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1928: Events and Inventions

Oct24

January 10, 1928. Soviet leader Joseph Stalin exiles all opposition leaders for Moscow. Leon Trotsky is sent to Alma-Ata in Kazahkstan. Other rivals have been sent to Siberia or to small remote villages in the Soviet Union.

May, 1928. Japanese and Chinese Nationalist forces clash in Shantung province in China. The Japanese retain control of the city of Tsinan-Fu

June 8, 1928. Nationalist forces, led by General Chiang Kai-shek enter the Chinese capital of Beijing (Peking). Chiang has expelled the Communists from the Kuomingtang, and he and his Nationalists may now be regarded as ruling the entire country of China, except for a few pockets of rebellion by Japanese, Communist and warlord groups.

'Nationalist government of Nanking - nominally ruling over entire China, 1930' photo (c) 2008, http://maps.bpl.org - license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

June, 1928. US aviator Amelia Earhart, as a passenger, is the first woman to cross the Atlantic by air.

July, 1928. The first commercially available TV set goes on sale in the U.S. Cost: $75.00.

August 27, 1928. The Kellogg-Briand Treaty. The United States, France, Great Britain, Germany, and eleven other countries sign a treaty promising not to go to war—ever. the treaty is also called the General Treaty for the Renunciation of War or the World Peace Act. There is an exception in the treaty for wars of self-defense.

September 30, 1928. Scottish doctor and bacteriologist Alexander Fleming discovers the antibiotic penicillin. It is hoped that this wonder drug may soon be used to treat human bacterial infections.

October 1, 1928. Stalin announces his Five Year Plan to industrialize the Soviet Union, iprove it socialist economy, and take all farming out of private hands.

October 6, 1928. Chaing Kai-Shek becomes Chairman of the Nationalist government and COmander-in-Chief of all armed forces in China under the new CHinese constitution. Chiang chooses the city of Nanking as his capital, and his alliance with Northern warlords seems to be keeping the Communists and other dissidents out of contention for power in the Chinese government.

October 7, 1928. Ras Tafari is crowned “King of Kings of Ethiopia, the Conquering Lion of Judah and the Elect of God” in ceremonies at the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa. Ras Tafari says that he is a descendant of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, but he is required to share power with his aunt, Empress Zauditu.

Kool-Aid, the first powdered soft drink mix to be sold nationally in stores through wholesalers, is packaged in envelopes printed by Edwin Perkins, the inventor of the drink mix, and hits the markets in 1928, first locally and then beyond.

Missionary Fiction

Jun23

In an episode of what Madame Mental Multivitamin calls synchronicity/serendipity/synthesis, I read two works of fiction this week based on the lives of the authors’ missionary grandparents. I’ve also been thinking a lot about sending two “missionaries” from my own home to Slovakia in a couple of weeks and about my mother and my father-in-law and the legacy of faith they have given to me and to my family.

The first book, The Moon in the Mango Tree by Pamela Binnings Ewen, was just O.K. The writing quality is somewhat uneven, and the characters sometimes enigmatic. The story opens in 1916 in Germantown, Pennsylvania, when Barbara (Babs), a schoolgirl and aspiring opera singer, meets Harvey Perkins, a young medical student. As the two grow together, get married, and then endure being parted while Harvey serves in the military in France during The Great War, Barbara learns that she must subordinate her choices to those of her loving but firm-minded husband. The couple go to Thailand to serve as medical missionaries, even though Barbara must give up her hopes for a career in opera and even her enjoyment of classical music itself to live in a remote mission outpost in Northern Thailand. Of course, with such different outlooks and goals in life and with what I suppose was a typical (?) early twentieth century lack of communication in the marriage, trouble is bound to ensue. And it does.

Besides the fact that the characters’ motivations were sometimes obscure, I guess what I disliked about the story was that neither Harvey nor Barbara seemed to have much of a faith in God to lose. They do lose their faith, both of them, in the face of suffering and hardship in Thailand. But I couldn’t figure out whether they believed in anything much in the first place, other than themselves and their own ability to “be a team” and improve the physical lives of the Thai villagers. The book was good, but not great, although I liked the ending and the ideas about the legacy we leave as a result of the choices we make.

The second book I read had the same basic premise as the first: a young couple goes to the mission field, China this time, in the early twentieth century. However, City of Tranquil Light by Bo Caldwell made me cry. It’s very, very difficult to write a book about Good People, about heroes and heroines, without making them larger than life, unapproachable, and unrelatable. (The dictionary says “unrelatable” isn’t a word, but it should be, and I’m going to use it anyway.) Will and Katherine Kiehn are ordinary, fallible people, and yet they are heroes. They go to China as young, untested volunteers with only their calling and their faith in God’s love and mercy to sustain them, and they survive disease and poverty and famine and family tragedy and war and persecution. Each of the two has a “crisis of faith”, maybe even more than one, but they manage to hold onto the the God who is always holding on to them, even when doubt and fear threaten to overwhelm. The story is told in first person from Will’s point of view, interspersed with excerpts from Katherine’s sporadically kept journal. The whole novel is just golden.

As a reviewer, I feel as if I ought to be able to tell you how Ms. Caldwell was able to write such a true story about people that I believe in as much as I believe in my own parents and grandparents, but I can’t. The humility and the honesty displayed in the characters of both Katherine and Will inspire imitation. I wanted to sit beside an elderly Will Kiehn, listen to his stories of China, and absorb some of his wisdom and his indomitable meekness.

City of Tranquil Light is one of the best fictional accounts of missionary life I’ve ever read. It ranks right up there with Elisabeth Elliot’s No Graven Image, a book I mentioned (and recommended) here. City of Tranquil Light has the added advantage of painting a wonderful picture of a committed, growing marriage.

Can you tell I really, really liked this book? I happened to pick it up from the library and read it because it’s one of the books on the long list of nominations for the 2011 INSPY Awards. Thanks to whomever nominated this book. If all the nominated books are as good as this one, the judges will have an impossible job.

Shanghai Girls by Lisa See

Aug17

Pearl and May Chin are sisters, growing up in Shanghai, 1937. The two young ladies are also Beautiful Girls, a phrase that carries a specific denotation in the modern, cosmopolitan culture of Westernized Shanghai. Pearl and May are models whose portraits sell everything from cigarettes to soap. The girls are living a fast, sophisticated, and carefree life, when suddenly everything changes. The girls’ father owes money to the mob, and in order to pay them he arranges a complicated deal that involves arranged marriages for his daughters to two Chinese boys from San Francisco that they’ve never met. And at the same time the Japanese army is sweeping over northern China, headed for Shanghai. Chiang Kai Shek and his Chinese nationalists are opposing the Japanese, and the two forces meet on the streets of Shanghai.

This first part of the book was illustrative of fact that at the same time that huge historical events are taking place, individuals are playing out their own dramas. May and Pearl hardly notice the advance of the Japanese army at first; they are too caught up in their own battle with their father. Then, they realize that their American husbands may be their only ticket to escape the horrors of war and the Japanese occupation of Shanghai and surrounding areas.

Most of the rest of the story deals with May and Pearl and their relationship as sisters and their adjustment to living in a new place and a new culture. The Chinese are not particularly welcome in pre-WW2 San Francisco. There is much bigotry to endure or overcome, and many decisions must be made about how to handle encounters with the U.S. government and with non-Chinese neighbors and citizens. But the center of the story always comes back to the relationship between May and Pearl. Are they rivals or best friends? Or both? How can the two sisters see each other’s faults and shortcomings so clearly and still remain the central source of love and support for one another?

The book made me think not so much of my own sister, although we are good friends, as it did of my children and their relationships. Sometimes they exhibit the same jealousies and misunderstandings that May and Pearl have, but at the same time I see them being fiercely protective and defensive of one another. I do believe that some of my children are each other’s best friends, and that makes me happy, even when it involves a closeness that can see and exploit the other’s weaknesses. The sister/sister relationship in particular is fraught with peril, but also can be rewarding and full of joy. On whom can you depend if not your sister?

Shanghai Girls was a moving look at a pair of Chinese sisters and their perilous journey to America and also to true sisterhood. I enjoyed the trip.

What some other bloggers thought about Shanghai Girls:

Dawn at She Is Too Fond of Books: “The fictional Pearl and May, like many actual Chinese in America during this period, endured. Shanghai Girls is a work of historical fiction that both entertains and teaches.”

A Book a Week: “The sisters in Shanghai Girls have a relationship that is clichéd and predictable. The dialogue is almost painfully banal. Yet the settings (1930’s Shanghai, 1940’s and ‘50’s Los Angeles) are great, very evocative and filled with detail.”

Darlene at Peeking Between the Pages: “I have to say that Shanghai Girls really ends in the middle of nowhere. I was shocked when I got to the last page as I still expected more story but that leads me to believe there will be a sequel and that I’m looking forward to.”

Kailana/Kelly at The Written Wordhas a joint review with Marg of The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader. Good discussion there, and their review confirms that there is supposed to be a sequel.

Advanced Reading Survey: The Importance of Living by Lin Yutang

Oct12

I’ve decided that on Mondays I’m going to revisit the books I read for a course in college called Advanced Reading Survey, taught by the eminent scholar and lovable professor, Dr. Huff. I’m not going to re-read all the books and poems I read for that course, probably more than fifty, but I am going to post to Semicolon the entries in the reading journal that I was required to keep for that class because I think that my entries on these works of literature may be of interest to readers here and because I’m afraid that the thirty year old spiral notebook in which I wrote these entries may fall apart ere long. I may offer my more mature perspective on the books, too, if I remember enough about them to do so.

Author:
Lin Yutang, or Lin Yu-t’ang, was a Chinese American author born in China and educated in Christian schools there. He later moved to New York and still later to Singapore. He also moved from a childhood immersed in Christianity to a sort of joyful paganism and then back to a deep commitment to Christ and to the church. At the time that his most famous book of essays, The Importance of Living, was written (1937), Mr. Lin was in the happy Chinese pagan chapter of his life. He later wrote another book, From Pagan to Christian, in 1959 that detailed his return to Christianity and the reasons for it. Lin Yutang was a best-selling author, and he was nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature several times in the 1970’s. He is said to have been a writer who bridged Eastern and Western cultures. Oh, and he also invented and patented a Chinese typewriter.

Quotations:
“Somehow the human mind is forever elusive, uncatchable, and unpredictable and manages to wriggle out of mechanistic laws or a materialistic dialectic that crazy psychologists and unmarried economists are trying to impose upon him.”

“The world, I believe, is far too serious, and being far too serious, it has need of a wise and merry philosophy.”

“A plan that is sure to be carried out to its last detail already loses interest for me.”

“Somewhere in our adult life, our sentimental nature is killed, strangled, chilled, or atrophied by an unkind surrounding, largely through our own fault in neglecting to keep it alive or our failure to keep clear of such surroundings.”

“No one should aim at writing immortal poetry, one should learn the writing of poems merely as a way to record a meaningful moment, a personal mood, or to help the enjoyment of Nature.”

“Scholars who are worth anything at all never know what is called “a hard grind” or what “bitter study” means. They merely love books and read on because they cannot help themselves.”

“Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of non-essentials.”

I really would like to re-read Mr. Lin’s essays on living a good and wise and simplified life. Maybe when I simplify my life . . .

Christmas in Hankow, China, 1925

Dec10

“What I liked best about Christmas was that for a whole day grown-ups seemed to agree to take time of from being grown-ups. At six-thirty sharp when I burst into my parents’ room, yelling, ‘Merry Christmas!,’ they both laughed and jumped right up as if six-thirty wasn’t an early hour at all. By the time we came downstairs, the servants were lined up in the hall dressed in their best. ‘Gung-shi.’ They bowed. ‘Gung-shi. Gung-shi.’ This was the way Chinese offered congratulations on special occasions, and the greeting, as it was repeated, sounded like little bells tinkling.

Lin Nai-Nai, however, didn’t ‘gung-shi.’ For months she had been waiting for this day. She stepped forward. ‘Merry Christmas,’ she said just as if she could have said anything in English that she wanted to. I was so proud. I took her hand as we trooped into the living room. My father lighted the tree and he distributed the first gifts of the day—red envelopes filled with money for the servants. After a flurry of more ‘gung-shis,’ the servants left and there were the three of us in front of a huge mound of packages. All mysteries.” ~Homesick by Jean Fritz

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie

Feb19

A wise little story . . . a richly complex fable . . . like a beautifully tailored garment . . . poetic and affecting.

That’s what the reviews on the back of the book say, but I didn’t get it. I read this book on the recommendaton of Jane at Much Ado, and I, too liked the parts about the suitcase full of books and how the books enriched and transformed the lives of the people who read and heard the stories. However, the ending was beyond sad. I won’t give away the ending, but after that kind of self-imposed tragedy, how could any of the main characters in the novel ever experience joy again? The narrator says that he and his friend Luo have only a three in a thousand chance of escaping their Chinese Cultural Revolution re-education camp, but as the book ended, it felt as if they were doomed. Even if they did leave the village to which they were exiled, what would they do?

It just occurred to me: the ending to this book reminded me of the ending to Bee Season. Someone gives up the one thing that has brought joy to his/her life so that? What? To prove a point? What point?

For pointless fiction that’s beautifully written and hopeful along the way, I recommend both Bee Season and Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress. When you get through with either one, come back and tell me why they did it.

World Geography: Week 11, China

Oct30

Music:
Guiseppe Verdi—Ave Maria from Othello

Mission Study:
1. Bold Bearers of his Name: Lula F. Whilden
2. Window on the World: Newars
3. WotW: Tibetans
4. WotW: Xinjiang
5. WotW: Yao-Mien

Poems:
My Poetry Book: At Our House

Science:
Magnets

Nonfiction Read Alouds:
The Pageant of Chinese History–Seeger
China by Tami Deedrick

Fiction Read Alouds:
Little Pear—Lattimore
A Grain of Rice–Pittman
Tales of a Chinese Grandmother by Frances Carpenter


Picture Books:
The Emperor and the Nightingale—Andersen
The Five Chinese Brothers—Bishop
The Empty Pot–Demi
Ming Lo Moves the Mountain—Lobel
Eyes of the Dragon—Leaf
Tikki Tikki Tembo—Mosel
Emperor and the Kite–Yolen

Elementary Readers:
Homesick—Fritz
Mission to Cathay—Polland
Silkworms—Johnson
Eyewitness: Ancient China
Confucius; The Golden Rule—Freedman
A Boy’s War—Michell
Between Two Worlds: A Story about Pearl S. Buck–Mitchell

Other Books:
Nothing Daunted; The Story of Isobel Kuhn–Repp
The Importance of Living–Lin Yutang

Movies:
Arsenic and Old Lace

World Geography Week 10: China

Oct23

Music:
Hector Berlioz—Te Deum

Mission Study:
1. Bold Bearers of His Name: Ji-Wang
2. Window on the World: China
3. WotW: Dai Lu
4. WotW: Hui
5. WotW: Mongolia

Poetry:
Through Our Eyes—Lee Bennett Hopkins

Science: Solids, Liquids, and Gases

Nonfiction Read Alouds:
The Pageant of Chinese History—Seeger

Fiction Read Alouds:
Little Pear—Lattimore
Granny Han’s Breakfast–Groves
Tales of a Chinese Grandmother–Carpenter

Picture Books:
Take a Trip to China–Mason
My Book About Hudson Taylor
The Story about Ping—Flack
Lon Po Po—A Red Riding Hood Story from China
Count Your Way Through China—Haskins
When Panda Came to Our House—Jensen
The Dragon Prince: A Chinese Beauty and the Beast Tale–Yep

Elementary Readers:
House of Sixty Fathers—DeJong
Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze
God’s Adventurer: Hudson Taylor—Thompson
Eric Liddell–Swift
Three Little Chinese Girls—Lattimore. I’m reading this story of the playtime adventures of three Chinese sisters with Bee Girl (second grade). Such fun!
Flight of the Fugitives: Gladys Aylward–Jackson

Can anyone suggest any movies set in China that are appropriate for children and families?

Mission to Cathay by Madeleine Polland

Aug6

Mission to Cathay tells the fictionalized story of Father Matteo Ricci, the first Western Christian missionary to enter mainland China. In 1583, Father Ricci gained permission to build a mission in Suiching in southern China near Canton. He stayed in Suiching until 1589 when he was expelled by a hostile government official. After that, he travelled to other cities in China and eventually had an audience withe Emperor in Peking. Father Ricci stayed in China until his death, and he was honored with a state funeral by order of the Emperor.

The book covers only the first few years of Father Ricci’s stay in Suiching from the point of view of a servant boy with a mysterious past. With only the name Boy and no family that he knows about, the servant becomes a part of the family of the Lord of Heaven, although his Chinese mind is far from understanding what it means to be in the family of God through Christ. Father Ricci tries to comunicate the gospel to the Chinese by becoming a part of their culture, but he fears losing himself in vast and ancient land. Anothe subplot involves Boy meeting a mysterious boy named Chang with a secret so perilous that it could endanger the entire Christian mission to China.

The ending to this book and the solution to all the mysterious occurences was too easily deciphered from all the clues that were rather obviously embedded in the story. However, it might not be as obvious to elementary age children. I did enjoy the pieces of Chinese history and culture that were a part of the story. This book would make a good read aloud for a unit study on China or Chinese or world history.