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I was born in Shanghai, but because of my family background, have always spoken with a Pudong accent. As soon as I open my mouth people know that I am from Pudong. I should explain that Shanghai is divided into two districts by the Huangpu River—the east bank is known as Pudong and the west as Puxi. After the First Opium War (1839–42), Shanghai was opened to foreign residents. When the foreigners came they established their presence in the concession areas in Puxi, so that bank of the river developed very fast. Pudong remained agricultural, its residents mainly peasant farmers, its produce mainly paddy and cotton. The river acted as the divide between the two worlds: to the west, the Paris of the Orient; to the east, backward villages. When I was small and the Lantern Festival came around (on the 15th day of the Lunar New Year), I would run down our alley with my lantern, singing songs expressing wishes for a good harvest taught to me by my mother. We prayed for good harvests of both rice and cotton—reflecting the desires of the Pudong farmers. In those days only a slip of land in Pudong called Lujiazui (opposite the Bund) was built-up at all. Here were found the British–American Tobacco Factory and some textile mills—that was all. There was no ferry across the river. If we wanted to go to Pudong, we had to crowd into a tiny sampan with about 20 people aboard and be rowed across the river. On the other side there were no paved roads, just a few narrow mud tracks known as yang chang (sheep’s gut) roads. Naturally there were no motor vehicles, nor any horse carts, not even any rickshaws (which were pulled by humans)—there were only singlewheeled barrows on which three people could sit on each side while the driver puffed and grunted as he pushed the barrow slowly forwards. Jin Family Village was about six kilometres from the river. Everyone in the village was a farmer, 80% with the surname Jin, the other 20% named Tang. The village didn’t even have a shop. To buy things the villagers were dependent 2 Pudong 16 The Memoirs of Jin Luxian on itinerant peddlers who carried basic items such as oil, soy sauce, vinegar and salt as well as needles and thread. When the peddlers came they rang bells and shouted out calls that brought people out to buy things. Some people used eggs as currency. To buy anything significant people had to go a couple of kilometres to Yangjing township, so it seems that our village was quite underdeveloped . The people worked in the fields during the day and at night spun cotton or flax. Others wove a cloth that was very durable, using simple looms. After the foreigners came they brought in cotton piece goods and there was no longer a market for the country cloth. For lighting there was of course no electricity, not even paraffin, nothing but rapeseed oil lamps, where the wick floated on a round plate, giving out very little light. In the novel Rulin Waishi (The Scholars),1 a man, just before his death, sticks out two fingers to let his wife know that using two wicks was too wasteful—one was enough. In those days material life was pretty simple in Pudong, but the Catholic Church was very developed, with churches every couple of kilometres and next to them presbyteries known as yang fang. Our village church had been the cathedral and next to the modern church was a smaller church that we called ‘old church’. It was the old church that had been the cathedral, while the bigger church had been built later, when the bishop still lived in Jin Family Village. Several times when it had been damaged, the faithful had raised funds to have it rebuilt. In those days every church had nuns or consecrated virgins looking after it. There were no Chinese religious orders so chaste women took an oath of virginity to serve the Church. The priests had to look after several parishes, for example the Jin Family Village priest was responsible for about ten parishes including Xiaotangkou, Yangsiqiao, Yanjiaqiao, Jiegouwan, Tangjiahong, Nanhuang, etc. The priests toured the parishes and the consecrated virgins managed everything. The consecrated virgins served the Church with total commitment, taking no salary, working as volunteers, doing handicrafts to support themselves; sacrificing their lives for the Church...

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