Tuesday, 5 September

Fine

I studied Russian for two and a half hours in the morning.

At 4.00 p.m. the Norwegian Ambassador, Rolf Andvord, visited me. He said that the German army has retreated from Finland to Norwegian territory. As there are 500,000 German troops in Norway, liberation will be later than in other European countries.

In the evening Molotov invited reporters from all countries and made a speech. (Attaché Hu went there under the title of reporter and she reported to the Embassy on her return.) He said that all the previous activities by Bulgaria the Soviet Union now deemed them coming as a result of coercion by Germany. Bulgaria had no choice but had to do it. So the Soviet Union would forgive them. However, now the German threat has gone, even Romania and Finland have separated from Germany and joined the fight against Germany. Nevertheless Bulgaria suddenly announced its neutrality, using its position to help the withdrawal of the German army. Therefore, the Soviet Government will cease diplomatic relations with Bulgaria and declare war on it at the same time. The reporters then asked Molotov if these moves have been discussed with Britain and the United States. Molotov said he had informed the British Ambassador. The reporters then asked if the Finnish representatives were on their way. Molotov replied that the Soviet Government has permitted the Finnish representatives to come to Moscow immediately. I reported this to the Foreign Ministry immediately.

I received letters from my family. They were all about bad things. Other people hoped to receive letters from families and deemed them as the happiest things. For me it is a pity that there must recently be some bad things when I receive a letter from my family. Fu Huimei sent me a letter, saying Jincheng’s concubine had died. Jincheng recently acquired a concubine and she gave birth to a daughter. He owed someone money and he was forced to pay the debt. He is not good at managing his money. This was his fault. My mother’s brother leads a very meagre life in Hong Kong. He is my mother’s only relative. I should help him. But how to remit money to him is quite a difficult task.