Farewell Shanghai

While the country was being rebuilt, the people waited.
However, as a nation, our dreams of  having peace and prosperity were slow coming. 

Nevertheless, life in Shanghai and in other parts of China did improve somewhat. Of course, like I said before, Shanghai recovered faster than any other parts of China.
During the War, the Republic of China Party and the Communist Party made peace with each other and joined hands to fight for our nation as One against our common enemy, the Japanese. This Marriage, of course, did not last. After War ended, and before too long, the two forces resumed their struggles within the nation. 

There was, as always, the difference between the Haves and the Have-nots; the difference between the powerful and the powerless; the difference . . . the difference . . .  There were lots of problems. Corruption on every level was a major one. Shortage of food, another one. The list went on and on. Soon, the people became disillusioned with the government. There were battles between the Republic of China and the Communists in the countryside. There were riots - riots by workers, riots by students.
Believe it or not, I went on a 2-day hunger strike with other students once.   
 
People were unhappy. People were dis-satisfied with the quality of their lives. People were tired of the constant struggle to survive, with no relief in sight.
Even as a very ignorant teenager, I sensed that there were problems in the Nation.

And, we had our own personal problems.
A year or so after the War, Henry, my younger brother, a young teenager at that time, got involved with some gangs. He skipped school and started hanging around with some gangs. He often demanded money from our mother and was physically abusive to her when she refused him. But, she would always give in to him in the end. Henry had a short fuse - he would lose his temper at the drop of a hat, and behaved like a wild animal. In short, he terrorized the household. My parents could not control him. I remember, one time, he got a gun from somewhere and started to threaten everyone in the house including our parents. Father was helpless, so were the Police. Henry was detained at the police station one night, but he was sent back home the next day with some empty promises to be good. 
After every such event, he would suddenly become very gentle to our mother, sweet-talking to her, apologizing for his horrible behavior, and promising that he would never, ever hurt her again. Mother always forgave him. As a matter of fact, she would chide us for being in Henry's way and said that we provoked him. What blindness was A Mother's Love!

I entered the University of Shanghai in the summer of 1947. I lived on the campus because the University was some distance away from the city. Life on the campus was bleak. Food was terrible. Housing, primitive. Somehow, the University had some connections with some Baptist churches or Baptist schools in the U.S. I remember that my English teachers were Americans. And I remember there were some so-called Baptists Revival Events. I don't know if the teachers were missionaries or not.  But, at any rate, even in Shanghai, I had some contact with the Baptists.
I was there only for one year, because my father wanted me to stay home the following year - we were preparing to leave Shanghai. 

The Communists had taken over the northern parts of China and were advancing towards Shanghai.
Mother and my siblings, except Chong, left for Hong Kong at the end of 1948. Chong went to stay with Grandmother Kim. 
I stayed in Shanghai to keep my father company since he still had to attend to his business. I learned later, for ten big gold bars we allowed some family to have the "right" to rent the house we were in. It was called "tea-money". I wondered why did people do that since a lot of us were trying to flee. 
Anyway, father and I moved into Number Three's villa. 
Number Three and Number Four Uncles and their families had already fled to Hong Kong.
Father was working frantically trying to transfer whatever assets of  his and Number Three's that he could mange to get out to Hong Kong.
The two of us were in the great big house with a houseful of servants - they were promised full pay till we left. 
Talking about being pampered. Two people with six or seven servants waiting on us day and night!           
Our suitcases were packed and sitting in the hall. Father and I were prepared to leave at a moment's notice. 
February of 1949 came, after several "tries" to get on the plane at the airport, father and I finally boarded one plane heading towards Hong Kong. Mayhem at the airport.  
           
Father had left what real estate he had and most part of his assets behind. We had packed up our whole household, furnishing and all, including photos of the family and such and put them in storage. Father thought that the "little" revolution would be "taken care of" and we would be back in Shanghai in a few months. 
I did not get back to Shanghai until 2001 - I was there, a tourist from the U.S. 
By then, our Longtang had been demolished to make way for a "fly-over" (a highway) in the City. 

Today, I do not even have one photo of my grandparents, or photos of any other relatives we left behind in Shanghai.