By Yang Guang (China Daily) 2009-10-13 08:11

    In a letter dated April 19, 1988, a man named Liu Zhenhai wrote to his nephew Liu Guoqiang: "It was in the spring of 1946 that I last saw your parents and your elder brothers and sisters. After that, we lost touch and I was forced to leave for Taiwan in 1949.

   "Over the years, I never for once forgot the place that gave birth to me and bred me. I can never forget the fragrant earth and sweet water in our hometown.

   "East or west, home is the best. One day, I will definitely return to the mainland with my family, to worship our ancestors and to have a good talk with you."

   This emotional letter is one of some 40,000 private letters collected by Zhang Ding over the past five years.

     "A letter is an episode of history, whose writer bears witness to his time, providing a perspective not seen in official history books, and adding blood and flesh to the skeleton of history," Zhang says.

    Chinese people used to say "a letter from home is worth tons of gold" - a famous line by Tang Dynasty poet Du Fu (AD712-770). But today, people rely on the Internet and cellphones for communication. It seems few people still bother to take up the pen and write a letter.

     This makes Zhang all the more exceptional as he has gone to extraordinary lengths to collect handwritten family letters, saving them from gathering dust on shelves, being gnawed at by worms and rats in basements, or even being sent to garbage landfills as waste paper.

     Zhang, 42, used to work at China Central Television (CCTV) as a reporter and program editor and expected to stay there until he retired.

     He clearly remembers the day of Dec 10, 2004, when he was driving to work and heard a radio program on American historian Andrew Carroll's bestseller, War Letters: Extraordinary Correspondence from American Wars.

     Impressed by the importance of folk narratives, Zhang decided to launch a nationwide project to collect handwritten family letters. In China, the tradition of correspondence has been kept up for more than 2,000 years, but no one had collected family letters before on such a big scale.

    The National Museum of China and the Chinese Folk Literature and Art Society joined the project, which was launched in April 2005. Scholars Fei Xiaotong, Ji Xianlin, Ren Jiyu and 43 other celebrities in the academic, literary and arts circle signed letters of support.

   "As a record of history, a mirror of reality and a monument of our nation, family letters deserve to be preserved," said famous writer Su Shuyang. "Through the project, China is making a pledge to the world, of how we look up to the common people, and of how we are striving to build up a harmonious society."

    News spread and letters swarmed in. Zhang resigned from CCTV and embarked on a bittersweet journey of collecting, classifying and preserving family letters.

    Within two years, the number of letters amounted to 40,000, written over a period of 200 years and featuring almost all every aspect of human experience. Exhibitions were held, books on the collection were published, and a website was set up.

    "I am touched by the outpouring of emotions in these letters, whether it is parents' unrequited love of their children, children's filial piety to their parents, the tacit understanding between siblings, or the tender love between lovers," Zhang says. "Moreover, they offer us an opportunity to see history from another perspective."

    A letter written in 1900 by Shanxi businessman Han Rongzhang is not only a good example of family letters in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), but also supplements facts about the Boxers Movement (1899-1900), a peasant uprising that gave Western powers excuses to invade Beijing.

    A series of letters written in the 1930s by a man named Wei Jing'an reveal the intense material hardships and struggles endured by those migrating to the West. A number of empty envelopes during the "cultural revolution" (1966-76) reflect the stringent censorship back then.

    As the letters continued pouring in, Zhang became saddened to find the money flowing out. Without any official funding, Zhang had difficulties making ends meet for postage, publicity, office rental and daily management. His office had to relocate twice to save money, and members dwindled from seven to two. The project virtually came to a halt.

    The wheel of fortune finally turned when Zhang found a haven for his letters at the museum of Renmin University of China, which has a 120-sq m area reserved for the letters.

    "We decided to accommodate Zhang's project because it has been unanimously acknowledged as a cultural event replete with historical significance and relevance to reality. It deserves credit and support," says curator Feng Huiling.

    Zhang Yiwu, a professor at Peking University, says the project is an effective way of awakening past memories of the Chinese people: "When reading them, I feel empowered by the vivid voices and lives in them."

    "Saving family letters is a race against time. I hope we can run at a speed faster than that at which letters are disappearing," Zhang adds.

    Zhang Yingjie, project liaison officer and editor, feels the pressure of time. She recalls how regretful and disheartened she was when she lost touch with elderly people who had donated letters.

   "When I called, I wished they could pick up the phone, healthy and sober. But things don't often turn out as you wish - some were sent to hospital, some passed away, and others simply could not be reached any more."

     Since this May, Zhang Ding and Zhang Yingjie have been busy preparing for an exhibition of 3,075 letters and 380 old photos, to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the founding of New China.

    "Letters on show recorded nearly all the important historical events in the history of New China," Zhang says. "They add up to a display of China's resurgence in the eyes of common people."

     Zhang wishes to digitalize the letters and apply for the UNESCO's Memory of the World program, which aims to preserve and disseminate valuable archive holdings and library collections worldwide.

                       

                            Zhang Ding shows one of the 40,000 private letters collected by him over the past five years. Photos by Jiang Dong

 

Fragments from the heart

    Feb 13, 1949
    Marching into Peking - PLA soldier Song Yunliang to his fiancee Hu Yuhua

    Dear Yuhua,

    I wrote to you last time saying that Peking and Tianjin would soon be liberated. It came true in less than a month. Yuhua, this is a great victory. We liberated Peking, Tianjin, Tanggu, Zhangjiakou and wiped out over 500,000 enemies. It seems we don't have to wait too long for the complete liberation of North China.

    Dear Yuhua, we haven't seen each other for more than a year. Do you miss me? I think of you whenever other comrade's beloved ones visit us.

    Yuhua, Peking is so vibrant. There are crowds of pedestrians, lines of stores and shuttling cars in the streets. There are even more cars than donkeys carrying crops in our village.

    We drove to Dongjiaominxiang today. It was said to be the foreigners' place during the reign of the Kuomintang, where Chinese dared not come. But since Peking is a city of the people now, foreigners dare not domineer and condescend anymore.

    Dec 25, 1978

    Spring arrives - Inner Mongolia youth Zhao Peihua to his parents

    Dear Father and Mother,

    The issue of the Third Plenary Session (of the 11th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party) Bulletin has been so inspiring. It signifies the beginning of a new China with its vigorous modernization drive, based on socialist democracy and law system. It is the first time in 30 years that economic construction and technological innovation have topped the agenda.

     Gone are the days of political movements. The 10-year disturbance (the "cultural revolution") has harmed a whole generation of our family, and the country as well.

    I am already 30 years old, an age at which a man is supposed to be independent. But how can I support myself, let alone the entire family, with my paucity of knowledge and skills?

    My siblings and I have wasted 10 years' precious time of learning, and Dad has lost 10 years of working. Only by endeavoring to learn in the future can we make progress.

    1980s: Changes in rural life - village accountant Li Zhongkun to his brother Li Zhonglai

    Nov 6, 1985

    Zhonglai,

    I bought a blowing engine in the town market yesterday. Now we finally don't have to blow the bellows to cook meals. The installation of tapped water is nearly finished. Soon we won't have to go to the well for water. The tractor is ploughing land for the commune. It won't be long before land is separated and allocated to each household.

    Jan 18, 1987

    We bought our own TV set. After farm work, we can watch TV. We can receive signals of all three channels. Last year, we didn't subscribe to Beijing Daily's suburb edition. This year, we should make a subscription.

    June 1999

    Sweat and pride in the National Day parade - PLA nurse Wang Fei to her parents

    Dear Dad and Mom,

     I miss you. You must be worried since I have neither written nor called lately. Calling is not allowed because we can afford no distraction. We are to be evaluated by the general headquarters on June 30. Time presses and we still have a lot to do.

    Mom, you asked a bunch of questions in your letter. I know you miss me, and I am fine. Several days ago, the surface temperature of our training ground reached 58 C. And it is only getting hotter. Our schedule has been adjusted because of the heat - training time has been reduced from 11 hours to 8 hours a day. We have four meals each day, otherwise, we cannot stand the physical exertion.

    I will return home in some 70 days. It is really an honor to be a member of the parade block to celebrate our motherland's 50th birthday. Dad and Mom, you are proud of me as well, aren't you?