Anchee Min - Pearl of China

“Dick was fortunate to depart earlier,” Papa said. “He could have been captured and murdered if he had stayed.”

We learned that all the escape routes from Nanking to inland and coastal cities were now controlled by warlords who had become allies of the Nationalists.

The city of Nanking showed no sign of what was about to take place as we gathered on Sunday morning at the church. People believed that what had happened in Chin-kiang wouldn’t happen here, because Nanking was a capital city and had a number of foreign embassies.

Absalom led the Bible reading. We studied chapter twenty-seven, Paul’s voyage to Rome. I had difficulty concentrating. I worried about Dick and the safety of the baby inside me. Tracing the words with my finger, I followed Absalom. “And when neither sun nor stars in many days appeared, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope that we should be saved was then taken away…”

As Absalom strained to convince us that God would not let evil win, a young red-haired officer from the American Embassy ran in. He was breathless and drenched in sweat.

“Yes, sir?” Absalom was annoyed by the interruption. “How can I help you?”

The officer passed a letter to Absalom and said, “The consul general has ordered the immediate evacuation of all Americans in Nanking.”

“What is going on?” Absalom put down the Bible.

“The Chinese government informed us that it has lost control over the spreading chaos.” The officer spoke quickly. “There have been riots in the provinces of Shandong, Anhui, and Jiangsu. Mobs and soldiers have killed foreigners.”

“We have seen none of this in Nanking,” Absalom responded. “Are you sure our consul general is not making a storm out of a little breeze?”

“Sir, I must move on,” the officer said and excused himself.

The church was silent.

All eyes were on Absalom.

Absalom gave an unconcerned expression as he picked up the Bible. He turned a page and began to read. His voice was calm, as if nothing had happened. “And now I exhort you to be of good cheer: for there shall be no loss of any man’s life among you, but of the ship. For there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve…”

Absalom asked the crowd to join him, and we followed. “Saying, Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought before Caesar and God hath given thee all them that sail with thee, wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer, for I believe in God…”

Papa was becoming nervous. Finally he couldn’t contain himself. “Absalom,” he called.

Absalom ignored him.

“Master Absalom.” Papa’s voice trembled.

“Yes, Mr. Yee?” Absalom was visibly disturbed. “You’d better have a good reason for interrupting like this.”

With a note of panic in his voice, Papa cried, “ Nanking will be the next Chin-kiang!”

“Calm down, Mr. Yee!”

“Time is short,” Papa pleaded. “You and your family need to evacuate right away!”

“What are you talking about, Mr. Yee?” Absalom stared at him.

“Where do you suggest that we go?”

“Home, Master Absalom!”

“We are home.”

“No! I mean your home in America!” Papa began to stutter. “Sir, your life is in danger!”

“I’ll be going nowhere.” Absalom responded firmly. “My home is China.”

Pearl watched the evacuation of all her Western friends. Laborers worked day and night carrying cases and bags toward the river, where steamboats waited. The last American family to depart was the embassy doctor’s. When their boat pulled away, Pearl lost her composure.

“What if Carol gets sick?” she cried to Absalom. “What if you fall off your donkey and break a leg?”

Absalom replied, “Chinese people have survived thousands of years without Western medicine.”

“What if surgery is needed?” Pearl asked.

“God will take care of us.”

“Please, Father, this is a practical matter.”

“I am talking about a practical matter.” Absalom became impatient. “You must have faith in God.”

“I have a sick child, Father, and I can’t do without a doctor.”

Absalom spoke without looking at Pearl. “God’s work requires sacrifice.”

“God’s work?” Pearl became angry. “It’s your work! It’s Absalom’s glory, Absalom’s obsession! Why should the rest of us sacrifice for you?”

Grace joined Pearl, begging her father to reconsider.

“What’s wrong with you all?” Absalom yelled. “By all means go ahead and evacuate! Get going before the steamboats are gone.”

“We can’t leave without you,” both Pearl and Grace said. “You are an old man!”

“The Lord won’t let anything happen to me.” Absalom was confident. “He needs me to do his work.”

The air smelled like it was burning. The streets of Nanking had turned ghostly. Businesses were closed. Nearly all foreigners had already fled. Pearl and Absalom hid inside their house. Although Pearl ’s servants were willing to stay on, Pearl insisted that they leave. She promised that she would hire them back once the danger was over. The servants departed. They knew that if they stayed, they could be killed for having served the foreigners.

Papa and I got busy trying to fill the water jars and stockpile food. Each day we checked on Pearl ’s family. Pearl told me that Absalom had become a problem. He refused to stay inside. He believed that what was happening was perfect for his work. “Desperate people turn to God,” he said.

Pearl and Grace came to Papa for help. They begged him to find a way to stop Absalom.

Papa challenged Absalom on his Chinese translations of the Bible. The two men argued loudly.

“It’s not an error,” Papa insisted. “Some of the stories just don’t make sense in Chinese.”

Eventually, Absalom decided to sit down and work on his revisions.

In only a few days, the streets were filled with strangers. The boarded-up shops were broken into. People were running and others chasing. Screams and shouts could be heard day and night. I could hear the sound of distant gunshots.

I visited the university, wondering what had happened there. The campus was as quiet as a cemetery. I went to the science building and saw windows with bullet holes in them. Then I saw bloodstains on the sidewalk.

“Help!” I heard a voice.

To my horror, I found a foreigner hiding behind the bushes in a pool of blood. He had been shot in the chest. “Help!” the man cried, struggling to speak. “I am the dean of the school and I… am an American missionary.”

Before I could ask for his name, he passed out.

“Sir! Sir!” I knelt and shook him.

The man died in my arms. The sound of gunshots was so near now that I listened for the whistling of bullets. I set the dead man down and covered him with my blouse. I walked toward the town. The wind felt cool on my face. It was an otherwise perfect spring day with camellias blossoming.

There was a woman running toward me. Her arms were waving frantically in the air.

I recognized her. “Lilac!”

“The mobs have come!” Lilac yelled. “They are looking for foreigners! They have already killed one. I heard that he was the dean of the university.”

“Lilac, that man died in my arms!”

Lilac saw the blood on my hands and clothes. The color drained from her face.

We took shortcuts through the hills toward Pearl ’s house. I regretted not insisting that Pearl and her family leave days ago. Panic began to overtake me as I pictured the mob. Lilac told me that she had witnessed the murders of Chinese Christians, our friends and neighbors.

Pearl felt fortunate that everyone in the family had survived so far. The house had been looted three times by soldiers and groups of angry men. Every valuable thing had been taken. The last group had left disappointed because nothing was left.