VZCZCXRO1526
RR RUEHCN RUEHVC
DE RUEHGH #0530/01 3440446
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 090446Z DEC 08
FM AMCONSUL SHANGHAI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7399
RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE
INFO RUEHGH/AMCONSUL SHANGHAI 8004

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 SHANGHAI 000530 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV KPAO CH
SUBJECT: FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO CHINA JOHN LEIGHTON STUART LAID TO 
REST IN HANGZHOU 
 
SHANGHAI 00000530  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
Summary 
------- 
 
¶1. (U) Nearly 60 years after departing his post, the last U.S. 
Ambassador to serve in pre-PRC Mainland China was laid to rest 
in a cemetery near Hangzhou, in eastern China's Zhejiang 
Province.  The interment of the remains of former Ambassador Dr. 
John Leighton Stuart on November 17 completed a journey that 
began almost a century and a half earlier in the same city.  At 
the interment ceremony, U.S. Maj. Gen. (Ret.) John Fugh, the 
person entrusted with fulfilling Ambassador Stuart's wish to be 
buried in China, spoke of Ambassador Stuart's vision for 
bilateral relations based on mutual understanding and respect. 
Ambassador Randt acknowledged that vision and noted Ambassador 
Stuart's legacy of educational exchange.  The event received 
widespread positive press coverage and interest.  End Summary. 
 
Interment Ceremony 
------------------ 
 
¶2. (U) In a small, dignified ceremony, the ashes of former U.S. 
Ambassador to the Republic of China John Leighton Stuart were 
interred November 17 in a picturesque cemetery surrounded by the 
graceful hills of Hangzhou.  Ambassador Stuart was born in 
Hangzhou in 1876 and died in the United States in 1962; he was 
formally the U.S. Ambassador to China from 1946 to 1952, 
although he left China in 1949 shortly after Communist forces 
entered the then-capital city, Nanjing, and before the October 1 
proclamation of the founding of the People's Republic of China. 
The event honoring the late Ambassador Stuart was attended by 
Ambassador Randt, the Consul General, Hangzhou Vice Mayor Tong 
Guili, several Zhejiang Foreign Affairs Office officials, and 
Maj. Gen. (Ret.) John Fugh and his wife.  In addition, a handful 
of elderly alumni from Yenching University, the institution that 
Ambassador Stuart helped found and that later became Beijing 
University, were present. 
 
¶3. (U) The ceremony began with Gen. Fugh's remarks about 
Ambassador Stuart's life, followed by remarks by Ambassador 
Randt and Vice Mayor Tong.  At the conclusion of the ceremony, 
attendees laid flowers and bowed to honor the man who had 
devoted the lion's share of his life to service in China. 
(Note:  As the ceremony began, a CD player, tucked in the nearby 
bushes, played "Amazing Grace" and "The Star-Spangled Banner." 
One of the gray-haired Yenching alumni, who started his studies 
in 1949, later confessed that the alumni had decided to play the 
music without asking permission.) 
 
Gen. Fugh Outlines a Lifetime of Service 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶4. (U) Maj. Gen. (Ret.) John Fugh, whose father was a close aide 
of Ambassador Stuart, was the first to pay respects.  He told of 
the promise his father made to Ambassador Stuart before his 
death to fulfill Ambassador Stuart's wish to be buried in China. 
 Although his father, Philip Fugh, attempted to fulfill this 
wish, he was not able to do so in his lifetime.  Now, nearly 
half a century later, Fugh said, this promise was fulfilled: 
"Dr. Stuart and my father can now rest in peace."  Gen. Fugh 
acknowledged and thanked the Zhejiang Foreign Affairs Office; 
Mr. Hu, Director of the Hangzhou John Leighton Stuart museum; as 
well as Ambassador Randt and the U.S. Department of State for 
making the event possible. 
 
¶5. (U) Outlining the life of the late Ambassador, Gen. Fugh 
noted that Ambassador Stuart was born to American missionary 
parents in Hangzhou and in some respects considered himself 
Chinese.  He dedicated his entire life to education in China and 
organized a number of small missionary colleges into Yenching 
University, which later became Beijing University.  In 1919, he 
became its president, and he remained the University's until 
President Truman appointed him Ambassador to China in 1946. 
Ambassador Stuart departed China in 1949, before the Communists 
announced the founding of the People's Republic of China on 
October 1 in Beijing.  (Note:  Then PRC leader Mao Zedong's 
denunciation of Ambassador Stuart as a symbol of failed American 
imperialism was later made part of the standard reading 
curriculum in schools throughout the PRC.)  Fugh's parents cared 
for Ambassador Stuart until his death in 1962. 
 
¶6. (U) Gen. Fugh highlighted how dramatically U.S.-China 
relations have changed over the past half century, noting their 
depth and complexity.  He said that the fact that "we are able 
to grant the last wishes of an American who dearly loved China 
is a testament to enduring faith and cooperation between peoples 
and countries."  Fugh called upon both Chinese and Americans to 
"live up to Ambassador Stuart's vision for what bilateral 
relations can be."  He closed with a Chinese proverb, "qiu tong 
cun yi," urging both sides to "seek common ground while 
respecting differences." 
 
Ambassador Highlights John Leighton Stuart's Legacy 
 
SHANGHAI 00000530  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
 
¶7. (U) Following Fugh's remarks, Ambassador Randt highlighted 
John Leighton Stuart's legacy, saying Stuart used his ties in 
America to establish educational exchanges between Yenching, 
Harvard and other American universities.  The United States and 
China both host thousands of exchange students each year, with 
tens of thousands of Chinese students in the United States 
currently.  The Ambassador attributed these achievements to the 
early efforts of people like Ambassador Stuart.  In addition, 
the Ambassador said that educational exchange is one of the 
primary foundations of a positive relationship, and Ambassador 
Stuart's return underscores the historic, close relations 
between the United States and China.  Ambassador Stuart would 
have been pleased by the two countries' current relations, the 
Ambassador added. 
 
Hangzhou Vice Mayor: "Hangzhou is Stuart's Second Hometown" 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
 
¶8. (U) Vice Mayor Tong Guili spoke of Ambassador Stuart's 
childhood in Hangzhou, saying he was remembered as a child who 
spoke the local dialect and played with his peers in the 
neighborhood.  Since he often returned to Hangzhou during his 
many years in China, it is "a safe assumption that Hangzhou is 
John Leighton Stuart's second hometown."  Because of his 
Hangzhou background, Stuart's life became "inextricably 
intertwined with China."  The Vice Mayor praised Ambassador 
Stuart for his lifelong affection for Chinese culture and for 
"dedication to the cause of Sino-American cultural exchange." 
She noted his "role in advancing China's modern education" and 
"people-to-people exchange," to which history has "already done 
justice."  The Vice Mayor closed by saying that it is comforting 
to know that "Sino-American economic cultural and educational 
exchanges are continuing to increase." 
 
Positive Press Coverage 
----------------------- 
 
¶9. (U) Following the ceremony, the Ambassador and Maj. Gen. 
(Ret.) Fugh participated in a small press pull-aside as several 
members of the local press and an AP reporter asked questions 
about the event's background.  Both AP and the New York Times 
subsequently ran articles about the historic significance of the 
event.  In local coverage, both the Qianjiang Evening News 
(Party-owned, circulation: 700,000) and the provincial-level 
Zhejiang Daily carried the news about the ceremony.  The 
Zhejiang Daily carried the story on its front page.  Qianjiang 
Evening News used its entire local news page to print an article 
entitled "The Soul of John Leighton Stuart Returns to Homeland." 
 The Qianjiang Evening News article has been reposted at more 
than 133 Chinese-language sites on the Internet.  Showing 
further interest in the significance of this event in U.S.-China 
relations, Southern Metropolis Weekly in Guangzhou approached 
the Consulate with a request to interview the CG and Gen. Fugh 
to learn more about how the interment ceremony came about.  The 
Consulate declined, but the interest of press and media 
elsewhere in China is evidence that Chinese media recognize the 
importance of the quiet "rehabilitation" of Ambassador Stuart. 
 
"A Journey Home" Courtesy of the Diplomatic Courier Service 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
 
¶10. (U) Ambassador Stuart's homecoming would not have been 
possible without the crucial contribution of the State 
Department's Diplomatic Courier Service.  When Gen. Fugh finally 
received Chinese permission to bring Ambassador Stuart's ashes 
to China, he struggled with finding a way to ship the ashes via 
commercial delivery services.  As the ashes were in a sealed 
metal urn, commercial delivery services were unwilling to accept 
the delivery order.  Fugh subsequently contacted the Department, 
obtaining approval from the Under Secretary for Management 
Affairs to use the Diplomatic Courier Service.  Couriers 
transported Ambassador Stuart's ashes from the Springfield, 
Virginia Logistics Operation Center via New York and Seoul to 
Shanghai, arriving on October 20.  Ambassador Stuart's ashes 
remained at the Consulate until Fugh arrived in Shanghai and 
traveled to Hangzhou with the CG on November 16. 
CAMP