My main job at Nanchang from China Industrial Bank is already finished. Several investigations of properties were all done. Here they formed a special committee to adjust the rice and grain. They wanted me to be the director of this committee while at the same time the CEO of the bank came to Hankou and I went to Hankou to report to him about what's going on in Nanchang. He told me from now on whatever places that I need to go, I can contact the main office. When I stayed in Nanchang, my room and board were all taken care of by the bank.
Here I need to insert a private incident, that is my wife's mother, my mother-in-law, her maiden name is Cai, she's from Nanchang and she has a sister we call Yimu who always lived in Nanchang. This aunt, she established a school for teaching poor families' women to make socks and towels. Because of this school, she became famous, everybody knew about her. My wife wrote me a letter saying I needed to go pay a visit but I didn't have time to go yet and she came to visit me on June 15. I feel kind of bad. The next day, I went back to pay a visit back but she was not in so I left a note. This is a report of my private life.
On June 29, I went to Jian to explore the area. At this time, my hometown of Huangmei was already occupied by Japan. And as far as Jioujiang, we were still unaware of the war situation. In August, we learned that the dyke around my hometown broke so there was flooding. The only thing good was there was no fighting. [My mom says there's a saying 'tian zai ren huo' meaning 'natural disaster, human curse'.] Nanchang, because it was close to the front lines, many people started to flee. Under these conditions, I contacted the main office and received instructions to go to Hankou or Hongkong. I decided to go to Hongkong because it would probably be easier to return to Shanghai from Hongkong. By September 5, I had arranged everything in Nanchang. Form Nanchang I went to Jian. My luggage was sent from Nanchang to Jian. There were still many things that couldn't be transported that I left in Jian. Everything I could carry, I brought. After traveling several days over rail and bus. Until September 11, I arrived in Guangdong Hepingxian. On September 13, I arrived in Guangzhou but our car broke down and air raids started. Because the car has no power, everything was dark. (Mom: Because of these little towns, I don't know the geography.) When I arrived in Huizhou, there was a hotel called Xihu (West Lake), this Xihu was about the same as Hanzhou's Xihu. Before the car was repaired, I hired a little boat to tour Huizhou's Xihu and wrote a poem I lost so I didn't put it in the book. On the evening of the 14th, we arrived in Guangzhou. I sent a telegram to Diqing to tell her I arrived safely in Guangzhou. I took a train to Hongkong the following day and stayed in Six Countries Hotel Room 62. When I arrived in HK, the CEO of China Industrial Bank, Mr. Fu also arrived from Chongqing. He decided to let me return to Shanghai so I bought a ticket on a British liner called Reqing. On Oct 2 I arrived in Shanghai and came to Gubogongyu. It is one year and fifty-five days since last year August that I left SH.
This time, I came back to SH but most of the Central Office staff were in HK. So there were a lot of things no one could make decisions. So it was almost as if I was on vacation. Two of my friends Mr. Yin and Mr. Zhen, they appreciate me so much because I arranged everything that they put me in charge of in Nanchang. Mr. Zhen said we don't' have anything to pay you back. The Lord give you a good son. This time I went back to SH, my wife got pregnant was very coincidental. [Mom: when we were in Taipei, this Mr. Yin lived in our house for quite a while. I didn't know the relationship then, must be very good friends with Gonggong.] [Here's a long description of traveling to places and doing things, during the war. I don't even know where to skip to. So long. Oy yo yo. Hen chang.]
Since there's no person in charge but I do not want to sit there doing nothing, so I can have some freedom to move and I decided to go to Wenzhou, also in Zhejiang, my friend bought me a ticket and I took the boat. On the 26th I arrived in Wenzhou. The manager of Wenzhou bank greeted me. I stayed in the banks' accommodations. Then I went to Lixui, I visited the China Vegetable Oil factory. Also, we discussed tong yo (sycamore oil--used for lamps) the governor gave us special permission to export because you have to have exports to bring in money to the province. So I did something instead of sitting idle. On Nov 3, we were recommended to go to Yuhexian, a small city in Zhejiang. There, they had a factory to make military equipment. They're making ammunition and guns for military use. The factory had lots of skilled technicians and experts. They had very modern facilities. Then, on Nov 5, we went back to Lixui to report to the government especially about the export of tong yo. The government thanked me for Lixui service, gave me the good treatment, I accepted this because this place is pretty safe from the war and also easier to return to Shanghai. Because I still have lots of luggage at Jian, I decided to travel to Jiangxi and the governor gave me transportation so I can return to Nanchang. On the 16th of November, I left Lixui and arrived Longchuen, the mayor Mr. Tang gave me a present of a sword. (And I brought this sword to Taiwan. I still have it with me.) On the 17th, from Longchuen went to Fujian. ... On the 18th, I arrived in Nanchang. This time, the Japanese were pretty close to Nanchang and they just settled on the other side of the river and hadn't crossed the river yet. Our army on this side. Everybody sitting there, every once in a while, you could hear the canon blow. I stayed in Nanchang for two days and on the 20th I went to Jian and retrieved my luggage. On the 23rd, I returned to Nanchang and stayed three days and made arrangements. On the 26th I went back to Zhejiang.
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