Thursday, 13 January
Sun
1. The Soviet army has captured Sarny which is within Old Poland territory and are now advancing to Kovel. The army is very near to the Polish capital, Warsaw.
2. Asia America published Ralph Borsodi’s “Must China Endure this too?”. In this article, he advised China not to commit the same mistakes of active industrialisation as in the United States, Britain, the Soviet Union and Japan. This unlimited division of labour is not the most economical method. There are many industries that concentrate their production only upon a single product; then the transportation and distribution cost almost always exceeds by five times the production cost – or at least two times and over. He listed the Tientsin flour factory as an example. Its flour is already twice the price in comparison with stone-ground flour in the countryside. So he advocated that China should adopt “modernisation” instead of “industrialisation”. For flour, he thought that there was no need to use the grinding stone. He suggested using small electric grinders, which are commonly used in the United States. All in all, China should strive to make small machines, or adopt the semi-industrialisation system, and concentrate energy on heavy and basic industry. In the end, he said that the ancient Roman Empire perished because it relinquished farming villages and concentrated on the city. He also said that those countries that underwent active industrialisation had no choice but to adopt imperialistic diplomacy and China should take it as a lesson. He is quite reasonable.
3. Today is the forty-ninth day after my mother’s death. After today, I will cease to wear my mourning dress. I am deeply sorry towards my mother. But my situation is like this, my loyalty to country overwrites my filial piety. Because I had to be faithful to my country I had no choice. When I thought of it I felt extremely painful. When I was writing, my tears spilled as my pen flew. As Confucius said, after three years the son was born, then, he left the embrace of his parent. I could not feel relief that my mourning ended after forty-nine days. This is destiny and there is nothing I can do. What I can do now is “mourning in my heart” like the ancient people, and always remember my caring mother, doing everything properly so as not to tarnish the fame of my mother, striving hard for glory. I hope that in this way I can fulfil what Zengzi[1] said, attaining filial piety through achievement to glorify the parent. In the evening, I burnt my black arm band and my black necktie.
4. Last night I dreamt of my Fifth uncle and debated with him.
5. Committee member Hu says that the Soviet Foreign Trade Department is not happy with our country. I said China also has many difficulties.
[1] Zenzi, (505-535 BC) a disciple of Confucius.