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     抗戰初期往事！    紀毓鼎（1915-2005）

The Beginning of the Anti-Japanese War

譯者/Translator: Crystal Tai (the author's granddaughter)

抗戰初期，由於我家所在的鄉間都是小路溝渠縱橫，軍車難以行駛，敵軍未來肆虐。不過外來物資來源阻斷，農村生活復古。例如買不到煤油，就用菜籽油，豆油，甚至桐籽油點燈。

In the beginning of the Anti-Japanese War, the enemy didn't come to my hometown because their tanks were unable to reach the area where roads were too narrow, with creeks crossing. However, the war interrupted the transportation of resources from cities, so our village had to return to the pre-modern lifestyle. For instance, when kerosene was unavailable, we used vegetable oil, soybean oil or sycamore seed oil for our lamps.

其時泰州尚未淪陷。泰縣地方法院仍在縣城辦公。按照司法行政部命令，所有因戰火而被迫解散法院的司法人員得到未淪陷之法院辦事，不支薪俸，每月只給三十元生活費。余任職的如皋地方法院解散之後，乃赴泰州法院報到，寄住城內的外婆家。

At the time, Taizhou had not fallen into Japanese hands. The District Court of Taizhou still kept its downtown location. According to an order from the Legal Administration Ministry, all the employees from wartime disbanded courts could go to work for courts in areas not occupied by the Japanese without salaries, but with a stipend of 30 Chinese dollars per month. Since the war had forced my employment with the District Court of Rugao to end, I went to the District Court of Taizhou and stayed with my maternal grandparents.

外婆家姓尤，為泰州望族，歷任武職，以軍功授有屯田。外祖父望三公曾任地方審判廳長。大舅父嗣宗聖約翰大學畢業，曾為革命黨人，任英文教師。二舅父憲祖北京大學畢業，在南京執律師業務，頗負盛名。惜均以英年早逝。余母啟華，二姨母淑華，享壽亦未逾四十。然而淡泊名利的三舅父懷祖與三姨母季華雖經亂世衝擊，後來則在古稀之後去世。修短之間，令人不解。

My maternal grandparents' Yiu family was prestigious in Taizhou. Their ancestors worked as military officers and were rewarded land for their victories. My maternal grandfather Wangsan was once president of the local court toward the end of the Qing Dynasty. My first uncle Sizong graduated from St. John's University and once joined the Revolution Party to overthrow Qing. He taught English. My second uncle Xianzu graduated from Beijing University and worked as a lawyer in Nanjing. He was quite famous. However, both of these uncles passed away in their prime years. My mother Qihua and second aunt Shuhua also left the world under age 40. However, my third uncle Huaizu, who did not pursue fame or profit, and my third aunt Jihua survived wartime turmoils. Later, they both lived up to their 70s. It's puzzling to think about why my mother's siblings had such various life spans.

余在泰縣地方法院辦事不久，應邀去靖江縣任司法與軍法承審員。其時靖江縣城已陷敵，縣政府設於新鎮。武力僅自衛隊百人。南京撤退之後，僅餘之八十九軍員額不足，只能配合江蘇省政府，流竄於蘇魯邊境而已。中央政府明令准許淪陷區人民組織常備隊，牽制日寇。於是散兵游勇地痞流氓紛紛各占地盤，擁槍稱霸。省府無法監管，唯有予取予求。

I only worked at the District Court of Taizhou briefly. Soon I was recruited into the civil and military law enforcement in Jingjiang County. At the time, the City of Jingjiang had fallen into the enemy's hands. The county government was located in a small suburban town called New Town, with a self-defense team of merely around 100 members. Since the central government moved out of Nanjing, the 89th Army was understaffed. They only accompanied the Jiangsu Provincial Government to flee to the northern end of Jiangsu, near its border with Shandong Province. The central government issued an order allowing people in the Japanese-occupied zones to form Chinese armies in order to fight the Japanese. Then many deserted soldiers and local gangsters claimed some land and relied on their guns to make themselves rulers. The fleeing provincial government was unable to control them and could do nothing but approve all their applications for positions.

日軍以掃蕩該等部隊為名義，實行“清鄉”，所到之處，姦淫搶劫，無所不為。常備隊則聞風遠遁，反成招禍於民的根源。各隊甚至還常有爭地之舉。可惜所爭者，非敵人佔領之地。良可嘅也！

The Japanese announced that they had to eliminate those local armed forces. They called the action “clearing the countryside.” Wherever the Japanese went, they raped women and robbed households. There was nothing holding them back. As soon as those local Chinese armies heard that the Japanese were coming, they ran far away. Ironically, they became a disaster magnet to the civilians. Some of those armies even fought one another for land, but what they were fighting over was not in the Japanese-occupied zones! That made me sigh deeply.

一九三八年冬，無賴朱某糾集數十人，自稱團長，公然向省府要求擔任靖江縣長。省府不察，竟准核派。余不欲與草寇輩為伍，乃辭職返鄉。

In the winter of 1938, a gangster with the surname Zhu gathered dozens of men and called himself a regimental commander. He blatantly asked the provincial government to appoint him Sheriff of Jinjiang County. The provincial government, without finding out what was going on, approved his request! In order to avoid working with such a shameless gangster, I resigned and went home.

余於一九三九年迎娶泰州縣城儲家長女倩穠為妻。雖在亂世，婚禮仍屬相當隆重熱閙。其實彼時歷經錢莊劇變，姑母，余母，叔祖母，祖母之喪，再穿插大哥娶親，姐姐出閣，父親續弦，十年間支出浩繁，已屬外強中乾。然而父親盡力羅掘，供我就讀大學，為我問名納采，毫未吝惜。舐犢情深，夢寐難忘！

In 1939, I married Chien (the first name appearing on her US passport), the eldest daughter of the Chu family from Taizhou City. Even though we were living in a disastrous world, our wedding was formal and boisterous. In fact, my family had gone through serious financial trouble with our private bank and paid for funerals for my aunt, my mother, my great aunt, and my grandmother, as well as my elder brother's and elder sister's weddings, plus my father's second wedding, all in the preceding decade. We had spent too much. We were actually not as wealthy as we seemed. However, my father did everything to gather enough money for my college education and the betrothal gifts for my wife's family. He was as loving as a bull licking his calf. His love is unforgettable to me, always remaining in my thoughts as well as in my dreams.

Translator's note:

My maternal grandmother's given name was 掌珠 (which means a pearl in the palm of your hand) at birth, but Granddad renamed her 倩穠for her exceptional beauty, as  means “gorgeous” and  signifies “curvaceous” in Chinese.

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【法奶日報www.lulijen.com2015.6.10.出刊，第9-1411號】