work. Later on, most of my assignments would proceed from this plan. 

In the province of Hubei, because of the change in governer, all the department heads followed suit. When Mr. Yang was governor, he added a new department of Land Management. The department head was Mr. Yang. He was mysterious and famous, from Fuzhou, Fujian. He came from a poor family and been through lots of lowly difficult jobs. But later on, he was outstanding in his studies and he became a very innovative ambitious enterprising person. He was sent to travel abroad. He was very good at management, whether big or small. All his plans and policies were very effective and efficient. So he was appreciated by most of his colleagues. When Mr. Yang handed off his job to the new group, they found some billing and receipts that could not be reconciled. So a lot of people thought this was a good time to expose him: 'da luo shui go' (hit a drowning dog with rocks). But Secretary Wu was an upright and kind person. He was quiet for a while among the others badmouthing Mr. Yang. Secretary Wu thought for a while and then came to me to ask me for my opinion. I usually would keep quiet because this thing doesn't have anything to do with me. But since Secretary Wu asked my opinion, I gave it to him. I said when the Land Management department was newly formed, Mr. Yang came from outside, he didn't work that long and now had to change jobs. Probably because of the short period of time and many changes, he neglected some small details. My opinion is that he didn't deliberately embezzle or mismanage funds; and for these small unreconciled points, just let it go. Also, we are all colleagues, sometime later, we might need to give the job to somebody else. My opinion was: do not severely punish Mr. Yang. So Secretary Wu let him go and didn't investigate. Someone probably heard about our exchange so one of Mr. Yang's friends came to thank me because I never met Mr. Yang. It wasn't favoritism, I merely gave my fair and impartial judgment. 

I worked for the Department of Infrastructure. Because I was valued by Secretary Wu, any time there was something important, he usually came to me to discuss. The other colleagues, despite rank, also got along very well with me so I worked very happily there. At that time, China had just started to get into a normal situation. There were lots of people looking for jobs. Sometimes even with low paying jobs, many people fought for them. A lot of the time, people took backways and bribes to get jobs; disreputable things were going on. My department, for the sake of convenience, gave me a secretary job title. Every month, my salary was $300; this was next only to the department head. The department was involved in lots of important issues: agriculture, forestry, engineering, mining, transportation on land and water, and also most of the building and planning all involved my department. So there were many many people coming to apply for the various jobs in this department. My head secretary Mr. Wu did not like to talk to people, so he asked me to do the interviewing. I am a scholar, not a diplomat. Rather than complicate things, I am a 1+1=2 guy. If the person is qualified, I hire them. If not, I tell them they probably can't get the job. I tell them so they don't waste their time. I simplify and make things efficient. So various people appreciated me for making things clear.