(1929) Peace Again in Kiaochow

On Saturday, April 27, the Shantung Provincial government appointed Ho-yu as magistrate of Kiaochow. Lung Chi-min chairman of the Chamber of Commerce had been in charge of civil administration until a magistrate could be appointed. The Japanese apparently did not have any objections to the new appointee, Ho-yu. The white sun on a blue sky, the flag of the Nationalist government, was flying throughout the city. A time of relative peace and stability seemed to have arrived in Kiaochow, but potential danger was not far away.

Kiaochow itself was said not to have been cleared of reactionary elements. In the mean time, General Chou Kun-shan, who had been taken away to Tsingtao with the possibility of being put on trial had somehow either escaped or had been let go, and was now turned up in Kaomi at the head of bandit-soldier troops. Another possible danger to Kiaochow was south in Wangtai, a big market place 50 li south, where troops of General Koo Chen were stationed. It was also said that General Koo Chen's troops in Tsemi had their eye on Kiaochow. Nationalist troops, generally thought favorably of, were said to be in Po within the Kiaochow district. In Kiaochow itself Liu Hui-lin, head of the Safety Guard Corps ordered the collection of $40,000 from the gentry and thus from the people. This was the sixth compulsory "contribution" for the local military within a year. The people were being bled of their money.

In May, General Koo Chen's troops left Wangtai. They had been stationed there for several months and had taken large sums of money from the people over those months. With the departure of Koo Chen with his troops and the closing of his special taxation offices, the people were greatly relieved of a financial burden. However, the day after Koo's troops left, three hundred soldiers of General Leu Ging-shan arrived claiming they were Nationalist troops, but in fact had not been recognized by the Nationalist army yet. Besides, they were poorly equipped, which was not typical for Nationalist soldiers and some of them were recognized to have been bandits before. In fact, at one time they had been troops of General Koo Chen, but had revolted and left his command. Upon their arrival, they also demanded money and provisions for 1000 troops.

Considering these troops seemed to be bandits in disguise word was sent to Liu Hui-lin of the Safety Guard Corps in Kiaochow. He was also in charge of the Farmers Protectionary Force around Wangtai. By Sunday morning Wangtai was surrounded by two hundred soldiers from Kiaochow as well as numerous armed farmers. The bandit troops inside manned the walls of the town. Rifle fire broke out about 9:00 in the morning and continued the rest of the day. The old fashioned guns of the farmers gave the impression of of a fierce battle taking place. By evening two field guns arrived from Kiaochow and the battle took on a more serious tone. The shelling continued until 10:30 the next morning when the forces inside Wangtai escaped through the south gate and headed for the hills. Before their hasty retreat they took the weapons of the local police and took prisoner the Chief of Police.

The victorious troops of Liu Hui-lin were in high spirits that Monday morning, but not for long. Three thousand to 4000 troops of the Nationalist government arrived under General Feng Chen tsai. The gates were closed by the Safety Guard Troops and the town again surrounded. Negotiations began between Generals Feng and Leu. The situation was tense. Feng ordered his troops to take their positions around the walls of Wangtai. But shortly a bugle sounded and the Liu's police force and armed forces left the city in a south-east direction. The generals had reached an agreement. General Yang's troops entered the city through the north gate. The Nationalist troops, which were generally favored by the people, were in control of Wangtai. Oscar was on his way Wangtai to visit one of the Swedish Baptist Mission's out-stations for one of his regular meetings. On the way he passed soldiers on the road, but didn't know what had been going on until he arrived in the city.

On Sunday, May 12, Feng's troops returned to Chucheng. On Monday, May 13, Nationalist troops under Fan Hsi-chieh arrived to take his place. A mass meeting was held, ceremonies performed in front of Dr. Sun Yat-sen's portrait, and the new Nationalist official, Ho-yu and representatives of various corporations, officially welcomed the Nationalist troops. In Kiaochow a new chief of the educational department was assigned, Li Shu-yung.

[Note: during the Wangtai occupation of Nationalist soldiers but before Wangtai was surrounded, Oscar was at the church. The soldiers came into the compound and were a bit angry, but not at Oscar. The soldiers had been rushed from Kiaohsien to take Wangtai, and they were apprehensive at the speed at which they had to march. they also had with them a "kulsprutal", or automatic weapon. These were Nationalist soldiers chasing the Ba-lo.]

[Note: Once when Oscar was still on bike he took and evangelist with him further south to Wan-de-guang. The past through the village a bit south. After they had just gotten to the small village well and placed their bikes there, a Japanese plane came over and threw a bomb on the village, probably thinking there were ba-lo (reds) in the village. A woman was killed. Oscar and the Chinese evangelist gave the family of the woman the little money they had on them to help them during their time of grief].

Memorial for Liu Tsi-kai

Kiaochow was now firmly in the hands of the Nationalist army and the Nationalist Kuomingtang party in place. In December a memorial service was held for Liu Tsi-kai who was the member of the nationalist government appointed chief of police shot the previous year by Chou the Tiger's men. That government had been in power only one day. Liu Tsi-kai was now considered a revolutionary leader. Inscriptions on paper in his honor were put up around the city. Handbills telling of the cause of his death were scattered about the city. A fund was collected by soldiers, students, and representatives of various corporations to support Liu's family and provide for the education of his children. A mass meeting was held just a stone's throw from where he was shot. Speakers eulogized the dead hero and encouraged others to adapt his revolutionary spirit.

Registration of Schools

At this time a mass meeting was held criticizing Li Shu-yung, the new chief of the educational department in Kiaochow. At the time of Li's appointment the local government had a normal school and primary schools scattered throughout the city and the larger outlying villages. The missionary societies had a number of primary schools and a junior middle school the latter of which belonged to the Swedish Baptist Mission. There were also a number of classical schools supported by private Chinese donations.

When Li assumed control a proclamation was declared by the local government that all the classical schools be closed and all modern schools registered or if they chose not to register, then closed. Teachers could continue to teach only if they were permitted to by the new government. Li of course was obliged to enforce the government's proclamations on education. All the classical schools closed.

To receive permission by the local government to continue schools had to agree that a service be performed before the portrait of Sun Yat Sen in honor of the Republic's founder with his last will being read aloud. This caused quite a discussion among the various missionaries. Seeing this regulation to be a religious practice many missionary schools in the countryside closed. The closing of schools was a tragedy because the need was so great. Some missionary schools in the city applied to register. The Swedish schools did not register, but tried to keep the schools going nonetheless. Oscar thinks the Swedish schools may have closed briefly. The government actually didn't have that much power so did not enforce their regulations consistently. Eventually the remaining schools continued to teach with or without permission, but with one difference: the middle school for girls and boys merged creating one co-educational school. The Chinese regulations also stated that all schools should have Chinese leadership. This was not a problem for the mission since the Swedish mission's aim was the the Chinese church would be self-governing. Egron who had been principle since 1917 stepped down.³ Info on Egron provided by Lally Rinell in an email to LJH, September 28, 2007. The following year a Chinese principal from another mission, Wang Fengying (also called°Wang Huating) was chosen principal, and stayed in office until the school was closed in 1949.⁴ Info on Egron provided by Lally Rinell in an email to LJH, September 28, 2007.

Despite the need, Li was not diligent in attracting teachers or starting new schools. He organized a course for teachers in party education in cooperation with the government. About three hundred people applied, but only half passed the preliminary examination. Of the half that could take the course, many did not receive positions in the government primary schools. It was not as if the need was not great. Only about one hundred and fifty schools were open in Kiaochow and the surrounding villages of the district. But the district contained 1266 villages.

All this made Li very unpopular and placards denouncing him went up in the city, handbills denouncing him distributed, and articles in the newspaper broadcast his shortcomings. He was accused of opposing education rather than encouraging it, making it difficult for private schools to register, hiring incompetent personnel from his own province, and misusing funds.

Trans-Siberian Railroad

Oscar, Hellen, Roy and Dollan boarded the train [where boarded the train?] taking them to the Trans-Siberian [beginning with trans-Manchurian?] railroad for a furlough in Sweden. Oscar was dressed in his black overcoat, and black hat with hatband, his brown leather satchel containing his Bible and other reading material in his left hand, and in his right the hand of his son. Hellen's coat was light brown with a fur, probably squirrel collar, and a stylish hat. Whoever has seen them off on their long trip has given Hellen bouqet of flowers. Roy wore a six button overcoat and knit cap, and clutching a net containing a ball.. Dollan's coat was red, and she looks a little out-of-sorts concerning this disruption in her day.

Hellen was nervous before the journey. Did they have their passports, their money, their luggage? Once the journey started they got into a dull daily train car routine while watching the Chinese, and then Russian landscape roll by.

The train had a dining car, but after one expensive and not very tasty meal they either bought the rest of their food through the train windows at the stations along the way or Oscar jumped off to buy at stations what was needed for the next meal or two including milk for little Dollan, which the train did not carry. He had to keep a close eye on the train. The engineer would not blow the whistle to warn passengers the train was leaving. At a station in Siberia Oscar jumped off to buy milk. Without his noticing the train started pulling out. Running, Oscar was only just able to make it to the platforms between the cars. He turned the door handle, but it was locked, and no one was in sight to let him in. He spent the next two or three hours holding Dollan's milk while very frigid air rushed around him.

Inside the train Hellen was in a panic thinking that Oscar had been left behind. She would have to continue on to Sweden without him she thought. But perhaps even this was not possible. Oscar had the tickets, and all the money for the journey to Sweden. Eventually, he was discovered and was let in [or did he have to wait until arriving at the next station to get in?]

Dollan was only a year and a half. Russian travelers on board the train would try to converse with the cute little Swede in Russian and Dollan would answer in Chinese. Roy, a little bit older, talked to the Chinese on board in a mixture of Chinese and Swedish.

Beggars at stations along the way begged for money or food. Oscar or Hellen passed money through the windows on occasion.

Fourteen days later they arrived in Sweden.

In Sweden Dollan's aunt Ruth thought that Dollan was very cute, and so was a favorite of hers. However, Dollan got in trouble with her aunt. Dollan said 'fan,' which in Swedish means 'devil,' not a proper word for a little girl or a bigger girl for that matter to say. Actually, she said in a combination of Chinese and Swedish. "When is the fan coming?" Ruth was shocked at such language, and from such a little girl too. Ruth told Hellen about her little daughter's cussing. Hellen ask Dollan what she had said, and found out that Dollan was simply hungry, and was asking for something to each, mixing Swedish and Chinese in one sentence. Fan is the Chinese word for food.

In Sweden, Dollan settled right in. While driving down one particular street she became familiar enough with the buildings along the way to know that they were coming to Papa's högskola (university). See the book "Betelseminariet 1866-1966" 'Intervju med Hellen'

Oscar had entered Göteborg's university [högskola] studying Sinology under Professor Bernhard Karlgren. Oscar studied at the university from 1930 to 1931.

Edith and France

Reinbrecht Family

The Reinbrechts arrived in China in 1928 or 1929. Thier Lutheran mission was founded by a German Lutheran mission. In the early days there were quite a few German missionaries in Tsingtao, Jimo (Gimo?) Kiaohsien and other cities. In Kiaohsien they built a large building on a big compound, ran a school and a small church. American Lutherans bought the property, but German missionaries remained including Miss Frieda Strecker and Frau Dorothea Matzat in Tsingtao. ¹⁰³ In Kioahsien the Lutherans had their own burial ground in their mission compound.

Charles Reinbrecht travelled to the different cities and villages around Kiaohsien - mainly north of the city such as Jimo. ⁸⁴ Information from Lally Rinell, email March 19, 2008. Don't know the exact chronology of when Charles Reinbrecht was working north of the city etc.

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Footnotes