China Is My First Home

I’m home again,” said William Edward Willmott, becoming excited the moment he stepped off the plane onto the Chinese soil. The former President of the New Zealand-China Friendship Society and his family visited Beijing and Sichuan in April 2010 at the invitation of the CPAFFC.

Born in Chengdu, Sichuan Province in February 1932, Mr. Willmott lived in the province for 17 years until he left for Canada in 1948. He started to teach in the University of British Columbia, Canada in 1964. He moved to New Zealand in 1973 and remains emeritus professor of sociology of the University of Canterbury. He cherishes profound feelings for China, especially for Sichuan.

Mr. Willmott’s parents were Canadians. His father, Earl Willmott, a missionary who came to China in 1921 with his new wife to teach English literature at the West China Union University in Sichuan. There were three sons and a daughter of the marriage; the sons, Donald, Dick and Bill, were each given a Chinese name: 云达乐 (Yun Dale), 云达吉 (Yun Daji) and 云达忠 (Yun Dazhong). Earl Willmott sympathized with the Chinese revolution and, before liberation, often invited progressive students to his house where they could listen to radio broadcasts from the Communist base in Yan’an. He was called one of “The Three Bolsheviks” (the other two being Dryden Phelps from the US and William Sewell from the UK) in Chengdu by the Kuomintang Governor of Sichuan. Mr. Willmott recalled that Han Suyin, a noted British writer, warned his father not to go into the city alone at night or an “accident” might happen to him. In 1952, his father returned to Canada and took an active part in the activities of the Federation of Canada-China Friendship Associations. Mr. Willmott described his parents’ relationship with China, using the word “honeymoon” for the 31 years they spent there. At the photo exhibition “Memories of the Past―Old Photos of Chengdu from Canada” held by the Xinchang Township Government, Dayi County, Sichuan Province in May 2010, one could find traces of the Willmotts’ life in Sichuan.

“We’ve seen each other again, old friends.” This was the heartiest greeting Bill extended to Vice President Li Jianping, Lu Wanru and Wang Xiaobo from the CPAFFC and Shu Zhang, Vice President of China Society for People’s Friendship Studies when meeting them in Beijing. Vice President Li Jianping conveyed to Mr. Willmott regards from his old friend, CPAFFC Vice President Li Xiaolin, and highly praised his efforts in promoting Sino-New Zealand friendship. Mr. Willmott had visited China 22 times and always hoped to bring his family to visit his birthplace in order to ease “homesickness” and to help the younger generation understand China. Finally, his wish was fulfilled.

“I left home when a mere stripling, and returned in old age. My native accent remained unchanged, but my ear-lock had grown thin.” This poem by He Zhizhang appropriately described Mr. Willmott’s feelings of home-coming. Such special amicable sentiments can hardly be expressed in words. In Chengdu, despite the great changes and the new look of the city, Mr. Willmott could still remember the former names of each street and tell others the places where certain buildings used to stand even after 62 years. When passing by the West China University of Medical Sciences (former West China Union University) under Sichuan University, he immediately recognized that that was where he had been born and grew up. During the visit to the campus, he looked carefully at every corner―the building where he was born, the room where he took classes and the former office of the president of West China Union University, and told stories of his past. Mr. Willmott also visited Wu Fulin and Zhang Shaoying at their homes; both are retired professors of Sichuan University having been his childhood friends. Despite of his advanced age and travel fatigue, he took a car to Meishan City to see an old friend of his who lived in a home for the aged there. He was excited on the way to Meishan and could not help breaking out into song in Sichuan dialect now and then―a children’s ballad and some revolutionary songs he had learned as a youngster.

Mr. Willmott has witnessed the changes of Chinese society. He said with emotion that the nation had undergone tremendous changes―cities had become modernized, the environment become beautiful and living standards vastly improved, compared with the dire poverty in which people lived before liberation. He could hardly believe his eyes. He was proud of the changes of his home. During the visit, he often lingered at some old places, old streets and teahouses; the spicy Sichuan dishes, the familiar accent, all aroused beautiful memories. We could see how happy and grateful Mr. Willmott was from the tears of joy in his eyes when he met old friends.

Mr. Willmott is familiar with Chinese history and culture. He quoted the philosophical story from Zhuangzi: “You are not a fish; how do you know its joy?” to stress the importance of communication and understanding between all earthly creatures, let alone between peoples. He often says he will be happy if he can do something to increase mutual understanding between the people of China and New Zealand in his life. He has been doing it all along. Since he moved to New Zealand, he has been an enthusiastic member of the New Zealand-China Friendship Society, serving as president of the Society’s Christchurch Branch from 1978 to 1989 and national president from 1989 to 1994 and 1997 to 2002 respectively. He has done a great deal to promote exchanges and cooperation.

Rewi Alley exerted great influence on him. Mr. Willmott recalled that when he was six, his father invited Alley to tea in their house. The latter’s noble character made a strong impression, especially the Gung Ho cooperative movement initiated by Rewi Alley and others has become a persistent pursuit of his life. To inherit and carry forward Alley’s internationalist spirit, the New Zealand-China Friendship Society under his leadership time and again provided financial assistance to the Shandan Bailie School set up by Alley, sent volunteers to teach there and invited the teachers and students of the school to further their study in New Zealand, and raised money for Gung Ho projects. “I’m ready and will gladly do something for my first home,” said Mr. Willmott.

He led a delegation of New Zealand-China Friendship Society to China in 2008. Due to the strong earthquake in Sichuan, they could not visit the province as scheduled. He expressed profound sympathy to the people of Sichuan over the disaster and made donations to the quake-affected area together with other delegation members. After returning home, he took an active part in the Society’s fund-raising activities, helping raise money for the recovery and reconstruction of quake-hit Wenchuan. This time when he learned from the news that an earthquake hit Yushu of Qinghai Province, he expressed his deep grief and his admiration for the Chinese Government’s timely mobilization of human and material resources into relief efforts. He said the performance of governments at various levels in the earthquake relief showed that they had become more mature and people-centered. He believed that the people in the disaster area would surely overcome difficulties and rebuild their homes.

Mr. Willmott’s contribution to promoting the friendship between the people of China and New Zealand has won respect and recognition from the two peoples. In 2001, he was made a Companion of the NZ Order of Merit “For Services to NZ-China Relations” by the British Queen. He has also been conferred with the title of Friendship Ambassador by the CPAFFC. At the conferring ceremony, he said with feeling: “I have enjoyed so much of everything that I have done in relation to China. I did not think of it as work. I loved it all because I love China. I thank the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries for granting me this great honor. I shall cherish it all my life.”