Up from the Rank and File

Up from The Rank and File A Memo James C. Ma Cong Er Deng Bing Dao Jiao Shou ii Dedicated to My Father and Mother iii The author was 9 years old (far left) with uncle, younger brother, Zhongxin, father, mother, and eldest sister, Zhonglan. iv The author passed the Joint College Entrance Examination and was admitted to NCKU in 1960. His buddies in the 5th company held a party for him. The author is at the front center. Some of the closest buddies: (from left to right) the author (in rear), Wang Jingfan, Sun Jingfu, Kuo Guangren, and Wang Yuhuai. The literature and arts friends in the army: (front) from left to right: Li Chunsheng, Wang Yu huai, Yang Zhenying (back) Sun Jingfu, Zhu Guangxi, the author. v From left to right: younger sister, Yulan, eldest sister, Zhonglan, the author, wife, Paolien, nephew, Jiankang in Hong Kong in 1989. After 40 years’ separation, and during the Chinese New Year, the author had a family reunion with Yulan, Zhonglan in Hong Kong in 1989. vi When pursuing his doctorate in 1975, the author was with his wife, son and daughter. In 1977, the author and his family toured Lake Michigan. vii Receiving doctorate at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale in 1978. The author took his first trip to the U.S.A. for furthering his studies: from left, Wang Bao-xia, Paolien and Taohung, Wang Bao-hwa, the author and his mother-in-law (in rear). viii The author with his family, son, daughter-in-law, two granddaughters. ix Contents Preface xi 1. An Archaeological Site--- Ling County 1 2. Nicknamed: The Little Muddle Head 6 3. Elementary School Days 11 4. Secondary School Days 16 5. A Group of Five on the Road to Qingdao 24 6. Selling Shoes at Qingdao 30 7. Shanghai! Shanghai! 36 8. Students' Protest at Changanzhen 39 9. The Trip to Longyou 47 10. Rough Road to Fuzhou 52 11. On the Jiho Ship 60 12. Joining the Army on the Penghu Archipelago 66 13. Life and Death on the Penghu Islands 74 14. My Wenyi, Literature and Arts, Friends in the Army 82 15. Chenggongling: A Military Training Base in Taiwan 89 16. The Taichung Incident 94 17. Days in the Hospital 100 18. Mr. Li Pingbo’s Wisdom 107 19. The Waishuang Stream 111 20. Way to Higher Education 116 21. University Days 126 22. Nantou Secondary School 136 x 23. The Eating and Drinking Club 144 24. The First Trip to the U.S. 151 25. Working Days in San Francisco 160 26. The Taipei College of Business 166 27. The Second Trip to the U.S. 171 28. Return to NCKU Again 177 29. Heading the Department of Foreign Languages and Literature 184 30. Recruiting ESL Teachers in the U.S.A. 195 31. Acting Dean of the College of Liberal Arts 203 32. The Days as Bing the Dean of Discipline 210 33. Reunion with My Sisters in Hong Kong 221 34. The Seagull Poetry Semiannual 226 35. The Tomb-Sweeping Trip 235 36. The Beijing Trip 245 37. Acting Chairman of Graduate Institute of Education 250 38. Enjoying My Retirement 257 39. Setting Up the Department of Applied English for Leader College 260 40. “Pursuing the Star” 267 41. The Course of Research Methodology 269 42. Hemingway Studies 272 Epilogue 278 Bibliography of Chinese-Language Sources 282 Bibliography of English-Languages Sources 283 EndNotes 284 xi Preface This memo consists of three parts. In the first part, I describe how I, as a teenager, ran away from home in 1948, how I escaped from a Communists’ detention center located in the central eastern Shandong Province, how I survived by being a peddler selling shoes in Qingdao, how I was sort of student again, in an abandoned silk factory at township, Changanzhen, and how I ran through the hilly lands to get to Fuzhou, and how I was drafted into the army illegally in the Penghu Islands. During the period of six years from 1948 to 1954, at one time, I was in danger of being killed falling off the rather steep cliff of a hill when retreating to the south in the Mainland, at the other, I almost died of typhus, the terrible disease spread on the Penghu Archipelago. As I ranked non-commissioned officer in the army, I once imagined that if I could be discharged from the army honorably, I would be content with very little living my life out as a nobody somewhere in Taiwan. In the second part, education comes into focus of my life. With the amount of $940 given to me when I quit the army, I got my undergraduate program done. And with the help of my friends, I got on two trips to the U.S. and got two advanced degrees. And I was asked back to my alma mater to teach, and assumed many different university administrator jobs from chairmanship of the department through to deanship of student affairs, the highest position of my teaching career. During those two terms in office, I met with a lot of student protests due to the changes of political climate. I had never been frustrated by their parading on campus, nor did I look for the negative side of the students who had launched those movements. But they were often led by their own ideology, not considering the other students’ points of view as a whole. Once I thought I was a problem solver, “untying all forms of the knots the students had tied.” The most regrettable thing was that there were 26 students who died of car accidents and others when I was in office. The third part is perhaps the heart-rending one. In it, I describe how I invited my sisters to Hong Kong for a family reunion in 1989 and how I paid a visit to my hometown after 44 years’ absence. Overall, I am a man who has witnessed a tiny part of the civil war between the Chinese Nationalist army and the Communist army, and experienced the 713 Incident taking place in the Penghu Islands. I am greatly indebted to my little sister-in-law, Wang Bao-Hwa, and assistant Professor Rebecca Chung for their editing. xii Without their assistances, this work can’t be done so easily. Up from The Rank and File 1 Chapter 1 An Archaeological Site--- Ling County My birthplace is a small railway station named Huangqibao in the eastern part of Shandong Province, China, on the rail line called Jiaoji, from Jinan to Qingdao. But during my formative years, I received education in the capital city of Jinan. It doesn’t matter Huangqibao or Jinan, neither of them is regarded as my hometown. The word, “hometown” from a Chinese point of view, should be related to the following: there should be the ancestors’ tablets erected to be sacrificed, the genealogical tree kept to be checked with, and the ancestors’ graves stood for descendants to pay tribute to if one is likely to do so. Therefore, based on these fundamentals, my hometown should be Ling County instead of my birthplace, Huangqibao. If you mention Ling County, I am afraid that there will be a lot of people who admit that they have never heard about such a place. But if mentioning a historical figure, Dong Fangshuo (162 B C - 93 B C), seemingly, no one doesn’t know who he is. He is one of the behind-the-scenes strategists of the great emperor, Liu Che, of the Eastern Han dynasty, not only a jester to entertain the emperor but also the forerunner of the blind man in the fortune-telling trade. Being sophisticated and witty, he is considered the best of the best among the Chinese intellectuals. This state-renowned figure was born in a township named Shentou in Ling County.1 To this day, about 2 Chinese Li (one kilometer), to the west of Shentou, there is still Dong Fangshuo’s tomb existing.2 During the Jin Dynasty, Xia Houzhan used the Chinese calligraphic art called “Dong Fangshuo Hui Zan style” to put his life story down on the paper. The whole thing is entitled: “The Account of Dong Fangshuo” wherein Xia extolled his exemplary conduct and nobility of character to the skies, and his witticism and humor as well.3 The most famous calligrapher, Yan Zhenqing (709 - 785) in the Tang Dynasty, was the magistrate of Pingyuan County (the ancient title of Ling County) in the year of 753. When in office, based on Xia’s work, he had the account rewritten in his own calligraphic art style and then, carved on a stone, named the “Yan’s Calligraphic Art Monument.”4 2 錯誤! 使用 [常用] 索引標籤將 Heading 2 套用到您想要在此處顯示的文字。 But the most pitiful thing was that when the Japanese troops occupied this area, the stationed soldiers dismantled it and spanned it on a ditch as a road crossing material. Because of the people’s treading on it and the running of the cart, it became worn out, and some of the strokes of the words became unrecognizable. Despite these damages, it is still stored in the Yan’s Pavilion as one of antiques.5 When in office, Yan also wrote an epitaph for “Dong Fangshuo Tomb.”6 And that piece of work is still kept in Ling County Wenyuan (Wenyuan is quite like a cultural center or art center nowadays, for writers, artists, etc. to meet or hold exhibits of their art works). In the late 1980s, a group of archaeologists discovered that in Ling County, there were more than 70 ancient graves proved to be the Han Dynasty and the Tang Dynasty ones but only 38 of them remained existent.

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