Friday, 24 January

Yuan meeting. President Sun invited all the Yuan members and staff to a luncheon party.

In his inaugural address, President Roosevelt emphasized the necessity of the U.S.A. to defend democracy which he believed the most humane and most advanced of all forms of society. We Chinese fully agree with him. Confucius and all our ancient philosophers preached the doctrine that a government exists only for the welfare of the people, so the Fascist and Nazi ideas are more foreign to us than the Greeks’.

A letter from Yukan, saying that Mr. Tan Tianchi (譚天池), and old classmate of Dr. Wang Chonghui, whom we met last month in Chungking, has committed suicide. He had been in the Salt Service for nearly forty years and left Honan with only his shirt when the enemy occupied Kaifeng. He stayed with his son-in-law who is occupying a minor post at the Ministry of War. The young man’s salary is hardly sufficient to support a father-in-law. Old Mr. Tan therefore wrote to Dr. Wang Chonghui for help and the latter gave orders to the Section Head Xu Gongshu (徐公叔) of the Waichaopu[1] to send him $200 every month out of the Minister’s salary. Last month Dr. Wang heard from the old man begging for help again and suggesting a letter to the War Minister for his son-in-law. Dr. Wang was told by Section Head Xu Gongshu that Mr. Tan had received two months’ advance allowance from the Ministry, so he thought the letter was meant for the young man more than for the old man himself. Dr. Wang merely wrote to Minister Ho [He Yingqin]. Poor old Tan, desperate beyond description, received no reply from Dr. Wang Chonghui from whom he could expect sympathy and help. An old friend of over 40 years, and now a Minister of Foreign Affairs, he had refused to give him a bowl of rice when for no fault of his own, he had been reduced to such a desperate plight! How could he have the heart to live any longer in this ugly world, and be a burden to his beloved son-in-law? Many heart-broken tears must have been shed during those cold wintry nights, and at last he followed the only noble course and ended his miserable life with his own hand. The almighty creator who hates suicide must surely forgive one of his children in such circumstances. May the good man’s soul rest in peace! When Dr. Wang heard the sad news, he was further horrified to learn Section Head Xu had never paid a cent to the old man. His sorrow was indeed profound. He couldn’t sleep for several nights. Yukun asked me to write to comfort him. Poor Dr. Wang! I will write to him.

[1] Ministry of Foreign Affairs.