On September 29, 2019, 104-year-old Isabelle Kruk was awarded the Order of Friendship, the country's highest honor for foreign countries, by President Xi Jinping of the People's Republic of China. Most of the recipients are foreign dignitaries, but Isabelle is a professor who does ordinary education work in China. The award speech said: "Isabelle Kruk is a pioneer in the teaching of English in New China, has cultivated a large number of foreign language talents for the mainland, and has made outstanding contributions to China's education cause and friendly exchanges with foreign countries, and to promoting people-to-people friendship between China and Canada." ”
This year, the National Publishing Fund funded project "I Love China with My Life: The Story of Isabe Kruk" was published, dedicated to the 107-year-old Isabelle and to a generation of international friends who fought for New China.
"A hundred years of life, every choice is China!" "I Love China with My Life: The Story of Isabe Kruk", written by the writer Tan Kai, tells the story of Isabe, who was born in 1915, experienced the War of Resistance Against Japan, the War of Liberation and the founding of New China, and devoted herself to Chinese education.
"Sumei" born in Chengdu
In the early 20th century, Isabe's parents came to China from Canada and took root in Chengdu. They co-founded west China Union University (now West China Medical Center of Sichuan University) and Chengdu Diwei Primary School, the first Montessori kindergarten, and the school for the blind, deaf and dumb. Isabelle was born in Chengdu on December 15, 1915, and her parents gave her a Chinese named "Su Mei".
At the age of 4, Isabelle returned to Canada to be raised by her grandparents. In 1921, the year the Communist Party of China was founded, 6-year-old Isabelle returned to Chengdu with her parents to attend primary school, and was also influenced by Eastern and Western cultures. She learned to swim in the school pool and nearby rivers, and at the age of 103 she was able to enjoy swimming in Beidaihe. In 1932, Isabelle entered the University of Toronto, where her parents had attended, to study child psychology. She read the article in National Geographic about China's daughter country and Dongba culture, and also read the Journal of the West China Frontier Studies Society, and was attracted by the richness, beauty and magic of western China, so she switched to social anthropology in graduate school.
In 1938, with the outbreak of anti-Japanese war, the 23-year-old Isabelle returned to Sichuan to begin fieldwork. She walked into snowy mountain canyons, rapids, and cottages in the clouds. She carried a spinning wheel on her back, sat on a zipline, crossed the Min River, and brought modern spinning technology to the village. Later, her "Xinglong Township - Fieldwork in the Red Basin of West China" and Fei Xiaotong's "Jiangcun Economy" were called the pioneers of Chinese.
Love Ding Luding Chain Bridge
In 1940, Isab met David Cruk, who would later become his lifelong companion.
Born in England in 1910, David Cruk entered Columbia University in 1931, joined the Communist Youth League of the United States in 1934, and returned to England in 1936 to join the Communist Party of Britain. In 1937 he joined the International Column and was wounded in the Spanish anti-fascist battle. While recuperating, he witnessed Bethune braving artillery fire to rescue the wounded. When the nurse said there wasn't enough blood, Bethune rolled up his sleeves and snapped, "Draw my blood!" It was during this period that he also read Snow's "Red Star Shines on China", especially the chapter on the Long March to capture the Luding Bridge, which he was deeply encouraged.
In 1938, David Kruk was sent to Shanghai by the Comintern, and in 1940 he went to the rear to teach at Jinling University in Huaxiba, Chengdu. Before leaving Shanghai, an American friend prophesied: "When you go to the mainland, you will either marry the daughter of a missionary or marry a Chinese woman." Kruk replied, "Then it must be Chinese." "Unexpectedly, the prophecy came true. Because here Kruk met is the love of his life, Isabe, who was both the daughter of a missionary and a "Chinese"—a man who had loved China all his life and had permanent residency in China.
Kruk fell in love with Isabe at first sight, and Kruk's experience in the Spanish International Column also made Isabe greatly admired.
In 1941, Kruk and Isabé went to see the Luding Chain Bridge depicted in "The Red Star Shines on China". Isab said in a reply: "We have agreed to meet at Luding Bridge on the afternoon of July 23, and if you can get there on time, I will accept your marriage proposal." Because of the different routes taken, on the agreed day, Isabe arrived first, and Kruk did not appear until dusk. When the two young men crossed the chain bridge and came to the end, Kruk shouted, "I will propose to you in front of the Dadu River." The two embraced each other warmly. Dadu River bears witness to the innocent and fiery love of two young people.
After the outbreak of World War II, Isabelle Cruk and David Cruk returned to England to join the army and join the anti-fascist war, and the two married in london in the war. Isabelle Kruk also joined the British Communist Party.
After the outbreak of World War II, Isabelle Kruk returned to England to fight in the anti-fascist war. (Taken in 1945)
Returned to China as a teacher
Because Isabelle joined the Canadian Women's Corps during World War II, after retiring from the army, she received a two-year grant to enter the London School of Economics and Political Science and begin her doctoral studies in social anthropology. At this time, Cruk was also retired from the RAF. They both have wonderful study plans. But at the end of 1947, Isabelle and her husband, Kruk, resolutely chose to return to China. Isab said: "It is where history is happening, and as an anthropologist, it is fortunate to be in the place where history is happening." ”
In 1947, the couple entered the Jinji-Hebei Luyu Liberated Area through Hong Kong, Shanghai and Tianjin, witnessed the entrepreneurship of the People's Daily, and witnessed the earth-shaking changes in China by land reform. After 18 months of work, they decided to serve Chinese people for the rest of their lives. They were invited by the Communist Party of China to participate in the establishment of the Central Foreign Affairs School to cultivate foreign language talents for the upcoming new China. The Central Foreign Affairs School is located in Nanhaishan Village, more than 30 miles from Shijiazhuang. The husband and wife worked day and night, writing their own textbooks without teaching materials and using sorghum stalks without pens. At that time, the pen tip was sent to the school through underground channels, and the pencil was also very valuable, and it was impossible to pinch the finger, and then rolled up the paper tube as a pen holder to continue to use. The two people pay great attention to combining English learning with life, and always kindly answer questions for students. In daily life, they are like local farmers, squatting at the head of the village or sitting on the big stone pier in the doorway, drinking shoddy stick noodles, wild vegetable porridge, living in low and simple farmhouses, and sleeping in the hard state of the earthen kang.
Mr. and Mrs. Kruk inspected the Jinji-Hebei Luyu Liberated Area. (Photographed in 1948)
Skip-the-line milk children attending the founding ceremony
On December 15, 1948, the teachers and students of the Central Foreign Affairs School were ordered to move north. Isabelle stayed in Shijiazhuang to rest because she was pregnant. After the school resumed classes in Liangxiang, it took a military truck to Beiping.
On February 3, 1949, Isabe and her colleagues climbed the Qianmen Arrow Tower and witnessed the People's Liberation Army's ceremony to enter the city. The masses shook hands with the PLA fighters and put signs on the car body, and the endless slogans on the car were pasted on the soldiers. The crowd welcomed them very warmly, some people sent water, some people sent dry food, and some people stuffed boiled eggs into the arms of PLA soldiers. Isabelle took the baby in her belly to witness this exciting grand entrance to the city.
On August 4, 1949, the eldest son was born, and the Kruks gave their son a nickname of the same name as Karl Marx, "Karl".
In late September, the couple was invited to attend the founding ceremony of the People's Republic of China in Tiananmen Square on October 1. But what about nursing children? You can't always carry a doll to the viewing platform. After discussion, they decided to let Isabe leave temporarily while watching the ceremony, cross East Chang'an Avenue, and go to Dongjiaomin Lane, the temporary station of the Central Foreign Affairs School, to feed the dolls.
On this day, the couple looked at the Tiananmen Tower and heard Chairman Mao solemnly announce the establishment of the Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China! In the process of watching the ceremony, in the gap of the parade, Isabe trotted all the way through Chang'an Avenue to Dongjiaomin Lane to feed the children.
With a lovely child in her arms, Isabelle was immersed in happiness and excitement.
Take a foreign language class with a pony
The need for foreign affairs talents in the nascent republic was even more urgent. The Central Foreign Affairs School was renamed as the Foreign Chinese School. At that time, there were no desks in the school, and the students had a small matza and their knees were all desks. In life, teachers and students are the same, sleeping on hard board beds, wearing cloth military uniforms, and implementing the supply system. Every time the bell rings, Mr. and Mrs. Kruk carry a small maza and carry a yellow grass paper with a lesson outline written on it to teach their classmates. He also likes to take students on field trips to factories, rural areas, scenic spots, historical sites, etc., combining language learning with social practice. Isabelle and Kruk trained a large number of foreign language talents for New China, and also participated in the compilation of the first set of university English textbooks in New China, compiling the Chinese-English Dictionary.
The couple worked outside the North for half a century. (Photo taken in 1994)
In the 1980s, after retiring, Mr. and Mrs. Kruk went deep into Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia and other places to give voluntary lectures, did not live in hotels, did not want any remuneration, and did not want a car to pick up.
At the same time, Isabe published anthropological monographs such as "Shilidian (I)--The Revolution of a Village in China", "Shilidian (II)--The Mass Movement of a Village in China", and "Xinglongchang: An Investigation of peasant life in Sichuan during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1940-1942)", conveying The Voice of China to the world.
For more than 10 years before and after the age of 100, Isabelle has been actively promoting the friendship between China and Canada.
Isab said she thanked her parents for giving birth to themselves in China. "I am fortunate to witness the great era, the historical process of the Chinese revolution from difficulty to victory, and the rapid development and changes since the founding of New China."
Tan Kai interviews Isabelle
Writer Tan Kai
Born in 1943 in Chengdu, Sichuan, he was the editor-in-chief of Science Fiction World Magazine. He is the author of "Let Lanhui Tell the World", "I Am a Giant Panda", "Maple Fall Huaxi Dam" and so on. Among them, "Let Lanhui Tell the World" won the 13th "Five One Project" Book Award of the Central Propaganda Department's Spiritual Civilization Construction, and "Fengluo Huaxi Dam" was selected as a project funded by the National Publishing Fund in 2017. "Maple Fall Huaxi Dam" tells the story of a group of Canadian medical elites who went to China more than a hundred years ago, and together with the United States and Britain, they founded west China Union University.
The latest work, "I Love China with My Life: The Story of Isabe Kruk," was created over a three-year interview.