My dearest Loti

Author: (American) Lou Grist
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2005-08-01
Features: Written by an American soldier from the China Theater 60 years ago. The author's old friend, former Director of the State Council Information Office, Zhao Qizheng, wrote the preface highly recommending it. Following The Diary of Anne Frank, this is another extraordinary book reflecting the beauty of humanity during World War II. Dust-covered letters and illustrations from 60 years ago showcase the author's love and talent. "Tell Loti—my newlywed wife of four years: From early spring 1945 to early summer 1946, my experiences in six cities in the China Theater. I want to tell you everything, I want to send China to you, let the warmth of my package embrace you." The author, Lou Grist, was a young American ordnance officer during World War II. On the eve of Christmas 1944, he left his newlywed wife, who had only been with him for four months, to accept a deployment to work with the U.S. forces in China and India for 17 months. During this period of separation, to encourage his wife and alleviate her loneliness and worries, he sent her numerous letters and, using his talented brush, drew many cartoons and sketches based on the real scenes where he traveled (over 100 illustrations in the book), adding readability and fun to his correspondence. The author keenly captured the vast cultural differences he discovered in these two Asian countries (especially China) and presented them with witty language and vivid illustrations. Due to wartime censorship, some of his letters and drawings were not approved by censors at the time. However, when editing and publishing this book, all previously censored content was restored, hence the special note "uncensored" after the title. Through the author's completely authentic accounts, this book seems to bring to life a historical play. The characters in the play include both Chinese and Americans and Europeans. As readers flip through the book, they will witness the courage, cooperation, and optimistic humor displayed by both soldiers and civilians during wartime. During World War II, the U.S. and China were allies against fascism, so the author's perspective on various social phenomena in Chinese society is relatively objective. Perhaps because he witnessed the strength of the People's War led by the Communist Party of China, the author also maintained an objective stance when discussing the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, without any obvious anti-communist bias. Over these 17 months, the author first went to India, then entered Kunming in China, and subsequently traveled to Guiyang, Liuzhou, Guilin, and Hengyang, finally reaching Shanghai. For an American who had never been to the East, everything he saw along the way was fresh and fascinating. He vividly depicted the world in words and sketches: farmers carrying loads on their shoulders, women carrying children on their backs, women beating clothes with hammers, women with bound feet, mothers nursing their babies openly by the roadside, old women urinating children in the street, the humor of using chopsticks at a "Cheers" banquet, water buffaloes plowing in the fields, pig traders driving pigs to the market on the streets, waterwheels and mills in the countryside, shrines, local operas performed in villages, sugar vendors by the roadside, pedicabs, and the overwhelming inflation. Due to his role as an American ordnance officer, the author also revealed some truths about the military, such as: he mentioned his discovery that the Kuomintang was more interested in suppressing the Communists than fighting the Japanese, describing the scenes of "conscription" they encountered during their marches and the destitute Kuomintang soldiers begging for food. He also recorded his experience of visiting an American intellectual who had married into a small town in Guiyang, China, and discussed how President Roosevelt's family had been connected to China since the days of their ancestors.