Postscript for Memoir of a Child Refugee

By+Qian+Chengdan

Seventy-eight years ago， on a day in August， my mother， Wu Danian， fled Nanjing with her mother， siblings， aunts， grandparents and forthcoming cousin， as the Japanese approached the city. The oldest member of their party was 57 and the youngest wasnt even born. They joined refugees fleeing to northwestern China in hopes of avoiding enslavement by Japanese imperialism. My mother was only 12 years old.

For the Chinese people， that era was a time of suffering. Impoverished and feeble， China suffered bullying and oppression wrought by foreign invaders for more than a century after 1840. Facing full-scale invasion by Japan， China lost a large proportion of its territory despite the Chinese armys valiant attempt to defend the country. Chi- nese people suffered heavily， and almost everyone flirted with death. Perhaps such suffering is already unimaginable for todays young people.

Despite her young age， my mother endured massive suffering normally reserved for adults. Along the journey， she survived bombings by Japanese warplanes and witnessed death and poverty-stricken Chinese people. As a child， her hatred for Japanese invaders grew with each passing day as did her aspirations for a strong， prosperous China. The nine-month journey as a child refugee not only created unforgettable memories， but also changed her life.

When she eventually arrived in Kunming， the final destination of her flight and hometown of her mother， my mother felt an overwhelming impulse to write down her experiences to preserve her memories during a journey halfway across China

and let children everywhere know the suffering of Chinese people in war zones. At age 13， she completed Memoir of a Child Refugee.

Two journalists from Yishi Daily， Li Nanjiang and Fang Hao， heard about her book. After confirming that the memoir was indeed written by my mother， they decided to publish the personal memoir by a Chinese child refugee. They asked renowned writer Bing Xin to pen the foreword of the book and Professor Gu Jiegang to inscribe the title.

After its publication， Bing Xin invited my mother to her residence. During the meeting， she encouraged my mother to study hard. Professor Gu treated my mother to lunch. According to her， such experiences encouraged her to enroll in the History Department of Southwest Associated University.

Decades later， my mother was informed that Li Nanjiang was a member of the Communist Party of China （CPC） and died of illness in the 1950s， and Fang Hao was a Catholic priest who taught at Fudan University and Fu Jen Catholic University before moving to Taiwan. When my mother first met them， they were working for Yishi Daily， a newspaper funded by Catholic churches in China. Initially， the newspaper was headquartered in Tianjin. It was forced to suspend publication after running essays criticizing Japanese aggression after the 1931 Mukden Incident. Later， the newspaper resumed in Kunming. The newspapers president， Frédéric-Vincent Lebbe， was from Belgium and once served as Vicar-General of the Tianjin diocese. He strongly supported Chinese peoples resistance against Japanese aggression. Upon the request from Li and Fang， he inscribed four Chinese characters meaning “All is not lost that is in danger” for Memoir of a Child Refugee.

Seventy-five years have passed since the publication of Memoir of a Child Refugee. China is no longer as impoverished and weak as it was at that time. Like a phoenix reborn from ashes， it has become a great power in the world. Even so， we should not lose hold of our memories of the past suffering， which can inspire us to constantly strive to become stronger. If they can absorb a child refugees affection and aspirations for her homeland as described in the book， todays young people will understand the sufferings of their forefathers as well as the meaning of such suffering for todays China.

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese Peoples War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-fascist War. The rerelease of Memoir of a Child Refugee will remind us of the past –though sated with suffering， it is leading us to national renewal.

A Journey to the Tea Countries of China

By Robert Fortune

Jiangsu Peoples Press， July 2015

After the First Opium War （1839-42）， Scottish botanist Robert Fortune （1812-1880） frequently received orders to collect Chinese botanical resources including tea trees. Back home， he wrote several important works about his journeys in China including A Journey to the Tea Countries of China. The book includes detailed records of his 1843 and 1848 journeys to China， in which Fortune not only elaborated on the plantations of tea trees and the methods of brewing tea in China， but also introduced readers to Chinese horticulture and tea culture， as well as the traits and distribution of plants unique to China. Despite the fact that he expressed doubt and prejudice about some Chinese traditions， Fortune still gave lavish praise to Chinese landscapes and culture – especially as his knowledge of the country deepened. Fortune was one of the earliest non-missionary foreigners to visit China， and he observed Chinese culture from a perspective different from missionaries.

Fortune visited China and the Far East a total of four times. After China and Britain signed the Treaty of Nanking in 1842， Fortune was sent by the Royal Horticultural Society to collect plants in China and transport them to Britain. In 1848， he was commissioned by the British East India Company （BEIC） to introduce tea plants and tea-making techniques from inland China to BEICs tea plantations at the foot of the Himalayans. The move put an end to Chinas monopoly on the international tea market and heavily affected the Chinese economy at that time.

The translator of the book， Ao Xuegang， is a Ph.D. of ancient Chinese literature and associate professor at the School of Overseas Education of Nanjing University. In 2008， he served as a guest professor at Dongguk University in South Korea. Between 2012 and 2014， he was a visiting scholar at the East Asia Studies Program of Emory University in the United States. His publications also include Research on the Society and Literature at the Junction between the Eastern and Western Han Dynasties.

China： A Changing， Complicated Community

By Hsu Cho-yun Guangxi Normal University Press， June 2015

The book systematically recounts the continual evolution of China – a complicated community – from the Neolithic Age until the end of the Qing Dynasty （1644-1911）， attempting to show how Chinese people came to be as well as pinpointing Chinas role in the world. Its structure and style focus on neither historical details nor scrupulous arguments， instead painting a comprehensive picture of each historical era through important events in politics， economics， society， and culture. The book demonstrates its authors insight into Chinese history， as well as his sincere concern for Chinese culture and contemporary society.

Hsu Cho-yun， born in 1930 in Wuxi， Jiangsu Province， is a prestigious historian. A retired honorable professor at the History Department of the University of Pittsburgh， he is an academician at Academia Sinica in Taipei. In 2004， he won the Asia Society outstanding contribution award. Xu taught at National Taiwan University in Taipei before the University of Pittsburgh. He has served as a guest professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong， the University of Hawaii， Duke University， and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. His major publications include Han Agriculture： The Formation of Early Chinese Agrarian Economy， Western Chou Civilization， Theories of the History of Ancient Chinese Society， China： A New Cultural History， The Self vs. The Other， The Artery of History， Comments on Management from Perspective of History， and Comments on Social Transition from Perspective of History.

Memoir of a Child Refugee

Text by Wu Danian Illustrations by Lu Jiexiao

Jiangsu Peoples Press， June 2015

In 1937， when Wu Danian was 12 years old， the Chinese Peoples War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression broke out across the country. To escape the warfare， Wu and her family fled Nanjing， then capital of China. They spent more than nine months trekking through provinces such as Anhui， Jiangxi， Hubei， Hunan， Guizhou， and Yunnan， and eventually reached Kunming， deep in the home front during the war. Wu compiled her records of the unforgettable journey in Memoir of a Child Refugee， published by the Commercial Press in Hong Kong in March 1940.

In June 2015， the Jiangsu Peoples Press published a new edition of the book that includes over 30 illustrations by Chinese painter Lu Jiexiao. The edition features both historical reflection and vivid illustrations， helping readers better understand the authors environment and sentiments.

The rerelease of Memoir of a Child Refugee was largely attributed to the efforts of eminent Chinese historian Qian Chengdan， dean of the Academy of World History and doctoral tutor at the History Department of Peking University， not to mention son of the books author， Wu Danian. Qian also wrote a postscript for the book from the perspective of a historian， in which he recounted his mothers experience as a wartime refugee and the process of revising the book. He also expressed hope that todays young people can understand his mothers affection and aspirations for her homeland as a child refugee and feel the suffering of their forefathers and the meaning of such sufferings for todays China.