1937 Part 4

 1937 - age 38 continued

The next morning the bank served us breakfast and we took the rail to Nanchang. On the 12th of August, we safely transported important things to Nanchang. 

When we arrived in Nanchang, we had several duties. The first is to transport these valuables from Shanghai. The second is to receive the house given to the bank in Nanchang. That house has gone through the hands of many people, all of my old colleagues, so the transfer procedure went through smoothly. This house has three apartments with all furnishings. Several of the staff and I cleaned it up and it's renewed and suitable for people to stay. If the war forces the headquarters to shift to Nanchang, it also could be used as an office. I moved into this house and I cleaned up the kitchen and cooked for myself. Nanchang is removed from the line of war. There were plenty of supplies and the cost of living was low. If there was no Japanese attack, it's a good place for us to do business. The important things kept in Nanchang Bank safe is close to where I lived in this house. I only need to walk over to see everything is kept safe. 

On August 13, the Japanese attacked Shanghai (Ba Yi San 8.13). For safety planning, we reported to headquarters and if necessary, they would transfer to the Nanchang suburbs. Headquarters approved and before any moves, I returned to Huangmei to visit my parents. 

On September 10, I started from Nanchang and took the railroad to Jioujiang and from Jioujiang back to my hometown to visit my parents and all my relatives came to visit me. From September 11, I paid back their visits, everybody. Because I had lots of distant and close relatives, there's the Zhang family, Guo, Yu, Wu, Mao, Dai, Hu, San, Duan, Wang, almost ten families. And we also had Cai, Dong, Luo, Wang, Mei, Li, Yu, Nie, Tu, Jiang; twenty or so families altogether. Some of them entertained me with dinner, some with tea, some just chat, and some asked me for my opinion on disputes. On the whole, in the village of my birthplace, people were living peaceful and happy lives. Because they are remote and didn't receive much communication, many did not know Japan was at war with China. I was home during some great attacks and I stayed home for two weeks. This is the longest I stayed in my hometown since I left for Japan to study. When I left, it was 1914. On September 24, I left home to return to Jioujiang to take the rail back to Nanchang. 

From Huangmei to Nanchang, I started public service. I met Mr. Yang. He worked for Hubei provincial government. In many of the government construction industry, there was a lot of provincial government and the bank. And because I was very upright in these dealings, Mr. Yang was very grateful to me. We had never met before in person and now we were working together. We planned many improvements. Mr. Yang was not only a very good worker, but he is also a good chef and loves to cook. And all the cooks underneath him, after he made some suggestions, every dish is delicious and low in cost and highly nutritious. Since I stayed at the bank house, I had people cook for me but they are not as Mr. Yang's. Every time he made a good dish, he would share some with me. He invited me to dinner often and we became very good friends. 

The war battles were getting really bad and the Japanese had already closed all our ports. So all the inland to coast transportation was closed. For example, transporting the excess rice from Jiangxi to the coast for export, and also we imported oil inland now all stopped. Everywhere has shortages because there's no supply. One day, after I enjoyed dinner at Mr. Yang's, we started talking about these shortages and we wanted to make some plans to relieve the trouble. So we planned to propose to the government to establish a temporary office and get a loan from the bank to buy these excess products and try to transport to Hongkong because Hongkong was still not closed by Japan yet. If our plan was successful, when we sell the product, the profit would be used to pay back the loan from the bank. In this way, the inland would receive necessary supplies. At that time, the central bank notified all the provincial departments telling them about the plan. I'm the one who drafted this proposal and bill and took it to ask Mr. Yang to present it to the government. This plan received unanimous approval and implementation began. This temporary department was called the Jiangxi province agriculture mining industry commerce committee. This plan involved many banks and many provincial departments, including almost all the facilities of the government and we had a very successful outcome. 

The duty of transporting important things from the bank was done. And most of the business was on the right track. So I have no reason to stay in Nanchang. The Japanese invasion was already expanded inland. Shanghai because of the foreign territories, it's a little corner that's safe. And my family is living in Shanghai. I asked the Central Bank to approve my return to Shanghai. There's already an approval letter, I was going to travel back to Shanghai but the new managers assigned by the China Four Industry Bank, two of the new managers (Mr. Zhen and Mr. Ying*) had already arrived in Nanchang. Because everything is new to them, they request I stay longer to help them transition. So I delayed my return to Shanghai. Mr. Zhen and Mr. Ying both worked in Shanghai commerce for a long time. They are used to Shanghai way of business dealings, inviting to dinners, and the like. But in Nanchang, they are not used to it but they like being invited. They were also planning to transport the excess product. They initiated by the bank to buy the excess product. So most of the Nanchang people welcomed them heartily. But, since the war is getting so bad, the business has been severely affected. So there are a lot of excess products that the bank bought but cannot sell. These two managers do not want to take care of this difficult situation and returned to Shanghai and wanted me to stay and deal with it. So I cannot return to Shanghai for a while because they want me to take care of the matter. 

*Mr. Ying stayed in our home for a long time.