Review: Tales of the `Two-Percenters’ Depict Armenian Community in China
Posted on March 30, 2012 by Editor
By Daphne Abeel
Special to the Mirror-Spectator
Although the subtitle is a bit of a misnomer, since this book is not
entirely about the Armenian community in China, the volume is,
nevertheless, in the main, a collection of stories and vignettes that
chronicles one of the more exotic communities of the Armenian
Diaspora.
Certainly, it is true that members of the Armenian community have been
flung far and wide – merchants and traders to India, immigrants to
Europe,
Canada and the United States – but the relatively small group of
people who chose to move to Harbin in northern China and later
Shanghai make up that unusual band of refugees the author calls the
`two-percenters.’
In his introduction, he defines them in the following way: `A
two-percenter is a person who leaves his home, his fortune and
sometimes even his country to create a better life during times of
trouble…. Even in times of war, famine and chaos, the vast majority of
any community will stay where they are and try to survive in familiar
surroundings. Not a two-percenter. The two-percenters will continue to
move on, even into the most exotic or difficult settings…. The
two-percenters in these stories gathered first in Harbin and then in
Shanghai. In each city they formed a population of two percenters.’
Amongst these two-percenters was a small
community of Armenians, who, fleeing the rav- ages of World War I and
persecution by the Ottoman Empire, found their way to China. It was
the Armenian Relief Society that set up the houses in Shanghai that
eventually became known as the Armenian Social Club. Its purpose was
twofold: first, it helped refugees get settled in their new
surroundings, but it then served as a meeting place for like-minded
people to gather and swap stories.
Shanghai, in the first three decades of the 20th century, was a
destination not only for especially adventurous Armenians, but also
for Jews, Iranians, the French and the English. The city was a heady
mix of businesses, hotels, restaurants and other institutions that
served this cosmopolitan community. Even today, visitors to
21st-century Shanghai can be treated to a glimpse of the fading, old
French quarter with its still-attractive, moderate-sized buildings (in
contrast to the mad skyscraper
building boom) and tree-lined streets. One of the main threads in
Sergoyan’s account is the story of his parents, George Sarkisian and
his wife. George was born in Baku in 1912, just two years before the
onset of World War I. His grandfather, wary of the international
upheavals and threat to the Armenian community, instructed his son,
Levon, to emigrate to China. In 1917, at the age of 5, George,
with his father, his mother and two siblings made the arduous journey
to Harbin in northern China, stopping for a short time in Irkutsk on
the way. Levon, unhappily gambled away the $30,000 his father had
given him and when they arrived in their new home, they were entirely
destitute. In the meantime, what remained of the family back in Baku
was massacred by the Turks and the Kurds. George would never see these
relatives again.
Unfazed, Levon scraped together enough money to open a small
restaurant in Harbin, but the family remained very poor and Leon
suffered from deep depression. Harbin was then a small village and
important mainly as a stop on the Chinese Eastern Railway, which was
an extension of the Trans-Siberian Railway.
Most of the inhabitants of Harbin were either Chinese or Russian, but
there were approximately 150 Armenian families living there as well.
There were also Americans, British and French and once the Russian
Revolution got underway, there was a heavy influx of White Russians
and others who opposed the Bolsheviks. By the 1930s, an identifiable
Jewish community had also formed, encompassing those fleeing from
Soviet anti-Semitism and also Hitler’s racist policies in Germany.
Sergoyan describes the Harbin of the first two decades of the 20th
century in the following manner: `In many ways, Harbin preceded
Shanghai as a haven for refugees who were moving from Europe and
Russia and quickly became more European in architecture and style than
any other Chinese city. Harbin neighborhoods were reminiscent of
European Russia, with wide tree-lined boulevards, European style
mansions and art decor.’ The residents of this international community
were apt to be fluent in many languages, including Russian, Chinese,
English and French. In 1927, when George was 15, he managed to pass
himself off as Jewish for a time and found a job in a barbershop.
Although his Armenian identity was finally exposed, the Jewish owner
had come to value him so much that he kept him on. In 1933, George’s
father died, and he moved with his mother and two sisters, first to
the city of Dairen, and finally in 1937 to Shanghai, where he lived
until 1949, the year of the Communist Revolution. It was in Shanghai
that he met his future wife, Nadia, and for some time he earned his
living in the immensely-popular casinos.
At the time, China was undergoing enormous upheavals. Occupied in part
by the Japanese, there arose a growing conflict between the Communists
and the Nationalists, led by Chang Kai Shek.
Although Sergoyan mentions them only in passing, there were a number
of Armenians who thrived even under Japanese occupation. There was
Mamikon Kardashian who owned a popular nightclub, Kavkas, that catered
first to Russians and Armenians in Shanghai, and after World War II to
American soldiers. And there was Yervand Hamamdjian, an import/export
businessman, who traveled to Egypt for artifacts and was the treasurer
of the Armenian Social Club. Finally, there was another Armenian,
nicknamed Shiska, who was a fixer and go-between for many financial
transactions.
Sergoyan includes interesting stories of other individuals such as
Rev. Assoghig Ghazarian, who came to Harbin to preside over the
Armeno-Gregorian Church. He came from Jerusalem and took over the
Harbin church in 1937 when he was 27. He would come to Shanghai
regularly to preside over servicesb
there and he and George became friends. Much later in life, he moved
to Los Angeles where he served as archbishop of the Armenian Apostolic
Church.
In 1940, George met Nadia Oganjanov, whose family was originally from
Kars. They were introduced through the Armenian Social Club and shared
an interest in amateur theatricals. They married, and when World War
II ended in 1945, George found work with the American military, who
hired him as an interpreter thanks to his mastery of many languages.
Eventually, after many vicissitudes and a stay in the Philippines, the
couple reached California where George was immediately able to get a
job with Montgomery Ward. They thrived in California where they made
investments in real estate, ran several businesses, bought several
homes and lived comfortably. They retired to Seattle in 1986.
In addition to tracing the story of this single couple, his parents,
Sergoyan has also included chapters of background history on events in
Europe, China and Russia.
As he says in his introduction, he has relied on friends and family
for the stories he tells in this book. One only wishes there had been
more detailed memories and documentation, particularly of the lives of
the Armenians in Harbin and Shanghai. The reader has to supply what is
missing and can only imagine the rich and complex lives these refugees
lived as they endured and survived through wars, civil wars and the
effort to establish themselves in a new country where the language and
customs were totally foreign. A handful of photographs enliven the
text.
The author holds degrees in aeronautical and mechanical engineering
and has worked in the aerospace industry for 40 years. For the past 20
years, Sergoyan has been a Boeing senior engineer in Seattle.
The book is available on Amazon.com and on Kindle after May 15.
Bookstores and libraries may order the book wholesale through Baker &
Taylor and Ingram.
From: Baghdasarian