A Collection of English Editorials by a Chinese Editor-in-Chief
By Jianyi Zhang
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About this ebook
Chinese is a very difficult language to the Westerners, so is English to the Chinese. Over 70 years ago, there was a Chinese journalist who could master English excellently and was highly appreciated by a well-known English newspaper—Peiping Chronicle, a government- sponsored newspaper in Peiping. He was appointed as a director and editor-in-chief from October 1945 to September 1946. It was then extremely rare for a Chinese to hold such a position. His major job was to write editorials a few times a week, expressing his own views as well as the newspaper’s. His tenure on the post lasted about one year, so 200-250 editorials were expected of him. However, only 72 were found in the Library of Congress.
Sun, Jui-chin had all his education inside China without going abroad and he did not major in English at college. So his English writing skills were almost self-taught. However, his editorials and news reports were as if they were written by a native English speaker.
Sun, Jui-chin’s editorials covered a wide range of subjects, such as post-war issues like the question of confiscation of assets owned by Taiwanese, improving compensations for newsmen and teachers, improving prison conditions, etc.
Sun Jui-Chin was not only an expert in English language, but also a conscientious independent intellectual. He courageously voiced his opposition to numerous government policies, expressed his sympathy to the underdogs and the poor. Unfortunately he was asked to resign from the position as he was too critical of the Government.
There are many famous figures covered in his editorials, such as Shi Hu, Bishop Yu Pin, Hsu Mo, George Yeh, Pu Yi, who might influence China politically and culturally.
People who like to learn the Chinese history in the period will be rewarded by reading this book.
Jianyi Zhang
An amateur biologist, and a physician in private practice
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A Collection of English Editorials by a Chinese Editor-in-Chief - Jianyi Zhang
Preface
Chinese is a very difficult language to the Westerners, so is English to the Chinese. Over 70 years ago, there was a Chinese journalist who could master English excellently and was highly appreciated by a well-known English newspaper—Peiping Chronicle, a government- sponsored newspaper in Peiping. He was appointed as a director and editor-in-chief from October 1945 to September 1946. It was then extremely rare for a Chinese to hold such a position. His major job was to write editorials a few times a week, expressing his own views as well as the newspaper’s.
Jianyi Zhang, a son of his third daughter Yifen Sun, was trying very hard to search for the newspaper all over the world, and finally found it out in the Congress Library in the USA. This book is a collection of those editorials with 72 articles. The editorials were always published in the first column of the second page of the newspaper. All articles in this book are exclusively editorials written by the editor-in-chief himself.
Due to the worn-out materials, some of the original texts are not discernible, and there might be some typos in the copying process. However, we have tried our best to recover them. Sun Jui-Chin was not only an expert in English language, but also a conscientious independent intellectual. He courageously voiced his opposition to numerous government policies, expressed his sympathy to the underdogs and the poor. Unfortunately he was asked to resign from the position as he was too critical of the Government.
He went to become a professor of journalism at Yenching University until 1952. He ended his career as a journalist after 30 years, as he realized that there was no room for free expression in China. He joined the Institute of Modern History, Sinica China as an English translator in Beijing, and worked there for 19 years with several translation publications.
About the author
The author of this book is Mr. Sun, Jui-chin, my maternal grandfather, who was born in 1898 to a moderate farmer’s family on Chongming Island, which was quite rural at the time although it has become a suburb of Shanghai at present time. Sun Jui-chin finished elementary school and junior middle school on the island and attended Shanghai Nan Yang Model High School. He was a law student at Peiyang University in Tianjin, where Law curriculum textbooks mirrored those used at Harvard. Consequently, graduates, among whom Mr. Sun was especially good, were able to use English. After graduation, Mr. Sun worked at English newspapers, and English writing thus became a major part of his life-long career.
SunRuiChinIn the following 30 years, Sun, Jui-chin worked as a reporter or an editor for several English news media outlets in Peiping, including Reuters. He also held second jobs at different places, including the United States Embassy in Peiping, Peking University, and Yenching University. After the ending of WWII in 1945, he was appointed by the Nationalist government as the editor-in-chief of The Peiping Chronicle, published in English. A major task for him as the editor-in-chief was to write editorials for the daily newspaper, which appeared every day or two. His tenure on the post lasted about one year, so 200-250 editorials were expected of him. However, only 72 were found in the Library of Congress. This book is based on selected works from those 72 editorials.
The Peiping Chronicle had a relatively small circulation, and its readership was comprised mainly of envoys, missionaries, investors and military personnel from foreign countries who were at Peiping. This group of readers seemed few in numbers but weighed heavily in the eyes of the Nationalist government, which wanted to avoid any trouble with them.
After the victorious ending of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War in 1945, the Ministry of Education decided not to rehire a large group of public university professors who had stayed in Peiping to teach during the war. Many professors became jobless, including Professor Li Ju-chi, a former associate of T. H. Morgan and a leading figure in the field of biology in China. Not surprisingly, the professors caught in the mess were very disgruntled. Their arguments: We, for varying reasons, were unable to retreat with the Nationalist government to the Great Rear Area under insurmountable circumstances; That we had to teach at universities under the Japanese occupation was for no reason other than making ends meet for the survival of our families, and it was in no way a traitorous act, as we had committed absolutely no injustice against the Chinese people; Were we supposed to starve to death like Boyi and Shuqi in ancient China?
Sun, Jui-chin stood by the professors and wrote several editorials on this topic. He engaged in a paper battle with, and thus offended, many government officials and dignitaries, including Dr. Chu, Chia-hua, Minister of Education, and Mr. Fu, Sinian, Interim President of Peking University. They appeared to feel that this newspaper, despite financial support by the government, tended to be in constant discord with the central government, especially making the Ministry of Education lose face in front of foreigners. They reported their resentment to the Propaganda Department of GMT. Since Mr. Sun’s appointment was largely upon Mr. Hu, Shih’s recommendation, the Propaganda Department officials sought an explanation from Mr. Hu. Mr. Hu tried to brush it off, saying, Mr. Sun is a straight shooter. He is not a particularly articulate man.
He then called Mr. Sun right away, You have only spared me in offending everyone. This time, you have made too big a trouble. In my opinion, retreat is the best move for you now.
Mr. Sun told Mr. Hu, All right. There is always another place out there.
He promptly resigned from his post. The Nationalist government did not put him in exile for his frequent anti-party expressions, but instead assigned him to a rather stress-free position at the Bureau
level outside the GMT party structure, perhaps partly trying to make use of his abilities and partly out of their own guilt. Incidentally, Mr. Sun had never been affiliated with any political parties in his entire life.
Mr. Sun had opportunities in his work to have contact with many Chinese and foreign dignitaries and celebrities at the time, but he kept a distance from those luminaries and only maintained business relationships. On the other hand, he was always willing to offer his helping hand to those who were ill-fated, disadvantaged, or repressed. Zhang, Tailei, one of the early leaders of the Chinese Communist Party, was a close friend of Mr. Sun’s at Peiyang University. With Zhang believing in communism and Sun in democracy and liberty, their political views couldn’t be farther apart. They set their political differences aside and maintained a close friendship. Mr. Sun was at a loss when Mr. Zhang died in the failed Guangzhou Uprising in 1927. For many years after that, Mr. Sun sent a monthly stipend to Mr. Zhang’s surviving family members. This he never told anyone. It only became known to others after his wife, Shi, Deheng, casually mentioned the story to their children.
Mr. Zhang, Dongsun was a professor in the Department of Political Science at Yenching University. He acted as the negotiation representative on behalf of General Fu Zuoyi before the PLA takeover of Peiping, that evaded war damages. As Mao Zedong put it, For Peiping’s peaceful liberation, Mr. Zhang has the top honor.
However, when the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) was electing the first chairman for the central government of new China, Mr. Zhang cast the only opposing vote against Mao Zedong, displeasing his royal highness. Mr. Zhang was soon accused of acting as an American special agent based on highly dubious evidence. Although his personal mobility was not restricted until the Cultural Revolution, he was very isolated on Yenching campus, shun by almost everybody. According to a Zhang's biography by Ms. Dai Qing, the list of people who maintained contacts with Mr. Zhang after 1952 was 3-members long: Qian, Gongwu, Hong, Qian, and Sun, Jui-chin. In December 1965, Mr. Sun and his wife celebrated Mr. Zhang’s 80th lunar calendar birthday at the famed Moscow Restaurant in Beijing (Peking). Mr. Zhang was very appreciative. Mr.
Sun’s relationship with Mr. Zhang was a source for harassment and troubles for himself, deemed a big crime of his during the Cultural Revolution.
As this book shows, Sun, Jui-chin’s editorials covered a wide range of subjects, such as post-war issues like the question of confiscation of assets owned by Taiwanese, improving compensations for newsmen and teachers, improving prison conditions, etc. He advocated for the interests of the underdogs without exception.
In 1952, the new government decided to close Yenching University. Sun, Jui-chin was going to lose his professorship at the Department of Journalism. He had a few options. He could become a journalism professor at Renmin University, a journalist at Xinhua, or a translator at the Institute of Modern History of Academy of Social Sciences. He chose the latter in an attempt to exile himself from the journalism field because he realized that journalism had been existent only in name. His decision to go to the Institute of Modern History meant that he needed to take a lower salary at a lower pay grade, as the highest level translator at the institute had a lower grade than his prior grade at Yenching.
At the Institute of Modern History, Sun, Jui-chin translated a number of scholarly books. In the early 1970s, as the Sino-American relationship started to thaw, the Government published a book entitled The United States and China in Chinese by John King Fairbank of Harvard University, the translated book is work of collaboration of Sun with his longtime friend Chen, Zexian. Actually, Fairbank was an old acquaintance of Mr. Sun when the former was a US information officer stationed in China. Another book translated by Mr. Sun, The Manchu Abdication and the Powers, 1908-1912, by John Gilbert Reid, played a valuable role in the study of modern Chinese history.
In 1969, Sun, Jui-chin was sent to Henan to attend a so-called May 7 Cadre School to do manual labor as a form of re-education. There he was diagnosed with heart disease but no treatment was provided. He was sent back to Beijing on February 13, 1971 and died of heart attack on the same day at the age of 73.
Sun, Jui-chin had all his education inside China without going abroad and he did not major in English at college. So his English writing skills were almost self-taught. However, his editorials and news reports were as if they were written by a native English speaker.
As an ordinary, educated person, although Sun, Jui-chin himself had no way to reverse the tide of political turmoil after 1949, he had never done anything regrettable such as selling off a friend or attacking someone who was down in hopes of shielding himself. He expressed his protests in silence with his conscience. In contrast, many big names in the culture circle, in order to keep their positions, practiced sycophancy and deception to an unthinkable extent, defaming the name of intellectuals.
Sun, Jui-chin symbolized the most precious aspects of the humanity, full of sympathy and willing to give all to help the disadvantaged, the weak and the poor. It is this spirit that has kept human civilization going. He demonstrated the traditional virtue of a Chinese intellectual, shouting for the disadvantaged using his feeble voice, even if it would bring harm to himself by doing so.
Mr. Sun may not be recognized as a hero by most people as he was neither a general above thousands soldiers, nor did he hold a high ranking position. Nevertheless, he and his wife, my maternal grandmother Madame Shi, Deheng, raised a total of 8 sons and daughters, provided a fine environment for their growth, and sent every one of them to the best universities in Peiping, paving the way for their successful careers. They provided a safe haven for family members and friends during the Chinese abysmal period in their life long, and also gave a tremendous amount of support to the growth of the 3rd generation. Their kindness benefited many people.
On this serene night, I see thousands of stars in the sky. Sun, Jui-chin is one of the distant stars out there. It may not be that dazzling, but it is gorgeous.
01-01-1946 - THE YEAR AHEAD
It is customary, with the coming of a new year, to renew expressions of hope and good intentions, to look into the coming months with optimism, to evaluate the experiences of the past and resolve in the future to profit by the lessons learnt. Certainly, this New Year’s Day is the brightest this country has faced in nine years and expressions of faith and goodwill are justified today, albeit sobered by cold facts and the knowledge that human nature has not changed.
A new year opens out before us in all the sweep of its unlimited opportunities. There is peace and prosperity, success and happiness, in the twelve months that stretch before us. They have everything to offer, that makes life worthwhile, provided we have the wisdom and are capable of grasping the possibilities that lie ahead and turn them to the promotion of security in our homes, in our counties, and throughout the world.
Good resolutions are a feature of the New Year’s beginning. But whereas the year goes on most of our resolutions are broken. We may no longer indulge in this luxury and anything worthwhile is to be made of this world of ours, we must cease to discard pledges and good intentions with the close of Holiday season.
Our good resolutions on this New Year’s Day, to be really effective, should take in three fields of endeavour: personal, national and international. The pledges we make regarding our own persons, satisfying as they may be in their narrow concentration on self, must be widened to include the ideals of useful service and comradeship as members of the community and of tolerance and goodwill in our international outlook.
These three forms of resolutions, we believe, must go together. Separately, they are insufficient. They represent the trilogy of our responsibilities in this world, personal, national and universal, and the practice of forbearance is common to all three. As one recent writer puts it, what is required in the world today is the spiritual communion of men to save the world and ourselves.
The war years have taught that many of our individualistic tendencies of thought and action must be sacrificed if we are to be at one with the rest of the world. And the peace years ahead will surely demonstrate again and again that if the world is to be saved we must save ourselves and if we are to be saved we can no long strive for one and not the other. It will be through united communities of peace-loving peoples that peace-loving nations will be formed and when states give up the greed, aggressiveness and intolerance common to the average individual a better world will come.
The Second World War has been concluded but we cannot afford to sit by the roadside as casual spectators. There is peace as far as the guns are concerned but there is no peace in the heart of men. Until such peace can be attained it will require exertions, personal, national and international, no less strenuous than those of war.
The New Year’s message is a call for initiative, perseverance, unity and fortitude. It is a call which goes out to all mankind, men and women, the aged and the young. It is a call that touches the deepest sentiments of everyone today, the quest for a new and better world, a world of peace, goodwill and happiness for the common man. And as we pause on the threshold of the New Year let us all take courage, firm in our conviction of man’s inalienable right to freedom and peace, and press on to this great goal with that strong faith and unswerving devotion that has ever characterized humanity’ s ceaseless struggle for universal communion.
01-03-1946 - DR. SOONG`S ADDRESS
If history teaches anything, it is that post-war years are usually more difficult than war years, for vanquished and victor nations alike. It is therefore both right and proper that Dr. T. V. Soong¹, the visiting President of the Executive Yuan, in his address before a gathering of high Government officials at the Huai Jen T`ang on the New Year`s Day, should stress the people, especially those in the restored areas, at this difficult time. He said that it was but natural that the first flush of enthusiasm among the news of the victory should give way to a feeling of disappointment at the slow progress of the work of restoration and the continual rise of commodity prices.
Drawing on personal experiences gained during his audience that conditions in post-war France were no better than those in this country. Between Paris and Marseilles there was only one passenger train a day, because all the available rolling-stock was needed for the transportation of demobilized soldiers and for re-habilitation purposes. Foodstuffs were still rationed and there was no coal for the winter season. Dr. Soong added that something might be said for this state of affairs as France bad been under enemy occupation for several years. England, however, fared no better. The people there are suffering greater hardships than in war years. So far as daily rations are concerned, they are enjoying much less than they did during the war. Hence, I should remind you all that although the war of resistance is won, this is not the time to enjoy the fruits of peace. Every one of us must do his best for the coming year.
This plain speaking on the part of one of the most influential leaders of the National Government will go a long way towards dispelling the illusion common to many people in both free China and the recently restored areas that, with the enemy down and out, and with their country’s international position greatly enhanced among the Family of Nations as a result of the recent victory, they can settle down to garner the fruits of peace, The desire to enjoy the fruits of peace is perhaps understandable, especially after eight long years of war and suffering. Equally understandable is the feeling of disappointment at finding that real peace is so slow in coming. Again, it is human nature to fret at the increasing cost of living more than four months after unconditional surrender of the enemy. But we must be patient and take a reasonable view of affairs. Moreover, we have to remember that our country is still very backward economically and industrially as compared with our Allies and that both time and hard work are needed to build a modern state.
The most important tasks of the Government for the coming year, Dr. Soong pointed out, are the restoration of communications and the stabilization of prices. The two questions have a mutual bearing and are equally important to the livelihood of the people. But before prices can be stabilized, the currency must be stabilized; the currency must be stabilized in other words, there must be a check to inflation. During the war years the National Government had been compelled to issue paper notes to make up its huge deficits, thus causing an unprecedented inflation in the interior. Now the war is over, the Government must seek to balance its expenditures and revenues. Dr. Soong made it clear that the Government will not resort to the further issue of paper money. Although it is not realized by the public, this is one of the fundamental policies of the Government for the post–war period, and explains why the Government has been hesitant to bring the salary scale of government officials and teachers in the restored areas into line with that in the interior. Not that the Government has no sympathy for the hardships of the people in the restored areas, but it is out of a desire not to cause further inflation in these areas.
Dr. Soong expressed the hope that the stabilization this year of 1946. If this object is attained, the country, indeed, will have been well launched on the load of national reconstruction. But if it is not realized, we need not be excessively disappointed, for we must remember that after the end of the First Great War, many countries, including Great Britain and France, were harassed by currency troubles for more than a decade, some of