1956

The China trip taken this fall by 26 classmates and wives was most remarkable and is reported by Doug Keare: "Having weathered the angst of the summer's serious floods along the Yangtze (which abated just ten days before our departure) and the Northwest pilots' strike (which was settled six days before we left), the majority of the group assembled in the Detroit airport...one day ahead of schedule, thanks to Northwest's apparent determination to stress us further... on the early afternoon of Sunday, Sept. 20, only to be strung out still farther by Northwest, and finally departing but minutes before the flight would have to have been canceled as it woild have arrived at Narita (Tokyo) airport too late to land (not to mention that this overnight at Narita was one "feature" Rog Schumacher and I had striven to avoid). From that point on, however, there was nary a hitch. We hooked up with the California fivesome at the Palace Hotel in Beijing, a splendid, world-class establishment, which immediately dispelled any fears (and there had been some) that we would be roughing it in China, and thence began a wonderful trip that, it is safe to say, exceeded everyone's expectations, be they ever so varied. Thirty-four strong (just the right number for the typical bus tour), we spent three days in Beijing and then proceeded to Xi'an; Chongqing; down the Yangtze for 31/2 days to Ao Wuhan; Shanghai; Guilin; Guanzhon (Canton); and Hong Kong." Buddy Schattman continues: "Fresh from the wonders of Xi'an, a morning flight took us to Chongqing at the confluence of the Jialing and Yangtze rivers. This city served as the headquarters of Chiang Kai-shek during much of WWII and was bombed relentlessly by the Japanese. Largely destroyed at that time but still retaining some of its ancient areas along the steep river cliffs, Chongqing is again an active port city with a population of 17 million. A bus took us to the People's Auditorium to watch a wonderfully athletic dance by visiting schoolgirls for World Travel Day '98. We also saw the WWII headquarters of General "Vinegar Joe" Stilwell and the Huajia Zhi Cun painters' village collective at Hualongqiao. After dinner at the Holiday Inn Yangtze Chongqing, we dodged "porters" trying to "relieve" us of our bags in the dark while clambering down the steep Yangtze embankment to board the PrincessSheena for our Yangtze River cruise." To be continued in the next issue unless I have some other class news to report.

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