Vignette 3

 A Stroke of Great a Luck

 Author：Judith Lau

"By a stroke of great luck for your father and all of us - " my mother would reminisce during my childhood,  "吳國楨(K.C. Wu), 大筆一揮而就! " and changed my father's first overseas diplomatic assignment in 1943 from South Africa to the USA, from Johannesburg to Chicago! 

 

K.C.Wu was the Acting Minister of MFA(外交部代理部長) during father's first MFA years in Chungking. Father described US educated K.C.Wu as having an excellent command of English and an American management style. K.C.Wu spoke plainly, with a directness uncharacteristic of a Chinese. He never micro-managed, empowered his staff to be independent thinkers and was decisive in his own actions. K.C.Wu assigned his newest staff member, my father, to manage all incoming and outgoing English transmissions and documents.

  

When father began his  career in MFA in 1939 at the entry level civil service, he was barely age 24, an Economics major without an academic English background. But father's personal childhood interest in English and avid use of his father's English library of books and classical recordings boosted father's English scores in the Special Examination for Consular and Diplomatic Personnel. The entire Ministry of Foreign Affairs during the war, was only staffed with about 100 full time working members. At first, Father was petrified at the enormity of his responsibility and the urgent turnaround "under siege" time line. Not only were wartime communications to and from the UK and US of dire importance, those communiques were at the highest government levels. All the Foreign embassies were also reliant on this tenuous communication line to the outside world during the war. Father's great relief was the impeccable English fluency of Madame Chiang who rushed raw transmissions directly to and from the Generalissimo without waiting for father's translations.

 

During his 4 years of training by and under bombs and "fire", Father must have sufficiently impressed K.C.Wu. Among father's regular work assignments was an extraordinary decree from "above". In 1941, an order from the Generalissimo landed on father's desk. The Generalissimo's terse directive was written personally in large red ink strokes "'China' appellation not suitable. Research. Change." With K.C.Wu's broad instruction to handle this critical matter with all speed and to use father's own discretion, father pondered on the name "China" and alternatives such as "Zhong Guo", "Hua Guo", "Middle Country". Father came to the conclusion that "China" was actually the most appropriate.  However, a junior grade official like himself should not presume to rebut the Generalissimo's stated intention. 

During several meetings over the Generalissimo's name change order, K.C.Wu encouraged father to follow his own judgement. Recognizing the Generalissimo's well known deference to scholars, Father decided to venture consultations with 2 respected scholars Chiang Fu-ts'ung (蔣復璁) and Chen Yin-ke  (陳寅恪).  When the 2 scholars returned their independent verdicts that the name "China" is a time honored name from antiquity which was used even in the ancient Indian Buddhist sutras. The name "China" should therefore be retained. Much relieved, father submitted his report to K.C.Wu who nodded his approval. K.C.Wu handed this report up to the Generalissimo with a sly notation for emphasis, "Only minor countries such as Burma and Thailand change their names. A great country need not." This name change issue faded into the Chungking mist, never to be raised again. 

Father would later chuckle, the various branches of government services breathed a big collective sigh of relief. A name change would have entailed a monumental burden of work on all departments to rectify government constitutional and legal documents, departmental papers, as well as all our international agreements and declarations! 

 

When the roster of new diplomatic posting came to the attention of K.C.Wu in the late Spring of 1943, father was assigned to English speaking South Africa. Was it really just father's  "stroke of blind luck" that compelled K.C.Wu  to impulsively 提筆一揮而就, with one stroke of his pen, switched the assignments of father and the hapless young man who subsequently landed in South Africa? Or was K.C.Wu 's decision thoughtfully based on father's work and character?

 

To me today, in my late years of maturity, I am impressed by how a very young man demonstrated the judgement, sagacity and courage that would serve his country well into history. Sometimes when I read or hear the name  "China", I smile thankfully that K.C.Wu, Chiang Fu-ts'ung, Chen Yin-ke  and a young diplomat named Tien Pao-tai (田寶岱) preserved that proud name for all posterity!

 

 

 

 

大筆一揮而就

    小時候常聽母親說：吳國禎大筆一揮而就，把你爸爸和我們全家送到美國！她指的是父親在1943年第一次外派的地點原本是南非，因為吳國禎的關係，從約翰尼斯堡變成芝加哥。

    吳國禎次長是父親進入外交部時的代理部長。父親口中這位留美的次長英語能力極佳，待人處事很有美式風格，說話直接了當，並且充分授權屬下，要屬下獨立思考，積極行動。當時吳部長對新進外交部的父親所賦予的任務，就是處理所有英文文件的往來。

    父親在1939年開始外交部的公職生涯時，還不到24歲，甚且沒有英文系的背景。剛開始的時候，大量的工作和緊迫的時間壓力對父親是很大的挑戰，又因為正值戰爭期間，與英、美來往文件非但至關重要，而且可能事涉政府最高階層。所有駐外使館與外界的訊息溝通也都倚重英、美兩國管道，不過蔣夫人宋美齡女士有高超的英文能力，許多文件不必等父親翻譯，她立刻直接報告蔣委員長。

    父親經過四年的磨練，吳次長必然對他印象深刻。1941年「高層」給了吳次長一項特殊的任務：蔣委員長在私函中以紅色大字寫下指令，簡單扼要，意思是 China一詞不妥。研究。更改。吳次長指派父親審慎研究並盡速處理，父親再三斟酌，考慮了幾個英文名稱，如 “Zhong Guo”、 “Hua Guo” 、“Middle Country”，最後父親認為China是最妥當的。但是，以一個年資甚淺的外交人員，如何反駁蔣委員長的想法?後來父親想到蔣委員長很尊重學者，因此決定請教眾所景仰的蔣復璁先生和陳寅恪先生。兩位先生都認為“China”一詞歷史悠久，早在印度的佛經出現，主張保留此稱。父親據此撰寫報告，之後這個更改國名的議題再也無人提起。後來父親提到，當時政府各部門一定大大鬆了一口氣。更改國家的英文名稱是個極為浩大的工程，政府的法律文書、各部門的文件和公文都須更改，甚至連國際間的協議和宣告都需更動。

    已到暮年的我想起這樁有關國名的軼事，更佩服父親當年以初生之犢的勇氣，加上他的才能和判斷，斗膽建議保留原有英譯名稱。每次讀到或聽到China一詞，我總是掛著微笑，心底感謝吳國禎、蔣復璁、陳寅恪，以及一位年輕的外交人員田寶岱，是他們合力為子子孫孫保留了這個令人驕傲的名稱。

    1943年春季，外交部新進人員派駐國外的名單呈送到吳次長，父親原本被安排到南非。吳次長大筆一揮，將父親和另一位年輕人對調，這到底是吳次長一時起意，還是他根據父親的性格和工作表現，深思熟慮之後所做的決定，則不得而知。