Gail - Home from China

From Gail Email 9/19/2014 7:05 AM

Dear family and friends,

I am home.  I didn't have access to a computer in China and my Kindle wouldn't pick up any signals, so I thought I would give you a quick, abbreviated update.

 

The picture is of me standing in front of my grandparents old home on Kuliang, the mountain resort above Fuzhou where we used to go in the summer to get away from the heat.  My aunt Gail, aged 15 months, died in this house from dysentery.  I was named for her.  Kuliang is being developed into a major resort for the region.  I didn't recognize anything except the cool wind, the pines and the stone paths.

Last Saturday, the 13th, I attended the 151st anniversary celebration of the Fuhua Methodist Church in Fuqing (Futsing).  My grandfather had helped to raise money for the first building and I was an honored guest and speaker.  It's hard to describe my emotions as I sat in that church and heard the music and the overwhelming sense of joy and gratitude from the 4000 people who attended the service.  The church has 7000 members and three floors of seats.  The morning celebration was three hours long and followed by another 3 hour service that night.  I couldn't understand the Mandarin, but recognized the old hymns led by an energetic and musically trained young man whose enthusiasm and charisma was inspiring.   This church was closed down during the cultural revolution, but members continued to meet secretly in homes.  It was reopened in 1984, so this was also a celebration of the 30th anniversary of the restoration.  A 17 course dinner followed the morning celebration.  I sat at the large center table which seated 20 people. 

On Sunday, after another 3 hour service (on hard wood pews), Judy and I were driven to Fuzhou, about an hour away to meet my "twin".

 In 1941, my parents were teachers at the Anglo Chinese College (Ing Hua)  in Fuzhou (Foochow).  They were good friends with the Lee family, also teachers at ACC.  Japanese bombing forced the whole school, faculty, students and staff, to relocate to Yangkow, a small village up the mighty Min River, but ignored by Japanese planes.  Mrs. Lee and my mother were both pregnant and on November 16, 1941, Mrs. Lee gave birth to a baby girl.  A few hours later, I was born.  Because the date was also Founders Day for ACC, Mrs. Lee's baby was named Ing and I was named Hua; Ing meaning Anglo and Hua meaning Flowery Kingdom or China.  Through the magic of the internet and a wonderful internet friend, George, whom I met for the first time, I had an amazing reunion with Ing, whom I had not seen since 1949.  I was overcome with emotion.  Ing's family suffered during the cultural revolution when red guards invaded their home and burned all their pictures.  I was able to bring her a few pictures of her family that I had found in my mother's collection and a copy of my mother's book.  Ing didn't speak much English and my Foochow is limited, but talking wasn't necessary.  To touch and honor the past, our parents and our friendship needed no words.

Gail