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Friday, 1 January

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Chongqing Diplomatic Hostel

Friday, 1 January
Twenty-fifth day of the eleventh month, Renwu year

 

I may say that I am having a very unhappy New Year. I have to accept the Ambassadorship to Soviet Russia very much against my own wishes. Only my duty to my nation compels me to take up such a post. When I think of my 79 year old mother with her failing health and whom I might never be able to see again, I can hardly stop my tears flowing. Fanny is going to give birth to another child soon. I wish I had never met her, nor she had loved me so much, so that my heart may not be broken so badly now. She is really an angel. Every time I leave her, our pains are insufferable. But what can we do in the face of duty to one’s country? I dare not shed my tears till she is fast asleep, so as not to give her additional pain, but I really suffer terribly. Got up at 9 a.m. Went down to the Yuan to mass New Year greetings. Afterwards took a walk along the highway to Zhuangyuanbei with Wu Shangying (吳尚鷹) and Mr. Wen.
Received a phone message from Chen Ding (陳定) saying that the “agreement” from Soviet Russia had arrived and also Kitty came to Chongqing yesterday. I felt extremely bad.