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At the end of August 1941, Rev. Henry sent me to Xianxian in Hebei Province to study philosophy for a third year. In Shanghai seminaries the course was only two years, while the Jesuits required three years, so I had to make up a year. According to the dispositions of the Society of Jesus at that time the school of philosophy was in Xianxian and the school of theology in Shanghai, with the examination centre in Wuhu in Anhui Province. I set out by train in early September with Zhu Shude and Chen Tianxiang. We crossed the Yangtze River and then took a second train to Bengbu, where we stayed for two nights and visited the Bengbu diocese. The Italian Jesuits there gave us a warm welcome. Bishop Cassini received us. We visited the boys and girls middle schools, the latter being administered by the Sisters of St. Ursula from Italy. Among the nuns was the fourth daughter of my benefactor Jin Fushan. The Jesuit house was next to the station. At night the rumbling of the trains prevented us from sleeping soundly. Three days later we continued on our journey by train, arriving the following day at Botou in Hebei Province. Shen Daiqi, a Jesuit who had already been studying at Xianxian, was waiting for us. He arranged for us to take a flat-top wagon pulled by two mules, for there was no bus route between Botou and Xianxian. The wagon had wooden wheels bound with iron which ran into the deep ruts left in the dirt road by the preceding carts. As I sat on this conveyance I was reminded of the Chinese saying: ‘You may close your door to build a cart; but when you issue forth the wheels must align with the ruts’. As I sat on the cart, I thought of Confucius long ago travelling from state to state by means of just such a contraption. The means of transport had not made any progress in over 2,000 years. At nightfall we slept at the church in Liuxin township. To cushion us from the violent jolting of the cart, Brother Shen borrowed a quilt to put on the flat-top and told us to lie down, which was indeed a big improvement. The carter cracked 13 School of Philosophy (1941–42) 62 The Memoirs of Jin Luxian his whip regularly, once in the air and once on the ground, causing the mule to think that another mule was being whipped and making it go a little faster. On the second day we continued our journey, arriving half a day later at Yuntai Mountain, about 20 li from Xianxian. This place was the agricultural base of Xianxian diocese, with about 200 hectares of good land used for growing cereals, fruit, vegetables and many grape vines. They made their own wine which they sold all over China. In the evening we arrived at the nationallyrenowned Zhangjiazhuang church. The church covered a wide area and had an imposing facade. It was surrounded by thick, high walls like those of a city, wide enough to ride a horse along and with crenellations for firing guns. At the time of the Boxer Rebellion in 1900, the Allies sent a troop of French soldiers to defend the church and foreign residents. Xianxian diocese consisted of a male college and a female college; the former included the cathedral, the bishop’s palace, the Jesuit house, elementary and middle schools, a seminary, a novitiate, a juvenate college and a school of philosophy, a printing house and publishing company, a very large library and farm. The female college included a foundling hospital, an orphanage, girls elementary and middle schools, the convent of Our Lady of Xianxian, a convent of the Congregation of Helpers of the Holy Souls and a convent of the Sisters of the Holy Spirit from Canada. There was also a fairly large hospital. The church had its own generator, water plant and had central heating for winter. In the courtyard was a large pond where one could skate in winter and row boats in summer. We went to the county town of Xianxian, which had walls of packed earth and very few brick and tile houses inside. (The contemporary TV serial character Ji Xiaolan is from Xianxian.) The standard of living of the missionaries was so far above that of the common people that it was bound to give rise to animosity. A few days after we arrived, we...

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