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.

1933: Changes

Something Like a Dream (Spring Dawn) by Song dynasty poet Li Qinzhao 1081-1145

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.