EPILOGUE: A NEW STAR IN THE EAST The Collapse of Nationalist China and the Rise of the People's Republic (1947 - 1949) Destruction of the Techow mission compound. A Chinese family's success story. Alice Reed Tunghsien, N. China January 19, 1947 Dear friends of Techow Mission Station, For some time reports have been coming that the buildings of the mission compound at Techow were being C or had been C destroyed. Two days ago there was a gathering of former Techow people in Peiping to welcome Lucia Lyons and Helen Dizney. The latter had arrive in Peiping by plane from Shanghai only the day before. The former has been in North China two months but is located in Tientsin, so hadn't had a chance to meet old friends of her former station. At this meeting I got definite news of what has been going on. Among those present were Mr. Chang Wei San, one of my former pupils, and his mother, one of Lucia’s. Mrs. Chang Wei San with two small children had arrived from Techow less than a week before, making the cart trip from Techow to Tsangchow in three night stages. It was necessary to do the traveling at night, as the numerous guards the Communists have along the way turn many people back, refusing to let them leave their territory. Mr. Yu, who was also present at the tea, had talked to Mr. Hsieh Chin Chieh, who recently returned from Techow. The story is as follows: All buildings large and small, even the dyke around the corn-pound, have been razed and materials carted off to the East and sold to people. The demolition is said to have been accomplished in three days about two months ago. All the families in villages to the east of Techow were required to send one man each to help with the work, so a very large number were employed. All whole bricks were carried off, including those used as monuments in the cemetery and those used to "brick up" several coffins that were not buried. The earth of the dyke was leveled; all trees had been cut some time previously. When all buildings were down to the surface of the ground, people were told they could go in and dig out the brick of the foundations as they pleased — whatever they got to be their own. 2 Naturally the question arises in one’s mind, "Why have the Communists done this?" Apparently there was no public statement made as to the reason, for the people who brought us the word are not able to give a definite reply. However, we are told that all temples in and near the city have been torn down. 0ur big church in the city is still standing. There was a rumor about that it would be torn down. Another rumor had it that the bell tower will be torn down, but that the auditorium will be kept, as of value to the Communists for meetings. One person said that the mission compound buildings were destroyed so that if the place were ever lost by the Communists it would be impossible for mission work to be restored. This may have been only the idea of the speaker. After I had heard this distressing news, I looked around the room at the twenty-five people gathered there who received all or part of their training at the mission station at Techow, including their Christian training, and thought; a mission station's value is not the buildings but the people it has trained, and the work of the station goes on in these good Christian people who are working for China along many lines. All the buildings of this Tunghsien mission station where I am now were destroyed by the Boxers in 1900. Now it is one of the best-equipped mission stations we have. If in the future there is real need of such a mission center as we had at Techow, I have faith to believe that the Christian friends of Techow in America and China will make it possib1e. The financial loss is great. I haven't the figures here, but think that between $150 and $200 thousand must have been spent, in the days when materials and labor in China were cheap. Much more would be needed to replace the buildings. Graduates of our Techow school are suggesting that the school be reopened in Tsinan, the capital of Shantung. It is fine that the alumni arc so deeply interested, and the suggestion will be given consideration, but it is not likely that any immediate decision will be made. If the Communists leave the Techow area eventually, rehabilitation of many kinds, including all that a mission station stands for, will be greatly needed. Let’s take MacArthur’s words for our motto: "I WILL RETURN." Sincerely yours, 3 Alice Reed Isn't this tragic? The Te Chou plant — schools and a hospital C was a fine one, especially the hospital. (See the other side for the story of the Kao family.) ― Mother. The Kao Family This is the story you were asking for about the Kao family. The father was a good, honest villager, but dirt poor. A tenant farmer, I suppose. Someone who knew him suggested him for church janitor at Tungchou, and he accepted the position and served well. He was a Christian when he came to Tungchou and he soon wanted for his children the advantages that he saw other children getting. So he asked leave for a few days and went back to his village to fetch his family. Their goods and chattels were all loaded onto the country cart B also his wife and two little girls - "but the boy, Oh where was he?" The hunt began, friends joining in, and they finally found the eleven- year old boy, buried in a straw pile with only his feet showing. He was promptly pulled out by his feet and an explanation of his behavior demanded. His answer was, that he was afraid to go where there were those horrible foreigners, about whom he had heard such fearsome stories. He had to join the family party, of course, and as soon as he arrived in Tungchou his fear vanished. I never saw a more engaging smile than his was the first time it flashed on me. Of course he went to school, finished the primary grades and then became convinced that he must do something to help the family, as they couldn't live on his father's small stipend. So with a little financial help, he went to Peiping to study nursing. That was in the days when a nurse was paid a little while studying, after the first period of probation was over. Anyway it made one less mouth to be filled at home. To make a long story short, he did so well and was liked so well that the hospital C by that time it had become the Peking Union Medical College (P.U.M.C.) or Rockefeller Foundation hospital C sent him to the U.S. for further study, and he now has charge of the nursing department for mental diseases. His older sister also studied nursing and was sent to the U.S. for post-graduate work, and his younger sister, after graduating from college, worked with the Y.M.C.A. and is now in New York, studying methods, etc., and will return to China next Fall. 4 This is an example of where Chinese leaders come from B and in this family it all happened in one generation, which is quick time. Most of the Christian leaders of China today have sprung from the common people B two, three generations back B and from these humble beginnings has come the leaven that is slowly working in the big lump. Alice Reed 5 Looting of Tunghsien. Mis-information in U.S. magazines. Communists terrorizing the countryside. Impact on school life. Alice M. Huggins Goodrich Girl's School T'unghsien, Peiping, China July 9, 1947. Dear Friends, My last letter failed to tell you the most exciting event of the winter, which happened just after it was written. Communists looted T'unghsien. They had entered during the day, and attacked from inside, opening the city gates to those outside. From midnight to dawn there was continuous shooting. By morning, they had burned the government buildings, let everybody out of the jail, threatened the men at the electric light plant with death if they kept it running, and had made off with many cart-loads of the stuff they particularly wanted: money, shoes, cloth, and especially drugs. We had no trains for several days and no electricity for two weeks. National troops rushed in, and after two weeks C the coldest weather of the whole winter C schools opened in comparative calm. Nothing had happened to us except a night of sleeping on the floor to dodge bullets, but many people think that sooner or later the Communists will loot-this end of the city. Mis-information about conditions in China. Our Chinese friends often ask how a Christian in America could sympathize with the Chinese Communists. They don't realize the extent or cleverness of the propaganda that's fed to you. They only know what goes on here, a continuous performance of revenge and cruelty, and of the destruction of property, such as the recent burning of wheat at harvest time. I remember having said in public that I considered "Time" and "The 6 Atlantic" dependable.