Tuesday, 27 December

 

I woke up early in the morning and replied to Huang Zunsheng (黃尊生) as follows.

 

I received your letter amid my trip to the Mediterranean Sea, as well as the two poems attached. As I assumed you still haven’t yet returned to Malaya, please excuse my delay in responding to your poems. I also received your letter on the sixteenth of this month and I am pleased to learn that you have returned to your sweet home. Your poems really have the style of the Tang poets. During these chaotic times, the situation is much like the Tang Dynasty but not the Song. The content and the mood couldn’t be the same. To say your poems are like the poems of Dao Fu is, perhaps, not excessive. In the past, there were two things which all Sichuan warlords would do. One was to take mistresses. The other was building schools. We sighed that the dao withered as warlords built schools. This would ring true in Nanyang where merchants have built a university, and it is not bad to decline the offer of teacher in a university. My life is the same as before. I read the poetries of Dao Fu in the coffee shop, talk to foreigners about The Book of Changes, learn to write articles in a tiny restaurant, and build a book room under the kitchen. These are all contrary to things that normally happen. When my old friends know this, they will naturally laugh. I would like to take the chance to wish you happy Year.

 

All the best,

Brother Chang, with a courteous nod. 27 December, 1955.

 

The letter from Huang Zunsheng is attached. (1)

 

After we saw each other last time I wrote nothing and I knew it was really wrong. After my return to Malaya, everything seemed to be changing. I was preoccupied with many things. They are not worthy to mention. Nanyang University offered a teaching post for me which I had declined politely. Still I was pulled back to my home at Penang, but my heart is still left in the Mediterranean Sea. I can’t wash away my passion for the European lands. If I had the chance I would still consider to visit there again.

 

Brother Zunsheng, with a courteous nod. 16 December,1955.

 

[Private matter, one paragraph, not online]

 

I discussed with Chengzhi and Shaohua about the import export business potential between Hong Kong and France. Shaohua has had experience with components of cars and planes, as well as hardware. He also has connections.

 

The New York Herald Tribune reported that various countries in Western Europe all think that the renewal of armaments is the most pressing issue of the day. But this means their burdens would become heavier. This is particularly the case for Guided Missiles. Also, since the Soviet Union had produced the “Bison” Jet-bomber (perhaps it could carry and drop an atomic bomb), the anti air-raid web had to be further improved. At present, the Soviet Union still stations twenty-five divisions in East Germany (eighteen of them were machinery). Compared with the twelve divisions of West Germany and the troops stationed by the United States and France, they are still not enough. But they are enough to guard.

 

Table (armaments of Western Europe) (Sic.)

Belgium	152300
Denmark	100000
Luxemburg	2400
France	1000000
Greece	170000
Italy	500000
Netherlands	140000
Norway	33000
Portugal	68000
Turkey	500000
United Kingdom	915000
Canada	119000
USA	3287000