http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/6/19/focus/6500762&sec=focus
Saturday June 19, 2010 The man who chose China Made In China By CHOW HOW BAN After Sidney Shapiro came to Shanghai in 1947 to get away from the US rat race, he got married and lived a momentous life. SIDNEY Shapiro has been living without his Chinese wife Fengzi (phoenix in English) for 14 years. The 94-year-old New Yorker used to think about her often but now he keeps himself busy with gardening, writing and practising taichi. It was not easy to forget his "phoenix". If Shapiro had not met Fengzi to whom he was married for 48 years before her death in 1996, he possibly would not have stayed back in China. In happier times: Shapiro and Fengzi outside their home in Nanguanfang hutong, Shishahai, Beijing. Shapiro has always said: it was through Fengzi that he learned more about his "dragon" (in reference to China) and because of his love for China, he cherished his phoenix more. They had lived through momentous developments in China together, from the Civil War, liberation of China by the Communist Party and the Cultural Revolution to the economic reform. When Shapiro came to Shanghai from New York on a freighter in 1947, he had no idea how fast he could adapt to his new life in China though he had learned some Chinese at Cornell and Yale universities while serving in the US army. He was introduced to his wife by a mutual friend at Yale who told him that he could teach Fengzi English in exchange for Chinese lessons. He admired the grace of Fengzi as a drama actress and her courage in running a leftist communist-backed magazine under the nose of the Kuomintang (KMT) government. They married a year after their first class. "We did begin originally by exchanging lessons two to three times a week," Shapiro said at a recent interview in his Shishahai hutong house. "As I got to know her better, I was impressed by the guts she had in such a terrible, corrupt and dangerous society in Shanghai." The couple was in danger because of their involvement in the leftist movement. He and his wife risked their lives travelling out of Shanghai to the liberated area in the Shandong provincial capital of Jinan via Beijing to escape from the KMT. After the liberation of Beijing and eventually the whole nation in 1949, the couple settled in Beijing. Shapiro later worked for the state-run Foreign Languages Press as a translator of Chinese literature while his wife became one of the country's leading essayists and drama critics. In 1963, Shapiro applied for Chinese citizenship and a few months later, he was granted the certificate signed by former Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai. During the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), Fengzi spent several years under house arrest for her opposition to Mao Zedong's wife, Jiang Qing, and her three political factionists from the Communist Party known as the Gang of Four. "Until the Gang of Four was overthrown and the Cultural Revolution over, only then could she come home. We considered going back to America but finally decided against it. "I had travelled 10,000 miles to get away from the commercial rat-race society in US to come to a place which I hoped was freer and more liberal. For Fengzi, it would be terrible as she was a well-educated woman and her English was not very good and she would not be able to do anything," he said. After the turbulent times in China, Shapiro finally witnessed the economic boom in his country. He has been a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, a top advisory body, for the last 27 years. "I am not a communist and never joined the Communist Party. But, I have great admiration for it. In general, I support their principles and policies," he said, adding that he had not been used as a propaganda tool to say things in the party's favour. He said China of the past and present was like heaven and earth with tremendous economic and social progress but it had also exposed some serious mistakes made by the party. "China is heading towards a dangerous path. Chinese are historically known as decent people who are well behaved, not selfish and help their fellowmen; but now we have a materialistic society where getting more money has become the proof of success." Throughout the decades, he has written books like Jews in Old China and My China and translated a few others such as the renowned Outlaws of the Marsh. Just a month before the interview, Shapiro had a bad fall and underwent a minor operation. His grandchildren and great-granddaughter visited him over the weekend. Every month, he receives a pension of about 7,000 yuan (RM3,500), most of which will be saved by his daughter who sometimes lives with him in the hutong home. "I don't really need much money. I have been given too much care and consideration by the Chinese government as I have complete medical coverage. They got the fares for my trips abroad paid and I'm embarrassed that I am treated so well," he said with a grin. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
