Everything was excited and disturbed in Shanghai. The American Consul was advising his nationals to leave, though the British were encouraged to stay. Dorothy and the friend with whom she lived felt they could not face another time like the Japanese internment. Her friend was due for retirement anyway, and felt she should leave. Then came my news of the need in Singapore. Would Dorothy take the place of the worker there? It did not take long to decide: they would not be ready for the refugee ship leaving at once, but they got passage by plane, cleared out their little establishment, and were away the early morning of May 2.
My brother's wife had been ill, and had returned to Canada with her daughter in December; so my brother was alone in the old house. He had been preparing to follow them as soon as I could take over. Now that the others were going, and conditions so threatening, he said he would stay with me till we saw how things would go. But the telephone rang. It was long distance from Canada. His wife was very ill. The doctor said there was little chance for her life unless her husband returned at once. A President boat was leaving May fourth, and he was able to get passage. At once his wife began to mend.
What sad hurried days those were! Even then the Lord gave a token for good. That Monday when the work of years seem collapsing, one of the weavers from the refugee village east of us passed a note over the fence saying that now our Jesus was his Jesus. In that hour was reaped the first fruits of years of seedsowing by my brother and his wife in that village.
You will soon be back, said our Chinese fellow workers, who could not picture the Book Room without "Li Shin Shang". I will expect you in a year, I said. But my brother had the sorrowful knowledge that it would be very long, if ever, before he would return to Shanghai. So just a fortnight after my arrival, I was alone in Shanghai to carry on the work as best I could.
The situation in Shanghai grew more and more tense. The Communists were advancing, and all resistance went down before them. They sent a message to Shanghai: Do not lose heart, we shall soon be there to liberate you! Shanghai was not very anxious to be liberated, but its defense was pitiable. With some wood sent from Canada to build fishing boats, they erected a sort of picket fence along the South West border of the city. They went about collecting anything that could be used for defense, including the line of barbed wire along the top of our garden wall. Soldiers were offered a silver dollar an hour to fight in the front lines. Shops were called upon for supplies: our branch Book Room was told to supply so many pairs of canvas shoes and so many face towels. But before they were due the city had fallen. Prices soared as the value of currency dropped. I am almost afraid to say what heights were reached -I think it was finally fifteen million for a pint of milk, five million for bus fare to the city. But the streets were quiet, business went on, every day I went down to the Book Room, leaving the house about 8, and returning about 6.
The Book Room was on the fourth floor of the Southern Baptist building. The Southern Baptist missionaries were doing a fine work, and they were good friends to me. There was not much doing; of course our big mail order business had collapsed. A few customers came in; one man laid in a big supply of tracts, saying that it might be difficult to get them later. The Communists drew nearer and nearer: what would the fate of a Christian Book Room be? They are especially opposed to books, said one gloomy prophet. There were still various opportunities for people to leave, and as one after another left, I felt very alone. What few friends I had were busy with their own work, and I had to pick up new threads, and make fresh contacts. I was surprised how undisturbed many of the missionaries were. We have no thought of leaving, whatever happens, said the C.I.M.
On Sunday morning there was a consular notice in the newspaper: a warning to all British subjects that this was absolutely the last opportunity for them to register for evacuation. I knew I could not leave, I would not leave; but as I stood there in the little sunroom I literally shook with fear of the things that might be coming to pass. Just then a gust of wind blew through the open windows; it blew down a book of sample illuminated texts that my brother had been preparing and it fell open before me with the words "0 man greatly beloved, fear not; peace be unto thee; be strong, yea, be strong." Dan. 10:99Yet heard I the voice of his words: and when I heard the voice of his words, then was I in a deep sleep on my face, and my face toward the ground. (Daniel 10:9). And as always happens "when He had spoken unto me, I was strengthened". I do not think I was ever overcome again by that unreasoning fear of what might (or might not) happen, though many times my Lord had to repeat His message, "Fear not" I could attain unto "What time I am afraid I will trust in Thee." Ps. 56:3; but not to "I will trust and not be afraid" Is. 12:2.
The days of May passed slowly on: the Communists were nearer and nearer. Streams of refugees poured into the city from the outskirts. The paper money was no value, but in their fear of dispossession and looting, the value of merchandise also disappeared. Paper was offered for sale at $1.00 gold a ream. How I wished afterward that I had taken advantage of the opportunity, but in our tiny quarters on the fourth floor I had no place to keep it. But I laid in stores of tinned milk, sugar, and the American army tinned goods that were still being sold on the streets. Our good friends, the Door of Hope, across the way from us, were wondering how their hundreds of children were to be fed, with supplies from America cut. That Sunday morning their treasurer was given the word from the Lord, "Thou shalt have plenty of silver" Job 22:2525Yea, the Almighty shall be thy defence, and thou shalt have plenty of silver. (Job 22:25). After the morning service a missionary slipped four silver dollars into her hand, and one dollar was enough to buy all the days supplies. The big Chinese silver dollars were what were wanted, one was worth two or three U.S. dollars at that time, and millions of paper notes!
May 24 the Communists entered. There was the rattle of gunfire, the sound of people running. None of us ventured onto the street. A Chinese brother came over to see if we were all right. In the middle of the morning there was a sudden blaze just across the main street. Our neighbors in the matshed village east of us panicked, and some of them rushed into our big empty garden with their possessions. I stood watching and praying with my Chinese housekeeper at an upstairs window. The flames died down. The awful conflagrations that had accompanied the Japanese invasion were not to be repeated. The blaze had nothing to do with the Communists: it was a lumber yard which had several times taken fire.
There was very little fighting in, our district, but in the northern section down along the river it lasted about three days. Then all the defenders had fled or turned over, and on the surface the city returned more or less to normal. On the 27th I went back to the Book Room. Things had been more exciting there, walls scarred with gunfire; one shot had passed through the wall of the washroom just opposite the door of the Book Room. But nowhere had there been many casualties.
I have the date May, 1949 against Psalm 61:22From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I. (Psalm 61:2). "From the end of the earth will I cry unto Thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the Rock that is higher than I. For Thou hast been a Shelter for me, and a strong Tower from the enemy.”
So Shanghai was "liberated".
That first summer was a strange time. Business was almost at a standstill. We were cut off from the outside world. The once crowded harbor was almost empty, and the streets had not half their previous traffic. Yet daily life went on with not so many outward changes. For some reason the Communists did not interfere with life in Shanghai nearly so much or so soon as in smaller towns and in the country. People coming into the city from the interior would say, "Oh, you have not been properly liberated yet. You can still do what you like, you are almost free!”
All along the streets, and in front of all big buildings were red army guards. These incoming troops were perfectly orderly, there was no looting, no violence. A new currency was brought in and quickly stabilized; though till 1955 we were still reckoning in thousands and millions. The "parity unit" was introduced, based on the values of the staple necessities-rice, oil, fuel, cotton. Salaries, rents and some other things were reckoned according to the parity unit. Foreign currency was required to be handed in, and bank accounts could be opened in the parity unit. This encouraged investment, as people need no longer be afraid of seeing their savings dwindle and vanish away.
The Communists were not left entirely in peace. There were almost daily air raid warnings, and several times during 1949 and early 1950 the city was bombed. In February 1950 the electric light plant was damaged, for several days there was no light, and for some time power and light were very strictly rationed. There was also fear that the waterworks would be damaged, and people were advised to prepare wells. One of the brothers, no longer able to carry on evangelistic work, dug a well for us in the garden, and it was a great asset. For four months we were almost entirely cut off from the outside world. Now and again people were able to get away by ships waiting out at the mouth of the Yangtze; but no ships came in, and for four months there were no letters. The banks still operated, and I had no trouble getting money. There was also still the English newspaper, the North China Daily News, with local and world news cautiously presented. In August my brother telephoned me long distance from Canada; that was indeed a red letter day!
A feeling of tension was kept up by the constant reports of mass arrests and executions; and almost daily one saw truckloads or jeeploads of wretched men and women, crouching on the floor, being hurried away to judgment. One night I was awakened by the barking of my little dog. There were police in our garden, come to arrest a neighbor. He escaped them that night, but was taken in the morning. There were ugly stories of informers; of how information against their parents was got from tiny schoolchildren; of enthusiastic young people informing against their parents: loyalty to the State must override everything else. At such times fear would surge over me, and I would think of my message "Bonds and imprisonment await you". I had not the faith to leave everything for God to "manage", and so in His Fatherly goodness He sent me another message. I was on the bus on the way down to the Book Room when I heard clearly in my heart the words "No man shall set on thee to hurt thee." I could not remember the passage at all, but with the help of a concordance I hunted it up, and found how rich the promise was. "Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace: for I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee, to hurt thee: for I have much people in this city." Acts 18:9, 109Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision, Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace: 10For I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee: for I have much people in this city. (Acts 18:9‑10). It was great encouragement to be assured that the Lord had "much people" in the city, more than the ten for whose sake Sodom might have been spared.
There was not very much to do in the Book Room, but there were other doors of opportunity. Saturday and Sunday afternoons there were children's classes in our house. I continued the Bible class for Japanese ladies which my brother had been asked to take. There were about a dozen women, most of them married to Chinese husbands, which was the reason of their remaining in Shanghai. A most charming lady translated for me. Later the class was held in her house, and we met only once a month, and all had lunch with her, often delicious Sukiyaki. I became very fond of her and her two dear little girls, and the baby boy who arrived later. She and her husband were very true Christians. They were associated with the "Friends", and remained in Shanghai hoping to serve the cause of peace by trying to spread true reports of conditions in China and Japan. But Communists have no real desire for either truth or peace. Liberty, Peace, and Truth were the three things they were always talking about, but they ended in talk. The words had an entirely different meaning with them-slavery, hatred and deception. So a few years later the husband of my Japanese friend was suddenly arrested, and held in prison for over two years. The wife held on bravely, and kept her faith in God through most trying times. He was at last released, and they returned to Japan. But his mind soon failed, and not long after he died.
Three or four interesting young men came every week to study New Testament Greek. There was a great desire to have a more accurate knowledge of the Scriptures, and all the ten years I was never without some one studying Greek. Some gave up the attempt before they got very far, but several of them were able to read the New Testament, and I hope they got as much profit and pleasure from it as I have. In one inland town there were so many students wanting to learn Greek that they had the whole of a Chinese Greek grammar written out by hand and mimeographed. Unfortunately they printed off only about 200 copies. These were bought up so quickly that I was not able to get the fifty I had ordered for the Book Room. One of my Greek students, with whom I carried on a correspondence course, translated a Greek grammar into Chinese, and we hoped to publish it. But that was much later, and had to be left unfinished when I came away.
In July of that first summer there was a terrible typhoon. The whole city was flooded, and for three days I was unable to get to the Book Room. The garden and the downstairs of the house were flooded. We were accustomed to that; but this was almost the last time it happened. Bigger drains were put in, and our western part of the city was certainly better, though that was not the last time the buses could not get through the water, and I waded home. The part of the city near the river was worse, for there was very little dredging. Every summer we lived in fear of floods, and had some most trying experiences with them. In 1949 the Christian Book Room was still on the fourth floor, so suffered only a broken window, but the ground floor and basement were badly flooded, and power and water supply were stopped for days.
The end of August a break came, and at last letters came through again. Everything seemed to become more normal. The rest of 1949 and 1950 were fairly quiet, and I was very busy in the Book Room, and with outside activities. But the life was complex, and the different threads must be followed separately. Each of the next five chapters takes up a different phase of the life in Shanghai with which I was in contact, and follows it through the years of my time there.