“Get ready to show the town to America’s President Nixon,” the message read.
The second message contradicted the first. It ordered the town to cooperate with Madame Mao’s investigators. “It is time to reveal Pearl Buck and her parents’ crimes against China and the Chinese people,” that message read.
Believing that it would be an opportunity to get back on top, Vanguard exposed the underground Christian church. “Absalom’s ghost is not only alive but active in turning people against Mao and Communism,” he claimed.
The Communist newspaper, the People’s Daily, published an article titled “The Nobel Prize Winner Makes Her Living Insulting China.” Carpenter Chan told us that Madame Mao had barred Chin-kiang from receiving the American guests.
Secretly, Carpenter Chan took back the confiscated radio. He and Papa tuned in to Voice of America for the latest news. Between the lines, they learned that Nixon’s delegation would depart from the United States for China in a week, and that the Chinese authorities had refused Pearl Buck entrance.
Carpenter Chan composed a petition signed by everyone in town and sent it to Premier Chou En-lai.
“Pearl Buck grew up in Chin-kiang,” the petition pleaded. “It is her right to visit her mother’s grave and our duty as her neighbors and friends to see her wish granted.”
Never before had the entire town been united in one common goal. It was not Pearl Buck’s visit that we were fighting for, but our own lives and our children’s future. Since the beginning of the Cultural Revolution, those whose paths had crossed Absalom’s and Carie’s had been denounced and made to suffer. The major events had happened years ago, but our memories were still fresh. Some people had been affected more directly than others, but all had stories to tell. I remembered that the teenage mob that called itself Mao’s Red Guard had even come to Beijing to “clear Pearl Buck’s evil influence.” They knew that I had delivered letters to Pearl from Hsu Chih-mo. They took me out of the prison to attend a public rally, where the teens hung a wooden board around my neck that read, pimp. The crowd demanded that I confess Hsu Chih-mo and Pearl Buck’s relationship. Pearl’s former students were terrorized. They were forced to inform on me. One pointed out to the crowd that I was Pearl’s best friend and Carie’s adopted daughter. Other students recalled that I was the one who had tried to steal Hsu Chih-mo from Pearl Buck.
The Red Guard located Absalom’s grave near Chin-kiang and vandalized it. They smashed the stone-carving tablet honoring Absalom’s lifelong service to God. The Red Guard also sought Carie’s grave. It was Lilac who removed the tombstone to a different location. The grave the Red Guard destroyed was not Carie’s.
Lilac’s sons were ordered to change names. Double Luck David and John were now Down with Christ and War on God. Triple Luck Solomon’s new name was Mao’s Loyalist.
When the Red Guard ordered Bumpkin Emperor and his sworn brothers to smash a ceramic figure of Christ, the former warlords exploded. They took the anti-Christ boards off their necks and smashed them instead. When they were locked up, they escaped into the mountains.
Papa took the risk of protecting Absalom’s hand-drawn pictures of Jesus Christ. He hid them behind the wall-sized portrait of Mao. When Carpenter Chan and his workmen learned that the Red Guard had decided to burn the church, they transformed the church into an “Education Museum” in which Mao’s head was painted on every surface. The sculptures of Christ and the saints were boxed and caged and captioned “The Negative Teachers.” The boxes were put on display for criticism. To prevent the sculptures from being defiled, the workmen wrapped them in red ribbons with slogans like “Long Live Chairman Mao!” and “Salute to Madame Mao!” written on them.
What pained Papa the most was when members withdrew from the congregation. Although Papa understood that people did it under pressure and out of fear, he couldn’t help feeling defeated. He threatened people with “going to hell,” although he was appalled by their response: “Hell will be a better place than where we are.”
For years Chin-kiang was considered an area severely infected by a “Christian plague.” It was decided that the town needed a deep cleaning. Although Vanguard set himself as an example for denouncing Christianity, few followed him. People called Vanguard “the Chin-kiang Judas.” The police discovered that Bibles were hidden inside the covers of Mao’s books and clay figures of Christ were hidden inside rice bags. Christmas songs were heard during the Chinese New Year, and flowers by Carie’s grave never failed to blossom in spring. Children who woke up in the middle of the night to relieve themselves would find themselves tripping over their parents, on their knees praying in the dark. Despite his age, Papa made his rounds rain or shine when there was no place safe to worship God.
Age finally took its toll on Papa. He collapsed one day as he went from house to house, visiting members of his congregation. Rouge and I rushed to his side. When he woke up, he told me that he had met Absalom.
“Old Teacher still rode his donkey,” Papa said.
“Did you ask him if he was pleased with your work?” I asked, teasing.
“I did.”
“What was the reply?” Rouge was curious.
Papa took a few deep breaths before he answered, “Absalom cried, which was rather out of character. It was about Pearl.”
“Pearl?”
“Absalom regretted that he never got the time to be a good father to Pearl.”
“What was your response?” both Rouge and I asked.
“I told him that he should be proud, because she carried on his work-that we all heard her on Voice of America.”
A week later, Papa stopped breathing. Like a ripe melon, Papa hung happily on his vine before dropping to the ground. He went to sit under the tree outside the converted church building and looked like he had just fallen asleep with his chin on his chest.
PART FIVE
CHAPTER 33
Overnight, the “Down with American Imperialists” slogans were replaced with “Welcome American President Nixon.” Mannequins dressed in U.S. Army uniforms for military bayonet practice at schools nationwide were removed. Children were instructed to learn the English phrases “Welcome” and “How do you do?”
The day Nixon arrived in China, children filled the streets from the airport to the hotel where the president would stay. Each child was given paper flowers and instructed to smile with their teeth showing.
Carpenter Chan received an urgent dispatch that Nixon was to visit Chin-kiang, and that Pearl Buck was with him.
The town vibrated with anticipation.
I so wished that Papa could have lived to see this day. It would have thrilled him to greet the American president-but even more, the daughter of his beloved Absalom.
The guerrilla-church members counted the hours and then the minutes. In the morning, state police came to secure the town. Everyone was ordered to stay inside until called. While the men exchanged news and information, the women began to prepare Pearl’s favorite foods. Every family contributed. We soaked rice and soybeans, steamed bread and yams, and brought out all the pickled radishes and dried meats, which were usually saved for New Year’s. The sound of chopping vegetables lasted all day, and the smell of roasting garlic peanuts filled the air. “Pearl will smell our cooking miles away when she arrives,” Lilac said.
When I heard the sound of drums and the music of China’s national anthem, I knew the American guests were here. I rinsed my hands, combed my hair, and slipped on my blue Mao jacket. Rouge wanted to join me but her boss wouldn’t give her permission. As Dick’s daughter, she was ill-treated.
I was nervous and tense. My doubts had grown when my friend’s face had failed to appear in newspapers. There were photos of Mao and Nixon shaking hands. And Madame Mao, her big, wide mouth smiling like a white sailboat. But no Pearl. Was I foolish to believe that she would be allowed to come?