My Life and Science

by San Chiun Shen

Dec. 2002

Chapter I The Hometown Where I Grew UpZhou Zhuang, one of the ancient towns south of the Yangze River, is not far from

Shanghai; less than 100 kilometers. Should you walk westward along its pebbled road, round its end you’ll find an expanse of rippling blue water; this is the Bai Xienn lake, also called Bai Sien river. Round the west end of the river, there is a small village, Cheng Xu Village; this is the place where I was born. Less than 100 families lived there, most of them had the family name of Ming. I found out from the records of my ancestral family tree that my ancestors used to live in Zhudung Village, Wuxin County, Zhejiang Province. Not until the end of Ming Dynasty did they move to live around Bai Xien Lake. Farming and learning to be a Royal Rank scholar comprise the essence of my family education to be carried on from generation to generation. In this out of the way village, only members of my family were educated to read and write, to become an intellectual in some degree. Thus, whenever occasions arouse like weddings, burials or squabbles and fights between villagers, people came to our home for consultation or resolution. Even expectant couples came to ask my father or grandfather to pick out names for their coming children. Most of the children in the village were named according to the order of their births, or named according to the animal symbol of the year the child was born, like in the year of the tiger or the dog and so on. Of course, they took the surnames of their fathers. Occasionally, some were nick named by their looks, like one with eye disease, we called him “messy eye”. On the other hand, children in our family were named with “official” in its order. Obviously this shows that we were expected to study well enough to make good in the Royal Ranks through graded Imperial Exams, in short, to become a king’s official. My infant name was Spring Official. At that time, usually children were taught by a private teacher at home. My father was the first one of his generation to enter a modern school. After he graduated from Mr. Shen’s Yi Zhuang primary school, he passed the entrance examination to be admitted by Wujiang Rural Normal School. He became a teacher of the county after graduation from this school. My mother came from a farmer’s family. She was illiterate but was known to be an excellent farmhand all over the countryside.

When I was six years old, my family managed to have a private teacher for me at home. His name was Lu Jiaju. He was not of the old style private teacher common at that time, but a graduate from Soochow Industrial School. Although he had some knowledge of math and physics, my main study was still Chinese Literature. Looking back, there were six or seven kids with me in class. I was not a good student, my mind was not on my books but impatient for the class to be over. I looked forward to drive my family dog, a big yellow dog to run the other dogs in and out of the village. Teacher Lu did not like us, calling us all good for nothing boys with me first on his list. By the time I came to the age of seven, kidnappings and blackmails by robbers and bandits happened often, so private lessons were discontinued. It was at the down

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of morning in early summer, not long after our home was robbed, that my grandmother led me by hand and hurried to harbor not far from the village. A boat going to Tongli Town took us along. Tonglu town was about 10 miles from Zhou Zhuang town, with many rich people and scholars living there.

My uncle, a proprietor of a small rice store in this town, took me in. He had no children and treated me like his own. Later on, my parents also moved and settled with me.

I started as a second grader in Tongli’s Tailai Bridge Primary School. I remember the first time I was bullied at school: one day, a classmate named Xu Yichong called me “a country bumpkin” and pushed me to the ground. My grades were rather good, only next to one student named Zhang Zhiliang. He was also from the countryside like me. After 3 years, I went on the higher Tongli Primary School, which consisted of fifth and sixth grades. However, the fifth grade was divided into 4 laddered classes called Ren, Jing, Yong and Ai*, and the sixth grade into 2 called Zhi and Cheng*. Students were put into different classes according to their school records. Students who didn’t make good enough grades could not move up the ladder to higher classes, some even took 2 or 3 years to move up one step. I was in the Yong class. Jin Bintai, who taught in our “nature” class, was actually a County Rank Scholar of the Qing Dynasty. He often used sundry essays from Shanghai News as teaching material. I remember a test he gave us once when we were asked to tell the functions of a duck’s feet. I put down two: “walking and peddling in water” but only got a score of 66 with teacher’s comment: “to make a soup of duck’s feet” written on my paper. Nevertheless, I made good enough grades to move up to sixth grade’s Zhi class and expected to graduate after another year. Yet that year brought the most unforgettable trials and tribulations of my youth. My father lost his job. We had to subsist on the rental payment from our tenant farmers for over 30 Mu** (larger than an acre) of land. Due to poor harvest, tenants were unable to pay the rent. Therefore, we had to move our home to a three rooms hut in front of a small temple where my grandmother practiced Buddhism like a nun. My poor mother tried her best to help scrape up a living for us. She shelled gorgon fruits for merchants and made “silver ingots” from tinfoils to be sold to worshippers who came to the temple to burn incense and foil-money. She even developed a vegetable garden from a piece of barren land by the temple and sold manure to farmers in exchange for rice straw fuel. By Chinese New Year’s Eve, we had to face debtors who viciously tried to force every penny from us. My younger brother, sisters and I had to endure this painful ordeal desperately waiting for midnight when they would leave with curses. My poor family background brought me humiliation and the bitter taste of merciless human relationships between people of different financial or political status. One particular incident still stands out vividly in my mind: on one certain day a teacher asked every student to stand up and tell the name and occupation of his father. Qian Ren, one of my classmates stood up and proudly said that his father’s name was Qian Shudu, a well known local gentry. When my turn came, I stood up trembling on my feet and said that my father did volunteer work for the Township Security Guard, revealing that actually he had no job. The whole class burst out laughing at me; at that moment I felt humiliated beyond

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measure. After this day, I felt constantly the teachers’ cold attitude towards me as if I were of some lower class. From those days of suffering, I grew up with a stubborn temperament. Since I believed that those teachers would hardly give me a fair treatment, I started to skip classes and even some term tests. In the end, I was the only one of my class unable to graduate. Somehow my father must have known the troubled circumstances I was in, because he did not take me to task but encouraged me to try for high school on the par of my school years. One stormy day in the summer of 1931, he took me to the County for the entrance examination to Wu Jiang High School. I didn’t disappoint him; a notice of admission came to me.

*Ren means benevolence; Jing, respect; Yong, courage; Ai, love. Zhi means wisdoms; Cheng, honesty.

**Mu equals 0.0667 hectare.

Wu Jiang High School-forever etched in my mind and soulWu Jiang High School was situated by the side of Taihu Lake, close by the Lou

Shang Pavilion and the Three Elites Memorial Temple. The so called Three Elites include Ran Li, Zhang Zhan and Lu Guimeng from ancient times. There was a verse of two lines in our School Journal, which runs as follows:

“Be you as simple as a fish and vegetable soup maker,You could strive to follow the lofty spirit of the Three Elites,Yet be you as devout as dancing sacrificial rites in a celestial temple,Hardly enable you to emulate the style of eminent intelligentsia.

This shows how much our school advocates moral integrity and literary pursuits.The teachers of this school taught us well with systematic guidance and patience,

taking no notice of the students’ backgrounds, be they rich or poor. Luckily my older cousin, Shen Qiming was already a student there, so I had no longer any fear of being bullied. The atmosphere around me was fair and friendly. Not soon after I entered the school, the Japanese invaded North-eastern China starting with the Sept. 18 th Incident. The next year, the Jan. 28th Incident followed with Japan troops landing in Shanghai. The Chinese 19th Brigade tried their best to fight against the invaders. The highway between Soochow and Jiading County had just been built, giving me a first glimpse of a motorcar. One day, several classmates and I walked along this highway from the North Gate of Wu Jiang County to Soochow city for the purpose of participating in the celebration to 19th Brigade’s victory at that time. It took place in the Wang Fei Ji Park, where the Brigade Commander, Ong Zhaoheng gave a speech. All over Soochow, down streets and lanes you can see posted slogans like: “Charge forward to win the right to live, or retreat to face a dead end” and “Sworn to eliminate the invaders before going home”. Etc. Hanging in front of a small temple was a photograph of one platoon leader and a monk, below which was written these words: “Rivers and mountains stand as homeland forever in our hearts; Soldiers and monks join in defense as kith and kin.” One can read between the words and lines how soldiers and common people come close together to repulse the enemy and their dissension about the Wusong-Shanghai Truce Agreement signed by the Guo-Min-Dang Government.

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In those days of national disaster, Yang Xuemen, our principal led us students out of school to go on the streets to proclaim fighting against the Japanese invaders and refraining from buying Japan products. At a party given by the principal for the graduation of a teacher-training class, in the Jing Xian Hall of the Three Elites Memorial Temple, Wang Nuan, our teacher of Chinese Literature sang a song high and loud. I still remember a few lines from the verse: “As teachers and students drink together in the Hall, the evening deepens and the blood runs hotter…… A thousand rounds of wine could make the mountain shake, a few songs can scarce tell our feelings to the full…..Think of Principal Yang wherever you go, sing aloud the poem of BLOOD ALL OVER THE RIVER”. As I revive these words, I can still feel the love and loyalty for our country in yonder days.

Thanks to exemplary teachers like Yang Xuemen, and Wang Nuan, etc. in a school like Wu Jiang, I regained the self confidence and self respect lost in my once miserable childhood and learned to cultivate innate strength of will to strive for life’s higher values.

The school buildings were destroyed in our anti-Japanese War by 1941, leaving no trace of the Pavilion and the Memorial Temple, yet the antithetical couplet on the lateral’s white wall are still vivid in my memory: “Old sites may get lost through eight hundred and twenty years, Lofty characters could still give inspiration over thirty six thousand qing* of homeland”.

There was a doorman at the gatehouse of our school. We all called him Yu Tang by his name only. I didn’t care enough to ask for his surname but knew he was from Jiang Ying county. He usually delivered letters to students at self-study time in the evening. He would call out: “young master XXX, letter for you!”. However, at times when there were letters for me or my cousin, he would call us by our names only. I suppose that’s because we did not dress or act like a young master of a House. There was a sports stadium near our school. After gymnastics, we often buy snacks from a stadium caretaker called A He. Sometimes I didn’t have money to pay him, he would then write down in his little account book like this: “Old Timer owes 5 copper coins for flapjack.” That was because he did not know my name. Ding Keying a teacher of our art class would often take me to a village on the bank of Tahu Lade during the late Autumn when the maple leaves turned red like the flowers in Spring. We would take up our paints and brushes to draw water-colors of the natural scenery. I believe it was then and there I became interested in painting.

Like the above recollections, the people and events from more than 60 years ago are forever etched in my mind and soul.

*qing =6.6667hectares

Chapter II Chance Events With A Lifelong ImpactAug.13th, 1937 was the day the Japanese invaders landed in Shanghai, beginning

the wholesale invasion of China. That day is remembered as the “August 13th Event”. That year I was admitted to the Special School of Agriculture under the College of Agriculture of the University of Nanking. The reason I chose this special course was the low tuition and the prospect of graduation in 2 years. My family could only afford

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so much even by scrimping family expenses. Due to continuous bombing of Nanking, the University of Nanking had to move to Mid-China University in the city of Wuchang, except the school of Agriculture to be moved to the town of Wujiang, a county in Anhuai Province. One morning in the middle of September, I said good-bye to my grandmother, my parents and two sisters to go to Wujiang. My father’s parting admonition was for me to watch out for enemy bombing to escape from worthless death and to be ready to join the army in case the anti-Japanese war continued so much longer. I kept his words in my heart. In the town of Wujiang, we were cut off from any outside news. I became homesick, especially longing for my grandmother. By the end of November, students were suddenly notified to move with the school westward to Wuchang county right then and there. A classmate with the surname of Zhang, who came from Zhujia Corner tried to persuade me to stay with him in Wujiang and try to go back by a round-about way to avoid the war-zone at that time. I was tempted but my father’s advice kept me from doing so. After the war, it was known that when the Japanese occupied He County they had carried out a sweeping massacre. If I had gone back there, I could not have survived. No further news about my classmate ever came up again. We left Wujiang on two large sailing boats hired by the school and later transferred at Anqing to a passenger ship, which dropped us off at the city of Hankow. By the time we settled down in a church in the city, news came that Dachang, Wusoong, and Shanghai were all lost to the enemy and even Nanking was in imminent danger. Slogans were seen everywhere in Hankow and Wuchang calling for people to “put in first place the fight against the invaders until victory” and “all out for national integrity, all out for national sovereignty”. People’s fighting spirits were stirred up high and wide. Young students arriving in Wuhan area from every quarter in China joined the anti-Japanese lines one after another to save our country. In the midst of uncertainty, I thought of my classmate Chien Qixiang from my boyhood. He was then a student of Law at Wuhan University. When I found him, I left the University of Nanking to go with him to Wuchang. For more than 2 months we lived at the dormitory of Wuhan University, Room #75. This could be said to be the beginning of my wandering life. Wuhan U’s Students’ Association organized forum. Among the lecturers giving speeches on the War were Chen Lifu and Zhou Enlai. The former was gifted with a silver tongue, and he tried to lead people to place their hope in intervention from western countries, especially the United States of America. The latter came accompanied by several students from the Temporary University in the city of Changsha, which later became the Southwestern Associated University. He stressed the importance of tenacious fighting and faith in ultimate victory. His speech heightened the students’ confidence in a brighter national future.

By December 12th that year, Nanking fell into the hands of the enemy. As a result, there were more and more bombings over Wuhan. It was then decided that Wuhan University must move to Le Shan county Sichuan Province. Again I came to be in a state of confusion, not knowing which way is right for me to go. One day I suddenly came face to face with a fellow provincial named Ma Yingpeng. After he heard about my destitute state, he gave me his work address in Guangxi province, offering to help me in case I should come to that vicinity. I took comfort from his

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generous offer. Somehow by another chance I saw a page of newspaper posted on a wall somewhere in a street. On this paper I read a notice by the then Ministry of Education calling for students from war-zone to register for temporary studies in schools behind and beyond the battle lines. With Ma’s offer in mind, I went to register as a temporary student in College of Agriculture at Guangxi University. I didn’t have any expectations, yet no one could have foreseen that this chance not only gave me a place to go but it played an important key role leading to my future career in the field of Science!

Temporary Student at Guangxi University One morning in early March 1938, Chien Qixiang saw me off to get on a train from Wuchang to Hengyang where I stayed overnight to catch a bus to Huangsha River Township. That was the place where Guangxi and Hunan province meet. Looking across the River (for which the town was named), I saw an eye-catching horizontal boundary tablet standing on the Guangxi side. These words: “Build up Guangxi! Reinvigorate Our Country!” gave the spirits of a young exile from home like a big boost. I stayed overnight in a riverside inn. In the next morning I crossed the river to Guangxi side to catch a bus for Guilin. When the passengers got off at the destined station, they were told that everyone must write down their names and the hotels they planned to stay at. I had no idea which hotel to choose, but the policeman on duty there advised me to take Guilin Hotel among the many hotels on the one and only thoroughfare in the city. Finding out that I was an exilic student, he also earnestly cautioned me not to stay longer than one week or else I might be press-ganged. I took his advice and checked in at Guilin Hotel. Then following Ma Yingpeng’s instructions, I went straight to the Bureau of Education of Guangxi Province to look for an official, Mr. Sun who had been his classmate at Jiangsu College of Education. Once we met, Mr. Sun warmheartedly took me under his wing. He took me later to the bus station and bought a ticket for me to He County. He County is in the Wuzhou Region close to the border between Guangxi and Guangdong province. The bus passed through Pingle Town to Eight Step Town. Eight Step Town was a major township famous for its tungsten mining. I stopped there overnight and took an early bus to arrive in He County at around 10 o’clock in the morning. I hurried to the county Junior High and asked the doorman for Ma Yingpeng. He told me there was no such person. This time I was really stunned and worried because I had only one Yuan (Chinese dollar ) in my pocket. I hung there fast and begged the doorman to help me. I yelled desperately: “My family is back there in the war zone. I have come through thousands of miles to find my fellow provincial called Ma Yingpeng. How could he be not here!” All at once, a person with the demeanor of a teacher who walked past me heard my words and turned back to me. Wonder of wonders! He said: “Yes, Ma Yingpeng is here. I’ll go tell him.” As soon after Ma came out, I felt uplifted as if a life ling was thrown to save me from a bottomless pit. Thereafter, I lived with Ma in a small building, the school dormitory. Usually my time was spent helping with copy work; mostly cutting stencils for printing the teachers’ materials. Whenever there was any good food like a fried egg or so for Ma’s meal provided by school, he would use his chopsticks to divide it and share with me. Once every two weeks, he would take

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me to a tea-shop alongside the He River and treat me to a “sugar stuffed dumpling”. Truly I realized the worth of a friend in need is beyond measure. I stayed with him for around 3 months, rather bewildered at a future unknown. One day on a walk all by myself, I saw a posted newspaper with an announcement of the Ministry of Education listing the names of students from war zone and their destined universities for temporary study. I anxiously looked for Guangxi University and found my name under its College of Agriculture at Liuzhou. I was so jubilant that I ran all the way back to tell Ma. His congratulations showed his joy at my good news was as fervent as though it were his personal gain. By the end of July, we both left He County Junior High and went to Guilin. There we separated to go each his own way: he to work at the Jiangsu Institute of Education at Seven-star Cliff of Guilin; I to Guangxi University. We were loath to say goodbye and parted reluctantly. Even then he pressed me to remember to contact him whenever in need of financial aid and reassured me of his help. Only after the end of the Anti-Japanese War did I hear that he had succumbed to illness in Guangxi. Deprived of ever repaying him for his beneficence remains one of my lifelong regrets. The College of Agriculture was situated in Shatang County. I went there by bus. The bus stop where I got off was close to the office building of the Guangxi Provincial Experimental Farm. To my surprise, I was welcomed warmly by its director, Dr. Ma Baozi. He was the son of Dr. Ma Junwu and a graduate of the College of Agriculture, University of Nanking. He personally called up the director of the College, Mr. Wang Yitao to ask for his permission to let me live at the students’ dormitory there. Yet Mr. Wang refused right off giving the reason that not until the school opens in September no student is allowed into the dormitory during summer vacation. Without further demur, Dr. Ma turned around and arranged for me to live at the Seedling Nursery compound of the farm. From then on, I got up every morning to work with the farmhands there. I even got a chance to experiment paddy hybridization under a technician named Mr. Le Weiqing, he was a graduate from the College of Agriculture, Zhejiang University. To improve my English, I borrowed an English version of “First Love”, a book written by Dukengniv and published by Kaiming Bookstore. Every morning before I set to work, I would hold the book and read out aloud walking on the ridges of the farmland. I would memorize those phrases and /or sentences that I considered useful. During the months working at the Plant Seedling Nursery, I made close friends with Guo Guang, he was from Xianfeng County of Zhejiang Province and a graduate from Zhejiang Insect Control Training Course. All that time he looked after my living and studies. Yet after I left Shatang we lost contact. Up till now I often think of him, although in vain did I make several attempts to find out how things go with him. May he be still alive and in good health.

Bai Pengfei, the president of Guangxi University, was the former president of Beiping University. He moved to his native place Guangxi with his colleagues during the war. Consequently the majority of the faculty members of agricultural college of Guangxi University came from Peking, since Bai Pengfei was appointed as the President of Guangxi University, e.g. Wang Yitao professor of Rural economics, Wang Jueming professor of Biometry, Yi Xitao professor of Entomology, Cheng Kansheng

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professor of Crops, and others. Most of them had their graduate education in Japan. The Cytogeneticist Yu Jingrang was just back from Kyoto, Japan and joined the faculty there. Only professor Zhang Zhaoqian of Botany had nothing to do with them. Zhang had his postgraduate education in England. He joined them because of the invitation of Wang, they both were native of Zhejiang Province. How big influence was the personal relationship in the society of past China. Why Wang Yitao did refuse me to live in the dormitory of the college as I arrived, was simply due to the difference of Japan educated group from the American educated. Ma Baozhi was the latter, receiving his postgraduate from the United States of America.

The agricultural college of Guangxi University was composed of the Departments of Agronomy, Plant Pathology and Pestilogy, Animal Husbandry and Forestry. It was situated in a secluded small town not far from Liuzhou. We were all happy living in such quiet and beautiful campus. I was so lucky meeting an eminent botanist of the country, later on my beloved teacher Dr. Zhang Zhaoqian who taught us Botany that led me to be interested in plant science. As a homeless wandering student in the war time, I only got the minimum financial aid from the government for maintenance, Zhang used to bring me to his home for meals. Mrs. Zhang native of Jiangxi treated me as her child and told me the stories about the early pioneers in Biology of China, i.e. Bing Zhi and Hu Xianxiao admiring for their great personality and contribution to the Biological Science of the country. Another teacher I respected was Yu Jingrang, to whom I was also indebted for his much concerning me about my health and studies. Yu was a straightforward person. For his criticizing the Dean Wang Yitao who used to go for Beijing Opera to Guilin by the school car every weekend, he lost his popularity among his Japan-educated colleagues. As one year passed by, I won the high credit in the freshman class of the college.

In July, 1938, the University was declared to be nationalized, and Dr. Ma Junwu was appointed as the President of the new National University of Guangxi, while his son Ma Baozhi, the Dean of the Agricultural College. It followed most of the faculty members of the College were ready to leave, whereas the senior members of Guangxi Agricultural Experiment Station formerly under the director Ma Baozhi would take over their positions in the college instead. Under such circumstance, Zhang Zhaoqian and Yu Jingrang had to leave too. Upon the invitation of Zhejiang University which had been now moved to Guizhou from Zhejiang, Zhang Zhaoqian decided to go there as the Professor of the Department of Biology. Because of my growing interest on plant science, Zhang Zhaoqian strongly suggested me to go to Kunming taking the transferring student examination held by the National Southwest Associated University this autumn. He wrote for me two letters introducing me to see Professor Chang C.Y. of the Department of Biology, Southwest Associated University and Professor Yan Chujiang of the Department of Biology, Yunnan University respectively. He did that because the Southwest Associated University was one of the best universities in the country only few good students could be admitted, if I failed in the examination, I might take the second choice transferring to the Yunnan University.

I left Shatang county in the middle of July. I remember, one morning I went to see Zhang Zhaoqian who was living in a hotel with his family, waiting for the bus to

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Guizhou. He gave me two hundred dollars and bade me that I should write him as soon as I got Kunming. I was grateful to my beloved teacher and reluctantly parted from him. Taking the bus from Liuzhou to Kunming or to Chengdu had to stop at the middle station Guiyang. Since Yu Jingrang went to Chengdu for a new job in the Sichuan Agricultural Experiment Station, so we took the same bus to Guiyang and then separated to each way.

Guangxi was the place that had housed me a homeless student at the war time, and also provided me the door that led me to be a student of science. I felt sorrow as my leaving there, no less than I did for my leaving my native place in 1937.

  Transferred to National Southwest Associated University In Kunming, I met my primary schoolmate Qian Ren who studied Chemistry in

Yunnan University. He was also prepared to transfer to Southwest Associated University. He told me a lot about the difficulty of getting transferred to that university. But it didn’t shake my faith. One morning I walked to the campus of the Southwest Associated University and found Prof. C. Y. Chang in a flat for the office of professors in Department of Biology. I introduced myself and handed him the recommendation letter by Zhang Zhaoqian. He impressed me as kind in looking but an exact scholar. After reading the recommendation letter, he wrote some comments on the back of the letter and asked me to see the chairman of the Department Li Jitong . Li bade me to give him my school record of Guangxi University and told me the date and place for the examination. About ten students took the examination. I was lucky to be admitted as the transferring sophomore. According to the school regulation all the transferring students were not registered as the regular students until they had passed all the required courses they took within one year.

The National Southwest Associated University was composed of 3 renowned universities from the Northern China. They were Peking University, Tsinghua University and Nankai University, moving together into the interior China at the beginning of the anti-Japanese war and became united to be the associated one in 1938 in Kunming, Yunnan province.

The university stressed the importance of educating students with good personality, high quality and broad knowledge. Students majored in social science were required to know somewhat the natural science, while those majoring natural science should take some elementary course of social science. For the students of the college of natural science, to take the elementary courses: physics, chemistry and mathematics were required. Those courses were taught by the senior professors usually the Chairman of the Department concerned. What I learned in Guangxi University, such as Mathematics, Chemistry even the Chinese and English were not recognized as credit, I had to learn again. So I felt really busy and hard in the first year there. I remember, in the first semester, my Chemistry score was around 60%. To my deep regret, my favorite, Chinese composition was given 66% score only. Prof. Zhu Ziqing came to see me, as if he knew my bad feeling on it. He gave me a very helpful remark and comment for my writing the composition. What I so far remembered was as follows: “Chinese essay is a written language which is a sort of art, not the oral one.

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Its construction, grammatical system and basic phrases or idioms are the product of a number of epochs. You shouldn't make the phrases yourself nor write the composition meaningless just as a pile of delicate words or phrases”

Physical education was required for us, we had to take it throughout the four years school life, otherwise, none would be granted as graduate. The responsible supervisor was Professor John Ma. He was about fifty years old at that time wearing his old leather jacket walking vividly around the students. Prof. Huang Zhongfu and Hou Luosen taught the physical education for the male students, while John Ma himself taught the female students. They all spoke English in the class. I toke the course taught by Huang first year. At the beginning of the class, Huang usually commanded us to run two rounds on the ground, about four hundred kilometers long. As we ran, he spoke loudly aside: “left, right! Left, right!” sometimes uttered some words in fun, that made us joyful. The third year I took Hou’s class. At the beginning of each academic year, Hou asked us to line up and introduced ourselves one by one in order. One time, as I remembered as usual, we told our names in order, the last one standing at the end of the line was Wang Baogui, student of Chemistry, when got his turn to tell his name to us, he said loudly and slowly “Wang—Bao—Gui” sounded like the turtle in Chinese. It made us laugh all around. Anyway the class of physical exercise had entertained us greatly, so all of us loved it. We all respected the teachers of physical education class especially Prof. John Ma with the highness of his character. Under their teaching we came to realize that physical education served not only for our health physically but also mentally. Students of the Southwest Associated University thus learned a lesson of being a person with sportsmanship and fair play for doing everything. In memory of late Professor John Ma, a statue of him has now been erected on the campus of Tsinghua University, Beijing.

Our classrooms were built with the iron piece made roofs, with windows without glass, yet we sat attentively to listen the lessons taught by our teachers. Under such bad conditions, the University produced so many eminent scholars in the war time China. A majority of them exerted great contributions for the reconstruction of China after the war. For each course teachers introduced us an important reference of it. Before the close of the class, they wrote down the assignment on the blackboard requiring us to read some reference material and do the homework.. Besides the teachers of English, other teachers such as teacher of mathematics used to speak English in the class. Prof. Wu Yunzhen taught us Botany with English instead of his Jiangsu dialect. Li Jitong, the chairman of the Department of Biology always showed himself an impassive face, most of us were afraid of him. He stressed the exact discipline for the students. At the time of registration in each semester, he paid much attention to the options we chose and the teachers who teach the courses we should attend to. He strongly opposed us to take the course, which was easily to get passed, and he was also against to choose the course taught by the teacher who was apt to give students good credit. Plant Morphology was a descriptive science, it didn’t interest the students at all. However Prof. Chang C. Y. taught it vividly. He described the initiation of leaf and floral primordium at the growing apex of plant on the basis of dynamics of cell division, and when talked about the phylogeny and evolution of

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plants he illustrated with the examples from paleontology and the alternation of generations of plants. So his class aroused student’s interest. Since then I got interested on the study of the development and alternation of generations of plants, e.g. in Bryophyta and Pteridophyta, the genome of gametophyte is monoploid, while that of the sporophyte is diploid, curiously their morphology are so big different. It thus led me think about the genes. Furthermore, as Chang C. Y. mentioned in the class, the thallus of Bryophyta appears dichotonious, when it has grown up, a death zone is found beneath the bottom of dichotomous branch, thus resulting two thalli. Such kind of negative reproduction interested me a lot. It is now known as a sort of programmed death. My teacher thus provoked us to think, and to find the reality by ourselves.

In those days air raid by the Japanese air force happened frequently, almost everyday, As soon as the air-raid alarm was sounded, we ran off the classroom and took the shelter among the hills in the north of the school. When the Japanese airplanes had gone, an alarm called as “air-raid release alarm” was then sounded, if early we went back to the classroom to continue the class. In the evening, right after the supper, we hurried to the library lining up in the front of the library in order to get the reference books and have a seat there. As the gate of the library opened, we went in one by one without any rushing. Everyone kept in order even the professors. Because of the limited space of the library, we used to go to the stores which served the drinking tea and set there as reading room. There were many such kind of tea-stores in the nearby street, where we did reading, and discussing of the lessons or even debating on politics. The street named Feng Zhu Street ended at the west entrance of the city, about 100 kilometers in length. Merchants drove the donkeys to and fro on the street. If the donkey walked too slow or stopped for a while, they beat slightly the back of donkey and murmured: “why do you disobey my command, Why?------“. The donkey made stools dropping on the pebbled road with the sound rhythmically as music. The masters of these stores treated us modestly. However later on, when they found us to stay there with a cup of tea for the whole evening. That affected their business. So they managed to change the electric lamp to be the smaller one that would make us hard to read under the dim light. They also served us the drunken tea. But we didn’t care about these and went there as usual. So the masters of these tea-stores could do nothing for us. Day by day, they had a good acquaintance with us and consequently friendship was created. The smaller lamp was turned off and put the big on again, and the tea was served with the fresh. They thus provided us homely circumstance for us. Now the graduates from the Southwest Associated University would never forget those small tea-stores in Feng Zhu Street.

We had pleasant time in the university, though the living condition was bad, as what the famous scholar Lin Yutang said to our President Professor Mei Yiqi : “The material condition is terrible, yet the spiritual life is exciting”.

Independent thinking and freedom of speech were the spirit of the University. A student’s progressive organization named Qun She society which published periodically the wall newspaper exposing and criticizing the corruption of the Guo-Ming-Tang Government. It aimed to call on the students not forgetting the duty of

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saving the country from the Japanese invasion. Contrary, another wall newspaper issued by the youth of pro-government held the view politically opposite to that of the Qun She Society. Sometimes a fierce debate happened between.

In those days, school should carry out the memorial service on Monday, where the schoolmaster propagated the policy of the Guo-Min-Dang Government in term of memory of late premier Sun Yixian . However, the Southwest Associated University ignored it, but an assembly of students at the beginning of each month named as “the Monthly Forum of People” was held by the student council. On the Forum, students enjoyed the privilege of freedom of speech. The influential persons, such Chen Lifu, General Song Xilian and Du Yuming, and Lin Yutang had been invited to give a talk to us and answered the questions raised by students. As I remember clearly, the movement of Anti-Kong Xiangxi, the ministry of Finance, of Guo-Ming-Dang Government in 1942 was called forth by the students of the University right after the monthly meeting. This movement aroused the action of masses in Kunming. President Mei was worrying about the security of the students in the movement and waited their coming back in the front of the gate. As the students came back to the school he said seriously “I am now relieved seeing you all save back to the school. From now on you shouldn’t forget to put the mark between two clauses on the slogan, otherwise you would meet big crises”. Actually he meant that the slogan “support Chairman Lon down with Kong! Without adding the mark between was a fault”. In fact the students were intended to do that. Anyway, students were all indebted to the president so much concerning about them. Three thousand students were all of one mind that the University was our family while the president, the master of it. So they were living in a freedom, democratic, solid and friendly family.

Since the university was a union of 3 former Universities i.e. Peking, Tsinghua and Nanka University in the war time. So uncommonly she had 3 presidents: Jiang Menglin of Peking; Mei Yiqi of Tsinghua, and Zhang Boling of Nankai. But President Mei acted as the responsible one to the Associated University. He treated things fairly without any prejudice, so no discrimination was allowed among the three universities. Thus the Associated University comprised the goodness of three Universities e.g. the broad mind (for different view) of Peking University, strictness of Tsinghua University and the generosity of Nankai University. As what said in the school song “The disgrace of our nation should be wiped out, competent persons are needed for the reconstruction of the country. So that we three united to be one, the will of us is unmatchable”. It spoke out the aim and spirit of the university founded in the wartime China. Students educated under such good atmosphere all studied hardness, kept good order and politeness.

My thesis for the bachelor degree was done under the guide of Prof. F. L. Tai of the agricultural Institute of Tsinghua University. My research was focused on the investigation of aquatic fungi of Yunnan. I graduated in the summer of 1942. Prof. Li the Chairman of the Biology Department told me that I had been assigned to be the research assistant with Prof. Tai, I was so excited in hearing it. In Tai’s laboratory, I began to study the morphology and life cycle of chytrids, a primitive fungi which had not yet been investigated in China. Tai asked me to devote all my daytime to work

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without reading any books even the references. Every morning he used to wave the chain of his watch coming to the laboratory and said to us joyfully: “Have you observed something new?” If he found that you were not at work but reading, he immediately pulled a long face and turned back soon. One day he suddenly appeared before me when I was reading a newly published book “Recent Advances in Plant Genetics” written by Sensome and Philip, which was sent to me by my former teacher Prof. Zhang Zhaoqian. He asked me: “Have you find anything interest or worthwhile in the book you read,” I said “none”. Then he continued: “You had read through the book?” I answered “not yet”. Then he hurried away and told Mrs. Tai at home angrily “Shen read a book at the working time, he made a bad comment about the book before reading it through. Such kind of youth was not worthy to be a scientist, I regret that I admit him to work with me”. Prof. Tai’s criticism was a good lesson to me. It benefited me to be a scientist.

Because my interest on the study of Chytrids, I got some new findings. The results were published in an American Journal (American Journal of Botany vol.31, April, 1944). This article was written by Tai, but he didn’t put his name as one of the author. My English name was made by him and used it up to now. He used to bring me to collect the specimens of fungi in nearby hills. Sometime he talked to me in fun. He said “My first student Zhou Jiachi is a monster, now it seems to me, you would be too, so there will be a group of monster!”. When I heard it I dared not to ask him, but I thought whether teacher Tai was a monster too. Kunming is a place rich in producing mushrooms, some are edible, but some were not edible, even poisonous. On the side of up-hill road, we found the vigorous growing Caprinous mushrooms and tempted to pick some, but Tai refused to let me do. At the time, when we went down from the hill, through the same road, curiously, all those growing mushrooms were gone with the result of forming a black liquor on the ground. Tai then laughed a reply “They have fulfilled their responsibility of reproduction”. Since the spores produced by the mushrooms have thus been seeding into the soil for germination. Now we know, this is a sort of programmed death, presumably polyphenol oxidase plays an important role on it. Because of my interest on microbial genetics and Tai himself did some research on the genetics of Neurospore with Dr. B. O. Dodge in the New York Botanic Garden, he agreed with me to read the papers of Neurospora genetics by Dodge or C.C. Lindegsen at my leisure hours.

  California Institute of Technology

I came to work as research assistant in the Department of Biology, Peking University in 1946 when China won the victory in the Anti-Japanese War. I had collected the Neurospora grown in the corn-cob and tried to learn (teach) myself the single spore isolation method for isolating the ascospores from the ascus of Neurospora intermedia. Because of lack of the mutants, I failed to do some basic study of Genetics, such as the loci of mutant genes, segregated in first division or second division of ascospores. Thanks to my teacher Prof. C.Y. Chang, then visiting professor of University of California at Berkley visited professor George Beadle, in the Department of Biology of Stanford University and recommended me to work with

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him on Genetics. Beadle promised me to be the graduate student of Biology at California Institute of Technology (CalTech), and financing me with a fellowship there, since he was appointed to be the successor of T.H. Morgan to head the Division of Biology at CalTech and was ready to leave Stanford University soon. In 1947, I received an official letter from CalTech for admitting me as a graduate student in Biology and also awarding me a fellowship. Unfortunately, at that time the Guo-Min-Dang Government was busy in moving to the southern part of the Country. None was still working for the foreign affairs. So I was in doubt about the possibility of my studying abroad and felt pity for missing an opportunity. One day my wife Lu Shenghua took a walk with me on the road in the front of the famous red building of Peking University, we met her former teacher Prof. Yang Ximeng and talked to him about what I encountered the difficulty of applying the permission for studying abroad

from the Government. Yang suggested me to see Dr. Hu Shih， the President of

Peking University and said firmly that Dr. Hu will help me. I went to see the president at the next day at his office. To my surprise, he was so kind and appeared really as a common man, making me hard to belief that the man sat in front of me being the University President. Dr. Hu had been ever the Chinese Ambassador to the United States of America, so I didn’t see him before when I was a student at the National Southwest Associated University in Kunming. Since he read the CalTech’s letter I showed to him, he promised me at once that the University would manage to apply for the permission for me. About two weeks later, the door-man of our dormitory, Lao Ma handed me a document issued by Zhu Jiahua, the minister of Education promised me to apply the passport. On the following day, I visited Dr. Hu at his home in the evening. He said the application of foreign exchange was least possible nowadays. However, Peking University had decided to send me and other youth of the Physics Dept. to study abroad. Then he gave me a signed check for 90 US dollars for my traveling fare to the States and bade me to send back the 90 dollars check to his account in Chase Bank after I got the fellowship. The money in his account was used for supporting the students abroad who need help. As he was talking to me the telephone was ringing, then I stood up and prepared to leave. He stopped me and talked toward the phone: “Please don’t come to see me, I am busy now, I will see you after awhile”. As soon as he handed up the phone, he said to me: “It is the phone call from General Li Zongren”. I was so surprised on what Dr. Hu did. As you know General Li was the Chief of the Military committee of the Government in Peking, while I was a small assistant. But he kept on talking to me with the refusal to the request of General Li. He was truly a gentleman and treated everyone equally, regardless the common people or the aristocracy. On the August of the year I was prepared to leave Peking and went home. Dr. Hu asked me to have a talk with him. He was so earnestly told me what he found during our talking e.g. when talking about Beadle, I said that Beadle will win the Nobel Prize, and as I expressed my opinion about some matter, I used to relate it to someone who had the same idea. He said all these were bad. I shouldn’t make a comment or conclusion of them on the basis of what I guessed, without evidence, and I shouldn’t

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express my own idea with the help of the saying by others. Only few words he left to me, but these were remarkable. I remember him forever, not only for his helping me for pursuing knowledge abroad, but rather his teaching through both in his words and deeds led me know to be a common and honest man. After I came back home I went to Nanjing to get the passport from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and then to Shanghai to get my visa issued from the American Consulate. Since then I took the ship named as General Gorden of American President line to San Francisco. I reached there at the end of 1947. Then I went to Pasadena by taking the Greyhound Bus through Los Angles. Prof. S. Emerson picked me up at the terminal station. At the division of Biology Dr. Beadle was glad on my arrival. He asked me: “Do you know recently an exciting discovery in Botany found in China? Before my answer, He said: “Dr. Hu and his associate discovered the rare survived plant, Metasequoia which is a living fossil”. I felt shame for my ignorance of the important discovery of Science in my own country. Integrity of sciences is the basis of founding the California Institute of Technology. Different Sciences should be integrated. So the inter-discipline research is stressed in the Institute. The new chairman of the Division of Biology Prof. Beadle was one of the giant figures of Genetics at that time. He initiated the integration of Genetic and Chemistry, thus closing the era of classical Genetics and launching the molecular age. I was so lucky to study there at the time for the dawn of the molecular Genetics. Beadle’s one gene-one enzyme hypothesis had ever been doubted by Physicist Max Delbruck. Delbruck remarked that the basis for this hypothesis simply lay on the results of using the auxotrophic mutants of Neurospora crassa for experiments, and that the results obtained were restricted by the selection condition they used under which mutations will not go through a sexual cycle, or mutations which do not affect essential reactions will not be detected. Beadle accepted Delbruck’s remark and invited Delbruck to join him as Professor of the Division of Biology. They became close friends later. At that times there were many visiting scholars in Beadle’s laboratory. Some were interested in using the mutants to study the biosynthesis of the metabolite e.g. amino acids, vitamins and nucleotides, some even skeptical about the hypothesis. My former supervisor Prof. Norman H. Horowitz was one who firmly supported it. He proved its truth statistically by the experiments in the qualifying of the conditional mutants to answer Delbruck’s scepticism. (Advances in Genetics: vol. III, 1950). Later on as the progress of the Neurospora work, the hypothesis was called as one gene-one polynucleotide, instead of the one gene-one enzyme. Since some enzyme proteins were found to be specified by two structural genes. Max Delbruck was a physicist. He turned to study Biology under the influence of the Nuclear Physicist Prof. N. Bohr. He taught us a course, Biophysics, a new named course to us at that time. His scientific thought attracted so many eminent scientists to join his group e.g. S.E. Luria, A.D. Hershey, J. Monod and F. Jacob from France and Physicists S. Benzer, E. Freeze and the phycochemist G. Stent from Germany. Everyday we heard the debate even quarrel among them about some questions on research in the laboratory. Yet their debate or quarrel was done on the basis of

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scientific collaboration, aiming at searching after truth. Beadle won the Nobel Prize in 1958, Monod and Jacob shared the Nobel Prize in 1965, Delbruck, Luria and Hershey shared the Nobel Prize in 1969. In a book published in 1966 for congratulation of Delbruck’s 60 years old annual birthday (Phage and Origin of Molecular Biology) authors described vividly the struggle of Delbruck School for unraveling the mysteries of life science in the Kerckhof laboratory of Biology, CalTech. Beadle had quips as cited by Norman Horowitz “It is hard to make a good theory, a theory has to be reasonable but a fact doesn’t”. It reflected what Beadle thought about scientific research. During the war time as a homeless student I wondered around, eventually I found the “entrance” to science. Both the Southwest Associated University and California Institute of Technology were the nursery educating me to be a scientist. It’s my fortune, a timed fortune.

Chapter III On My Way HomeIn the early summer of 1950, the weather in South California was terribly hot. Air

pollution rendered people uncomfortably. My thesis for doctorate degree had not yet been finished. Besides Los Angles, I didn’t go anywhere in this country. I devote all my time to my research. As I know, that was the golden age of the Division of Biology at CalTech. I was so lucky to study here. I decided to make good use of time learning as much as I can. There were strong competitions among the students for credit. I was not willing to fall behind. For my weakness in physical science, I took some Chemistry courses, so that I was really situated in a tight condition.

At the end of May, I started to write my thesis. My friend K. Paigen who was majoring in Biochemistry under Prof. H. Borsook used to discuss with me about the kinetics of tyrosinase activity of Neurospora. The title of my thesis was: Genetics and Biochemistry of the Cysteine- Tyrosine Relationship in Neurospora crassa. I was not content with my thesis work, since some work especially the mechanism of the inductive formation of tyrosinase hadn’t yet worked out. We really missed an opportunity of gaining an insight into the enzyme synthesis. In fact it was the regulation of gene expression.

Professor L. Zechmeister, distinguished organic chemist as the supervisor for my minor was interested on my words for my acknowledgement of him in the thesis: “Thanks to his encouragement and inspiration to me, during the time pursuing knowledge away from my own country”. He said: “That was the style of the Chinese.” He was Hungarian and knew a lot of the China’s history. During the world war-I, he was arrested by the Russian Army. Afterward he escaped from the prison and got back to Hungary. He was educated in Switzerland. I don’t know why he regarded me so much and used to call me: “Shen, my son!” I worked with him on the isolation of B-carotine and tautomerism reaction of it. I also took a course of Organic Chemistry of Heteroaromatic Compounds he taught, and the Advanced Organic Chemistry taught by C. Nieman, in the Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering. When someone took a visit to his laboratory, he used to introduce me

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joyfully: “This is Shen from China, Shen is an Organic Chemist, but is a poet as well!” He said so only in fun, because he read a poem written by me for my homesickness.

June 25th 1950 was the day of my defense for dissertation. The members of my Ph.D. committee were G. Beadle, H. Mitchell, J. Bonner, S. Emerson, Ven Harreveld, C. Markert, N. Horowitz and L Zechmeister. I can’t remember whether M. Delbruck was involved. When my defence for thesis was over, Prof. Horowitz my supervisor came to congratulate me for my success. Prof. Zechmeister presented me with his recent published book “Progress in Chromotography 1938-1947”. For memory of my respectful former teacher late Dr. L. Zechmeister, I have kept the book well.

Since my dissertation was passed on the day after the academic year of 1950, so I was granted the Ph.D. degree in 1951.

Prof. N. Horowitz recommended me to work as postdoctoral research fellow in two places. One was in the Dept. of Bacteriology, University of California at Berkeley to work with R. Y. Stanier and the other was in Dept. of Biochemistry, University of Wisconsin, working with E. Snell. Referring my wife’s opinion I should do some research work of practical value to meet the requirement of China. So I decided to go to Wisconsin and ordered the train ticket to Chicago on August. However, at that time the campus of CalTech was not peaceful. Outbreak of the Korean War and the event of Dr. Tsien Hsue-Shen, the Chief of JPL of CalTech, which gave an impact to the Chinese students of the Institute, considering whether still stayed there or turned back to China. Though I had decided to do postdoctoral work with Snell of Wisconsin, yet I hesitated about it. Dr. Tsien’s patriotism and the call of the Chinese Scientists Society Branch in America for our return to China for China’s reconstruction gave a great weight with my final decision to go back to China. Thus I went to Los Angles to order a ticket of the ship President Wilson to Hongkong. There I met Xu Li a dramatist for movie, who came from Yale University for booking the same ticket. Dr. Zechmeister stressed that I shouldn’t go back to China and that he would manage to have me working in his lab and let my wife get to the US via Hongkong. I was moved by his enthusiasm for me, but I didn’t change my mind for going home.

Since learning the news of my decision for returning home, Dr. Beadle recommended me to attend a short summer school course on Microbial Physiology taught by Prof. C.B. Ven Niel at Pacific Groove of Standford University. According to the regulation, attendants should hold the Ph.D. degree and take an examination, presumably an interview. But for me, Beadle said, it could be excepted. Ven Niel was an eminent Microbiologist. He was working on Comparative Biochemistry and had a marked contribution on Photosynthesis. My room-mate F. Huskins enrolled himself for the course. The course would last for two months that made me if attended unable to complete it before my leaving for China. Thus I had to give up the good opportunity of learning things I interested.

At the beginning of July, I was awarded a short time postdoctoral research fellowship, working with M.S. Dunn at the Dept. of Biochemistry on amino acid analysis. I was not interested on such kind of work, I did it only for the practical application of potential utilizing in food industry in China. Incidentally at that time I

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met Prof. B. Davis of Harvard Medical School, who gave a short course “Genetics of E. coli” at CalTech. He gave me the first impression on his intelligent looking. He strongly supported the Beadle’s one gene-one enzyme hypothesis, and highly evaluated my supervisor, Norman Horowitz’s contribution to Beadle’s hypothesis. May be he heard about my growing interest on the technique of organic chemistry learned by my friend Huskins from H. Mitchell, he criticized it, and asked me earnestly to pay more attention to theory than practice, not learning what he said, the “American boy” did on the opposite way. I was inspired by his enthusiasm and then took his course. Though the course had been taught for one week, yet he said I could follow up. So I took the class, I learned the Penicillin Method for screening the auxotrophic mutants of E. coli, invented by him and got some mutants. Then I stroked the mutants one vs. one on the minimal medium agar plate to test their growth, so called cross-feeding or syntrophism between them. Using this method we were able to determine the block site of metabolite synthesis by mutation. Of course the method was created on the basic of the Beadle hypothesis. Accordingly, Davis did a great contribution to the knowledge of biosynthesis of aromatic acid. I remember, when we got the so-called double, triple and quartriple valent mutant and tested their syntrophism, we really found the way of biosynthesis of the metabolites concerned. Besides, upon my requirement Davis gave me some double mutants used for amino acid analysis.

For less than one month, Davis and I had a good relationship as between teacher and student. Since then I gradually realized the significance of what he taught me before, and my ignorance at that time. In 1988 he was ill with prostate cancer, and wrote to me asking me not grievous about it. He said, he sat on the wheal-chair to talk with people around the world, and hoped to meet me again at Boston in nearest future. Bernard Davis has now passed into history. However he as an eminent scientist of the century was within my memory forever.

Before my leaving for China, Dr. Horowitz came back from his summer resort at beach to see me at CalTech. He said as a part words to me: “Shen, it will benefit you if you stay here longer for pursuing knowledge further. But now you have decided to go home, you don’t hesitate anymore. I strongly believe that you are competent to carry out your research work in your homeland. Self-confidence is one of first importance to do everything for everybody. I have a friend, a historian who was too timid and lacking the confidence for his work. Later on he did well because of his growing self-confidence on it. Now I give a letter, you keep it not open until you get to China……”On August 30, at noon time that was the day before my leaving, Marge Fling, an intimate assistant to Horowitz saw me off at the entrance of Kerckhof building of Biology. She said to me: “We would meet again within 10 years, and I will keep my permission to you that I will do my best to find a fellowship for your daughter Wei Shen for her being a postgraduate student in this country after her graduation from the University in China”. I was so moved for her concerning me for my work and life there. I owe so much to her. However we separated not for ten years, but for 28 years! Now Marge has passed away for years. I remember her forever.

Tokyo Crisis

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August 31, 1950 was the day of my leaving the United States for China. My schoolmate Feng Yuanzhen of the Division of Aeronautics invited me to dinner at his home. After the dinner my friend H. Tease picked me up and drove me to Los Angles. Since I had not been anywhere during my being graduate student for two and half years at CalTech in Pasadena. He drove me to Holywood visiting “The Great Theatre”, then drove around the movie star’s residence on the hill-side for a while. We reached the wharf at two o’clock in the afternoon. My Chinese schoolmates at CalTech Tang Youqi, Zheng Zhemin were already there for seeing us off. When I went abroad an American stood by me said to another American in uniform: “This man is too”. In hearing it, I immediately thought what might happen to me. Then I told Tang Youqi “I won’t go and want to withdraw my ticket”. But Tang still accompanied me to the Purser’s Office of the ship and inquired what I heard about. The man in the office looked over the list of travelers and said to me: “No problem, only you lacked the transit visa to HongKong. If necessary you can make up it later”. Then I was relieved in hearing it. There were about one hundred and ninety passengers on board ship. Most of them were Chinese students, some came from Europe to go home via America. In the same ship, besides Lo Shih Chun, Chao Chung Yao and Bao Wenkui, I also met some schoolmates of the Southwest Associated University. We held a party for introducing oneself about one’s speciality and purpose or expectation to do work in China. Since at that time, Genetics has been criticized. Lysengonism has been dominant over the biological society of China. An eminent geneticist Li Jingjun has been leaving China for the United States because of encountering the attacks by the group of people of Lysengo business. I knew that to study genetics for the time being would be impossible in China. But what I majored was Biochemical Genetics, and what was more, I had interest in Biochemistry too. So I didn’t mention about my major in Genetic, all knew that I was a biochemist. I used to go on deck alone to enjoy the sea breeze and the fine view of the dark blue ocean.

The ship President Wilson was sailing across the Pacific Ocean in waves. I felt that I was now gradually close to my home, yet I was in a distance away with my beloved teachers and friends who were so much concerning and helping me during my study in the United States. I as a man of emotion was embarrassed by such thoughts intervening in my heart. But eventually I was overcome myself by the perspective—I was stepping to a bright new China.

On 12th September morning the ship reached Yokohoma, but anchored far from the wharf. At 7 o’clock in the morning as we just got up, the broadcast was sounded. It said: “Attention please! The 3rd class passengers, your beds will be rearranged. Mr. Chao Chungyao, Shen San Chiun and Lo Shih Chun please carry your baggage with you to the given bedroom.” As we walked out the third class bedroom, an American talked to me: “Your friend in Tokyo will see you, Please follow me quickly.” When I took my handbag and walked slowly after him. He was impatient with me. He said: “Don’t be smart!” Then I perceived, something might happen to us. We three were thus led to a guest room for first class passengers. An American in Uniform declared himself the Official of CIA (central intelligence agency) in Yokohoma. He looked at the list of passengers and said to us “You see, there are more than one hundred

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Chinese passengers in the ship. Some are from Harvard and some from MIT. Why we just inspect you three from CalTech? You know Tsien Hsue-Shen?” We were then cross-questioned separately and searched throughout. Experiment notes, bacterial strains and chemicals carried with me were all seized. At 3 o’clock in the afternoon, we were taken to Yokohoma by a steamboat. We saw when in the steamboat, passengers of ship President Wilson crowded on the deck and waved their hands toward us. They were worrying about us. However, I thought, I didn’t do anything illegal. As a Chinese student after finishing my study in the States, We should return home and do our duty for our country, whatever reasons they might give, we were innocent. So, in the Yokohoma office of CIA, we inquired the reason of detaining us. Their answer was that we had to stay there waiting for the information from Tokyo.

After a while, they said that our checked baggage should be examined and that the vessel wouldn’t depart now, because of the storm rising. After 12 o’clock, in the midnight an official came to us and declared, our baggages were in the store-room of the ship, so we had to stay in Japan waiting the ship back from Hongkong to Japan, Then we were pushed into a car driving out.

On the way to Tokyo, the driver who was a military man inquired of the Japanese police for the road to a place heard as Stockade. I knew then, we would be detained. Eventually we were sent to the army prison of American eighth army in Japan. At that night we were set to sleep on the iron-bed, an American soldier held the gun watching us in front of the jail. Next morning we three were all hand cuffed to send to the Skama Prison in Tokyo. Skama Prison was the Prison for the war criminals of the World War II. When we reached there, as I found many Japanese soldiers, I was frightened and also hateful for them. The terrible events that my uncle was killed and my native village was scoured by these slaughterous Japanese invaders were quickly emerged in my mind. The disgrace of our nation and painful suffering of my home hadn’t yet been revenged, what a pity I was now falling to the power of our enemy again. These Japanese soldiers first checked our names then cut our hairs, let us wear the prisoner’s clothes. Each of us was given a prisoner’s number. My number was 1347, Lo and Chao’s number were 1348 and 1346 respectively. Then we were taken into the dark windowless cells separately. I felt breathless and nervousness, I knocked the door, yet no response was given. Until 2 o’clock in the afternoon we were sent to the part for the Chinese prisoners by an American jailor. He said to us the cells we were just confined were the place for the death-sentenced criminals. On our way to the jail for Chinese prisoners, we saw many Japanese war criminals were playing basketball. They shouted to us “Chi-na, Chi-na”. It would seem that they didn’t have any punishment under the reign of the American occupying army in Japan.

In the jail for Chinese prisoners, most of prisoners were overseas Chinese in Japan, they did thievery. The jailors were Americans. We three were confined separately in three rooms. There were two prisoners living in one room. My roommate was a native of Taiwan. Chao Chung Yao was living in a room adjacent to my room, and the room Lo Shih Chun lived was opposite to ours. What brought to our notice was a prisoner Liao Wenyi, who lived in a single room on the same side with the room Lo lived. Liao, native of Taiwan had the privilege of free movement, he was

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allowed to take a walk outside anytime. We knew more about him from other prisoners. He was graduated from University of Nanking and taught Chemical Engineering in Zhejiang University before the war. He was put in the jail because of his claim for the independence of Taiwan.

Three days after we were taken to the prison. The officials of Taiwen Guo-Min-Dang Government in Japan accomplished by a military officer of the general head quarter of American occupying force (GHQ) came to see us. On behalf of the Chinese Delegation to Japan, they said they came to rescue us, if we could consider their suggestion to go to Taiwan or back to the United States. We answered them at once: “Our family were waiting for us, we have to go home.” They said again: “The communist party and Soviet Union need your help for science and technology, so your return to China means to work for them.” Chao answered: “Science and technology of Soviet Union are strong, you don’t look down on them. We return to the mainland doing the teaching at the school only.” So the talking ended without any consequence.

In the morning of October 31, a jailor called us to go with him to a room, where we met a military officer of GHQ. Unexpectedly, this man introduced himself mannerly to us, he was Major Lacey of the General Head Quarter of American Occupying Army. He took order from the head Quarter to declare that none of materials we carried was classified. “There has been no violation of the national security, but you carried some materials which did violate the export control act of the United States. Now we set you free.” Actually we would not be free at Tokyo and had to be cared by somebody. Because as what he said to us, we had no affiliation in Tokyo, so we were sent to the Chinese Delegation to Japan, waiting there for the ship President Wilson to take us back to Mainland. We were afraid of being forced to Taiwan by the Delegation. So we talked to Lacey what we though of. He guaranteed that we just stay there for a couple of weeks, then he will pick us to the ship for Hongkong.. Then we rushed back to jail taking the materials carried with us. At that time prisoners all turned out their heads to look at us. They seemed to know that we will be set free. What I remembered often was the fact that my roommate, a native of Taiwan gave me an apple and shook my hand saying farewell of me, while I gave him a comb he needed. Friendship is invaluable, especially the friendship made in the jail. Time elapsed so fast. It has been fifty years now. I wish he is still alive and would not forget me, as his roommate in the jail.

Chinese Delegation to Japan Chinese Delegation was in a big house situated in the vicinity of Tokyo. Lacey

droved us to the Delegation and delivered us to a military official of the Delegation. After a process of reception, Lacey told us that he would come to pick us after two weeks. In the second floor of a house we met the Secretary-General of Delegation, Chen Yanjiong, he gave us a brief account of the Delegation. He Shili, a famous General in the Anti-Japanese War in Burma, was the head of the Delegation and famous authoress Xie Bingxin and her husband Wu Wenzao were working as the members of the Delegation. Captain Ma Zhenwu would take care of our daily life. Chao Chung Yao was living in a single room, while Lo Shih Chun and I in a double room. Ma told us, he served as captain in the army of anti-Japanese war in Burma. As

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the Guo-Min-Dang Government moved to Taiwan, he came here taking the present post. Ma treated us politely, called us Dr. so and so. However, when we talked about the barbarous conduct to us of the CIA official, he used to keep silent or intercept it with other matters, e.g. “You three should have hair cut now, let’s go to our barber shop.” etc. A solider served us for the three meals everyday. He kept a distance with us at first, but gradually got a good acquaintance with us. He complained his suffering for a long time leaving his home at SiChuan Province and hated the civil war. We asked him to do us a favor for mailing two letters for us. One letter was written to the President of CalTech A. Dubridge informing him the event happened to us in Tokyo, Japan on our way home, and the other letter written by me to George Beadle to tell him that we were mistreated by the American occupying force in Tokyo, Japan. We did so in the purpose of let the people know what happened to us. Thanks to the solider, he did mail the letters for us. In 1951, after returning home I received Beadle’s letter in which he was resentful of the action of the American army in Japan to us. He said, he felt shame for his countrymen doing such a conduct and he decided to write to Beckman, the former Professor of Chemistry in CalTech, in the State Department to return us all the seized materials. Beadle’s letter I have ever kept with, but it was unfortunately lost during the “Cultural Revolution”. As I remember, the materials taken from both Chao and Lo were all received, while mine had not.

Three days before our leaving the Chinese Delegation, the Secretary of the Delegation Chen Yanjiong talked to us separately. Chao Chong Yao was the first to talk with then I and Lo Shih Chun were followed. Chen showed us the telegram sent by the President of Taiwan University, Fu Sinian who invited us as the professor of the university. We declined the invitation.

  Return HomeOn November 11, we waited for Lacey, but he didn’t come. He came to pick up

us in the following day. The head of the China Delegation, General Hu would talk to us, but later on, we were told, General Hu was busy another military official would see us instead. This official looked about forty years old. He said to us straight forward: “Since you have decided to go back to the mainland, we would not prevent you from going. However, I would like to give a warning that you should be prepared to accept a process of washing your brains. We have done business with the Chinese Communist Party for more than 20 years. We were cheated so much. It might be good for you to get experience. I wish you safe home and see you in mainland some day!”

During my stay in the Delegation for about fourteen days, to the best of my recollection I wrote “Days in My Prison’s Life”. (This pencil written note was seized by the rebellion in the Culture Revolution). Major Lacey and the CIA member Milligan came to pick up us and sent us to a luxuriant hotel in Tokyo named “Ya Shuyuan” which was the guest house of the Princess of Japan before the war. Since we had to wait there until the arrival of the ship President Wilson to take us to

HongKong，we stayed in Tokyo for several days and at that time we were free. We

went to the Tokyo University for visiting Professor Tang Shiu, the famous physicist. Unfortunately, he was not there, his laboratory was not well equipped. The broken

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door of the laboratory room was in bad repair with some wooden blocks. Because of my interest, we also visited the laboratory of Agricultural Chemistry. A professor who seemed to know we were Chinese scientists detained in Japan introduced us their research friendly. They were working on the biosynthesis of methionine in a mould Aspergillus. The laboratory equipments were also bad. Test tubes, reagents, slide rulers and the glass-blowing, apparatus were all laid on the benches. Researchers were working hard there. It impressed me that the Japanese scientists, in the defeated Japan after the World War II, they were keeping the high spirit on doing research.

In the morning of Nov.18th, Milligan called us ready for leaving for Yokohoma. I said to him about the checkout for our rooms. He answered immediately: “Of course, you should pay yourselves, you have money!” Thus, we paid more than four hundred US dollars for the hotel fee. When reached Yokohoma, in the office of CIA, our seized materials e.g. Clothes, books etc., all labeled with Document NO.--, EFC were returned to us. However, the reagents, high pure amino acid (A.P.), bacterial strains, work notes and manuscripts were confiscated. At the noon we were taken to the ship. Our passports printed with “Deportation” were then returned to us and we were ordered to stay in a room until the ship left the Sea of Japan. There were about 20 Chinese passengers in the ship. They were all students studied in the US and England. They knew we had been detained in Japan and taking the same ship with them on the way home. They all came to see us. Among them I found my school-mates Zhang Jianhou of the National Southwest Associated University, Zhu Cheng of Shanghai JiaoTong University and Mr. Dang, the editor of New York Daily of Oversea Chinese. All showed they hated for the barbarous treatment to us by American Army.

On Nov. 20th afternoon, the Ship President Wilson reached Hongkong. We stayed in the ship. The Hongkong “Wen Hui News Paper” first reported the news for our return to homeland. Next morning, we took the train to Shen Zhen city via Jiu Long. When we walked through the Lu lake bridge, we felt cheerfully. The GuangZhou City Government gave us a warm welcome and settled us in AiJun hotel in the city. South China Daily reported in succession on the event of our being imprisoned in Japan and on the way home. In GuangZhou we visited the cemetery of the martyrs in overthrowing the Qing dynasty revolution, led by late Dr. Sun Yixian in the tenths of twenty century. On the monument, we saw the handwriting “Shout with pain and cry to China” by the senior member of Guo-Min-Dang, Mr.Yu Youren. It was said that Yu wrote it before his leaving GuangZhou, as he was so painful for the fall of Guo-Min-Dang and felt shame to the Martyrs.

We stayed in GuangZhou for few days then we separated. Lo went to Macao for visiting his father, while Chao and I took the train to Shanghai. In the train I opened the letter written by Dr. Horowitz to me. He earnestly suggested me to look for the opportunity doing the research of Biochemical Genetics. He stressed: “It will promote the Biological Science and benefits your country too”. What Horowitz said to me means that the Lysenko’s business has overspread in China. In fact I have already prepared that to study Genetics at the present time in China is impossible. As the training was running into the land of interior China, I was indulged in thinking of my future.

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Chapter IV Memories of My Pleasant Days (1951-1963)Soon after my return home, my former teacher Dr. C.Y. Chang hastened me to

work with him in the Dept. of Biology, Peking University. However another professor strongly opposed it. She said: “If Shen comes, I will leave soon.” She was also my former teacher of Cytology. Why she did so, was due to the fact that I was highly evaluated by Chang, which made her unhappy. Actually I was not willing to work in Peking University. I always claimed that one should not go back to work in the school one graduated from. So I wrote to Chang that I would like to teach Biochemistry in a medical school, and back to Genetics at the fall of Lysenkonism in the country. My close friend Shen Panwen earnestly recommended me to work in the Biology Department of Nankai University. Likewise I didn’t accept the invitation. Eventually through the recommendation of C.C. Tan and my friend Ding Zhenlin I went to the medical school of ZhiJiang University where I had accepted appointment as associate professor of Biochemistry. I taught Biochemistry for both the sophomore of medical school and the junior of Department of Pharmacy, College of Sciences. The young students were all studying hard, they read the English references without any difficulty and discussed with me on the questions they were interested. It encouraged me to let them know more the basic knowledge of Biochemistry. I did that I should learn more myself first. So one year teaching benefited both the students and me. I found myself lovely living among the young students. The year from 1951-1952 was the most exciting of my life.

In 1952 the tide of learning Soviet Union was raised throughout the country. There was a slogan: “The present status of Soviet Union serves as a model for China in the future”, no one dared to oppose it. Accordingly, the high education system of China had to be reformed to be a Soviet type. Thus the Medical School of ZhiJiang

University would be merged with ZhiJiang Medical College. Hong Shalui，the Dean

of the ZheJiang Medical College came to see me at my home, giving me the appointment as the Professor of Biochemistry in the newly established ZheJiang Medical College. But I didn’t accept it, since I had decided to leave the Medical School of ZheJiang University and accepted an appointment as the associate research professor of the Institute of Experimental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences in Shanghai. In a morning of February, students came to the railroad station to see me off. They said to me: “Teacher, we have to say good-by now, yet we will not forget you”. I remembered those words, which gave me confidence and strength in facing the difficulties afterwards, as though they were always behind me. Now some of them have done a great contribution to the medical science of this country. Some are the responsible persons for Chinese medicine. I am really proud of them.

In Shanghai I lived in a dormitory not far from the Institute. My wife Lu Shenghua was teaching in a high school in HangZhou, so she had to stay there with my daughter Shen Wei until her finishing the teaching at the end of the year. My former teacher of the Southwest Associated University Yin HongZhang just returned

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from India. Previously, he worked in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). In response to the call of our Government he came back to work in the Laboratory of Plant Physiology, Institute of Experimental Biology in Shanghai. He strongly suggested me to work in the same laboratory with him. I agreed but with reluctance. Since I didn’t like to do my research in the laboratory of Plant Physiology where I had been before.

Study of Antibiotics

In the early fifties of 20 century, antibiotics industry was almost blank in China. A small plant built for manufacturing Penicillin was in experiment state. In meet with the demand of the people, Yin suggested me to start the research on the antibiotic production.. A small group was then organized, Shang Weizhen, a Chemist, Zhang Wenling technician, and I were the members of the group. Since I knew nothing about antibiotics, I had to visit the Penicillin Plant to learn the elementary technique or knowledge concerning fermentation, abstract and assay of antibiotics. Recalling those days, I owed so much to the Manager Tong Cun, technician Yu Regu and the worker Yang Cai’e of the Penicillin Plant for their enthusiastic help. They were my primary teachers of studying antibiotics indeed. The research of antibiotics was eventually listed as one of the national major project for science and technology. Professor Wu Youxun, the Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Sciences was the director in charge of the task. A committee of antibiotics research was founded in Shanghai. Besides some institutes of the Academy, which were doing or began doing that work, the Shanghai Institute of Medical Industry, Shanghai Penicillin Plant and Shanghai Medical College were organized as collaborators. Professors Wang You, Gao Yisheng, Yin Hongzhang of the Academy, Chen Shanhuang of the Shanghai Institute of Medical Industry, Tong Cun of the Penicillin Plant and Lin Zhao, Su Dalong of the Shanghai Medical College were the members of the committee. Under such circumstance, our small group of antibiotic research was supported by the Academy.

Young graduates Chen Jinbiao ， Hong Mengmin, Gu De’an and others were

appointed as research assistants to join our work. According to the idea of the committee, our research should focus on the aureomycin production, it involved the selection of the high yield of aureomycin producing strain, providing a good fermentation method for Aureomycin production. Because of our effort, we got the success less than three years. Mr. Xu Changlin, guide of the Shanghai Movie Plant, came to our laboratory for realizing our work and life in the course of studying the antibiotics, and then wrote a movie named “Deep and Lasting Friendship” which was shown in the theatres (1955). The status for Yin and I working on the antibiotics vividly appeared on the screen. Two years later the Russian version of the movie picture was shown in a movie theatre at Moscow, I saw it unexpectedly when I was there.

The wisdom of Yin impressed me. Referring to the dynamics of bacterial growth, when the bacteria grown at the stage of lag phase or stationary phase was inoculated

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with a little suspension of bacteria to the fresh medium, the bacteria were grown up from the lag phase again, while the bacteria grown at the logarithm phase was inoculated to the fresh medium would grow directly to the stationary phase without getting back to the lag phase again, he thus assumed that the antibiotics as a secondary metabolite of the microbes could be synthesized related to the growth phase of the antibiotic producing microbes. Yin’s working hypothesis was proved to be true in the fermentation of aureomycin. The yield of aureomycin in fermentation was related to the growth condition of Streptomyce aureofacieus. The results were published in the Journal of Experimental Biology, 1954. That was our first paper in the study of the production of Aureomycin by Streptomyces aureofacieus.

In study of biosynthesis of aureomycin, we found that the operation of pentose cycle during the degradation of hexose in Streptomyce aureofacieus played an important role for the formation of aureomycin. Since the aromatic moiety of the aureomycin molecule was believed to be derived from the 1,7-diphosphosedoheptulose, a component of the pentose cycle. Why high amount of orthophosphate in fermentation inhibited the formation of aureomycin was known due to the result of its inhibition of running pentose cycle in the microbes. So control of the concentration of orthophosphate in fermentation would increase the yield of aureomycin. This hypothesis was confirmed by the work of pilot plant and accepted by the antibiotic production factories.

Under the guide of the antibiotic research committee, within a short time China was able to manufacture some indispensable antibiotics. Aureomycin was one of them. The collaboration among the scientists was so successful that we can hardly ever find nowadays. To my regret, the story of our struggle for the founding of China’s antibiotic industry is rarely known anymore. Only a fragment of record has been cited in the “Daily Note” by the late Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Dr. Zhu Kezhen.

In the autumn of 1957, an anti-right element political movement was run through out the country. Many intelligentsias were involved and suffered. Thanks God, I was excepted, because a delegation composed of Zhang Weishan of the Institute of Biological Products, Ministry of Health, Chen Xiaoqing of Shanghai Institute of Medical Industry, Ministry of Chemical Engineering and I was organized to participate the so-called International Conference of Antibiotics Research in Moscow, Soviet Union at that time. Actually it was the meeting held by the Socialist Countries. I gave a presentation about the biosynthesis of Aureomycin at the conference. My presentation had aroused much interest and attention of the audience. Chen Xiaoqing was so excited as he recollected with me the days in our working Antibiotics and the scenes of the Moscow conference. I also remember Levetov the vice director of the antibiotics research Institute of Soviet Union, came to congratulate me for our achievement and earnestly suggested me to keep on doing the work. He said it would directly benefit the people. Things that happened more than forty years ago have emerged so clearly as it did yesterday. Chen died in the last year his last letter to me was still in concerning antibiotics.

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Start of Microbiological Research V. A. Englehardt, an eminent biochemist, then the secretary-general of Soviet

Academy of Sciences visited me and invited me to work there as visiting associate when I was in Moscow during the antibiotics meeting. I talked to the vice president Zhu Kezhen of Chinese Academy about it, Zhu claimed that I should accept the invitation. Then in October, 1958 I went to Moscow with my graduate student Hong Mengmin, working in Prof. A. Braunstein’s laboratory of the Soviet Medical Academy of Sciences for one year. Braunstein was known for his discovery of the transamination reaction in amino acid formation. He came to the lab only at the Wednesday of each week and was glad to chat with me. His laboratory was bad in equipment beyond my imagination, one man and two women colleagues were working with him. At three o’clock afternoon, those ladies were prepared to decorate themselves to go home. Nobody kept working in the night time. The research atmosphere was not taut. Braunstein was glad to have me working in his laboratory and introduced me the references concerning the work of Wiame in Belgium on the study of glutamate dehydrogenase in Bacilli. Since at that time the glutamine synthetase had not yet been reported, L-glutamate dehydrogenase was regarded as the enzyme for nitrogen assimilation. The fact that all the bacillus bacteria were lack of the activity of L-glutamate dehydrogenase led us to search for the enzyme dealing with the function of NH4

+ assimilation. The results of our preliminary investigation showed that alanine dehydrogenase was the enzyme for NH4

+ assimilation. Our results were published in Biochemistry and Biophysics Acta 1959.

In spring of 1959, an American Delegation visited Soviet Union, B. Davis as the member of the Delegation met Braunstein there. As Braunstein introduced him our work, Davis said straight forward to Braunstein that thermodynamically, L-alanine dehydrogenase was impossible to be the enzyme for NH4+ assimilation. However Braunstein didn’t agree and even laughed at Davis’s comment. Davis’s comment was confirmed to be true by my further investigation in my own laboratory in China. The L-alanine dehydrogenase was proved to be an inducing enzyme, its co-enzyme being NAD. So L-alanine dehydrogenase acts as a catabolic enzyme and nothing to do with the NH4

+ assimilation. Fortunately, Braunstein didn’t tell Davis about my visiting his laboratory, since at that time the diplomatic relationship between China and the US had not yet been normalized. It would be bad even harmful for me if I met Davis there. Up to 1981, when I met Davis at the Harvard Medical School I told him what I found when I was in Braunstein’s laboratory. Davis answered: “I wonder whether you learned from them or vice versa, when you were there”.

Anyway my stay in Braunstein ‘s laboratory for about one year didn’t benefit me as expected. However, science especially the researches of basic science was emphasized and scientists were respected in Soviet Union. Even I as a Chinese scientist could enjoy the priority of having a good living condition as the Soviet scientists did, yet I was not allowed to do so by the Chinese Consulate General to Moscow and also the Chinese students around. I had to be modest and recognized myself as inferior to the Soviet scientists. “The Soviets are elder brothers, we were younger, we should learn from them” was the dictum at that time. It disgusted me but

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I did it. Even so I was criticized during the “cultural revolution” for my being impolite to our “Soviet elder brothers”.

In June of 1959, I returned from Moscow, Yin and I were invited to participate a meeting for Microbiological research in Beijing, chaired by Pei Lisheng, the vice president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. During the meeting I talked about our opinion of carrying our microbiological research in the country. Both Yin and I stressed the importance of research on microbiological biochemistry. We claimed that microbiological research would not be restricted to its application in medicine or agriculture, and that it should serve to the knowledge of Biology, an idea held by the Kluvyer School of Holland. Our proposal was supported by most of the participants in the meeting especially the eminent Microbiologist, the pioneer in Medical Microbiological research in China Dr. Xie Shaowen. Thus Shanghai Institute of Microbiology of Chinese Academy Sciences was established. I was appointed as the vice-director of the Institute (the director of the Institute was left to be elected). Our research was focused on the study of General Microbiology that differed from the work of Beijing Institute of Microbiology. Unfortunately the life of our Institute only lasted no more than two years. Owing to the economic crisis of the country caused by the Political Movement so-called “Great Leap Forward”, she was merged again to the Shanghai Institute of Plant Physiology. Though the life of the Institute was so short, and our research just began, yet it brought somewhat a change on the traditional microbiological research in China.

From 1959 to 1963 I was so exciting doing research with my young colleagues on microbial metabolism and genetics. Whoever got new findings from the work, all of us came to discuss vigorously. We devoted to the research work by day and night. Researchers hurried back and forth in the laboratories like the people did in the emergency service of the hospital. Under such atmosphere we did find some worthful results, some were recognized by the scientists outer world. I was so pleasant having some good students around. Wang Sunlun was a student of thinking. He didn’t talk much to the people except in case of his finding something that interests him. In an early morning of the beginning of 1960, he came to see me in a hurry. He was so excited to tell me that a new metabolite produced by Escherechia coli grown in a minimal medium with glycerol as the carbon source. He said, the metabolite when treated with 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrozine to produce a purple derivative and showed me the sample. I just took a glance at it and answered: “It’s not new. It’s a product of degradation of glycerol i.e. phosphoglyceroaldehyde. There is nothing to be surprised.” After hearing that Wang left quietly. Two weeks later Wang came again, with the sample, experiment data and also the references. This time he appeared differently. He illustrated by evidence that the degradation product of glycerol was not phosphoglyceraldehyde known to us, but 1,2-methyglyoxal. He added: “Accordingly we have now discovered a new pathway for hexose degradation metabolism, that is, hexose can be degraded through the 1,2 methylgloxal to lactic acid way”. By reference, he told me that this fact actually had been observed fifty years ago, but was disproved later. Facing his comments I had no words to argue with, I admitted “I congratulate you on your success, you are right, I am wrong, a new pathway for

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hexose degradation has been rediscovered in our laboratory”. The result was published in Scientia Sinica, 1964. Five years later, British scientists R.A. Cooper and A. Anderson reported the same findings.

In the test of NAD or NADP dependent dehydrogenase activity, we failed to detect its activity in the cell free extract of actinomyces. Wang claimed that there might be an enzyme nucleosidase that degraded these coenzymes in the extract. Since the enzyme was thermostable and resistant to the detergent for proteins so that heat or detergent treatment of cell free extracts of the actinomyces didn’t prevent it from inhibiting the activity of dehydrogenase. I talked to my friend, Enzymologist Zhou Chenglu about Wang’s assumption, we all doubted about it. However Wang’s experiment substantiated his hypothesis. He found the degradation enzyme for NAD or NADP nucleoidase of Streptomyces was curiously combined with DNA/RNA that makes it resistant to heat or detergent treatment. If the DNA/RNA was removed by DNase/RNase the characteristics and protein nature of the enzyme was revealed. Wang’s paper published in Scientia Sinica, 1964, and was cited in Federation Proceedings 1964 in United States.

Besides studies on the metabolism of microbes, Wang paid much attention to the progress of Genetic research in outer world. In 1961, upon my request Professor Feng Depei when visted Oxford University he got for us a set of Hfr mutant strains of E. coli from Dr. Hinsheiwood. Then using these auxotrophic mutants we carried out the researches on the mapping and regulation of genes of E. coli. In the course of studying the gene regulation of biosynthesis of the branched amino-acids, Wang adopted the mutants of lysine, leucine and isoleucine respectively to identify whether the transaminase for the formation of each of these amino acids was same or different in structure. Since these three amino acids were formed in the last step through the transamination between their respective α-Ketoanalogue and L-amino-acid, mostly L-glutamate acid. According to the one gene-one-enzyme hypothesis, if these reactions were specified by different genes, it means that the transaminase for each of these amino acids are different in structure. Wang proposed the idea and worked out such questions which would be thought as simple minded at present. But as you know, that was the date when China was kept isolated from the outer world, furthermore Genetics was still regarded as the forbidden area for the scientists. His proposal of course aroused the notice of the audience, especially my friend the Enzymologist Zhou. Wang was really a genius. To my regret, the manuscript of his work had not been published and lost during the Socialist Movement.

Wang died young, at the late period of Cultural Revolution, I can’t remember the exact date of his death. I only remembered before his death, I was allowed to see him at a hospital. He was actually somewhat unconscious, at that time. His relative called him: “Please open your eyes, you look who is coming here to see you?” Wang then opened his eyes and looked around, then said to me “Teacher Shen”. That was the last time he boldly called me like that. Since at that time I was regarded as the reactionary element, none was willing to contact me. I suffered pain for the loss of a good student of mine and a promising young scientist of our country.

Many young scientists came to work as visiting scholars in the laboratory during

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my tenure, such as Zhang Gusheng of the Shanghai Medical College, Tong Kezhong and Tan MoHong of the Genetics Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and others. Li Yourong a graduate student of late professor Ma YuZheng who was one of early pioneer in antibiotic research in China, was recommended by Ma to do his thesis work with me. On the study of biosynthesis of Streptomycin, besides Li found that the origin of the amidine of the streptidine moiety of the streptomycin molecule was derived from arginine, he demonstrated that the reaction of transamidination between the arginine and streptidine occurred at the beginning of streptomycin synthesis. Thus Li pointed out that synthesis of antibiotics would be temporal control. His point of view has now been accepted by the scientists in antibiotic research area around the world. Synthesis of antibiotics by the growing actinomyces is thus described for two stages: trophophase and idiophase. It guides to the work on antibiotic production in industry.

Freedom and independence of thinking was the good atmosphere for research. The friendship between the teachers and students was created on the ground of mutual respect and complement in pursuing the further knowledge. It commits me to memory forever.

I like the saying “no apply science, but the application of science”. My graduate student Xu Ziyuan discovered an enzyme in Streptomyces that was capable of converting the L-xylose to L-xylulose, we named it xylose isomerase and published in Acta Biochimica et Biophysica Sinica, 1964. When it was known by the people of Sanmatsu Kogyo Company in Japan, and through their further investigation they found that xylose isomerase was actually capable of converting glucose to fructose too. So they named it glucose isomerase. The Sanmatsu Kogyo thus produced the enzyme and earned a lot of money. Afterward they sold the patent for the enzyme production to an American company. It has caused a disputation among the Japanese companies. Sanmatsu Kogyo was accused to the court for it’s not faithful in taking the knowledge privilege from the Chinese Scientists. During the “Socialist Movement” in 1965, the Japanese came to Shanghai for finding the publication date of our paper. In 1982, a Japanese, as the representative of the Sanmatsu Kogyo company accompanied by a researcher from the Shanghai Institute of Light Industry came to visit me and sent me a bottle of wine for acknowledgement. What a pity, we didn’t do an experiment testing whether the enzyme we found could convert glucose to fructose as it did in xylose. Since fructose is about twenty times as sweet as the glucose is, so it has much market value. The ironic matter was, my colleague after looking about the literatures concerning the glucose isomerase, he found it published in a Japanese Journal. The enzyme reported by the Japanese was produced by an enteric bacteria, the yield of it was found low and also regarded the potential of bacterial toxin contaminated, so eventually he had to discard it. Summing up the above story, I got a lesson, as a scientist when devoted to the basic science research should not ignore the applied value of it.

I would rather do something wrong than do it right just following the others in scientific research. My thought is mainly learned from the education of CalTech. To keep the leading edge and oppose the way of following the fashion is the purpose of

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forming the California Institute of Technology as the first rate Institution of the world. In 1959, when we were studying the transforming principle of bacteria, my colleagues demonstrated the DNA as the transforming principle for antibiotic-resistant character of E. coli. To my surprise, the penicillin-resistant character of a strain of Bacillus licheniformis could be transferred to the wild type which is sensitive to penicillin, with RNA derived the penicillin resistant strain. The wild type thus acquired the resistant ability to penicillin and provided the activity of penicillinase as well. It was thus suggested that RNA could be the transforming principle of bacteria. As we published our result, some were interested on it and some doubted. I remember, Marmur of the Brandies University wrote to me that he was unable to repeat our result and suspected that in the RNase preparation we used for experiment may be contaminated the DNase. Subsequently, we didn’t continue this work because of the low reproducibility of the result. After the “Cultural Revolution”, I received a letter from J. Lerderberg who inquired the status of this work. As far as I knew people in the Rockefeller University obtained somewhat the similar results as we did in Bacillus subtilis. However, since then none was interested or convinced at our result anymore, still later some believed that the reverse transcriptase might be present in the Bacillus, which converted the RNA to DNA. Though reverse transcriptase was found in E. coli, yet it was not detected in Bacillus licheniformis. Anyway, we thus recognized that we were wrong to draw a conclusion without the substantiated evidence. Even now, I am felling regretful for doing such kind of mistakes, but it educated me. I get the value from the mistake I did in research is much more than what I get from the success I obtained. I realize what the Chinese proverb says: “Failure is the mother of success”.

In February, 1961 I was invited to participate the National Conference for the Ten Year Project of Science and Technology of China in Guangzhou. This conference is well known and abbreviated as “Guangzhou Meeting” by now. There were about three hundreds of leading scientists and some ministers of the Government as the participants of the meeting. During the meeting we enjoyed the freedom of speech, and some complained of the suffering from the radicals. The Lysengonism was first criticized in the meeting. The vice premier Chen Yi gave a warm talk to us. He said: “In behalf of the Central Committee of Communist Party of China and the Chinese Government I apologize to you. Since the founding of New China you are working with us regardless the bitterness you suffered, it is not in justice to you for treating you as bourgeois, you are the mental labor of the working class……” The audiences were so happy in hearing it. The meeting was successful to the intellectuals, especially the scientists just returned to the country from abroad. We all felt that the country was in need of us, while we were in need of a strong motherland too. The influence of the spirit of Guangzhou meeting was great, yet it didn’t last long. It was soon criticized by the Chairman Mao, he reminded the people: “Never Forget the Class Struggle”. Thus scientists got back again to the darkness.

Chapter V Socialist Movement and Cultural Revolution

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Despite the endless of political movement run by the Government, e.g. the reforming of the thought of the bourgeois intellectuals, Anti-Hu Feng Movement, “Great Leap Forward” and Anti-right Elements, the years from 1952 to 1964 were not wasted for me. During this period I still did some research as I mentioned briefly above. I owe a great deal to the responsible persons of the Academy, Mr. Wang Zhongliang and Zhang Jinfu for protecting me during the Movements. However, since the autumn of 1964 Socialist Movement spread through the country, none could be avoided. In Shanghai, the Institute of Plant Physiology was taken as a model for running the Movement. The new secretary of the Communist Party in the Shanghai Branch of the Chinese Academy of Sciences came to the Institute and declared that the class struggle was tight in the Institute, where the exploiting class played a dominant role for years under the shelter of the revisionists. He said, he decided to examine those who had speech of anti-communist and then beat down the reactionary elements. Meetings were thus held everyday, the secretaries of party branch and the chief of each laboratory of the Institute had to take part in the meeting. One day before the noon when the meeting came to a stop, the woman Chen Guangli as the secretary of the party branch to my laboratory suddenly stood up and pointed me to say: “ Shen will betray the country, he is a traitor and a reactionary element against our Party”. She added, I opposed an article of the “Beijing Daily” which mentioned that a party member should be the obedient means to the Party and also I hated the 1958 anti-right element movement in which four youths working in the farm of the Institute were taken as right elements. This accusation thus aroused a tide of the Socialist Movement went toward our laboratory, and I was the target of criticism. Since then I suffered pain, my struggle for the science of my country in the past years was regarded as my political purpose for bringing the research to the capitalist way against the way for the socialist China. Whatever reasons I gave for argument all was in vain for me. My suffering eventually caused blindness of my right eye. I was allowed to see the Doctor Wang of ophthalmology in the hospital. My doctor diagnosed the illness of the retina presumably caused by mental derangement, and hastened me to stay in hospital. Upon the permission of the Socialist Movement Commission of the Institute I stayed in the hospital and was subject to medical treatment for about three weeks. Since there was no improvement of my retina illness, I was then transferred to a sanitarium in Wuxi, not far from Shanghai for further treatment. The sanitarium was situated on a hillside nearby Taihu-lake. There I met a young doctor Tong who was just graduated from the medical college. He found that I always walked alone without any word with the people on the road around the Taihu lake, and he came to talk with me. His enthusiasm and concerning about me was greatly impressed me. Then I told him what happened to me in the Social Movement. I won him sympathy, therefore in the secluded lake side I was not living alone and had a friend to talk with. I stayed in the sanitarium no more than one month, one day one woman of our Institute came to see me and asked me to return to the Institute soon. She said: “the class consciousness of the people in the Institute has been awakened. You should be back to recognize what you did harmful to the people.”

In the late autumn of 1964, the tree leaves on the hill-side fell in the wind. It told

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me that a terrible winter came to us soon. I returned to Shanghai with sorrows. Next day I went to the office for Socialist Movement, the Chief of the Movement warned me: “You should recognize your crime against the Party and people. We are now saving you from danger. We order you to go to your laboratory every day for receiving the criticism from the people.” Since then I went to the laboratory in time, my office was gone, I set in a room facing the harsh criticism by the youths. I knew, some of them really hating me, while some were not, they did because they had to do. My assistant Xu was secluded at that time, she was forced to write down what she heard about so called my intension to betray the country. In meeting the requirement of those radicals in the movement, she wrote 128 articles accusing me as a traitor to the country, e.g. I had ever talk to her about the days in the Skomo prison in Japan, where I ate the apples and dressed well with the ironed clothes; and I longed for being a professor like Braunstein In Soviet Union to enjoy the privilege of working one day each week. How ridiculous it was! Yet I could do nothing in those days. However, I did believe that history would fairly record what I did in science for the country.

In the May 24th of 1965, with the Socialist Movement in the Institute of Plant Physiology drawing to a close, the team for conducting the movement moved to other Institutes. I was ordered to join a group of people from the Institute of Biochemistry for proceeding the Socialist Movement in the countryside. I was told that my obligation was to receive the reeducation from the impoverished peasants to reform my out-look of life. I had to do the so-called three same-nesses, i.e. same in living; same in meal; and same in labor with the peasants. So I lived in the home of a peasant and did the sameness as I was ordered. The peasants treated so well unexpectedly during my stay with them. What I learned from the peasants was their traditional proverb transmitted from generation to generation: “We had rather to be cheated than cheat the others”. It characterized the “Chinese peasants”!

On the June of 1966, after stay in the countryside for one year, I was called back to Shanghai. Peasants came to see me off and sent me a notebook signed their names and put on a bundle of wheat spikes in it. In fact the “Cultural Revolution” had been launched at that time. When I walked through the entrance of the building of the Institute of Biochemistry, people all turned out their heads from the windows of the laboratory and shouted “Shen is back”. The “Cultural Revolution” was a terrible political storm unprecedented in the history of China, which swept across the country. None could be excepted. It rendered our people suffering for ten years.

In the laboratory of Microbiology, I was compelled to attend the meetings of harsh critique to me. The wall posters for criticizing me were seen everywhere around the building. The writers of these posters were signed as dog beaters, it means in the “Socialist Movement”, I have been beaten as a dog, so by now they can beat me just like what the Chinese used to say “To beat a man like to do the beaten dog in the water without any reason”. A big wall poster was put on the main building of the Shanghai Branch of Chinese Academy of Sciences facing the Yueyang Road, so that made the people even outside the Institute, walking on the street could see it. It declared me as criminal with the evidence of 128 articles accused by Xu in the Socialist Movement last year. At that time scientists especially the western country

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educated were criticized in different forms, but I was one of the worst to be punished. Since I was declared as the counter-revolutionary, the enemy of people, my guilty thus affected my family. My home door was kept open even at night, so that radicals, then honored as revolutionary mass, could went in to do whatever they like. My wife was deprived her rights of citizenship and my children was insulted or beaten by their schoolmates around. I was sent to labor in the farm not far from the city. I used to walk there at the early morning and got back at the late evening. I was afraid of seeing any people I know and people also hated meeting me all the way. My friend Niu Jinyi, a leading scientist working on the synthesis of insulin, facing the unbearable insults by the radicals, left home for Beijing asking for help, of course it was in vain. Eventually he was caught in a small inn in Wuxi and sent back to Shanghai. As soon as he reached the Institute, he was beaten and blamed in a Mass-meeting. His cry and the shout of joy from the attendants at a distance brought me the tearless grief.

On September 1968, the movement reached its climax, a campaign was launching for the purpose of rooting out the insidious enemies. Many intellectuals were suspected doing something against the Party and the Government. Of course I was the most suspected one. I was locked in a stockroom, and up to December 26, at a snowing night I was taken out to a place for inquisition. There I was subjected to the inhuman mistreatment. They forced me to stand still and bowed my loin to 90 degrees in a right angle. Since I rejected their fallacious accusations, such as my being the American and Guo-Min-Dang spy to mainland China and my being taken into prison by the American army in Japan was a drama played for masking us as the scientist returning China. I suffered so painfully, stood like that by day and night continuously for 10 days. When I couldn’t help to fall on the floor, they beat me and pull me up frequently. I couldn’t stand such mistreatment physically and mentally. I ever attempted to commit suicide, but I didn’t, and held on to the last.

When they didn’t get the answer from my confession as they expected, then they had to resort to other compulsion by locking me in a windowless small room about two square meters in space, just like in a box. They were so cruel to me that made me choked. I got mad and knocked the door, but no response. Thus I passed the painful time minute by minute and finally I got paralyzed. About 24 hours locked therein, I was then released and sent back to the stockroom again. After suffered such longtime mistreatment I was diseased, my both legs were swollen and the lymph-nodes in the right side of my neck began to swell up too. I had pains all over and couldn’t sleep at night. Eventually I was allowed to go to the hospital. The surgeon knew that I was the reactionary element, he and his assistants pulled me down on the operation table without any anesthetic treatment to subject me the surgical operation in my right side of neck. How painful I felt you can imagine at that moment! I was tortured like that, yet none of them felt shame for doing such barbarous conduct. After the surgical operation I was still locked in the stockroom until May 6th, 1969. I was informed that I would be free. My son then came to see me and accompanied me home. Doctor had diagnosed my illness as the recurrence of tuberculosis both in lung and in lymph-nodes and asked me to rest, having a medical treatment. Since then I was allowed to have a rest at home in the afternoon, but I should go to the laboratory in the morning

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washing the glassware and cleaning the water-closet.The stormy movement of Culture Revolution seemed to be drawing nearly to

end. While walking on the street, people were looking around, when one met an acquaintance survived the storm, they nodded each other without any word.

In autumn of 1973, one day my former schoolmate of California Institute of Technology, now professor of chemistry in MIT, R. Rich visited shanghai and gave a seminar on the study of structure of yeast alanine t-RNA. He expected to see me, upon his requirement I was allowed to meet him in the Science Hall after his seminar. He took a picture with me, and said: “I will talk to Norman Horowitz that you are well here after back to the States”. The reunion between us brought me back to the days before my leaving for my country. How I determined to devote myself to the construction of the Scientific China, and how enthusiastic my American friends supported me to do so, now all gone. I thought and cried bitterly with tears wetting my clothes on the way home.

Chapter VI Back to My Primary Interest—Genetics

In 1974, still in the time of Cultural Revolution, I was declared to be “liberated”. Things happened so complicated than was thought. I was appointed as the leader to carry out the Genetic research. It was delightful to me. Though Genetics had been criticized for a long time as the reactionary knowledge in the country, yet I took the job. I didn’t forget my beloved teacher Dr. Horowitz’s words left to me before my leaving for China, encouraging me to take every opportunity to do Biochemical Genetics.

Genetics research progressed markedly in the past two decades while it was deserted in this country. I spent the whole time in the library to look for a subject for study. As I read the papers by R. Valentine on the nitrogen fixation genes, I decided to start our work on Genetics of Nitrogen Fixation, since it seemed as a good title that would attract support from the authorities, as it followed the dogma “Theory must be connected with practice”, as well as the fact that its final goal would be making crops capable of fixing nitrogen. Furthermore, I thought that nitrogen fixation gene research started only a few years ago, we could match up with our effort. In spite of inadequate equipment and technology, we were all enthusiastically collecting the bacterial strains and picking up the necessary method for experiments. Most of my colleagues were not familiar with genetics. Therefore, I provided assistance in elementary genetics. I also shared with them at leisure, my knowledge on the personal and intellectual life of the great scientists, such as George Beadle and Max Delbruck, with the hope of inspiring them. Simultaneously I was inspired myself too. In the autumn of 1976, I was informed to visit England and France for Molecular Genetics. It surprised me really.

Visit to England and FranceIn the autumn of 1976 our country was facing a crisis. Earthquake occurred in

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Tang Shan City caused the death of about five hundred thousands of people. I left Shanghai for Beijing by airplane at the end of August. In the Bureau of Foreign Affairs of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, I knew that I had been appointed as the head of the delegation to visit England and France for Molecular Genetics, and that there were six member of the delegation, besides Zhou the interpreter from the Bureau of Foreign Affairs, others from Institute of Zoology, Botany, Microbiology and Biochemistry respectively. We were told that when we were abroad we had to keep close connection with the local Consul and that if we went outside we should go with two others not alone.

In the morning of September 7th, we left Beijing to London by flight via Paris where we stopped for about one hour, we reached London next day at 10 o’clock A.M. We lived in a hotel on the Buringham Palace Road. The Chinese Embassy to England made an arrangement for our visit and sent the 3 rd Secretary of the Embassy Chi Deyu to accompany us. Chi graduated from the Department of Physics, Nankai University, his joining us gave me a great help.

The next day of our arrival, i.e. September 9th, we got the information from the Embassy that Chairman Mao Zedong died. At the noon time, the British Royal Society entertained us at lunch. There I met M.R. Pollock of University of Edinburgh, whom I knew before, H.K. Kornberg of Cambridge University and others. Many members of the Royal Society came for the lunch; some were living far from London. They came for the purpose of learning something about the scientific research carried out in our country, since we had been secluded from the outer world more than twenty years. I felt embarrassed, that our research was far behind the time. As far as I was concerned, I didn’t work nor read the scientific literatures for such long time. During lunch we were arranged for the convenience of communication to sit alternatively one Chinese by one British scientist around the table. However, our people just sat there to eat without word that make the British scientists unable to talk with us only extending their necks across us to talk among them.

According to the program for our visiting the British Institutions we visited the Imperial Chemical Corporation in Runcor where as we know, the biotechnology of Insulin synthesis was in undertaken. The Cambridge Molecular Biology Institute was the main Institution we interested in. We met S. Brenner (won the Nobel Prize in 2002), M.F. Perutz, F. Sanger and J. Gurden. Since F. Crick was away, so we didn’t meet him there. I was impressed with their stress on the pioneer work of basic research. Brenner was working on the Developmental Genetics, using Nematod and Drosophila as the material to work with. He seemed a straightforward person. He mentioned a lot about his past history in South Africa and in Soviet Union, but didn’t talk of science and the scientific research in China. He might think there was nothing worthy to be talked with us. We were led to visit the laboratory where Watson and Crick had ever worked. It was so simple and crude but it was the place to establish the DNA double helix theory, thus the birth of Molecular Genetics.

Incidentally I got a note inviting me to attend the Gorden Conference at Wye. It was a local meeting for Biochemistry. However many scientists from fifteen countries attended this conference. The title of the conference was “Molecular Biology of

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Recombinant Plasmids”. In the conference I met my schoolmate D. Hogness. We had a pleasant talk recalling the days when we were at CalTech. From him I knew my former teacher Norman Horowitz and my friend F. Haskins all were well.

The other five members of our delegation didn’t get the invitation, but they came themselves to the meeting and lived in the same student dormitory of Wye College with me. The Conference started in the morning, up to the noon and then continued in the evening from 7 to 9 o’clock P.M. I went to the conference only in the morning. Kornberg came to see me in order to introduce me the participants there at the coffee time in the evening. But I didn’t accept it, since I was afraid that my often contact with the foreigners might be under suspicion. In 1982, after the Cultural Revolution Brenner visited my laboratory and spoke to me frankly about my situation in the Gorden Conference in England. He said, they found that I was kept watch by the others in our delegation, so they invited me to the conference in purpose of getting rid of those people and talked with them freely, but unfortunately they came to the conference too. Brener’s word awaked me why Kornberg invited me for coffee at that conference in those days.

We visited the Research Center of Biological Nitrogen Fixation of Sussex University, where I met C. Kennedy. She enthusiastically introduced us their recent work on the nitrogen fixation genes, and before our leaving she gave me an anaerobic apparatus for culture of nitrogen-fixation bacteria. Kennedy was born in the United States and came to visit my laboratory after the “Cultural Revolution”, later on she became a friend of mine.

At the University of Leicester, W.V. Shaw Professor of Biochemistry said to us, after their discovery that glucose was degraded to dimethylgloxal by E. coli, later on they found that we had already published the same result in 1964. Shaw showed us the copy of our paper in “Scientia Sinica”. He inquired for the first author of the paper Wang’s present research. I told him, Wang was my student died of Brain tumor five years ago. I was feeling bad when I talked it.

Our visit in England ended here. In the morning of October 4th we left London for Paris. Ms. Prigorowsky and Mr. J.J. Deverall of the British Loyal Society saw us off at the airport. We arrived at Paris at ten o’clock in the morning and put up at the hotel, Vancean. The secretary of the Chinese Embassy to France, Wong,C.W. drove us to visit Professors Berkalof and Kourisky in the CNRS ( The National Research Center of France) office afternoon. They gave us a brief account of French Scientific Institutions. Berkalof said at the end: “France possesses a sound foundation for Molecular Biology Research; during your visit you can find our first rate Molecular Biologists in the world”. He was proud of his country. The national spirits of the French people impressed me.

Since October 5th, we visited CNRS in Gif-Sue-Yuette about 20 miles distant from Paris. There we met J. Szulmajter, he and his associates were working mainly on the physico-chemistry of enzyme proteins. Besides, they also engaged in some work on immunology, hormone and yeast metabolism. We had a pleasant discussion. He praised me for my knowledge in Genetics and Biochemistry as well. That was the first time since the Cultural Revolution that I heard I have been recognized as a scientist,

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not a cheat nor rascal as criticized by the revolutionary mass in our country. Yet I should realize myself that I truly fall behind the time scientifically, doing as the instruction given in the cultural revolution to the intellectuals: “To be a person as humble as a dog with its tail down”.

During our visiting the Seventh University of Paris I met a woman scientist Dr. Hein in Professor Bernard’s laboratory. She was studying the Plant Virus and had ever been in Lipmann’s laboratory of Rockefeller University in New York. I was interested at first time hearing that all the Plant RNA viri contain an amino-acid at 3’end. Surprisingly she knew that I had my post-graduate education at CalTech at the end of fortieth of last century. She said excitedly to me: “You were so lucky to study there. CalTech is the place where the revolution of Biological Science had taken place to initiate the era of Molecular Biology. You must know lot of interesting stories about these great scientists; they struggled for the advance of the science. Today, the time is so tight; otherwise I would like hear from you what you know about at that time”. Upon her requisition I gave her my address in Shanghai, but so far she didn’t communicated with me. However, several years later my friend Zhou Dingchong met her when visited France. She asked Zhou why I didn’t reply to her. In fact, I didn’t get her letter, ever since.

We visited the Pasteur Institute in October 11th to 12th. I met E. Wollman there. I knew him at CalTech, when he was working as visiting associate in Delbruck’s laboratory and I was a graduate student in Beadle School. Twenty years passed, we both enjoyed the reunion in France. He grasped my hand and took a picture with me in the front of the Pasteur Institute. J. Monod, the Director of the Institute, died a few months ago. In honor of his contribution his student F. Gros was appointed to be his successor, as the new Director of the Institute instead of the traditional way producing the director by election.

In the morning of October 13th, the news on the “Paris Daily” revealed that the regime of “Shanghai clique” has been overthrown. I was very much surprised at the news. In the evening, Wong the Secretary of the Embassy came to see me and said that the “Gang of Four, i.e. Jiang, Zhang, Wang and Yao have been arrested”. He added, he had only told it to the interpreter of our delegation, not the others. I was so glad in hearing the news and immediately thought of my family; the day we longed for is now coming. How happy my children are! On the way to Marseilles, I indulged myself in that exciting news. In Marseilles, we lived in hotel Grande, situated on the side of Mediterranean sea. Thanks to Wong, he earnestly changed his room, which faces the sea to me. There I could enjoy seeing the beautiful scenery of harbor with the boats anchored and sailing to sea. Wong said: “Shen, you are tired, you better live here”. I was indebted to Qi and Wong, for their kindness and help to me in the course of our visiting England and France.

In Marseilles we visited the laboratory of Bacterial Chemistry and Molecular Biology of CNRS. Professor Rosset introduced us their work on the bacterial ribosomes, and since 1969, he said, they turned their interest on studying development and cell differentiation using Drosophila as the experimental material to work with.

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Following our return from Marseilles we took the train to Strasburg, an ancient city on the border of France and Germany. Pieree Chambon and Qurisson waited us at the railroad station. We visited Chambon’s laboratory in the Strasburg Medical College. Chamber was working on the regulation of genes of Eukaryotes. He described the split genes he found in Eukaryotes. Controversial at first, it was eventually demonstrated to be true. Chamber’s loyal to his duty as a true scientist against the disturbance outside impressed me. Within such a short visit, Chambon and I made a friendship. When I returned to China I recommended a young scientist from the Shanghai Institute of Cell Biology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences to work with him.

In the morning of October 21st, we left Paris for China. I was so anxious to go home, meeting my mother who was so ill before my leaving, my wife and my children.

My visiting England and France awakened me to a sense that our Biological Sciences presumable other sciences too, fall far behind the time. We wasted so much time and competent scientists by the endless Political Movement. Now we faced the hard challenge to match up.

National Congress of Sciences As mentioned before, since 1974 I got back to my primary interest, Genetics by

the way of studying the Nitrogen Fixation (nif) Genes. Through the efforts of my young colleagues, we got some results by the fine structure mapping and complementation tests of nif genes to prove that nif genes of Klebsiella pneumoniae reside as a single cluster near the histidine operon on the chromosome. Therefore, no “silent region” exists within the nif cluster as proposed abroad. We published the results in Scientia Sinica 1977 (Xue et al 1977). The response to our published work was warm and encouraging, especially from Dr. Winston J. Brill of University of Wisconsin.

The year 1977 is memorable not only because we published the first paper on nif genes, but also it marked the beginning of Genetic Research after it was deserted so long a time in China.

The following year, on the March of 1978, the National Congress of Sciences was held in Beijing. Sciences were stressed important for National Construction and Scientists were regarded as the people of working class. All the participants especially the scientists coming back from abroad at the beginning of the fifty of the 20 century were so happy as back to the spring of science. Then I started my second plough in the long time distorted field, though I was 62 years old then.

Since the Chinese Government carried out the open policy to the outer world, our communication with the foreign scientists was promoted. In 1978, as a member of Chinese Delegation, I participated the International Conference of Nitrogen Fixation Research held in the University of Wisconsin. My presentation had aroused the interest of the attendance. In October I was invited to attend a meeting in the commemorating the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Division of Biology by T. H. Morgan at CalTech. There I gave a talk about genetics of bacterial nitrogen fixation in the Genes, Cells and Behavior Symposium. G. Beadles, M. Delbruick, R.

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Dulbecco, H. Temin and other distinguished scientists gave their presentations in the Symposium. I realized, I was far behind the time, what the alumni interested were not my research, but my voice from a country long secluded from the outer world. My former supervisor, Norman H. Horowitz felt particularly happy on my back to Genetics after suffering the long bitter days. Marge Fling, though retired for years, drove from the North California to Pasadena attending the ceremony. Her coming here mainly for meeting me and N. Horowitz, as a reunion we expected for about thirty years. During the meeting, Horowitz and also Temin all suggested me to work for a period at CalTech and said that the Gosney Foundation would finance me. Yet I didn’t decide until I met Ed. Lewis in the 15th International Conference of Biochemistry in Toronto, who strongly suggested me to go back to CalTech. Thus in 1980 I went to CalTech with Xue, Z.T. as my assistant. We were working on the structure of the nif genes. Since DNA sequencing just began in those days, we sequenced the nif gene J and published the result later in the Nucleic Acid Research (1983).

When I returned to China after one year visit at CalTech, My young colleague Xue Z.T., a competent and productive scientist remained in the State doing his research on the structure genes specifying the storage protein of Soybean seeds in the University of California at Los Angles. Since I claimed that we would start the research on Plant Molecular Genetics in China, as suggested to me by Eric Devidson.

As our research progressed successfully, some of our foreign colleagues e.g. C. Kennedy of Sussex University in England and F.M. Ausubel of Harvard University visited our laboratory. David Ow spent about one year as post-doctorate in my laboratory after his completion of doctorate degree from Ausubel’s laboratory of Harvard. He made contributions for us during his stay. Hereby I would acknowledge the enthusiastic help from Winston Brill of the University of Wisconsin. We sent the young scientists to join his group and learn from them. Subsequently a friendly good bond between the two laboratories was established, particularly between Winston and me.

In 1988 I was invited to participate the 16 th International Conference of Genetics and to give a presentation about our work on the Plenary Session. Since the invitation letter was mis-sent to Japan, when I received it, the deadline for reply was over, so I decided not to attend it. However, the head of the organizing committee of the conference Dr. Verma whom I met in Mexico while attending the Symposium of Molecular Genetics of Micro-Plant Interactions. Verma strongly insisted that I should participate the conference with the reason that I was the only Chinese Geneticist to be invited to talk in the plenary session of the Conference. Thus I changed my mind to participate it. The title of my presentation was: Expression of Nodulation and Nitrogen Fixation Genes in Rhizobium meliloti during Development (Genome 31:357-360, 1989). During the Conference, I was glad to meet our Chinese colleagues, as the member of Chinese Delegation to the Conference they were all surprised for my arrival. B. Davis came to listen to my talking in the session. He warmly congratulated me for my back to Genetics.

1996 was a year worthy to be remembered in my scientific career. I was

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informed to be elected as the distinguished alumnus of the year and was invited to attend the awarding ceremony at CalTech. I went to Pasadena with my wife on June 15th. We lived in the guest house, Athenaeum of CalTech. On June 18th, at eleven o’clock before the noon the awarding ceremony began. President Tom Everhart gave introductions to the winners of Alumni Distinguished Service Award. I was the second one to receive the award from the President. He praised me for my playing a pivotal role in expending the focus of contemporary microbiological research and my devoting considerable effort in founding a Molecular Genetics Laboratory in China. After receiving the Award, I made the following comments and acknowledgement: “Thank you dear President for your fine recommendation for me. I would like to express my gratitude for giving me such prestigious Award. I have been always pleased and proud of my association with CalTech, the great Institute of the world. I returned to China in the early 1950, right after my finishing Ph.D. work. During the following decades, my scientific life has not been smooth; my research was frequently interrupted by the endless political movements in my country. However, my conviction on the freedom of science can never been shaken. I have kept loving science and the making of it. I owe so much to my wife, Shenhua Lu who is now sitting here for her support and encouragement in the difficult days of my scientific career. The Chinese proverb runs: “When one drinks the water from the well, one should not forget who digs the well”. CalTech is truly the well of wisdom, created by many great scientist….” While I ended my speech, a stormy applause broke out. My daughter, Shen Wei told me that one attendant sitting by her, shed tears and some would like to know more about my life in the past decades. I was moved by those good minded people. “I am well now. What I regret is I am old, less I could do for Science”. I thought like that in my mind. Thanks to my former teachers, Norman Horowitz and Ed. Lewis who never attended such kind of meeting before, yet now they came around all the time. Especially Ed. Lewis, the newly elected the Nobel Laurate for Physiology and Medicine was busy to treat many visitors, his attendance surprised the guests.

The dancing party in the hall of Athenaeum ended, as the dancing music we heard was stopped at the midnight. An exciting meeting of the year was now over.

From my childhood in the countryside to CalTech was a long winding way. Though I faced difficulties and had overcome them on the past days of my life, yet I didn’t do any meaningful contribution in science to the society. The Award for me is more than I deserved. However, my son Shen Yu didn’t agree with me, he said, my hard struggle on for the science in my past career as a stream flows from the hill through many frustrations to the sea that is my achievement. He added, the response of audience in that day after finishing my talk is their attitude for awarding me.

I remember, my mother had ever told me that human life runs like boat sailing along with one’s will without any hesitation to the other land one expected. Where there is a will there is the way.

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