Travels in China 2007
Qiao Family Residence, Shanxi Province
Deep in the heart of China, away from sites visited by Western travelers, our sturdy van stops at the Qiao family residence. Built during the Qing Dynasty, this enclosed castle-like architectural complex covers over 100,000 square feet with 313 rooms, six large courtyards, and 20 small courtyards. The residence housed 60 family members and 240 servants, four servants for each family member living in this extended complex. Yun brings us to this well-preserved example of the home of a Qiao Zhi Yong family of great wealth to give us an insight into the mindset, cultural norms, economic climate, and political expectations of the Chinese during five generations between 1760 and 1960.
A primary feature of the exquisitely appointed residence is the mural on the walls of the home, chronicling the rise and fall of the house of Qiao. We see the progenitor of the family, a destitute orphan in Shanxi, leaving home to seek a living outside his poor village. As a successful tofu and bean sprouts producer, he passed down what he created to the next generation, which expanded this growing wealth through land ownership and banking. Through the next generations, the Qiao family created one of the largest banking systems in China, starting with the first bank in Pingyao to which I referred in my last report.
During this highpoint of wealth, power, and prestige, the family highly educated its children and the children of its servants. Promising servant children were noticed and given their own personal tutor to further their abilities in the same way their own children were nurtured. The servant children of high promise who became successful earned the opportunity to take on the family name, thus extending the family influence and growing the family into a virtual empire. This also reflects the very close personal connection that the people of wealth had with their servants, living side by side with them in their homes, sharing hopes and aspirations for their children's success.
The mural concludes with the members of the Qiao family "voluntarily" handing over their fortune to the Communist government: $136 billion in 1954. However, even this generous "gift" to the government did not help most of them survive the Cultural Revolution, which lasted from 1966-76, leaving only two remaining members of the Qiao family.
In magnificent calligraphy on the outside wall of the residence seen in the picture here, we read the words of one the Qiao family members warning us of the impermanence of material wealth and the value of what we carry with us in our hearts and souls.
And so this story reflects very strongly the life and fortunes of Dr. Pang, Yun's mother, and her family. Dr. Pang's family had close ties to the Qiao family and were subject to the same "voluntary" renunciation of their land and wealth. It is because Dr. Pang was such a recognized physician, even during her youth at the time of the Cultural Revolution, that her life was spared, and she was sent to the far west part of the country to become a physician for the "Revolution."
I had an opportunity during our travels to ask Dr. Pang about her experience and her current work with Golden Courage. During her 11 or so years in exile, she did not know if her husband or newborn child, Yun, were alive or dead. During this time, she developed quite a clientele of the most powerful political leaders who recognized her medical acumen because at that time, these political leaders were also exiled at the same place. When the Cultural Revolution ended, she found her way back to Beijing and was reunited with her family. Soon she became the director of one of the most prestigious medical centers in Beijing and the personal physician of the top political leaders of the Communist Party. This put her in an important strategic position to assist Yun and Dr. Lu maneuver through the complexities of the Chinese governmental bureaucracy to secure the permissions necessary to get legal non-profit status for Golden Courage.
She feels grateful that she is able to make an important contribution to the establishment of Golden Courage and that somehow the horrific experiences of her early years can be transformed into the positive creation of an organization that makes such a difference in the lives of so many children. Dr. Pang is the Medical Director of Golden Courage and oversees the health and well-being of each and every child. She speaks with emotion about the young girls rescued from the sex trade whom she has counseled and treated. With pride, she relates the progress of the girl who could not look anyone in the eyes or barely speak when she was first brought into the program, to the courageous young women able to achieve in school and even sing during the school programs.
Dr. Pang shares her initial hesitation of caring for the children of the very workers who broke her bones, imprisoned her husband, and left her newborn child homeless and hungry to live on the streets of Beijing. With deep soul-searching and long discussions with Yun, Dr. Lu and others, she was able to release the anger and hostility she carried and understand that these people were also victims of the same debilitating situation. They were being urged on by others to carry out these vicious attacks in order not to be attacked themselves. Everyone was in jeopardy at that time, and these workers were merely pawns in a negative spiral of circumstances.
Consequently, Golden Courage is able to be a vehicle for reconciliation, a new model of how people from different circumstances can work together for the good of children who are the future of the country and of the global community. The non-profit model that Golden Courage has created brings together every level of government, local communities, the school system, people of lineage and education, and business people of new wealth - all to work for the common good. This is what Golden Courage stands for: a new vision of possibility for collaboration for the common good.