Zhao Zichen Collection (Volume 2)

Author: Zhao Zichen, edited by Yanjing Research Institute
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-02-01
Features: Mr. Zhao was a sincere patriot of our country, deeply loving his homeland. On February 8, 1941, Japanese imperialists invaded Yanjing University, arresting professors Lu Zhiwei, Deng Zhicheng, Zhao Chengxin, Hong Weiyan, Hou Renye, and Mr. Zhao himself, interrogating them about whether the professors had anti-Japanese actions or had supported patriotic students in going to the rear. In prison, Mr. Zhao demonstrated the noble spirit of a Chinese person. He did not succumb to the butchers' knives of the invaders. During his 193 days in prison, he endured beatings, hunger, and lice infestation, yet he cared for his fellow prisoners, longed for his homeland, and wrote many poems that reflected his unwavering national integrity and patriotic fervor. Mr. Zhao Zichen held a pure and sincere affection for his country. In August 1948, he went to Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands, to attend the founding conference of the World Council of Churches and was elected as one of its six chairpersons. At that time, just before the liberation of Beijing, domestic and foreign reactionary forces spread rumors that the Communist Party was forcing religion. Yet Mr. Zhao Zichen bravely returned to Beijing. He also urged his daughter Zhao Luorui, who had just obtained her Ph.D. in the United States, to return to her homeland. After returning to Shanghai on December 31, 1948, Zhao Luorui took a military aircraft delivering grain to General Fu Zuoyi, through personal connections, to return to Beijing, which was surrounded by the People's Liberation Army. After liberation, she served as a first-class professor at Peking University and as the honorary director of the English Department of Yanjing College at Peking University until her death in 1998. In the early days of liberation, Mr. Zhao encouraged his eldest son Jingxin, who had participated in the Two Airline Uprising, to return to Beijing to serve his country. After the outbreak of the Korean War, Mr. Zhao Zichen learned that the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches had made a resolution to support the U.S. imperialist invasion of Korea. In protest, he resigned from his position as chairperson of the council.