Brigid Keogh—ALegend

In 1977,universities inChinalaunched the largest scale of enrollment after the Culture Revolution, and theEnglish Department of Peking University enrolledaround seventy to eighty students. Professor Zhou Shanfeng was appointed themajor teaching professor of these freshmen, and I was asked to teach them theextensive reading course, while at the same time act as their campus advisor. Forthe first time after the Cultural Revolution, our department began to advertisefor foreign teachers, and the only foreigner to apply for the job was namedBrigid Keogh (1909.9.9--2007.6.1). She was anAmerican of over 60 years of age, and held a Ph.D. degree of Americanliterature. At first, the leaders in our department hesitated to employ her dueto her advanced age. But having considered the situation of the large scaleenrollment and the lack of teachers, our department leaders accepted herapplication. She came before the Fall semester started and joined ProfessorZhou and me to teach American literature to the 77 grade. In the late 77s allforeign teachers/experts were housed in the Friendship Hotel and came to thecampus to teach daily in a car sent by the university. But Brigid delclined tostay in that hotel. Instead, she asked to be given a dormitory room on thecampus. We found a room for her on the second floor of Building No.25 near thesouth gate of our university. The room was furnished with a bed, simplebeddings, a table and some chairs. She specially asked for an electric plate, sothat she could cook her own breakfast of toasts and coffee. For lunch andsupper she ate in the faculty dining-hall. The only luxury she allowed herselfwas a cup of wine each evening, and she smoked rather heavily. Since then, acontact between Brigid and me began, and a friendship which lasted for about thirtyyears.

Brigid’sfamily lived in New England, and her fatherwas an Irish-American who was once a senator. She had several siblings, all doingwell inAmerica.She was a small and thin person, and wore a pair of thick glasses. We asked herto teach American literature and her course was well received among students. Whenteaching American short stories, she bought movies of the taught pieces andshowed them to students. When she taught poetry, students were required to writeessays related to the poems they learned. The English level of Grade 77 wasvery good, thus the contents of their essays were rich and colorful with brilliantideas and vivid imagination. Brigid always read each essay carefully, wrote commentson it, and later discussed the students』 strong and weak points in class. Shecouldn’t stop talking about excellent essays to me. Once she found two girlstudents cheating in the examination. She came to me and asked me whether sheshould talk to them. With my support she talked to them, and made them see it wasshameful to cheat. Soon students began to visit her in the evening to chat withher in English. Besides practicing oral English, she taught students how toplay cards as she was herself a good player of bridge. Students talked with herabout literature, aboutAmerica,or the western world and about themselves. Later, young teachers in ourdepartment got familiar with her, too. They not only often visited her; butalso consulted her about their love and marriage problems. In fact, one coupleof young teachers fell in love after meeting each other very often in Brigid’splace.

However,such a harmonious period of cooperation between Brigid and us did not lastlong. An English expert, employed the next year by our department to teach oralEnglish, astonished everyone with the information that Ms. Keogh was a Vatican spy and a senior nun. The story went like this:Brigid was sent to work in Tokyo immediatelyafter the Second World War and she established there the University of theSacred Heart in which Princess Michiko ofJapanwas enrolled and was later convertedto the Catholic Church. Consequently, many young girls, fans of the princess, followedher example and became Catholics. After such a story went around, the Security Departmentof Peking University cross-examined me on whether Ms. Keogh had preached religionon campus and collected national secrets from the students. I was certain thatI did not see any misconduct of her, and the only thing I said to the securityman was that she got along very well with the students because she lodged onthe campus, but I didn’t think our students had access to any national secrets.As a result, Peking University couldn’t doanything to her without evidence to prove her guilty. But the leaders wereworried, so they did not continue her contract to a second term. Therefore, shejust finished her teaching within the due period and leftChina. Later Icame to know that she was indeed a senior nun, called Mother Superior, and wassent byVaticanto Asia in charge of educational affairs, and that she didestablish the University of the Sacred Heart where she was given a lifelongresidence. Therefore, on leavingChinashe went back to Tokyo.

In 1981 I went to study at State Universityof New York (SUNY) at Albanyfor one year and a half, during which time Ms. Keogh visited me there when she tooka holiday home. She told me that she should still devote herself to education andwould go elsewhere if notChina.After that, I was not very clear about where she went, but she seemed to havegone to Latin America to teach for one year ina small country which was against the Catholic Church. Nor was I clear aboutwhen and how she got to Yan』an. In 1987 I went to the Universityof Chicago to study for a Ph.D. andreturned to Beijingafter my study was completed at the end of 1991. Shortly afterwards, Brigid contactedme when passing by Beijing, returning toJapanfrom Yan』an.I led her to Professor Sun Yili’s home to have dinner with Professor Li Funingand other teachers of Peking University. Everyone was gladfor the reunion. It was at this dinner party that I came to know how she cameto teach at Yan』an. In fact, she boldly got in contact with Madam, Anna ChenChennault, who was for Brigid actually a stranger. In response to Brigid’srequest, Madam Chen made an appointment with her, so she took a flight back to New York. According to her,she told Chen everything without hiding her identity or situation, and expressedher strong wish to go back and teach inChina. Madam Chen listened to her withpatience, and at last said, 「I can’t promise, but I』ll try.」 Consequently, she cameback toChina,and settled to teach at Yan』an University. The detailed goings-on, however,were unknown to me.

Whenshe was in Yan』an University, she dwelt in an apartment building for teachers,a housemaid was hired to cook and wash for her. She then collected a large donationof money inJapan, and withthis money had a new red building built for the School of Foreign Languages Yan』an University, which is now known as theKe』ar Building. She also installed with donated money a language lab in thebuilding for teaching. For many years since, she had taken up the teaching of elementarycourses such as reading and writing. After class, she would grade students』homework carefully. It was said that when she got ill and was put on a drip atschool infirmary, she was still correcting papers. During that period, she waselected as an outstanding foreign expert by the local authority and attended acommendation meeting in Beijing.She also obtained invitations from national leaders such as Li Peng and Li TieYing who were alumni of The Military and Political University of ResistanceAgainst Japan which was the predecessor of Yan』an University. She told me thatat a meeting for foreign experts, a representative of the Ford Motor Companyvigorously emphasized the importance of Ford cars toChina. On hearing that, Brigid wasso angry that she stood up to refute this American, pointing out that whatChinaneededmost then was education.

Brigid’ssight was never good, and she lost her sight forever around 1992 or 1993. Thenshe thought of me and asked me to continue her work in Yan』an. She said, 「LiuYi-qing, I cannot teach and help the University any more, could you take up mywork here and help the School of Foreign Languages of Yan』an University?」 Aforeigner, in order to promote the education ofChina, worked excessively andceaselessly till becoming blind. How can I, a native Chinese, refuse her request?That is how I began to get involved in the School of Foreign Languagesin Yan』an University, and it later turned out to be a marathon of about 20 years.In order to build up the teaching staff, Brigid had sent some young teachers tostudy inAmerica.However, due to a variety of reasons, it hadn’t worked as Brigid wished. AfterI took over the work, I enrolled the support of both the School of Foreign Languagesand Literatures and the Graduate School of Peking University to design and runtwo master-degree programs respectively of Linguistics and Literature especiallyfor Yan』an University. And in this way, I succeeded in solving the degree problemof teachers of the School of Foreign Languages of Yan』an University. The nextmove was to help School of Foreign Languages toacquire the status of running master-degree programs of linguistics andliterature. Professor Hu Jialuan, Dean of the Schoolof Foreign Laguages and Literatures ofPeking University lent his support and the School of Foreign Languagesin Yan』an University’s finally won the permission to set up the twopostgraduate programs. Thus, after about 20 years』 effort, I have fulfilled Brigid’sunfinished task.

But Brigid did not live to see today’s Schoolof Foreign Language of Yan』an University. She died at the age of98. Yan』an University sent an envoy to Tokyo to attend herfuneral. I asked the Yan』an University representative to present a wreath forme at the funeral. Later, the Sacred Heart Universitymailed me the photo of Brigid lying peacefully in the coffin and the photo of thewreath presented in my name. I learned from the Sacred Heart University of what Brigidsaid about her own life: 「I lived, and I had tried my best.」 In accordance withher last wish, the condolatory representative of Yan』an University brought a portionof her ashes back, which was now buried on the hill behind the campus, so thatshe could always look down at the campus to which she had given unreservedly herlove and painstaking efforts.

November 15, 2014. Beijing

(Trans：Zhou Qilin, Zhao Hao, GaoMengyan）