1938 - age 37 Part 2

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.

1937 Part 5; 1938 Part 1

 1937 - age 38 continued

On November 16, I received a note from China Industry Bank. The note requested I audit two loans both with property as collateral. One was in Huangmei (my hometown), the other was in Dean. So I went to the Huangmei property, it was only twenty miles from my hometown, so I went home first and then went to the audit location. Then I found out using the property was pretty old and dilapidated and didn't have much value. That audit was completed quickly. After three days, I took a boat and car to Jioujiang to go to the second property for the audit. I found out the second collateral property was run down as well. So I wrote a report telling the bank the truth. Most people were poor and facilities were run down. When I returned to Nanchang, the bank said they needed me to transport some important things from Nanchang to Hankou. For the rest of November, I attended to the material transport.

This year in January, I celebrated New Year in Shanghai and Lunar New Year in February. In March, I took a boat from Shanghai to Jioujiang to Hanko to Wuchang. I stayed there for forty days. In April, I traveled from Wuchang to Hankou and took a boat back to Nanjing and then after two days, I took a train to return to Shanghai. After a month, on the 19th of May, I took a bus to Changshu, and on the 22nd I went back to Shanghai. After a month, on July 7th, it was Wugou Chiao [the name of a bridge]--when Japan invaded China. On the 7th of August, I took a boat from Shanghai to Jioujiang and from Jioujiang to Nanchang to do something for the bank. On 10th of September from Nanchang, returned to Jioujiang and Huangmei. I stayed home for two weeks and on the 24th, I took a boat from Jioujiang to Nanchang. I was going to return to Shanghai, something happened and I didn't make it. On the 17th of November, I returned home again. On the 24th of November, I left my hometown and went back to Nanchang. The next day, I took a bus from Nanchang to Jioujiang, from Jioujiang, I took a boat to Hankou. From Hankou I returned to Nanchang. In December, I stayed in Nanchang until the New Year. This year, I traveled a lot and moved around a lot. It was also a turning point of our country.

1938 - age 37

It looks like I will celebrate New Year in Nanchang. Originally, I was going to go back home for New Year. From birth until age 22, every New Year I spent at home with my parents. In 1924, I went to Japan to study until now already has been fifteen years that I haven't spent New Years' at home. Because last year, in September and November, I already went home twice, so I wasn't homesick very much. At the end of the year, most of my relatives in my big family, many people were lacking money. If I went home, with all these people needing help, I cannot help everyone. So to avoid this embarrassing situation, I decided not to go home. Besides, at Nanchang, I have a lot of other things to take care of. Til next year, the Japanese invaded my hometown. During eight years of war, I didn't have a chance to go back home. After the war, I was sent to Taiwan immediately. After WWII, the Communists started the war and we lost mainland China. For thirty years, no one could go home. Until 1971, I already had 43 years I didn't go back home. I only hope that the Communist Regime will collapse so I can go home and spend my retirement years there. I want to bring my children and grandchildren to Huangmei to attend to my ancestors' graves. 

This year, even though I didn't go back to Huangmei to spend New Year, but the communication between Huangmei and Nanchang was good. The post was fast and often. On the 9th of January, my brother's wife gave birth to a boy, a blessing to our family because in my branch of the Qu Jia, there weren't many children; not many offspring, unlike other branches of the family that had many kids. Even though I already have two kids, but my children are in Shanghai. My brother had a girl and then had a boy. We were very happy. In February, my brother sent to Nanchang New Years' food: preserved meat, preserved fish, and new years' cake [sticky rice cake]. Even though I didn't go home, I tasted the food of my home. [My mom remembers starting in November beginning to prepare fish and meat for the New Year.] In March, my cousin Wenlong and my brother came to Nanchang so we had a party. My cousin Wenlong was very good to me. He even came to Shanghai to visit us. My wife, when he came to Shanghai, made some new clothes for him. This time, he came to Nanchang, even though I was very with my work, I still gave him the gold star treatment during this wartime: brothers and cousins getting together, is not that common or easy. 

Last year, a committee was formed to make adjustments and balance. In Jiangxi Province, there was a lot of production of rice, with surplus crop above the consumption by the farmers, they wanted to sell for income. Because of marketing, surplus, and profit issues the farmers and buyers need the bankers to the adjustment work. Especially during wartime, because they also have to deal with war. Also during war, soldiers needed food and rice. The bank formed the committee mainly to adjust with surplus and marketing. They wanted to reach the most profitable way, especially in wartime. They also need to supply a great amount of rice to the military. This involved the provincial and central governments. They also needed cooperation with a lot of the local governments too and local farmers. I'm one of the managers on this committee. Because of the job, the government gave lots of money to the bank for working on this.

[Mom skipped the details that followed, stating, "It's just too much."]

Because it involves so many parties (military, banking, industry, loans, transportation, financing), I worked very hard and the government and bank appreciated my efforts. For the rice to supplied to the military, there were 540,000 packages; a tremendous amount.

This adjustment committee, besides adjusting the rice, there also was financing and loans, regular banking functions. Our main goal was to promote production, transportation, and also encourage merchants to save and make a profit so we have a better market and economy. There are lots of financing in the bank, originally we had a lot of members. Because of the war, many loans defaulted. Because of the Japanese invasion, people had to flee for safety. Many of the banks closed operations. Because we were in peacetime for so long, we didn't imagine wartime. Because of the war, much production was interrupted and plans were stalled. Like some railroads were closed, for example. So farming and transportation were all influenced by the war. He mentions twenty industries that were all affected by the war and outlined the losses. Just devastating. The adjustment committee closed in 1940, my friend, Mr. Yang Zuoyen, wrote a huge report on this committee--if anyone is interested you can read it.  

Like telephone, electricity, fertilizer, radio, gasoline, newspaper, cars, diesel, cotton, sugar, medicine, everything is involved. When you need a good economy, it's for the people, their daily lives to supply their needs. When you have war, it's just horrible.

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.