I was born in Shanghai’s Nanshi District¹ on 20 June 1916. In 1916 World War One was raging in Europe, without any sign of a clear outcome between the two sides. China’s government declared war on Germany and Austria and, to assist the allies, many young people were sent to France to provide additional labour power in the support areas, as all available Frenchmen were at the front. The then leader of China’s Beiyang clique, Yuan Shikai, signed the treacherous ‘Twenty-One Demands’ treaty with Japan to meet the demands of Japanese militarists and to further his own ambitions. Japan planned...

I was born in Shanghai, but because of my family background, have always spoken with a Pudong accent. As soon as I open my mouth people know that I am from Pudong. I should explain that Shanghai is divided into two districts by the Huangpu River—the east bank is known as Pudong and the west as Puxi. After the First Opium War (1839–42), Shanghai was opened to foreign residents. When the foreigners came they established their presence in the concession areas in Puxi, so that bank of the river developed very fast. Pudong remained agricultural, its residents mainly...

At the age of six I went first to a girls’ school to do my basic education. There were two female teachers, one named Shou, the other Gu, who were both very patient. I remember one of my fellow students was a girl named Xu, who came from a wealthy family and was very well mannered. She later became a nun and entered the Congregation of the Presentation of Our Lady to the Temple. She says that she never forgot me.

In the second year I transferred to a boys’ school. I remember only two teachers, named Zhu and Hu....

The Shanghai Catholic diocese was a missionary district of the province of Paris of the French Society of Jesus. In Shanghai the Jesuits set up many charitable and educational activities, including middle schools, universities and so on. Their main geographical area of activity was the French concession.

In those days Shanghai had concession areas. The notion of ‘concession’ is not well understood among Chinese today. When I was a child and a young man, I lived in the concession. The so-called concession was a piece of national territory that was ceded by our government, under the intense pressure of foreign...

In September 1926 I entered the elementary section of St. Ignatius College (later registered as Xuhui Middle School by the KMT¹ Bureau of Education). The principal of the elementary school was Rev. Aloysius Tsang S. J. He was later dean of my high school and eventually Bishop of Shanghai when I returned to the city after my long stint in prison. Thus he witnessed all the major turning points of my life. In those days school discipline was very strict.

In 1927 when the KMT Northern Expedition reached Shanghai, the school was temporarily closed and the students sent home—and...

At this time one of my great-uncles Jin Fushan appeared on the scene. He was similar to my own grandfather in that he had opened a joint-stock company supplying food to foreigners. The company was known as Tong Mao, or Dombay & Son in English. It was a large and prosperous concern. He was always open and generous in spirit, once making a large donation for scholarships at St. Ignatius College in order to assist those children whose families had fallen on hard times. He was also truly God-fearing, belonging to Action Catholique and spending his vacations proselytising in the...

My aunt was a nun in the Congregation of the Helpers of the Holy Souls and taught mathematics at Qiming Girls Middle School and Xuhui Girls Middle School. She had one favourite student named Lu Naying. After my father’s death my aunt very much wanted to help me, so she summoned Lu Naying and told her: “My favourite nephew is now an orphan. Why don’t you take him to be your younger brother and your mother can make him her godson.” After Lu Naying went home and talked to her mother, she took me home to pay my respects to...

In 1932 I graduated from St. Ignatius College in Xujiahui and took the entrance examination for Aurora University, matriculating the same year. The school arranged a retreat to practise the spiritual exercises of St. Ignatius before our graduation. Part of this involved a subject for meditation called ‘two opposing flags’ in which the forces of Lord Jesus battle those of the Devil. The former force desires to establish peace and save humankind, whereas the latter spreads hatred and chaos. Jesus needs our support to complete his plan for humankind. My spirit was moved and I decided to follow Jesus and...

In August 1935 I entered the Seminary of the Sacred Heart of Mary. At this time the various seminaries had become independent of the administration of Rev. Henry and had obtained their own rector, Rev. Felix Maumus. He was more kindly than Rev. Henry, as well as gifted in many areas. As soon as he graduated from the seminary he was invited by the committee to teach theology there. He was also the chief accountant for the diocese, looking after the finances. Later on he was posted to be pastor of St. Joseph’s parish in Sichuan South Road for 24...

There were no newspapers to read at the seminary and at that time China had no wireless broadcasts to listen to. All correspondence was inspected by the foreign priests, so we were cut off from the world; our education was entirely circumscribed and our sole sources of information were visiting friends and relatives, and old newspapers and magazines that we read at home during the holidays.

The priest responsible for our Chinese studies was Xu Zongze, while a professor from an external university named Zhu Tingfan was invited to give two classes a week. Our director of studies asked him...

On completion of my examination, the rector of the seminary informed me that I would next be going to the Jesuit theological college to study theology. There I would be able to prepare for a master’s degree recognised by the Vatican educational authorities. He instructed me to study Greek by myself; but since I had already done my spiritual exercises, after deep consideration I decided to join the Society of Jesus and wrote my letter of application to the Jesuit father superior Rev. Henry. I took leave of my fellow teachers and my personal library and other belongings.

On 20...

Two years passed and on 8 September 1940 I took my vows along with some others. Later on, when I was arrested on 8 September 1955, it was quite a coincidence. Was this a heavenly message? When I took my vows I told no one, so no one came to congratulate me. I immediately transferred to the Juvenate College. There I taught Latin to the second grade class at the Sacred Heart Seminary in Xujiahui. Up to that point the class had always been taught by French priests. There were four lessons a day, two in the morning and two...

At the end of August 1941, Rev. Henry sent me to Xianxian in Hebei Province to study philosophy for a third year. In Shanghai seminaries the course was only two years, while the Jesuits required three years, so I had to make up a year. According to the dispositions of the Society of Jesus at that time the school of philosophy was in Xianxian and the school of theology in Shanghai, with the examination centre in Wuhu in Anhui Province. I set out by train in early September with Zhu Shude and Chen Tianxiang. We crossed the Yangtze River and...

In late August I left Tianjin to return to Shanghai. At that time the Japanese army was guarding the main railway line and the trains from Beijing to Shanghai were not getting through. We got off at Pukou to cross the Yangtze, spent a night at Zhendan Middle School in Nanjing and then caught the Shanghai train. Upon my return to Shanghai I reported to the theology college in Xujiahui. In those days the college of theology was located where the Oriental Department Store and adjacent buildings are today. The rector Rev. Peter Lefebvre gave me a warm welcome.

The...

In June 1946 I graduated and the following day Henry called me to him and said: “You have graduated. During the vacation I am sending you to Dongtai in Subei to relieve Rev. Klement. You will be acting parish priest. Return here at the end of August to go to Wuhu in Anhui Province.” I was aware that fighting had broken out between the Nationalists and the Communists. Chiang Kai-shek had broken the ceasefire and Dongtai had fallen into the hands of the New Fourth Army. Dongtai was a key objective of the KMT army. As the KMT advanced on...

In mid-June 1947 I received a letter from Rev. Lacretelle telling me that Bith had petitioned the superior general and that the latter had authorised me to travel to Europe. The letter instructed me to go to Shanghai to prepare to leave for my studies in France. My immediate superior, the supervisor of Yangzhou district, Rev. Lauzon wrote to Lacretelle saying that he was aware that the superior general had authorised me to go to Europe, but that he could not spare me before the end of August. Lauzon set out for Huaiyin in order to detain me, but only...

At Marseilles an old Jesuit brother met us off the ship and assisted us with immigration procedures, collecting luggage and transport to the Jesuit house.

In the summer of 1947 it was only two years since the end of WWII and one could still see many sunken ships in the harbour, with only masts or funnels poking above the surface. No one had had time to salvage them. Walking through the streets one could see ruined walls and wreckage, creating a desolate effect and reminding one of the horrors of war and of humankind’s need for peace.

We stayed two...

After the tertianship was over, I went to Provincial Bith and applied to go to Ireland to learn English. He gave his permission. I intended to travel first to the Enghien College of Theology in Belgium. A Jesuit who had learned that I planned to go to Belgium approached me and told me that his aunt was returning to Belgium the following afternoon. Would I like a lift in her car? Naturally I accepted. The next day the aunt and her husband came to the Jesuit house to pick me up, thus saving me a lot of money. They were...

After the holidays I returned to Paris, then took the train to Rome and reported to the Gregorian University of the Vatican. This university used to be called the Roman College and was founded by St. Ignatius. It is already some 400 years old. It is directed jointly by the Society of Jesus and the Vatican and is located at the centre of Rome at No. 4 Pilota Square, next to the Pontifical Biblical Institute, which is also managed by the Society of Jesus. In those days the teachers were all Jesuits, from all over the world.

The head was...

After settling into the university I made haste to pay visits to the people I most respected, one being Archbishop Celso Costantini (1876–1958) and the other Wu Jingxiong J.D. (aka John Ching Hsiung Wu 1900–86).

Above I have talked of how the Pope appointed Mgr. Costantini as his first apostolic delegate to China in 1922. He lived in China for ten years during which time he worked so hard that he got ill and had to return to Europe for recuperation. When he left Shanghai the faithful gave him a ceremonial umbrella in recognition of his meritorious deeds....

I had thought that I needed to be able to read and comprehend German in order to do my research, so someone suggested that I go and study at the German College. I wrote a letter to the rector of that college, setting out my objective and after a few days he came to the university to tell me that I was welcome to go there during the Christmas vacation. This man had been an assistant to the previous superior general of the order, with responsibility for the German-speaking Jesuits. After WWII the Germans kept a low profile and he...

On 8 December 1948 when I was still at the Gregorian University in Rome, my fellow students Wang Zhe and Gao Yupu told me that Archbishop Yu Bin had arrived in Rome and was staying at the KMT’s embassy to the Vatican. So we hurried over to Wu Jingxiong’s residence and Yu Bin came out to receive us. At the same time the chargé d’affaires and the head of educational affairs at the University of the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, Rev. Du, had also arrived. Bishop Yu briefly outlined to us the state of affairs in China....

The Society of Jesus was about to take necessary measures. The superior general Janssens urgently called Rev. Burckhardt, the head of the Jesuit mission in Jing County, Hebei Province, back to Rome for consultations.

At that time the Society had 880 Jesuits in China, spread over three Chinese provinces as well as Hong Kong and Macau. They belonged to eleven separate Jesuit provinces. Jesuits in China were required to report all important matters back to their respective provinces. The Shanghai diocese came under the province of Paris; that of Yangzhou came under the California province; Xuzhou under the Canadian province;...

Another year had passed and once again it was vacation time. European universities have a particularly long summer vacation—about three and a half months. In order to pursue my German studies I obtained permission from the new provincial of Paris, Rev. Goussault, to travel first to Switzerland and then to Austria and Germany on vacation.

I first travelled to Florence, Venice, Brescia and Castiglione, the former home of St. Luis de Gonzaga; then to Milan and on to Dormodosola on the Italian–Swiss border. In order to reach the Swiss border post at Brig we had to cross the...

At the end of 1949 the new Jesuit house in Rome for Jesuit doctoral candidates was completed and named St. Charles Borromeo College. This was close to the Gregorian University and next door to the Church of St. Ignatius. The building was large, with three floors and three elevators. My room was on the second floor with large windows and was very comfortable. Each set of three rooms shared a bathroom. We all thought it too luxurious. Should the priests and nuns of the Shanghai diocese today move in there they would not be satis-fied, because it had no en-suite...

In May 1950 I received a letter from the Shanghai Jesuit father superior Lacretelle, requiring me to return to China after finishing my PhD. While those in China in fear of danger were being ordered to escape, I was being called from safety abroad to face danger at home, being yet again placed in a hopeless situation. After thinking it over I wrote back accepting Lacretelle’s order.

First of all, I reckoned that I had no problems in my personal history, nothing to give rise to fear on the part of the Communist party. Secondly, when I was young, there...

I reached Shanghai station on 25 January and no one was there to meet me. I made my way alone to the seminary at Xujiahui to report to the then rector Yves Henry. Then I went to see the Jesuit father superior Rev. Lacretelle. He said to me: “So you’re back. I was just planning to write you a letter telling you not to return.” I thought to myself that I had been in Hong Kong for several days, during which time, had he really wanted to, he could easily have written to me. I thought he was just hedging...

After I had returned to China and had a good look around, I realised that although the Shanghai diocese now had a Chinese bishop, nonetheless the power remained in the hands of the French. After Gong Pinmei had been ordained, he had first served as headmaster of the Sacred Heart Middle School in Songjiang and then spent eight years as the head of the junior middle school department of Aurora University Middle School. He was finally promoted to be the headmaster of Jinke Middle School. He had always worked as a teacher. While he was at Aurora the nominal head...

On the eve of the end of WWII, Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill gathered for a summit meeting at Yalta and Roosevelt made a large concession to Stalin, allowing Eastern Europe to fall into the Soviet sphere of influence, so that when the war was over the anti-fascist political parties in Eastern Europe all fell into the hands of the communists and the various Eastern European countries became Soviet satellite states, while the communist parties of Western Europe all grew in strength. On the eve of the 1948 Italian election, the Communist party was at the height of its influence and...

In August 1951 Archbishop Riberi was expelled from China. Just before leaving, he authorised Rev. Lacretelle’s application and appointed me new acting head of the Xuhui Regional Seminary. I took office on 16 July 1951 and put all my energy into the affairs of the seminary, a role I played as well as I could for four years, during which time the number of seminarians increased to 303. The priests working at the seminary had all once been my teachers and my leaders, such as Rev. Yves Henry who had once been Jesuit father superior and seminary rector and Rev....

The conflict between Gong and the government was coming to a climax. Gong and Lacretelle issued an order refusing communion to all who joined the Catholic Patriotic Association. This was a very severe measure, almost equivalent to excommunicating all the members of the CPA. Pious Catholics could not join the CPA or attend its meetings. Some CPA members were not intimidated and went to church as usual and went up for communion along with everyone else. The zealots of the parish, especially the younger people, would inhibit them. The conflict was coming out into the open. Gong came and said...

After Rev. Lacretelle and the others had been arrested on 15 June, the Jesuit Visitor Rev. Burckhardt rode his bicycle to Xujiahui to see me. He told me that Lacretelle had been arrested and so he was approaching me to be acting father superior of the Jesuits in Shanghai. Before Lacretelle had been arrested, he had also left instructions that I should be appointed capitular vicar of Huizhou District. I thus assumed the three roles of acting rector of the seminary, acting Jesuit father superior and capitular vicar. After Burckhardt had left I went to the chapel to pray before...

Many people ask me my view of Gong Pinmei, so I’ll take this opportunity to state it. He was a very good priest who greatly loved the Lord and strictly followed discipline. His father had served the Church all his life, working flat out, devoted to his duties and amassing a small fortune with which he bought land and became a property owner. When Gong was young, he was engaged to be married, his betrothed being a woman from Gaoqiao in Pudong, but on the eve of his graduation from St. Ignatius College he heeded the Lord’s call and broke...

The Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary was 8 September 1955, which was also the anniversary of my first vows. At 9:30 in the evening, as I was reading in my room, the main gate of the seminary suddenly opened (the workers having been ordered in advance to prepare for this) and a group of plain clothes policemen burst in and broke up into groups to arrest people. Four men charged into my room and said to me: “You are being arrested; come with us.” I was pushed into a small motor car and driven away. I...

The time had come: the government could enjoy the fruits of victory. In June 1960 I was given a haircut, issued with formal clothes and escorted by car to the court (I had already been in detention for four years and nine months, whereas Rev. Chen Zhemin who was put on trial with me had been first detained in 1951 and thus was in detention for nine years). For the court appearance we entered the courtroom and saw that next to the judges on the dais were Tang Ludao and Lu Weidu, who served as assessor. On the witness stand...

After the sentencing I was transferred under escort to Tilanqiao Prison. I had been confined in the detention centre for four years and nine months. I now spent two years and seven months at Tilanqiao. There was not much difference between the two places. The prisoners were all criminals, without name and known only by number and the treatment was more or less the same, except for the fact that in the detention centre each cell had a wooden door, with a small window in the upper half to enable the guards to watch us, as well as a small...

In early 1963 I was transferred to Qincheng Prison in Beijing. It happened like this: early one day, the prison officer opened up my cell and said to me: “Bring all your belongings and come with me.” All I had was my bedding, some old clothes and the few books that Rong Dexian had sent me. I entered the room to find six people already sitting on the floor. The security guard named Wu and three young policemen in military uniforms led us to a van, in which were already placed several large wooden cases, apparently containing all our files....

I spent nearly six years at the Fushun War Criminals Management Centre, from the autumn of 1967 to the autumn of 1973.

I’ll give you a simple description of the management centre. It had been built during the Japanese occupation of the north-east of our country, specifically for the imprisonment of Japanese military offenders. On the eve of the Japanese surrender, the Soviet Red Army had invaded the north-east and the camp had fallen into their hands. After the Liberation of the north-east the People’s Government had taken it over and used it for the incarceration of Pu Yi and...

In 1973 Deng Xiaoping returned to power, taking up the post of deputy premier of the State Council and chief of the general staff. He bravely set about reorganising government departments, with quick results. In the summer the deputy director of Qincheng Prison came to Fushun and said that they intended to re-establish the translation team and wanted to take us back. Not all were welcome and those who had no real talent in foreign languages stayed at Fushun—including Zhang Zhitian, Diao Peishu, Xiong Shounong and a certain Lin whose given name I have forgotten. This time we got...

In 1975 class warfare broke out again in China. The senior leaders indicated that it was not a good idea to keep the translation team so close to the capital and said that we should be separated. The No. 13 Department of the Ministry of Public Security decided to break up the team. Meanwhile the team administrators told us that they would be going back to their hometowns. At the same time they told us: “As for Jin Luxian: you are not permitted to return to Shanghai. There is no work unit in Shanghai willing to accept you. Your fellow...

In the annals of our country 1976 was a most unsettled year. Early on Premier Zhou Enlai and Marshal Zhu De both died, after which the great earthquake at Tangshan occurred, in which some 200,000 residents died. Following this Mao Zedong, after a long period of illness and every medical effort to save him, departed this life. Just as Jiang Qing and the others in the ‘Gang of Four’ hatched their plan to seize power, Hua Guofeng and Ye Jianying moved quickly to launch a surprise attack and arrested them all, thus crushing their plot, to the huge relief of...

In May 1979, the Public Security Ministry (PSM) sent two cadres to have a talk with me. One was named Wang Xiang and the other Li Jing. Wang spoke English and asked me several questions in that language. Then they went back to Beijing. Since Deng Xiaoping had again returned to power, the PSM needed to set up the translation team again. Wang Chunxian congratulated me, saying: “It seems that the government has a use for you. In the place you are going, the conditions will surely be better.” I certainly had no such notion in my mind.

In August...

At this time I received an up-to-date German dictionary from Rong Dexian as a present. When I read it through I saw the name of my friend Georg Meistermann. I was glad to see that he had become a well-known abstract painter, but there was no address in the dictionary. I only knew that he came from Solingen in Germany. So I wrote him a letter, addressed to G. Meistermann, Solingen. Surprisingly he did get my letter, no doubt as a result of his fame. In fact, he had already left that town and moved to Köln; but, when I...

On 1 June 1980 I was still working for the Baoding Jing’an Translation Company. The policeman responsible for me said: “Tomorrow you will go to Beijing. There’s some translation business we need you to look into. Tonight you can stay at the PSM guesthouse in Xila Hutong.” I was of course happy to get a change and to spend some time in Beijing. The next day I went to the PSM to pay a call on Deputy Director Zou Yuan. He told me to wait the next day for some people to visit me.

The next morning a man named...