Reminiscences and Thoughts on Those Eight Years

Abstract

When we speak of the history of the Southwest Associated University and its evolution, we must trace it back to that fragment of life we led as the Linshi daxue, or "Temporary University" at Changsha. From the beginning, there were faculty members and students fleeing out of Peiping, and they gathered at Changsha, taking up residence at the Bible College there. There was, in everyone, a mood of excitement, and that's all there was to it. I remember that every evening, after dinner, the professors would gather at one of the lounges, sipping tea, smoking our cigarettes, and, while we were reading up on the day's news from the papers, we would also be poring over a map and discussing the war and all manner of other topics. At times, we would be joined by a colleague who had just arrived from the North, and everyone would be excitedly absorbed in his or her recollections of how the escape was made and of news gathered along the way.