Friday, 21 January
Dull
I received the telegram from Bingkun and Bingi relayed by the Foreign Ministry, saying mother’s funeral had been implemented according to my telegram. The funeral took place on 27 December, family mourning on 7 January, and the funeral procession on 9 January. The ceremony was very simple and solemn. The coffin was the best in Liuzhou, and other things were also of fine quality. The coffin is temporarily resting in the Nanhoi [unclear] of Liuzhou, and it is sheltered by a self-built brick hut, which cost less than 200,000 Yuan. Apart from the 70,000 which had been saved, I wired 100,000 later and some 10,000 from the white envelope money received. The money was enough to cover the costs, and they settled all the other things. I feel much better about it. This time, although I am in the Soviet Union and cannot pay my last respects, thankfully, by borrowing several times my salary I was able to find enough money for mother’s funeral. This is a little luck in the midst of adversity. The night before yesterday I dreamt of mother and 12th maternal aunt, as well as (elder) sister An. I woke up and missed them very much and I could not sleep until 5.00 in the morning.
I went out shopping with Counsellor Chen, Attaché Li, and Attaché Qian. I bought several second-hand English books, which are John Ruskin’s works.