The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt

www2.gwu.edu/~erpapers/myday/displaydoc.cfm?_y=1945&_f=md000202

DECEMBER 7, 1945

NEW YORK, Thursday—I was reported the other day to have made a criticism of Madame Chiang and that leads me to devote this column today to a few thoughts on the Chinese situation and our own relationship to that situation.

Sensational things have been said of late by people in high places. My few words are aimed at something quite different from criticism. I believe we should make an effort to understand a situation which to most Americans is difficult and confusing.

When Madame Chiang was here she spoke of democracy in words which we all applauded. Anyone living in China however knows quite well that there is still a great gulf between those words and the possibility of living in China today in what we would consider a democratic way of life.

We, of all people, should know that democracy requires a literate people. The Chinese people have been divided by different spoken dialects so that a man from one section of the country cannot be understood in another. The educated Chinese are held in high esteem because it takes so long to become educated, and the average Chinese who is for the most part, a peasant or a worker, has only had an opportunity in the very few past years to learn basic Chinese. Only a few million of China's teeming millions can read and write what may someday become a common language and this is the first step in the unification of China.

The Generalissimo's great strength has been his desire to unify China in which Madame Chiang always has helped him. But because this is such a difficult task and those undertaking it, are at times in such precarious positions, there is greater fear of the opposition than there would be, let us say, in our own country, of any movement against our country's democratic form of government. We are not seriously afraid of either fascism or communism because we know that as long as through our democratic form of government, we meet the needs of the people, there will be no threat to democracy.

But the needs of the people are far from being met in China today and so the comparatively small group, known as Communists, do inspire greater fear in the Central Government.

The papers have reported of late, a movement in China under the Democratic League, whose leader is Mr. Sun Fo, son of Sun Yat-Sen. From what one reads it would seem that this might be the middle of the road group which might bridge the gap between the left and the right. One thing seems to me quite certain, according to General Hurley and our State Department, we agreed to support the Generalissimo in his efforts to create a unified government in China, and that is our obligation. But we did not agree to use force against any group in China, and it would be very undemocratic if we tried to settle Chinese internal problems for them.

It is obvious to us as citizens of a democracy that there never can be any unity in any great country unless all parts of that country and all shades of opinion have full expression and representation. That seems to me vital in the solution of Chinese problems today.

E. R.

不知道溪山对E. R. 也有兴趣。 
我对罗斯福的生平经历了解比较多，而忽略了第一夫人。有一年Fouth of July我开几个小时车专门去了罗斯福的故居及总统图书馆。后来征得当事人同意，带着国内来的亲友到那里去，让他们也顺便打一下卡。

www2.gwu.edu/~erpapers/myday/displaydoc.cfm?_y=1953&_f=md002578a

JULY 2, 1953

HONG KONG—Dr. Wan and Mrs. Fok came for us at 2 o'clock on Thursday afternoon. They drove us a little way down the main street and then we turned off into the side streets. Every street seems lined with shops, tea shops where people drink tea and, I understand, do much business, as well as every other kind of shop you can imagine, for everyone in Hong Kong—every Chinese at least—is struggling to make a living.

Not too long ago there were only 250 thousand people in Hong Kong. Today there are two and a half million and the foreigners total about twenty thousand. Even though the British have closed Hong Kong to refugees about two hundred manage to come in every week and the housing shortage becomes constantly worse. Dr. Wan showed me where some small cotton mills had been started and some other small factories by the Chinese who were able to bring out some capital and who were trying to employ some of their compatriots. He showed me the area where the poorer Chinese live and where some new houses were being built in an effort to meet the housing shortage. As I drive through these crowded streets, I have a feeling of a teeming population, far more than I had anywhere in Japan.

There are arcades over practically all the sidewalks which is done because of the hot weather. The shops open on these and above the people live. Every balcony has a family wash hanging outside of what looks to be just one room. There are probably rooms back of that but I have a feeling that overcrowding is the rule and not the exception.

All my life I have heard of the people who live on boats tied up in these harbors and today I had my first glimpse of them. These people never leave the boats, they live and die on them and their whole lives center in the life of the harbor.

Here there are rickshaws and the loads that men pull in rickshaws and that are carried on poles by both men and women, slung across their shoulders, is astounding. They have a kind of springy walk—almost like a dance step—which I think must help balance the poles.

We had an hour's reception at the American Club from 4:30 to 5:30 where we met some of the American community and in the evening we dined with the Governor General and Lady Grantham. They used to be in Bermuda and knew Franklin's half brother and his wife very well.

Government house is part way up the hill in Hong Kong and when we came out on the lawn after dinner we had the most beautiful view of the harbor and of Kowloon, with the many colored lights glowing across the water.

We came home by ferry so got the view also of the lights as they gleamed all the way up the hills on Hong Kong. It is always difficult to say that any harbor is the most beautiful in the world but I think it is fair to say that this is one of the most beautiful sights at night that I have seen anywhere in the world.

Friday morning I went off at 9 o'clock with General Airey to drive to the Chinese border and get an idea of the countryside.

E.R.

想起来了，打卡的事情美国现在倒是真的有。比如在任何总统图书馆里都可以买到一本“护照”，参观完图书馆，你可以让那里的工作人员给你盖一个章。了解历史也属于是爱国主义教育的一个内容吧？拿了一本护照，给人一种动力，希望能够把所有总统图书馆都参观一遍。我在罗斯福图书馆里买了本“护照”，后来到波士顿肯尼迪图书馆去时就带着，顺便打了一下那个卡。  曾经到弗吉尼亚威尔逊图书馆，不记得有没有打卡？说起来任重道远，加州那里有两个（尼克松、里根），德州有三个（两个布什加约翰逊），中部有三个（胡佛、艾森豪、杜鲁门）图书馆，...。以后一个一个去吧。