Chongqing to Dushiqiao

Friday, 1 December

At 9.00 a.m. I took the car with Xie Baoqiao and Tianjuan to leave Chongqing. At 11.00 we arrived at Dushiqiao. The highways on the way were not as bad as rumoured. The site of the Legislative Yuan was an ancestral hall rented from someone. The No.31 house where I and Liang Hancao (梁寒操)[1] lived was built according to government regulation. The walls were made of bamboo fences and pasted with cement. The roof was made of bamboo but devoid of tiles therefore it could not shield off the wind and was not water-proof. The floor was plastered with mud which was so damp. The windows were made of local paper instead of glass and after rain it all had to be replaced. What I saw in the first prison in Changsha in Hunan and the new prison in Guangzhou city was ten times better than here. Wang Chonghui said I went there for imprisonment and it was really an apt remark. As only I lived here and would not stay long, I ate with Xie Baoqiao and others. The cook they trained could make Cantonese dishes. We had soup made of pork and lotus root, as well as marbled meat and vegetables. We ate together in the open yard, which reminded me of the taste of tomb-sweeping in the countryside. The climate here is such that it turns to complete darkness at 5.00 p.m. and will not turn bright until 7.00 a.m. People here rest after sunset so they can sleep for fourteen hours. I was a constructor  today as I was tidying up my room and furniture. I was quite tired. After supper I took a short walk outside then I went to bed at 8.00.

[1] Liang Hancao(1899-1975) was a Cantonese literati and an official of Nationalist Government.