Historical Record of Chinese Americans | Chinese American Figure: Life Story of Mose Chu

Author: William Tang

Translator: Joyce Zhao

At the beginning of the 1990’s, I had the honor of meeting the revered literary figure Qu Zhengmin, who became my invaluable mentor and helpful friend in the next twenty years.

At the time, Qu had just moved to Phoenix, Arizona from Pennsylvania. He was already advanced in age, but had a graceful demeanor; his temples were lined with white frost, yet his back was strong and his voice resonant. The day I met him, he was walking with his new partner, their silhouettes in companionship as a couple. Qu dedicated his life to nonstop self-improvement, and his life experiences were incredibly diverse. A multi-faceted man like him reaped success by just a show of his skills — a rare talent to be sure.

Qu Zhengmin was born in Huang County (now known as Longkou), Shandong Province, China on October 10, 1915. He grew up in Yantai, where he completed elementary, middle, high, and business trade school. His grandfather, a devout Christian, was in Yantai even during the Boxer Rebellion, before the Eight-Power Alliance entered Beijing in 1900. Those of his father’s generation were all educated through churches. His father was the eldest son, the first to enter a church school, and after graduation, he became a science and mathematics instructor at Baoding Military Academy.

Qu Zhengmin was baptized at age 16, stepped out into society at age 21, and officially retired in 1977, busily working for sixty years. His curriculum vitae states, “Because I keep Christ’s lessons of love and Confucius’ philosophy of loyalty in my heart, I’ve always held myself to strict standards. In my life, I’ve never smoked, touched alcohol, entered a dance hall, or stepped into a casino, and I’ve never known the night life. Ever since I came to America in 1973, I’ve never entered a theater, drunken soda, or eaten fast food (except for on group tours). I have reached the age of 90 today, yet I can take care of myself, am able to drive, and thanks to God’s mercy, I’ve yet to encounter a serious illness”.

In 1935, Qu started working at a Texaco Kerosene Company in Qingdao. In 1937, the war between China and Japan began, and he quit to return to Yantai, where he worked in international trade for a year. In 1939, he joined efforts with two other classmates, and with the support of twelve investors, they founded the Lixin Dyeing and Weaving Factory based in Qingdao’s Dongzhen region. In 1945 the Japanese were defeated, and Qu entered the Qingdao city government as a temporary worker, supporting the landing of American troops accepting the surrender of Japanese troops. Six months later, the mission was completed, so he started working at the Railroad Bureau instead, working in the business department for approximately a year and a half. In 1947, he joined Yizhong Co., Ltd. as a supervisor of the Qingdao branch. In 1948, he was assigned to Taipei, where he opened an office, and the next year he was reassigned to Hong Kong. In 1949, he joined the Hong Kong branch company of the Tianjin Five Oceans Trade Company. In 1951, he started conducting commerce with Qingdao himself, continuing even through 1952, where the movements against the “three devils” and the “five devils” were occurring in China. In 1953, his self-employed business ended.

In the same year, Qu went to Mauritius in Africa to create a trading base with the support of six Hong Kong companies. The next year, he moved forward to Tanganyika, Kenya, Uganda, and Zanzibar to open the market for each company, travelling back and forth between the countries for approximately two years.

In 1957, through the support of a local financial group, he created Northern Africa’s first weaving factory based in the then capital of Tanganyika, Dar-es-Salaam — the country’s biggest port. In 1964, Tanganyika merged with Zanzibar, changing its name to Tanzania.

In 1959, Qu received the support of another financial group to create Tanganyika Textile Industries Ltd., the first dyeing and weaving factory in Tanganyika, which held 450 workers.

In 1961, Maruki Textiles Company from Aichi-ken, Japan, pooled together resources with the funds from Tanganyika Textile’s shareholders, allowing for Qu and Maruki Textiles to create a carpet factory together. In the end, Maruki Textiles sent its management and experts to manage the factory.

In 1973, forced by Tanganyika’s governmental politics and economic outlook, Qu decided to leave. At that time, his three children had already completed their college education in America.

A year before, Qu had rented a farm in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and agreed to tend to it together with a farmer from Tanganyika, Mr. Cao. The applications for their permits to enter America were submitted to an U.S. Embassy in Tanganyika’s capital, and they were approved two months later. In March of 1973, they came to Philadelphia, then continued to the farm. They started tilling the soil in May, and Qu was 58 years old.

Their farm produced corn and potatoes, and it raised cows and pigs. Even after three years of hard work, struggles, and labor, there was no success or profit. One reason was the farm’s high rent, but more importantly, the farm’s grounds contained hills. Local farmers mostly tilled the grounds themselves; not only were their terrain flat, the area was also large, as a family owned 128 acres on average. Qu and Cao rented 108 acres, and excluding forests, streams, and swamps, soil that could be tilled measured around 88 acres. They felt that survival was hard, so after their lease expired, they decided not to renew it and find some other livelihood.

Cao found work with the maintenance of tractors and other such farming equipment. Qu tried his hand at the sales of exporting local industrial products, such as transmission belts, underground water pumps, pots and stoves, etc. towards Taiwan, Vietnam, and Northern Africa.

Two years later, due to the pitiful amount of orders he received, Qu then changed his career to the selection and mass sales of soybeans. He would choose soybeans with high protein content and high rates of germination with strong buds from Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. He would then supply tofu factories and bean sprout merchants from all over Eastern America.

In 1990, Qu was 75 years old, and his first wife Wang Yide suddenly passed away due to a cerebral hemorrhage. Due to grief, he fell ill for six months. Luckily, he had relatives — a husband and wife —  in Philadelphia who helped him during the weekends.

In 1991, Qu moved to Tempe, a suburb to the southeast of Phoenix, Arizona. He would dedicate the majority of his employment to working odd jobs with the couple that took care of him. With him as the leader, he earned himself half the salary. In the end, because of competition, the business ended in 1997.

In September of 1991, Qu married once again to Ms. Xu Yuwei, who was only a year younger and from Changzhou, Jiangsu, China. She had taught physical education in six different Chinese cities.

Everytime Qu mentioned his first partner Wang Yide, he showered her with praises. Wang Yide was born in Peking in 1918, but was educated in Shanghai, and she was a teacher in an all-girls middle school in Yantai. They were introduced by a mutual. After four years of dating, in 1942 they were happily married, and Wang Yide went to Qingdao. They were married for 48 years, and she gave birth to three children named Yongyi, Yonghe, and Yonglian. During this time, Wang Yide took care of the children and parents in Qu’s stead while he went off to Qingdao, Taipei, and Hong Kong without any complaints. Qu deeply regretted that because of certain changes of the generation, he was separated from his family four times for up to five years. His success in the forefront all relied on his wife’s support from behind. During the time they were in Pennsylvania, Wang Yide answered the phone, undertook secretary duties and accountant duties — she was Qu’s most capable supporter. She also opened a gift shop that specialized in African crafts. Business roared, and the profits were used to help patch family needs.

Qu Zhengmin found happiness in helping others, as he had a warm heart for the public good, and he gave generous donations to overseas Chinese groups, as many know. He also gave donations to the Tzu Chi Foundation, Chinese music groups, Chinese schools, etc.

As everyone knows, Qu was a devout Christian, but he also accepted other beliefs. He praised Tzu Chi workers, and he told me that Buddhism never started a war in history. He had also visited a mosque in Phoenix, where an imam had hugged him, calling him, “My Christian brother!”.

Qu Zhengmin was well read, had a wide range of knowledge, was bilingual in Chinese and English, and in his free time never stopped his pen, writing extensively. He examined the accuracy of history — his examination with just the right rigor, his lines clear and elegant. He wrote two books: “China Born” and “A Song of Salvation at Weihsien Prison Camp”.

He self-compiled “Collected Works of Qu Zhengmin”, which showcased fifty articles of his work. Titles that have to do with history include “Finding the Source of Peach Blossoms in North America”, “Who First Came to the Americas and Australia”, “Before the Nanjing Massacre”, “The Battle of Gettysburg in the Civil War”, “Britain’s First Envoy to Qianlong”, etc. Titles about notable persons include “Xu Fu and Emperor Jimmu”, “King Henry VIII”, “The Legend of Hunter Corbett, D.D. LL.D”, “The U.S. Lieutenant Hays Who Was Born In China and Family”, “Comic Artists Feng Zikai and Ye Qianyu”, “The Surrender of General Sun Lianzhong in the Hall of Supreme Harmony”, etc. Titles about music include “Five Purchases of the Violin”, “An Introduction to Western Musicals”, etc. Titles about collections include “Coins of the Mongolian Empire and the Yuan Dynasty”, “Money Collector Discuss Qing Dynasty Currency”, “Old Stories of Stamp-Collecting”, etc. Titles about food and diet include “The Choice of Non-Staple Foods”, “Soybeans and Life”, and “Pneumonia and Papaya”, etc. Finally, titles about health include “Early Symptoms of Diabetes: High Blood Sugar”, “Predicting Heart Health”, “Cholesterol and Daily Foods”, etc.

On March 4th, 2010, Qu Zhengmin suddenly passed away at age 95. After a long time of exposure to Confucianism, his philosophy aligned with benevolence, righteousness, courtesy, wisdom and trust. A man of righteousness, we wish his warm heart peace.