From China
to America
... and back

John Kwang Wu, father of Capt.

Doug Wu, acquisition support officer for

the Air Intelligence Agency, left China

when he was 13-years-old. The grandson

of a famous Chinese diplomat and the son

of a wealthy Chinese businessman, he was

the only person in his family to board the

last ship out of Shanghai in 1949, before

the city was taken over by the

Communists. He never saw his mother

again and was on his own with no

financial support from his family, who

saw their assests disappear under

Communist rule.

by Tech. Sgt. Mary Sellinger, AIA/PA, Kelly Air Force Base, Texas

Forty-seven years later, Wu, his father and mother, and two sisters were able to make a dream a reality, when they met in Beijing last November.

Over the years, the captain's father always talked about going back, but something always came up. According to Wu, it was family pride, heritage and working to recover his family's assests from the Chinese government before they take over Hong Kong from the British July 1, that motivated him to finally do it.

"China was phenomenal!" said Wu. "It was an adventure of a lifetime, and I was lucky enough to have had this opportunity to visit China and my dad's hometown.

"It was exciting to see the constant activity. I couldn't believe how fast-paced things were in Beijing. People were everywhere. The pedestrians, bicyclists and motorcyclists seemed to meld into one."

There were no restrictions on who they talked to or on taking photographs.

The biggest surprises were the living conditions and the way of life. According to Wu, the older Chinese still wore the old-style blue shirts with stiff collars, but the younger generation wore western-style clothing.

There was construction going on in most cities and since most homes didn't have refrigerators, people were always going to market. Early each morning, you could see the farmers come in and set up their booths. Even though the average citizen didn't have a phone in their home, many had cellular phones.

The family spent time sightseeing and visiting sites familiar to the senior Wu's childhood: Beijing; Tiananmen Square; the Forbidden City; Imperial Palace; Temple of Heaven; The Great Wall of China; and the Summer Palace.

Also, the family went to Tianjin, Wu's father's hometown; Xian, the ancient capital of China and the city that became famous for the archeological discovery of the guardians to the ancient burial site of China's first emperor; Guilan; and then Hong Kong.

"Dad's trip home to Tianjin was quite emotional," said Wu. "Cobblestone streets, narrow alleyways, buildings long since demolished and the neighborhood my dad had not seen in 50 years. The house he grew up in was torn down with dormitory style barracks in its place.

"The main event of the trip was the visit with friends and relatives. Everyone was crying and laughing together, remembering childhood escapades and how it had been and how things have changed.

"One of the things we were looking forward to on our visit with relatives was seeing photographs of my father as a boy," said Wu, "but there were only about a half dozen photos left. They explained to me that the scrapbooks and photo albums were destroyed by the Communists when they took over.

"Amazement" is the one word Wu uses to sum up his adventure in China. "Watching and listening to my father throughout the trip, I saw a side of my father I never knew about. I really didn't have an appreciation of what their lives were like."

"The toughest part of the trip was leaving," said Wu, "because we just didn't know if we would ever be able to go back again."

May Spokesman On-Line