Thursday, 27 April

Clear skies, sun

Assistant Consul Zhang Zigu (張子固) went to the Siberian Consulate and passed by here. He said the cost of living in the country has soared four times compared with earlier last year. Salaries have not increased. The budget for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has only been increased by 30%. Staff can only afford to eat in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’s refectory and have no money to buy clothes. They find they are in great difficulty. The plane service between Lanzhou and Hami has been stopped because the Soviet Union did not supply petrol. The teaching team of Ili-Ningxia has ceased to exist since last September as the Soviet Union did not supply petrol, so transportation between here and China was stopped.

I had a nightmare in the evening. I felt beloved (name unknown) was very cold to me. I remembered when I was newly married I was still young and I had just made a name in the school. I envisioned that my marriage would be a fruitful one. But my wife thought that my status was not high and not as wealthy as others, therefore she was dissatisfied with me. Now my status is quite supreme and I am able to support myself economically. Now my beloved (name unknown) thought there was a rift in age between us and felt dissatisfied. All in all, woman are limitless in desire, and as a matter of fact I should not hold high hopes for others so as not to be disappointed and feel pain.