Peking Diary: (1948 – 1949) A Year of Revolution

Peking Diary: (1948 – 1949) A Year of Revolution is a compilation of diary notes by Professor Derk Bodde on his stay in Peking (now Beijing) during the tumultuous year that culminated in the formation of the People’s Republic of China. Derk was a sinologist, with an expertise in Chinese philosophy, and the first Fulbright Scholar to China. The book draws from his first hand experience of living in the city during the revolution, the people he interacted with and his vast experience of China.

In the early part of the 20th century, Dr. Sun Yat-sen (now called the Father of the Nation in China & Taiwan) and his Kuomintang (KMT) Party created a revolution that overthrew the imperial rule that China had been under for many millennia. Known as the Nationalists, they were later headed by General Chiang Kai-shek during WWII, when China was subjugated and raped by Japan. But, there was also growing discontent due to the corruption and bad governance of the Nationalists. Mao Tse-tung created a Communist force in the rural and mountainous regions that grew on this unhappiness and drew the Nationalists into a civil war. The Nationalists were well funded with money, supplies and weapons by USA. Despite this, the Red Tide from the North grew steadily and reached the vicinity of Peking by 1948, around the time Derk moved there to work on a translation of Chinese works. Peking would fall to the Red Tide in 1949, which would sweep over the entire mainland China and the KMT would retreat to Formosa (now Taiwan).

In the beginning, the Nationalists were confident that they could hold Peking against the Communists. They had come to power on the promise of (land) reform and development, which they never delivered. The Communists fed on the increasing economic disparity, promised a classless society and an end to feudalism in rural areas. As Communist forces massed around Peking, the city went under seige. It became choked with refugees, students and Nationalist soldiers fleeing from the North. With the supply of food dwindling, the regions under the Nationalists experienced hyper-inflation. With massive price fluctuations, hoarding and looting, the Peking general finally gave in to the Communists.

Being able to speak and read Chinese fluently and having lots of native friends, Derk paints a very real picture of how the city changed once the Communists took over. Despite their inexperience with urban management, they brought order, good governance and reined in the economy. Women in particular and the youth in general found empowerment. However, the Communists took complete control of every other sphere of life. Workers of all trades were brought together under unions. The independence of all newspapers and radio was curtailed, and they had to become mouthpieces of the Communist propaganda machine. All religious activities were called as silly superstitions that harmed society and were shut down. Socialist and Marxist subjects were introduced into schools and the textbooks were modified. Secret agents and information boxes were introduced to weed out the people who opposed the Communists.

Not only does the book give a clear picture of the Communist revolution, it also answers two big questions. First, was the Chinese Communist revolution a copy of that in Russia (like the USA says it is)? Second, why did Chinese embrace Communism? For the first, Derk shows that though the ideology was from Russia, the movement was wholly created, fed and led by Chinese problems, ideas and culture. Secondly, having experienced years of apathy and corruption under the Nationalists, the Chinese embraced Red, since that was the only strong alternative they saw. The lesser of the two evils, if you may.

With each passing year, my interest in the history and culture of East and South East Asia continues to grow. As I discover more, I see the myriad similarities and the surprising parallels that can be drawn with India. Post-1947 Indian history is replete with socialism and a brush with Communist-style clampdown (the Emergency). Today, economic disparity and corruption continues to grow. Naxalism gains power in tribal and rural areas where the government has looted natural resources. Standing at this crossroad in time, I found Peking Diary to be a fabulous read, both for its first hand view and its historic insights into the Chinese revolution. The book is refreshingly free of the American stereotype of China and the writing is so personal that it cannot be put down.

Rating: 4/4

Cleopatra

Cleopatra is probably the most intriguing female in human history. Her name is eponymous for female beauty and her life is famous both for romance and tragedy. Shakespeare immortalized her with his tragic play Anthony and Cleopatra and the search for the tomb of these lovers continues to this day amidst the sands of Egypt. Recently, I had the chance to learn all about her life and times in an episode of BBC In Our Time. As a complement, I ended up watching the movie Cleopatra starring Elizabeth Taylor.

Roman general Julius Caesar (Rex Harrison) arrives in Egypt in the midst of a tussle for the Egyptian throne between the brother Ptolemy and his sister Cleopatra (Elizabeth Taylor). Using her considerable wit and beauty, Cleopatra wins the heart of Caesar and becomes the Queen of Egypt. Having had no child from his marriages, Caesar consummates the relationship and Cleopatra promises him a son who will rule the world. Caesar returns back to Rome and due to his many victories around the world the Roman Senate makes him dictator. He invites Cleopatra to Rome and she arrives in pomp with their son, named Caesarion. Afraid that Caesar might gain more power due to his popularity, some Senate members (including the infamous Brutus) stab Caesar to death. In the chaos, Cleopatra escapes back to Egypt helped by Caesar’s general Marc Anthony (Richard Burton).

After Caesar’s death, control of the Roman Empire is split between Anthony and Octavian. Anthony has been in love with Cleopatra for a long time, he finally expresses it and is reciprocated by her. Afraid of their combined power, Octavian tricks Anthony into marrying his sister Octavia. Unhappy with this, Anthony soon separates and returns back to Cleopatra. Octavian convinces the Roman Senate to declare war against Anthony. At the Battle of Actium, Anthony is tricked, defeated and flees with Cleopatra back to Alexandria (Egypt). Octavian pursues them, hoping to capture them alive and parade them in Rome. The lovers end their lives tragically in Cleopatra’s tomb, Anthony kills himself and Cleopatra has herself bitten by an asp.

Running a full four hours, this is the longest English movie I have watched till date! The length is somewhat justified by the detailed story which I found to be pretty faithful to the history I learnt from the In Our Time podcast. The story of Cleopatra is epic and full of love, hate, jealousy, war, greed and betrayal. The movie was the most expensive venture of its time and the expansive sets of Rome and Alexandria bear witness to that. I loved the fact that the movie is written like a play, especially the latter half with Anthony and Cleopatra. Elizabeth Taylor is at the top of her game playing a ravishing Cleopatra, with stunning costumes, she burns herself into the viewer’s eye as the image of Cleopatra. Rex Harrison and especially Richard Burton as a troubled, but loving Anthony have acted well. Cleopatra is a grand historic spectacle that is a must watch for every movie fan.

The Pencil

After relying on pens for many years, I returned to pencils this year for all writing. I am so loving the minimalism of the pencil that I ended up reading the only book dedicated to this common writing instrument. The Pencil: A History of Design and Circumstance by Henry Petroski is a book that looks at the evolution of human engineering in the last few centuries by using the pencil as an example.

The word pencil comes from peniculus, Latin for brush. That word itself is derived from penis, which as you may not know, is Latin for tail. For many centuries before the invention of the woodcase pencil, the word pencil was used for small brushes used to draw fine lines. Not surprisingly, the name was transferred to the woodcase pencil when it turned out to be perfect for this task.

Much like its erasable nature, the history of the pencil has not been as well recorded compared to that of the pen. A piece of coal or the burnt end of wood that early humans used to write on cave walls could be the earliest progenitor of the pencil. During the Roman period, metal styluses were used to write on wax tablets that were called pugillares. Soon, thin pieces of lead wrapped in paper came to be used to write on hard surfaces like wood or metal. Lead leaves a faint line, so various alloys of lead were tried to obtain a darker line.

Graphite, which is what is used in today’s pencils, was discovered in Cumberland, England in 156x. Shepherds who discovered it used it to mark their sheep and it soon became a replacement to the lead pencil. It was called black lead or wadd and was used by wrapping it in string or encasing it in wood or metal holders. This was both dirty and shaky to write with. Around 166x, Staedler and other wood workers in Germany encased square rods of graphite firmly in wood. The user would whittle the pencil with a pen knife as it wore off. This idea caught on and woodcase pencils started to be produced in England and Germany. The graphite was broken into sheets and then into square rods for the pencils. Good quality graphite was available only from Cumberland, and it produced the best pencils. Conte in France invented a method of mixing low-quality graphite powder and clay, rolling it and then firing them to form quality leads.

Across the pond in USA, family businesses like that of Thoureax (yes, the Thoreaux of Walden) ran family businesses around pencils and graphite (which was used for metalwork too). The principal difficulty was getting the graphite-clay mix right. Every pencil business kept their recipes secret, so new entrants had to keep reinventing the magic formula. Pencils of this time were mostly made from cedar wood. Pencils were sold unpainted until Koh-i-noor started selling theirs in bright yellow colors, which is the most common coloring of today’s pencils. England continued to use pencils of pure graphite until the Cumberland mine was spent. Germany continued to produce the best pencils and the American companied tried to compete on economy. With the industrial revolution, USA took the leap and created the machinery to make pencil production automated. Dixon and Faber were the most popular brands in USA and Europe at this time. While the American companies never ventured out, the European companies entered USA and competed fiercely. Mechanical pencils, plastic pencils and leads made of graphite and polymers were also invented.

The demise of the woodcase pencil has been called many times, but it survives even today. The pencil of today is made from 2 pieces of wood glued together with the lead encased in between. The lead is circular and the pencils are hexagonal, round or triangular.

The Pencil tries to describe the history of human engineering along with that of the instrument. The history, personal stories, engineering, business and branding of the pencil are quite fascinating to read. Henry does a good job of linking this to the changes in the style of engineering and products of engineering through the last few centuries. However, the book feels extremely verbose, and at half of its current 42x pages it could have been a very fulfilling read. Henry Petroski teaches at Duke University and has written a lot of books on the history and engineering of everyday objects. I am extremely curious about these things and so I will be keeping an eye out for his books.