The Sage in the Cathedral of Books. Yang Sun Yang
in non-course-related programs as a sign he was neglecting his studies. Every time Hwa-Wei gave an absence permission slip to a professor, the professor would say nothing, but give a stern look. Some professors would never fail to remind Hwa-Wei of an approaching finals week, saying something like: “Hwa-Wei Lee, you’d better put extracurricular activities aside and focus on your study. Otherwise, I don’t think you will be able to pass my class, as you’ve missed so many sessions.”
Hwa-Wei at the Provincial Taiwan Teachers College in Taipei, 1950. In 1954 the college was renamed the National Taiwan Normal University.
With regret, Hwa-Wei would sincerely reply, “Thank you, Professor! Please trust me. I will study hard to make up.” Luckily, Hwa-Wei was always able to pass examinations and even received better grades than his professors had expected owing to his strengths in logic, analysis, and writing, as well as his all-night cramming right before an exam.
For every exam, Hwa-Wei would usually stay up the whole night in the classroom reviewing textbooks and notes. The next morning, he would put the textbooks and notes aside, wash his face with cold water, and get ready for the exam. Hwa-Wei was only able to gain short-term memory, though, from the last-minute preparation for the exam, as everything acquired from the overnight study would soon be forgotten. His skill at cramming just before his exams won him quite a reputation in the Education Department. His professors were also surprised and started to be fond of this student who was shy when speaking but passionate about after-school programs.
It was Hwa-Wei’s personality that kept him active behind the scenes of many off-school programs. It took him a while to realize the value of those extracurricular activities in shaping his leadership skills including motivating and encouraging others; cultivating fellowship and partnership; and planning thoroughly, then implementing effectively. The development of those skills proved an unexpected windfall from his college years.
Unconsciously, Hwa-Wei had already started preparing for his future through exploiting his potential. He had no idea why he was always able to get people together and accomplish many difficult tasks. Looking back to his college years, Hwa-Wei finally came to understand that it was indeed that leadership potential he had developed in college that contributed to his career success in the United States, earning him promotions faster than his colleagues—starting with the University of Pittsburgh Library. This was a special achievement considering he was a foreign student and a non-native English speaker.
Hwa-Wei (front row, right) with fellow classmates in the Department of Education.
Hwa-Wei (front row, far right), who was good in sports, won first place in the eight-hundred-meter race.
Hwa-Wei accepts a trophy from the president of the university.
Despite the richness of its extracurricular activities, NTNU, a teachers’ education institution, was rather strict on discipline. It was mandatory that girls return to their dorms before 9:00 p.m., and boys no later than 11:00 p.m. However, that regulation was not followed strictly by boys who, fed watery and flavorless food from the school cafeterias, were starving at night.
In those hours, the overpowering smell of beef noodle soup, blasting from the other side of the campus wall, became truly alluring and irresistible. Hwa-Wei and his friends often could not help but climb over the wall to savor late-night food and then climb back. The boys enjoyed their rebellious act, and even felt more excited, when they were caught right inside the wall by Chong-Le Wang, head of the student life unit of Guidance and Counseling Services, and had to run fast to escape. As the champion of the eight-hundred-meter run, Hwa-Wei had never been captured and was thus ranked by Wang among the naughtiest of the students.
An easy-going person, Hwa-Wei never had conflicts with others—with only one exception. He had a classmate who constantly abused the others. Although these classmates felt indignant, no one dared to say a word back. One day, having reached the end of his endurance, Hwa-Wei stood up and criticized the bully. Infuriated by the bony Hwa-Wei, to whom he never would have paid attention, the bully immediately picked up an ink bottle and cast it over Hwa-Wei, leaving ink splashed all over his body. Giving his shirt a shake, Hwa-Wei threw a quick and unexpected blow to the bully’s face. The poor guy, never having anticipated that hard lick from the good-tempered Hwa-Wei, staggered there with a bloody face. Hwa-Wei’s fist was truly relentless, knocking out one of the guy’s front teeth, which cut his own hand, a wound that later formed a scar.
That was the only fight in Hwa-Wei’s entire life. Hwa-Wei, himself, was no less shocked than the bullying classmate. Stunned by his own burst of energy, Hwa-Wei was also struck dumb. He had never imagined that his single blow would immediately control the opponent.
The consequence was bad. The university administration punished Hwa-Wei—regardless of his reason for the fight—with probation, two major and two minor demerits, and all the medical expenses of the wounded classmate. Luckily, Hwa-Wei was able to counterbalance the demerits using an equivalent amount of merits earned from his extracurricular activities.
What bothered Hwa-Wei most was the medical expense. One reason for his decision to go to Normal University to study education was to help with his family’s tight budget, as the school provided free tuition. How could he then let his parents pay for the medical charge? If not from his parents, where could he acquire funds as an impoverished student? It became a real headache for Hwa-Wei. Knowing his difficulty, the majority of his classmates, who were on Hwa-Wei’s side for his just behavior, pooled their pocket money for him. The medical expense was finally scraped together after Hwa-Wei added two more tutoring jobs.
3
The 1950s saw a constant growing tension between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait following the conclusion of the Chinese civil war. The entire island was armed and ready to counterattack the mainland at any time and hoped to receive more support from the United States when the fight commenced. Although it was a pressing desire of Chiang Kai-Shek to retake the mainland, he was not quite confident of his military strength. After all, restarting the war at that time would be a life-or-death choice. If it failed, Chiang could lose Taiwan, his last resort in the world. Having weighed the pros and cons, Chiang decided not to take further action.
Back then in Taiwan, military training was mandatory in colleges. Student dorms, supervised by full-time drillmasters, were treated as military barracks with everything, including the bed, in order. To students like Hwa-Wei, whose family income was on the low end, one big advantage of this military training was free uniforms and shoes. Under the military system, students had to stay on campus during part of their summer school breaks to undergo basic military training in drill and marksmanship.
One educational outcome was the increasingly high patriotic sentiment across the campus concerning the Republic of China. Many times the institution sent the school’s drama troupe and its dance club to the offshore island of Kinmen to perform for soldiers staying on the front line. Other students also helped illiterate soldiers, who comprised a large portion of the troops, in writing letters to their families.
Hwa-Wei remembers the entrenchment in Kinmen as rather complex and concealed, spreading in all directions while also being hardly visible from the outside. He once entered an auditorium that was built just inside an excavated mountain, truly an eye-opening experience to Hwa-Wei, who had been interested in civil engineering. He was amazed at the creativity of its engineers.
Actually, Kinmen is a very small island lacking favorable geography for shelters and concealments. The best way for the Nationalist army to build structures for hidden military facilities was to excavate inside mountains. A cave airbase could be used easily for aircraft taking off and landing when its gate was opened. The Nationalist army was quite confident in the sheltering structure. One slogan stated that the Communist