Dean King - Unbound: A True Story of War, Love, and Survival

Copyright 2010 by Dean H. King

All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

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First eBook Edition: March 2010

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L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University. Provo, Utah: #2737 (p. ).

ISBN: 978-0-316-07217-5

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EDITOR

Every Man Will Do His Duty: An Anthology of Firsthand Accounts from the Age of Nelson, 17931815

This book is dedicated to my third daughter, Willa (she has waited patiently), and many other females who have inspired me: Jessica, Betsey, Helen, Mary, Hazel, Grace, Nora, Amy, Liza, Sarah, Betsey, Liz, Anna, Ellie, Meg, Daphne, Daisy, Ann, Isabella, Olivia, Varena, Bonnie, Rachel, Frances, Hannah, Charlotte, Sally, Alix, Coco, Chloe, Priscilla, Jody, Mrs. Carver, and Mrs. McGrath.

I have used the pinyin (literally spell, sound) system of transliterating most of the Chinese words and names in this book. Under this system, developed by the Peoples Republic of China in 1958 and the most commonly used today, the old Mao Tse-tung is now Mao Zedong (although I have kept the more familiar Chiang Kaishek and Sun Yatsen from the Wade-Giles system).

Leaving aside an explanation of the four tones, here is a rough guide to pronunciation of Mandarin Chinese:

consonants

c: ts, as in hats

q: ch, as in cheat

x: sh, as in sheet

z: ds, as in words

zh: j as in jam

other letters: similar to English

vowels

ai: eye

an: ahn

ang: ahng

e after c/ch, s/sh, z/zh: uh

ei: ay as in hay

en: uh

eng: ung as in hung

i after c/ch, s/sh, z/zh: uh

ia: ya

ian: yen

iang: yeeahng

ie: yeah

iu: ooh

ian: yen

ou: oh

ua: wa

uai: why

uan: won

uang: oo-ang

ui: way

uo: wa

yan: yen

yi: ee

examples

Cai Chang: tsai chahng

Deng Liujin: duhng layooh-jeein

Deng Yingchao: duhng yehng-chow

He Zizhen: huh dsuh-juhn

Jiangxi: jeeahng-she

Jin Weiying: jeein way-yehng

Kang Keqing: kahng kuuh-cheng

Li Bozhao: lee boah-jow

Li Jianzhen: lee jyen-juhn

Liu Ying: layooh yehng

Ma Yixiang: mah ee-sheeahng

tongyangxi: tohng-yahng-she

Wang Quanyuan: wahng choowen-yoowen

Wang Xinlan: wahng sheein-lahn

Wei Xiuying: way sheeyo-yehng

Wu Zhonglian: woo juhng-leean

xuanchuan: shoowen-chwan

Zhang Qinqiu: jahng cheein-choh

Zhou Shaolan: joe sha-oh-lahn

The following cast of characters can be found in slightly abridged form on the detachable bookmark at the back of this book.

A note about Chinese names: The first name, almost always one syllable, is the surname, and the second name is the given or chosen name. It was not unusual, especially among the revolutionaries, for a person to change his or her chosen name as an adult to reflect personal characteristics or aspirations.

Note on the dates used here and throughout the book: Birth and other personal dates are often known only by the year, so age references, given here at the time of the Long March, are roughly accurate but could be off by a matter of months.

Cai Chang, age 34. From a distinguished family of gentry heavily involved in revolutionary politics in Hunan province, Cai studied in France in 1919 and helped establish the French branch of the Chinese Communist Party in 1921. She and her brother Cai Hesen were close friends of Mao Zedongs. In 1923, she joined the Chinese Communist Party and married Li Fuchun. She was elected to the Central Committee in 1928. In Yanan, Cai served in the Central Committee organization. On the Long March, she was a favorite among the women for her humor and high spirits. In 1945, she was elected to the Central Committee and served as the only woman member. She was elected the first president of the All-China Democratic Womens Federation in 1949 and held that position for thirty years. She was denounced in the Cultural Revolution, primarily for being the wife of Li Fuchun, but was later rehabilitated and elected vice-chair of the standing committee of the National Peoples Assembly.

Deng Yingchao, age 30. Born to an impoverished family of gentry in Guangxi province, she was educated in Beijing and Tianjin. During the May Fourth Movement in 1919, she met Zhou Enlai, whom she married in 1925. She traveled with Zhou to Moscow in 1928 and served in a number of high-level positions first for the Nationalist Party before it split with the Communist Party and then for the Communists. During the Long March, she suffered from tuberculosis and had to be carried on a litter over much of the route. She was elected an alternate member of the Central Committee in 1945 and a member in 1949. She held many high-level positions until the Cultural Revolution. In 1978, she became a full member of the Politburo and until her death was considered one of the Eight Elders consulted by the Party leadership, a remarkable position of stature for a woman in China.

He Zizhen, age 24. Born in Jiangxi province to a family of gentry, He joined the Youth League when she was fifteen and the Communist Party the following year. In 1928, at age eighteen, she met Mao Zedong on Jingangshan and is said to have saved him and Zhu De when they were trapped behind enemy lines. Riding a horse and wielding two pistols, she led enemy soldiers on a ten-mile chase that allowed the two to escape. She and Mao married that year but became increasingly estranged during the Long March. When it was over, he sent her to Russia and ended up divorcing her. She returned to China in 1948 and lived a largely secluded life in southern China.

Jin Ah Jin Weiying, age 30. From a progressive family in Zhejiang province, Jin attended primary school and teachers college. She started out as a teacher but, after moving to Shanghai, became active in the labor movement and joined the Chinese Communist Party at age twenty-two. She rose precipitously to a position on the executive committee of the Central Soviet in Jiangxi. She married Deng Xiaoping, who would one day succeed Mao as Chinas top leader, but they were divorced before the Long March. Jin then married Li Weihan. When she reached Yanan, she worked for the Central Committee and the Anti-Japanese University. In 1938, ill and separated from her husband, she was sent to Russia, where she is believed to have been killed in a German bombing raid.

Kang Keqing