Taiwan Today

In the morning of a shining day last March, a large throng gathered at a busy intersection on Nanking Road in Taipei, capital city of the Republic of China. As they looked up and applauded, a handsome bronze statue was unveiled. At the Taipei City Hall, President Chiang Kai-shek presided over a memorial meeting. Pamphlets and postage stamps were issued. Newspapers published special articles and supplements. Television and radio stations presented special programs.

They were commemorating the centenary of the birth of Wu Chih-hui.

Observances also took place in other member states of the United Nations Educa­tional, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Two years ago, at the 6lst Session of the Executive Board of the UNESCO, Wu was listed as one of the great personalities of the century. In commemoration of the 100th anniversary of his March 25 birth date, UNESCO called on its members to accord him recognition.

Wu Chih-hui, better known as Wu Ching-heng to his Western friends, was a man of exceptional achievements. His ardent patriotism is a by-word with the Chinese people. He joined Dr. Sun Yat-sen's national revolution and became a faithful member of the Kuomintang (Nationalist Party). His thoughts ran ever ahead of his time and he was one of the Kuomintang's most liberal and progressive senior leaders. In terms of age (he died in Taipei October 30, 1953, at the age of 89) he was older than many of his revolutionary comrades; in terms of thought, he was younger and more vigorous than many of his juniors.

Wu's accomplishments covered a wide range. In view of his profound and extensive philosophical utterances, some say he was a great thinker; in view of his participa­tion in the national revolution and political activities, some view him as primarily a revolutionary. Still others see him as an out­standing educator because of his contribu­tions to a simple pronunciation of the Chinese language, and some regard him as essentially a journalist. In his March 25 eulogy on the 100th anniversary of Wu's birth, President Chiang Kai-shek said: "He was a great man­-of-letters, philosopher, educator, calligrapher, and social reformer of modern China. He was more than a man of foresight and vision in China's national revolution."

Inspired Educator

One of Wu's greatest contributions was of a single pronunciation for the Chinese language. Though China has had a uniform written language since the Chin Dynasty of 2,200 years ago, different localities have their own spoken dialects. Previously, neighboring provinces and sometime even neighboring villages could not understand each other. National unity was impeded.

Shaken by the defeat of China in the first Sino-Japanese war in 1894, Wu determined to establish a single Chinese spoken language and promote universal education to strengthen the nation. The next year, he invented phonetic symbols and began to ex­periment with them. Results were satisfac­tory.

In December, 1912, after establishment of the Republic of China, the Ministry of Education named Wu to head an organization to provide a single spoken language. In 1919, the first edition of a phonetic dictionary was published. Chinese people at home and abroad began to learn the new pronunciation based on Mandarin Chinese. In 1924, Wu headed a Shanghai school teaching Mandarin. It attracted students from far and wide.

In 1928, after the unification of China by revolutionary troops, Wu was made chair­man of a committee for the unification of pronunciation. Drive after drive was launch­ed to universalize Mandarin. Today Chinese and foreigners learn to speak Mandarin through the phonetic symbols invented by Wu. His contribution strengthened the spiritual unity of the Chinese people and led to greater solidarity of the nation.

Since Taiwan's retrocession to the Republic of China in 1945, most of the island-born—who had Japanese forced upon them for 50 years—have learned to speak Man­darin. Philologists of other countries have marveled at the achievement. Largely it is the gift of Wu Chih-hui, a striking example of his foresight and a tribute to his profound knowledge of the Chinese language and phonology, his successful application of the principles of the comparative phonetics of the Orient and the West, and the devotion of a lifetime.

The First Emperor of the Chin Dynasty unified the Chinese written language by im­perial decree. Wu laid a solid foundation for a uniform spoken language almost with "bare hand and empty fist."

Paragon of Patriotism

Throughout his long life, Wu was a staunch revolutionary and anti-Communist. Out of his 50 years of close comradeship and friendship with Wu, President Chiang gave an affectionate summary of Wu in his eulogy: "He was forever devoted to the cause of the national revolution, which he assumed as his lifelong mission. It was his belief that he was duty-bound to give his views on important affairs concerning the party and the nation, although he himself might lead a life as unattached as a cloud and as free as a bird. Whenever the nation was faced with difficulties and crises, he would rise to the occasion without hesitation, and, displaying his sense of responsibility, would not yield an inch on matters of principle .... His conduct was always in the interest of our national security and welfare .... "

In 1926 and 1927, when the Northward Expedition was about to crush the separatist warlords and unify the nation, the Communist International's conspiracy to use the Chinese Communists as a tool to control China had come to a head. The Kuomintang and the Na­tional Government hesitated to take sanctions against the Reds. The Communists organized vagabonds into armed terrorist gangs, instigated strikes, sought to create disunity with­in the Kuomintang and to foster ill-feeling and conflicts among the revolutionary troops so as to facilitate infiltration and seize power. At this critical juncture, Wu, in his capacity as a member of the Kuomintang Central Supervisory Committee, exposed the Communist conspiracy to the committee then meeting in Shanghai. In a memorandum, Wu clearly stated his two conclusions:

1. Communists are trying to use Kuomintang cliques to control politics. This shows that treacherous accomplices of the Chinese Communists have been admitted to the Kuomintang. To save our Party from destruction, we must take preventive meas­ures.

2. Now that the National Government is under the influence of the Soviet instigator Borodin (Russia's representative in China), how can China escape the fate of domination by the Soviet Russia and of becoming a satel­lite state under a transformed imperialism as the government is taken over by the Com­munists? This is contradictory to Dr. Sun's will that "China must unite with those world nations which treat China with equality." We must expose any and all treacherous conspiracies.

A housecleaning was quickly under­taken. Communists and pro-Communist ele­ments were expelled from the Kuomintang. As the late Dr. Hu Shih was to write, this had a tremendous impact on the history of the Far East. If China had fallen under control of the Communists at that time, most East Asian countries now would be shut be­hind the Iron Curtain.

In 1940, after the traitor Wang Ching-wei, former Deputy Director General of Kuo­mintang, established his puppet regime in Nanking and signed an alliance with Japan, defeatism arose in some corners of China. Wu appealed to the Chinese soldiers and people for firm determination and resoluteness to win the war. This checked defeatism and increased the combat morale of Chinese troops.

Great Thinker

Dr. Hu Shih regarded Wu as one of the four greatest Chinese thinkers of the last three centuries (the other three were Ku Ting-lin, Yen Hsi-chai, and Tai Tung-yen). To bring about a modern China, Wu proposed to re­form the Chinese way of thinking through science. He stressed the importance of science and technology and urged the people to throwaway books based on superstition. As President Chiang declared:

"Mr. Wu's ideas were ever so progressive. His knowledge, therefore, underwent a constant process of renewal. He never criti­cized the present according to past criteria, nor vice versa. To him, the universe is continuously creative; consequently, human intelligence and knowledge are always moving ahead. He believed this untiring universe of ours provides a stage on which man may pursue his creative work. It is only for this reason that 'man is led to move forward' and 'he goes through a constant process of betterment.' This is the secret of how our 5,000-year-old China still survives despite the erosive and destructive forces of heresy and despotism. This is in accord with his theory of evolution that mil­liards of things develop side by side without interfering with one another. From this belief springs his mental vitality, indefatigable spirit, and unfailing optimism under any and all circumstances.

"Mr. Wu's intelligence showed both depth and loftiness. He explored the secrets of the universe from a philosophical viewpoint so as to endow a wealthier meaning to human life. According to his conviction, human existence and Nature are inseparable; in fact man cannot live without the means of sustenance provided by Nature. Consequent­ly, for his own security and development, man must harness nature with science and use the fruits to promote human welfare. When there obtains a state of wealth, health, and happiness for every home and individual, it will then be possible gradually to eliminate cruelty and homicide and to usher in that world order in which harmony and equality prevail. His ideas, therefore, were the precursor of the Three Principles of the People—nationalism, democracy and people's livelihood. He stressed the importance of action in implementing these principles and advised against empty words. He believed in 'science and technology.' He advocated that students overseas should work their way through college so that more youths could be trained to advance China's national revolution and na­tional reconstruction. This was consistently his view on how China could be modernized."

Top Calligrapher

By the age of 40, Wu had become an outstanding exponent of the so-called seal style of writing the characters. He introduced a style so dignified yet so sweeping, so prim yet so splendid, as to defy ancient or modern comparison. One example, the temple tablet inscription for Chiang-tzu-chin Garden, is such an illuminating masterpiece that it might be said to have brushed away the accumulated enervation of previous generations and opened up vistas of guidance for generations to come.

Wu was also a prolific writer. His works included: History of the Primitives in Pre­ historic Times, Chart Illustrating Darwin's Theory, Talks Throughout the Length and Breadth of Ancient and Modern Times, Con­versations with Guests by Fei-an, The Great Problem of the Two Hundred Billion of the Masses, and Chronological Records and Deeds of Dr. Sun Yat-sen. Various editions of his works by different publishers include Wu Chih-hui's Academic Works and Supplement, Collection of Wu Chih-hui's Essays, Recent Works by Wu Chih-hui and Supplement, Works and Deeds of Wu Chih-hui, Complete Works of Wu Chih-hui, and Recent Articles and Talks by Wu Chih-hui.

Wu was born in Yanghu county of Kiangsu Province of southern China on March 25, 1864, to the family of a farmer-scholar. At six he lost his mother; he was taken to the home of his mother's family and brought up there. The next year he began to learn the Chinese classics. At 18 he took a teach­er's job to supplement his meager means. At 23 he passed with honors the Imperial Primary Examination at his native town. Later he entered Nan-ching College and studied with the rector, Huang I-chow, a distinguished scholar, whose motto of "seek the truth by verification of the facts and never be an arbitrator" Wu respected throughout his life. At 27 he passed the Imperial Examination of the Second Order. The follow­ing year, when he returned from Peking after failing an examination there, he found his schoolmate Tien Chi-tien in prison for having offended the magistrate of Chiang-yin county. With a group of indignant friends, Wu went to the magistrate's office and demanded an explanation. This resulted in the release of Tien but greatly displeased the rector of Nan­ching College. Consequently Wu transferred to Tse-yang College at Soochow.

At 30, Wu again went to Peking for an examination but failed again. China had just been defeated in the first Sino-Japanese war and forced to cede territories and pay indem­nities. Gravely concerned over the future of the nation, Wu decided to petition Emperor Kuang-hsu for political reform. He obtained an audience with the Vice Minister of Interior Affairs but the latter refused to present Wu's views to the Emperor. Disappointed Wu soon left the capital for home.

Goes to Japan

Niu Tieh-sheng, Wu's former schoolmate at Nan-ching, had gone to Hupeh Province some time before and entered a military academy there. On several occasions he tried to persuade Wu to join him and learn military science to serve the country, but Wu would Dot go so far from home because his father was paralyzed and bedridden. He taught at the Nanyang School in Shanghai as its rector and waited upon his father as a filial son.

In 1900, Wu's father died. That same year saw the Boxer Uprising, followed by the loss of Peking and Tientsing to the allied forces of the eight foreign powers. The nation was in danger of disintegration and partition. Grieving and indignant, Wu accepted Niu's invitation and went to Japan.

Some of Wu's friends were associates of Dr. Sun Yat-sen. One day they invited Wu to meet Dr. Sun but Wu refused, saying:

"We can't go to see a gangster." At that time, though Wu was for reform, he was not wholly receptive to revolutionary thoughts. After his friends returned from the visit, Wu asked them about Dr. Sun, and they replied: "Not a gangster."

At the invitation of Tao-mo, Governor General of Kwangtung and Kwangsi provinces, Wu went to Canton to take charge of preparations for the establishment of the Uni­versity of Canton. Then he returned to Japan, taking with him his family and three students, among them Shen Chin-ting, now Chinese ambassador to Congo (Leopoldville). Their purpose was to enter the Tokyo Higher Normal School. However, Minister Tsai Ching, diplomatic delegate of the Manchurian court in Japan, accused Tsai Ngo (who later led the troops of Yunnan province and staged a revolt against would-be emperor Yuan Shih­-kai) and other students of being members of a rebellious party. When Wu and the stu­dents went to the Chinese Legation, he and some students were detained and deported to China on the charge of "molesting public order." Furiously, Wu jumped into the sea as a protest but was rescued by police.

Meets Dr. Sun

Back in China, Wu cooperated with Tsai Yuan-pei (who later became Minister of Edu­cation) in setting up the Patriotic Institute in Shanghai, taking in some 200 students who had withdrawn from Nanyang College. As head of the Institute, Wu introduced mutual-help teaching and self-governing systems for the students, and taught them ideas of na­tional reform and revolution, to the suspicion of the Manchurian officials. In a few months a decree came down to disband the Institute. This was followed by the case of Su Pao, a newspaper which Wu worked for and which advocated revolution. The Manchu authorities sent a note to the Foreign Concession authorities in Shanghai demanding the arrest of Wu and others. Wu fled to Hongkong in time, and with the help of friends and in 1903 made a trip to Scotland and later to London. He began to learn English at the age of 39.

In the winter of the following year, Dr. Sun Yat-sen arrived in London and visited Wu. They had a long conversation, and found many common aims and interests. The first meeting led to Wu's participation in the rev­olutionary camp. He soon joined Dr. Sun's Tung Meng Hui (the Chinese Revolutionary Union) and ever after was a staunch believer in the Three People's Principles as well as an active revolutionary.

In 1907 Wu and two friends organized in Paris the World Society and the World Book Company for printing Chinese materials. The World Pictorials and La Tempoj Novaj, a weekly, were published. They served as powerful organs to expose the corruption of the Manchurian court and advocate revolution. At a time when slanderers sought to vilify Dr. Sun, these two organs not only vindicated his honor and cause but contributed to the later success of the revolution.

At the founding of the Republic of China in 1911, the first republic in Asia, Dr. Sun became its Provisional President. Wu went to Peking and shared a room with Dr. Sun for several days. He would not accept any government post. However, he urged public recognition of the importance of universal education as a prerequisite to scientific civilization and democracy, that a uniform spoken language with a phonetic system be introduced immediately and that illiteracy be quickly obliterated.

Overseas Schooling

Wu, who had stayed in Europe for many years and witnessed the growth of national strength and scientific development in the Western powers, suggested that overseas uni­versities be established and Chinese youth sent there to be trained by foreign experts. He engaged in an extensive campaign at home and abroad to promote industry and learning through diligence and thrift. He personally led a large group of students to France, organized the Sino-French University, and became its chancellor. Unfortunately, the political situation at home was chaotic. Shortly after the university came into being, a coup d'etat took place in Kwangtung pro­vince. This resulted in the suspension of financial support to the university. There were student troubles and Wu quit. Later and back in China, he was appointed chair­man of the board of trustees for the univer­sity, but the overseas university project never recovered.

In March, 1925, when Dr. Sun was in critical condition, Wu was one of the wit­nesses to the founding father's will. After Dr. Sun's death, Chiang Kai-shek became leader of the revolution and headed the Northward Expedition to unify the nation. On the day the troops were ready to set out, Wu conferred with the Generalissimo on the banner of the Expedition.

In 1937, the Japanese warlords brought on a new war. As a personal adviser to Generalissimo Chiang, Wu offered his assistance and contributed to many momentous decisions. Contented with modest means and delighted in principles of truth and his own convictions, he declined the offer of high position.

In 1941, Wu was afflicted by high blood pressure. Three years later, when he was 77, he was suffering from prostate trouble. Declining in health almost from day to day, he still worked long hours. He devoted himself to writing, taking time off only to receive visitors and comply with their requests for examples of his superb calligraphy.

Assembly Chairman

After China had defeated Japan, the government convoked the National Assembly to write a new Constitution. As a delegate from his native town, Wu attended and gave untiring attention to every detail of the document. Later, as chairman of the Assembly, he presented the Constitution to Generalissimo Chiang for promulgation. In May, 1948, at the first session of the Assembly under the Constitution, Chiang Kai-shek was elected first President of the Republic.

After the Presidential inauguration, Wu became adviser to the President. For reasons of health, he declined to see visitors and decided to devote himself to compilation of his works. He hoped that by avoiding dis­tractions he might arrange his 60-year collection of newspapers and correspondence for the reference of historians. His plan was soon thwarted.

The Chinese Communists started their all-out rebellion, and quickly occupied North China. In November of 1948, Wu's condition grew worse. President Chiang tried to persuade him to go to Taiwan for recuperation, and eventually had to send a special plane for him on February 24, 1949. A little later, Shanghai was lost. His library collections met with a calamitous fate, another blow to his already broken heart.

During the last four and half years of his life he was in poor health and suffered severely; He wanted to go to the United States for treatment and to visit his son Wu Hsiang, who was ill with nephritis. But the trip was delayed until he was too feeble. He underwent an operation in Taiwan and passed away on October 30, 1953, at the age of 89.

The news of his death plunged the whole nation into mourning. At his funeral, tens of thousands of people gathered to pay tribute. In compliance with his will, his ashes were placed in an urn and sunk in the Kinmen (Quemoy) Straits.

Mrs. Wu was a year younger and died at 88, four months before her husband. She and the children had lived at 17 Latchmere Road, Claphon Common, London, for 17 years.

Fable on Greed

Wu preferred walking to riding in an automobile or other vehicle. Once he was presented with a jinricksha by a friend. He told General Chiang Ching-kuo, then a student of his, to have the pulls sawed off and the ricksha converted into a wheeled chair. "Everyone of us has two legs with which we should be able to walk by ourselves. If you sit in a jinricksha pulled by another person, that will mean four legs," General Chiang recalled Wu as saying.

General Chiang also recalled a fable told by Wu to caution against greed: A child saw a banknote on the street and picked it up. At first, he took it for an ordinary piece of paper. Later some people taught him to buy candy with the banknote and he did. From then on, he knew the value of money and looked down at the street when­ever he was walking, hoping to find another note. He ran into a horse cab and was killed.

Wu lost his teeth one by one as he was aging, but refused to get false teeth. "The loss of teeth is a natural indication that we are getting old. Our stomach will fail, even if we have false teeth," he said.

Wu paid special attention to the develop­ment of overseas Chinese and international publicity. He expressed regret that there were 800 Chinese restaurants and more than 1,000 Chinese laundries in New York City alone, giving some Americans the impression that China produced only cooks and laundrymen. He noted that China needed more writers in foreign languages. He himself spoke English, Japanese, French, and Ger­man.

Views on Japan

Wu liked mountaineering and travel. Once he and two friends visited a famous mountain. He gave a false name, but a po­liceman recognized him and insisted on send­ing guards to protect him. Wu said jokingly:

"We are a team of idle men who came to visit. Please don't treat us like convicts." Wu married at 24. He often called the marriage an old-fashioned one but said their minds were modern. Mrs. Wu never attended school, but Wu taught her his phonetics. After Wu went to England, they corresponded in the symbols which no one else could understand.

One day in 1950, Wu's friend Li Hong­-chiu went to visit him after a trip to Japan. Wu asked where he had been, and Li replied:

"I have been in Japan for three months." Wu struck his cane on the floor, exclaiming:

"So you have gone to Japan! I have told you several times to visit the United States but you went to Japan. What is the good of seeing Japan? Everything it has is bought from the West."

Upon hearing this, Li replied: "I wanted to see the situation in Japan and to know whether it will be resuscitated and invade China again." To this Wu retorted: "It certainly will be resuscitated quickly. But how can there be any permanent peaceful coexistence when a hungry wolf sleeps by the side of a fat sheep? The biggest invaders of China are Russia and Japan. The history of the past 100 years has given us sufficient evidence to prove this. Unless China seeks to strengthen itself, how can it hope not to be invaded?"

In the early days of the revolution against the Manchurian court, Wu originated a slogan which symbolized his sympathy for the weak: "In case of a law suit between an emperor and a commoner, I will stand for the commoner; in case of a law suit between a teacher and a student, I will stand for the student; and in case of a law suit between father and son, I will help the son."

Wu still kept his pigtail when the Chinese Republic was established. Once a friend urged him to cut it off. Wu declared: "We have campaigned for the right to keep that pigtail!" Later, however, when he gave a speech in Shanghai on the revolution, his pigtail was gone. He was a man who believed in and practiced all freedoms.

All his life Wu practiced extreme self-austerity. He was ever to be found in cotton garments and shoes of coarse cloth. He walked with vigor and alacrity. To his guests he was ever a fascinating conversationalist, drawing on an endless store of humorous and instructive anecdotes. His creed was to do his utmost to supplement Providence and to work hard in all circumstances to discharge his duty as an ordinary member of human­kind. Though an active revolutionary, he never accepted any government post. He worked within the Kuomintang and accepted only positions offered him by academic circles. The influence of his thought and virtue has won universal recognition and respect. For the three imperishable contri­butions of a man—to establish one's virtue, one's merit and one's words for posterity—Wu attained each and has been immortalized in all three. Few who knew him did not come to respect, like and later revere him. The purity of his spirit, the perfect integrity of his character, and his contributions will be forever remembered by the nation. As a Chinese verse reads:

Though the wise man has long passed away,

His pattern will abide with us forever and aye.