Learning Family History in Gaoyou

An incredibly important part of this trip for me as Mom, Dad and I made a trip to find my father's grandfathers home and fabric store in the town of Gaoyou, Jiangsu province.  We found the actual building and this piqued my interest and gave me impetus to hear about my family's history on both my mother and father's sides.  Those stories come below.

So, first a little history about Gaoyou.  It's a city that borders the large Gaoyou Lake. 

But most importantly, it's right on the famed Grand Canal that connected Beijing in the north to the Yangtze river in the south.  As you can see, in the distance, this part of the Grand Canal is still in operation with big huge coal loaded ships still using it like superhighway.

Along the Grand Canal were many stops, of which Gaoyou was one.  It's the one written in red near the southern terminus.

Because of its position on the Grand Canal, Gaoyou was a prosperous town and along the Canal itself were official places of commerce where mail was handed off and taxes were paid.  There were places where people could stop for the night.  Here's the old Gaoyou Drum Tower.

Here in Gaoyou's oldest historic district, you can see the old style houses that sit behind levee with the Grand Canal in the distance.

Marco Polo visited Gaoyou and in essence called it a "land of plenty"

Here we are looking down Gaoyou's "老南大街" or "Old South Street"

About halfway down we found my Dad's Grandfather's old home and fabric store.  Apparently being a fabric store owner in those times meant some wealth. We knew we had found it because my Dad knew that the building was two stories (there are only two on the street)

And we found this plaque on the building.  Gaoyou made it into a historic building in 2010.

Those pink banners tell us that someone recently got married.

We peeked inside and the building has been divided into a bunch of parts for a number of families.

To illustrate the "land of plenty", fresh fish are still taken from the lake and sold right there on the street!

So, let's get to the family history.  We'll start on Dad's side.  My great grandfather was the fabric store owner here in Gaoyou.  His son, my grandfather, was very smart and tested well and was admitted to major institutions here in China, such as Peking University. However, my great grandfather didn't want my grandfather to travel so far and so my grandfather ended up going to Shanghai's Jiaotong University. Upon graduation, my grandfather got a job with the Ministry of Railways, which was a very prestigious place of employment. To put it in perspective....no commercial air service in the 1920's and 30's in Mainland China.  My Dad was born in 1937 and his brother Wendell in 1938.  They were born in Anhui province where my grandfather was working at the time.  At this point, the Japanese were marching through eastern China and my Dad's family started moving and running away from the Japanese.  This wasn't open to all people but my Dad's family had the ability to move because of their connection to the railways. In 1939, while in Guilin, my Dad's mother passed away while giving birth to my Dad's sister. They were buried in Guilin, and my grandfather drew a map of where they were buried but my Dad went back and due to development, was unable to locate the graves. From 1939 to 1945, my Dad's family was on the move eventually ending up Chongqing for three years. My Dad tells me he remembers riding the trains as a kid to get away from the Japanese. In 1945, their family moves back to Shanghai and my grandfather is now working for a ministry that distributes foreign aid. In 1947, they move to Hong Kong and in 1948 they move to Taiwan where my grandfather now works for the Taiwan government still distributing foreign aid money. In 1950, my grandfather, still working for the Taiwan government, gets a job with the Central Trust of China buying and selling Taiwanese items in Japan. And therefore my grandfather gets transferred to Japan and Dad and Wendell move to Japan.  From 1950-55, my father and my uncle attend middle and the beginning of high school in Japan. In 1955, my grandfather determines that my Dad and my Uncle, who will eventually end up in the United States, do not have the Chinese language skills to head back to Taiwan for further schooling, sends them to the United States. So in December 1955, my Dad and my Uncle spend 30 days on a ship sailing from Japan to Seattle, where they have a relative. They both spend half a year finishing high school at Seattle's Garfield High school and go on to the University of Washington enrolling in the Fall of 1956.  Dad wins a scholarship from the Seattle Chinese Society, majors in Electrical Engineering.  Starts working for Boeing in 1960. Marries Mom and 1968 and Ernie is born in 1970 and Marlene in 1973.

Now let's go to my Mother's side of the story.  We'll start with my paternal grandfather who was born in 1919.  His father originally was with the KMT but when the Japanese set up a puppet government in Shanghai, my great grandfather was coerced into working for that government and thereby forever tainted by that association. His second wife, my grandfathers step-mother was a longtime Communist Party member.  My grandfather and grandmother marry in 1942 and Mom is born in 1943 in Suzhou.  In 1945, the war ends and since my great grandfather is associated with the cooperating with the Japanese he flees and changes his name and my grandfather is no longer in touch with his father. In 1945, my grandfather moves his family, at this point, just my grandmother and Mom, to Qingdao.  In December 1947, he moves his family to Taiwan where his brother is. He works at a job and along the way applies to be a sales person for an American based company. He gets the job when the two who were ahead of him don't take the job for various reasons and my grandfather stays with this company until retirement. In Taiwan, my two aunts are born. At some point, my grandfather is accepted and decides to go do graduate work at Kansas State University. However, due to the fact that his father has Communist ties (and the Japanese connection) my grandfather is not granted a visa to leave Taiwan. This visa ban also applied to his offspring. So at this point, my grandfather, my Mom and aunt are not allowed to leave Taiwan. However, the father of a family friend was a former officer in the Shanghai Office of the equivalent of China's CIA and he clears my grandfather of this connection and the visa restriction is lifted. However, he stays in Taiwan and eventually my mother and my two aunts, all graduate from college in Taiwan and then proceed to go to graduate school in the United States. My Mom specifically ends up doing her Masters in Mathematics at Clark University in Worcester, MA and then moves to Seattle to start a PHD at the University of Washington. She ends up working at Boeing, meets my Dad and they get married.

One note about my grandfather. At some point, he finds his father, who at this point has fathered another two sons. And my grandfather eventually meets his two half-brothers.

My maternal grandmother's side starts with a long ago relative who was the ambassador to some European country. In that time, he amassed quite a collection of books. My grandmothers father never worked a day in his life and kept the family going by selling off that collection of books. My grandmother was the 2nd of 9 children.  She marries my grandfather in 1942. As my Dad puts it, my paternal grandfather's family in the early 1940's was on the rise and my maternal grandmother's family was in decline. He married up, she married down.  If you ever met them, you would understand how this totally makes sense. He adored her and deferred to her every wish.  She bossed him around.

What I take from this is that on both my parents sides, they came from highly educated backgrounds and/or money. Because of this, my parents both had opportunities to get to the United States. This wasn't the common story at all. I'm lucky to be an American citizen based on my family's status.

"Please speak standard Mandarin Chinese" At first I wondered why this was plastered all over the Gaoyou Bus Station. Then I heard the accent and it was unintelligible.

Mom, Dad and I will forever remember the California Sunshine Hotel in Gaoyou. After a pretty crappy hotel in Nanjing, this was a surprisingly clean and high end hotel in a podunk town. 

Even in the podunk town, it was out away from the center of town (why does this hotel exist?) and we had to hop on the bus to get anywhere. Here's Mom looking happy and content on the bus.  I love this photo.

Our rooms were across the hall from each other and the only way we could get wireless Internet was if we sat in the hallway. We spent a lot of time in this formation.

Good times in the California Sunshine Hotel hallway!!!

Memorial to the Nanjing Massacre

A solemn afternoon visit to the Memorial Hall of the Massacre of Nanjing.  I'm going to include basic narrative (taken from the exhibit itself) between pictures. 

The Nanjing Massacre was committed by the Japanese invaders in China who openly violated international treaties and the basic moral principles of humanity.  During the six weeks from December 1937 to January 1938, Japanese troops committed a series of atrocities in Nanjing, including the cruel and brutal slaughter of innocent people as well as rape, looting and burning and the destruction of much of the city.  After then end of WWII, the International Military Tribunal for the Far East and the Nanjing Military Tribunal (NMT) for the Trial of War Criminals both set up special cases for investigation and trial. Among the latter, the NMT for the Trial of War Criminals, through investigation, brought in their verdict that the Japanese soldiers committed 28 mass slaughters killing 190,000 people and 85 occasional slaughters killing more than 150,000 people.  In doing so, they perpetuated an extraordinarily shocking tragedy and left a brutal and horrible page in the annals of human history.

On July 7, 1937, Japanese militarists initiated the Luguoqiao Incident and launched their full-scale aggression against China. On August 13th, 1937, they attacked Shanghai, making this the first step in their attach on Nanjing. On November 12th, after the seizure of Shanghai, Japanese troops began to assault Nanjing from three directions. On December 13th, after the capture of Nanjing, the Japanese troops began to wantonly massacre disarmed Chinese soldiers and unarmed civilians brazenly violating international treaties. The massacre lasted six weeks and the number of victims amounted to over 300,000. During this period of time, one-third of the buildings in Nanjing were damaged, over 20,000 cases of rape and gang-rape took place in the urban areas of Nanjing alone, innumerable public and private properties were looted, the ancient and cultural capital experienced an unprecedented catastrophe Nanjing had become "hell on Earth."

Before you even enter the memorial.........

China in modern times maintained a policy of self-seclusion resulting in poverty and decline over the years. Suffering from the aggression and the yoke of semi-colonization by the Western powers, China had to sign a series of unequal treaties with them. China experienced a drastic fall in her status among Asian countries, especially after the Sino-Japanese war of 1894-95. Heavy reparations made the Government of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) unable to reverse the decline. The Qing Dyntasy, plagues by internal and external troubles, was overthrown and the Republic of China was founded. At that moment, Japan had risen to become a strong nation in Asia and ranked amount the powerful nations, which fueled its greed for aggression and expansion. On September 18th, 1931, Japanese troops initiated the September 18th incident by their seizure of Shenyang and occupied the entire northeastern provinces of China. On July 7th, 1937, they launched their full-scale aggression against China. Only July 7th, 1937, they invaded Shanghai, and Nanjing where the Central Government of the National Government was located, already on the verge of falling into enemy hands.

At the beginning of the full-scale aggression against China launched by the Japanese militarists, they had already planned the assault on Nanjing, then the capital of the Republic of China, and regarded the assault on Shanghai as the first step towards the capture of Nanjing. When Shanghai was seized by the Japanese troops, they launched the attack on Nanjing from three directions. Each of the Japanese media enterprises strived to be the first one to report the war situation in China, inciting their soldiers greed for rank, fame and fortune. The Japanese nationals also become crazy about the war and supported their troops in China to capture Nanjing. The Japanese proceeded to occupy Suzhou, Wuxi, Changzhou, Jiangyiu, Zhenjiang, Huzhou, Si-an, Guangde, Wuhu and other areas.

The Memorial's Exhibition hall is low and angular.  In my opinion, kind of a throwback to Maya Lin's Vietnam War Memorial in Washington DC.

The air-raids launched by the Japanese aircrafts brought great disaster the ancient city of Nanjing. Oly from August 15th to October 15th, 1937, Japanese aircrafts attacked Nanjing over 65 times, among over 90 aircraft were employed at one time. Days with cloud cover became "good days" because it meant no incoming attacking aircraft.

On November 20th, 1937, the National Government announced the move of the capital from Nanjing to Chongqing, while at the same time drew up a plan to defend Nanjing.  100,000 soldiers were assembled to defend Nanjing.  On December 1st, 1937, the Japanese General Staff Headquarters issued the order to attack Nanjing and about 200,000 Japanese troops launched their "race" to invade Nanjing. Chinese defense forces under such unfavorable conditions as poor equipment, the incomplete organizational system of the army and inadequate logistical support, fought a last-ditch battle with the well-equipped Japanese invaders.  On December 13th, 1937, their defense failed and Nanjing fell into the hands of Japanese invaders' hands.

After the Japanese seizure of Nanjing, the Japanese troops launched a mass slaughter of innocent people and perpetrated extreme terror in order to "subjugate China" by force and realize their delution of destroying China in three months. Under their planned mass slaughter, 190,000 innocent civilians and disarmed Chinese soldiers were massacred by execution squads. In addition, another more than 150,000 corpses were buried by local charities in the wake of the occasional mass killings committed by the Japanese troops. Altogether, the number of victims in the Nanjing Massacre totaled over 300,000.

Just like the Vietnam Memorial in DC, there is a wall with names.

 At the same time, in addition to programmed mass slaughter, the Japanese army also launched scattered mass murder throughout Nanjing. The corpses of the victims of which were left dying all over the city. According to the investigation of the Chinese Nanjing Military Tribunal for the Trial of War Criminals in 1946, there were 858 so-called occasional slaughters. About 150,000 corpses were identified and buried by various charity groups.

On the memorial site, a mass grave was discovered and left in situ.  So as you are going through the memorial building, you walk around this mass grave.

While they carried out the mass slaughter, the Japanese soldiers raped women unscrupulously, irrespective of occasion and age. There were several hundred and even a thousand cases of rape everyday. According to the verdict of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, in the Nanjing urban area alone there were over 20,000 cases of rape and gang-rape atrocities during the first month after the Japanese seizure of Nanjing. Those foreigners who then still remained in Nanjing once furiously condemned those Japanese troops as "gangs of beasts." The Japanese troops were also looting wherever they went. They broke into private houses, institutions, shops and warehouses and pillaged gold, silver and other treasures, cultural relics and antiques, transportation vehicles and even food for refugees, quilts in hospitals and livestock of the common people. All became looting targets, and even the properties of foreign residents could not escape their looting.

The memorial is chock full of horrific pictures. However, this is the only one I'll show.  A severed head is displayed on a fence. 

At the beginning of their attack on Nanjing, Japanese troops carried torches and weapons and set fire to houses on a large scale.  They also wantonly destroyed Nanjing, the ancient historical and cultural city by means of bombardment, artillery fire and the use of dynamite. In accordance with the verdict of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, "such kind of fire would continue to burn after the first several days and might last more than six weeks as if it had been planned when the fire was set, thus damaging about one-third of the buildings in the city." Nevertheless, the authority of the Japanese troops then deceitfully and with all their efforts propagandized the image of a "Peaceful Nanjing."

This being 1937, turns out that the Germans were quite a force of good in Nanjing and were critical of the massacre.  They were instrumental in setting up an international safety zone.  Ironic given what was to come in the near future.

 Before the downfall of Nanjing, a dozen foreigners and many brave Chinese risked their lives to stay in Nanjing. They created the International Safety Zone and refugee camps in their capacites as nationas from the neutral states and as members of the International Committee of the Red Cross, and tried their best to protect the refugee's life and property, and to protest against and stop the Japanese soldiers' atrocities. Their lofty humanitarianism will be remembered by later generations forever.

I just have to comment that the Italian is above other more spoken languages. Oh, I see it now, it's by length. 

There were piles of victims' corpses left after the Nanjing massacre committed by Japanese troops. Charities in Nanjing, the puppet regime and individuals buried more than 200,000 corpses and made detailed records of the burying process. In order to get rid of the evidence of their crimes, the Japaenese troops poured petrol on some corpses and burnt them to ashes, and use ships to drag other corpses into the Yangtze River and got them washed away.  Altogether over 100,000 corpses were destroyed. From the historical burial records and remnants of the attempt to destroy the evident, the extraordinary scale of the Nanjing Massacre can be shown.

Out on the memorial groups, there are large stones.  Each memorializing and describing one of the mass slaughters.

The Japanese military authority had attempted to dismantle the Nanjing Safety Zone International Committee since it was established in Nanjing. It gathered a bunch of quislings to form a Puppet Nanjing Autonomous Committee. On February 18th, 1938, the Nanjing Safety Zone International Committee was officially dismissed, and renamed Nanjing International Relief Committee specialiaed in refugee relief affairs. Thanks to the efforts of the International Relief Committee and the diplomatic mission of Germany in Nanjing, refugee asylums were not terminated with the dismissal of refugee zones, but were shut down one by one. Of the 25 refugee asylums, 6 were closed in February and March, 13 in March and April, while the rest in May, 1938.

A tribute to Asian-American author Iris Chang who wrote "The Rape of Nanjing."

 In order to resist the aggression of the Japanese imperialists and save the Chinese nation from catastrophe, the Chinese people put up a fierce 14-year long war of resistance against the Japanese invation (1931-45) and made indelible historical contributions to the victory of the World War against facism. The Chinese people made great sacrifices during the war over 35,000,000 people wounded or dead, direct property damage and war cost amounting to $100 billion and indirect economic loss amounting to $500 billion. On August 15th, 2945, Japan had to announce the unconditional surrender. On September 9th the same year, the Ceremony of Japanese Surrender in the Chinese Theater of War was held in Nanjing. The Anti-Japanese Was had achieved a great historical victory. After the way, the International Military Tribunal for the Far East and Nanjing Military Tribunal for the Trial of War Criminals both set up a special case for investigating the Nanjing Massacre and verified that the Japanese troops had committed the atrocity of the Nanjing Massacre.

A painting showing the Japanese surrender.

Article 11 of the Treaty of Peace with Japan signed between the Japanese and American governments in 1951 explicitly provides that "Japan accepts the judgments of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East and of other Allied War Crime Courts both within and outside Japan, and will carry out the sentences imposed thereby upon Japanese nationals imprisoned in Japan.

"Do not forget what happened before, it will be the teacher of the future"

 History must not be forgotten. The Nanjing Massacre is a true tragedy for the Chinese nation, a national humiliation that must be remembered, and a fascist atrocity of bestiality strangling humanity and brutality smothering civilization. It should be forever inscribed in Nanjing's memory. History must not be distorted. After WWII, the Nanjing Massacre became an ironclad case, its nature legally determined and a consensus reached legally all over the world. However, after more than 50 years, there are still some people who continue to distort and deny the existence of the Nanjing Massacre. Thus defending the irrefutable historical facts of the Nanjing Massacre is a long road filled with heavy responsibility.  History is forever a textbook. The history of the Nanjing Massacre is is not only an important topic for the patriotic education of the common people especially the youth, and the performance of peaceful communication with other countries, but also a spiritual treasure to draw historical lessons so as to sustain the goals of peace and development in the modern world. Past experience, if not forgotten, is a guide for the future; people can create a better future by looking back on the past.

Nanjing

First stop....Zhongshan

And the memorial to Sun Yat-Sen, the leader of the Kuomingdang and first post Qing Dynasty leader of China.  He's China's George Washington.

Walking through the arch at the bottom of the hill, there is then a 700 meter walk to the next building in the memorial.

The portal the the main part of the memorial

Inscribed above the main arch it says (the words of Sun Yat-Sen), "Everything Under the Sky is for the People". Chinese is such an efficient language.

The KMT of China.  Prime Minister Sun was here.  The 18th year, Sixth Month and first Day.

After climbing 350 or so stairs, a view back down the the memorial.

The memorial building is inscribed with, from the left, "Nationalism", "People's Rights" and "Righteousness of the World"

The ceiling above the statue of Sun Yat-Sen is the flag of the KMT which is now the flag of Taiwan where the KMT fled after the Communists took over mainland China.

Second stop on Zhongshan was the tomb of the first Ming Emperor.  It was this tomb that became the blueprint for the rest of the tombs of the Ming emperors when they started building their tombs up near Beijing.

A front doof with three arches.

A series of buildings in a straight line leading to the main tomb building itself.

I like this picture because you can't really tell if you are going up or down unless you look closely.

A key feature of the Ming Emperor tombs is a spirit way, which actually follows a crooked path to confuse evil spirits.  Here we we first have animals that line the spirit way.

There are a pair of all kinds of animals.

But this first section is called the Stone Elephant spirit way!!!

Or course I approve!!!

The path takes a turn and we are now on the Wenzhong Path.  We start with some pillars.

And the path is lined with servants, guards and other protectors of the emperor.

After Zhongshan we visited the Nanjing Massacre Memorial but I'll save that for a separate post.  That evening we went to the Confucius Temple area, which is the heart of Nanjing.

It's interesting how the area around a solemn and quiet Confucius Temple can be a complete jangle of commercialism.

We were walking around looking for a restaurant but then found this long line.  So Dad got in line for....

Pot stickers!!!

After 20 minutes....we've got them.

They were ok, but somewhat greasy.  But that started us on a dinner of random street food.

Mom then got us some BBQ squid, I got us some gelatinous dessert.  Here Mom is eating some rice thing.  Along the way there was, of course, stinky tofu.

And cutest of all, Dad going for coconut milk.