by Wong Chun-wai

I knew very little about Fu Bingchang when I was an undergraduate at the University of Hong Kong. I only knew that he was a notable alumnus. What I got at the time was just a vague impression, and that’s all. Before studying at Cambridge University, I spent five years at the University of Hong Kong. I “re-discovered” Fu Bingchang when I was an M.Phil student in Cambridge in 2004. My thesis supervisor at the time, Professor Hans van de Ven, suggested that I work on Fu Bingchang. I gladly accepted his advice. At the time, I gradually discovered how marvelous Fu Bingchang was. He was the first student to obtain a First-class honours from the University of Hong Kong. He became Superintendent of the Maritime Customs at a very young age. He also served as the last Kuomintang ambassador to the Soviet Union from 1943 to 1949 and was offered a post as the Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1949, which he declined. As an elite with extensive networks with Hong Kong and Canton, Fu’s achievements were certainly remarkable. I am so proud of him. But I should confess that although I know something of Fu Bingchang, nevertheless it is far from a perfect understanding.

In 2005, Professor van de Ven introduced me to Dr. Yee Wah Foo and her father, Uncle Johnny Foo. In the summer of 2015, Dr. Foo invited me to work with her on the project, “Fu Bingchang’s legacy”. I was more than delighted to accept. Since then I have translated the diaries of Fu Bingchang from 1939 to 1965 into English. It has certainly been a meaningful and challenging task. Fu Bingchang sometimes wrote in English, but mainly he wrote in Chinese. He was truly a bilingual person and proficient in both languages. His written Chinese mixed classical Chinese, vernacular Chinese and Cantonese. As a Cantonese like me I found what he wrote is lively. Above all he was a keen diarist and it seemed to me that he had a good sense in recording facts. It has taken more than two years to translate all the scripts and do additional research on the various place names and personalities. I have grown to know and understand Fu Bingchang much better having read so closely all his diaries. The diaries are very informative. They are truly invaluable first-hand contemporary accounts for the study of modern Chinese history.

I would like to take this occasion to thank Dr. Yee Wah Foo and Uncle Johnny Foo. I would also like to thank my father, mother, brother, grandmother, Professor Ma Yau Woon, Professor Victor Mair, Dr. Kerrie MacPherson and Dr. Henri Yeung Wing On. Last but not least, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to Professor Hans van de Ven, who always encourages me to write, and always shows faith, confidence and appreciation of my work.

Biography

I was born in Hong Kong in 1980. I majored in Chinese history at the University of Hong Kong and received a BA First-class honours from the Faculty of Arts. I received an M.Phil from the University of Hong Kong, and I am currently studying there for my PhD. I also have an M.Phil in Chinese Studies from Cambridge University. My research interests include the history of Hong Kong and the history of Modern China.

In total over 6,000 diary pages were digitized, comprising 1,503 pages of approximately A5 size, 4,406 pages of approximately A4 size and 312 loose pages.  Each page required about 2.5 minutes handling to make each image. On a matter of process, it was decided that where the diary was written/bound Western-style (i.e. front to back or left to right), the pages should be photographed in that order. And where the diary was arranged in the Chinese style (i.e. back to front or right to left), it was copied that way. However, some diary pages reversed the prevailing general order. In detail, digitization entailed: Taking care to turn each diary page one page at a time, without causing any damage, and not to miss any pages out, every individual page was photographed at a time, with a professional quality digital SLR camera, mounted above the diary on a copy stand.  All versos were copied together, then all rectos.  Where required, a small sheet of glass was placed on the page to ensure that it stayed flat during the exposure – and a black card with a hole for the lens was then held under the camera to avoid reflections from the glass affecting the image.  In Photoshop, images were balanced (contrast/brightness) and superfluous backgrounds cropped off.  Images were reordered so that they were back in the same order as in the original diary.  Images were labelled.  Low resolution jpegs (2000px along long edge; 96ppi) as well as high resolution tiffs (300ppi) were made. Digitization by Alejandro Acin, Historical Photographs of China project, University of Bristol.