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John Leighton Stuart's ashes go home to Hangzhou of China for burial
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A ceremony on Monday honored John Leighton Stuart,a missionary and educator whose ashes were laid to rest at a cemetery near the eastern city of Hangzhou, China.
HANGZHOU, China, Nov. 19 -- The remains of former U.S. Ambassador to China John Leighton Stuart have been interred in Hangzhou of China as he requested in his will 42 years ago, officials said.
Stuart died in Washington in 1962 after he left mainland of China. On Monday, after years of bilateral efforts, Stuart's ashes were laid to rest at a ceremony attended by officials from both countries near Hangzhou.
Stuart was the last U.S. ambassador to China until full diplomatic relations were restored in 1979.
Stuart for 45 years worked as a missionary and educator in Hangzhou, Beijing and Nanjing. Stuart was an educator long before his few years as a diplomat. In 1919 he founded Yenching University, whose campus is the site of Peking University. His legacy, Randt said, is in the almost 70,000 Chinese students studying in the United States today and in the thousands of American students at Chinese universities.
Stuart was a fluent Chinese speaker who, it was said, saw himself as more Chinese than American. "The Chinese knew of my love for their country, my concern for their welfare," he wrote, but "I failed them." In his will, he asked that his ashes be buried in China.
In 2006, Xi Jinping, who is now vice president, was visiting the United States as the head of Zhejiang Province, based in Stuart's hometown of Hangzhou. At a party in Washington, Xi met Major General John Fugh, who mentioned his personal quest to bury Stuart's ashes. Fugh's father had been Stuart's secretary in China, and Stuart lived with the family in the United States before he died. Fugh himself became the first Chinese-American to become a U.S. Army general.
Stuart had wanted his ashes buried in the cemetery in Beijing where his wife, who died in 1926, is interred, but a burial in China's political center seemed impossible. Perhaps, Fugh said, Stuart could go home to Hangzhou instead? "He made it happen," Fugh said of Xi's help. "He did a lot of work behind the scenes. We're very indebted to him."
Last year, the city of Hangzhou even turned Stuart's birthplace into a museum, an old house where his honorary citizenship, presented in 1946 before his political fortunes turned, is on display. "It's right to say that Hangzhou is Stuart's second home," said Hangzhou's vice mayor, Tong Guili. Chinese and American officials, including Ambassador Clark Randt Jr., stood in front of Stuart's grave in a Hangzhou cemetery Monday and spoke of history and change, almost 30 years after the normalization of U.S.-China diplomatic relations.
Stuart's ashes were interred beside a black marble slab with his name in both languages. The burial began with a surprising burst of music from a CD player hidden among the mourning bouquets of flowers. "Amazing Grace" and then "The Star-Spangled Banner." It ended with the officials and a small group of gray-haired students from the former Yenching University in Beijing, where Stuart had been president, bowing three times to his grave. Afterward, the former students gathered near the grave. Most never met Stuart before he left China, and most had forgotten whatever English they had learned. But they were proud to pay their respects to his memory.
Stuart died in Washington in 1962 after he left mainland of China. On Monday, after years of bilateral efforts, Stuart's ashes were laid to rest at a ceremony attended by officials from both countries near Hangzhou.
Stuart was the last U.S. ambassador to China until full diplomatic relations were restored in 1979.
Stuart for 45 years worked as a missionary and educator in Hangzhou, Beijing and Nanjing. Stuart was an educator long before his few years as a diplomat. In 1919 he founded Yenching University, whose campus is the site of Peking University. His legacy, Randt said, is in the almost 70,000 Chinese students studying in the United States today and in the thousands of American students at Chinese universities.
Stuart was a fluent Chinese speaker who, it was said, saw himself as more Chinese than American. "The Chinese knew of my love for their country, my concern for their welfare," he wrote, but "I failed them." In his will, he asked that his ashes be buried in China.
In 2006, Xi Jinping, who is now vice president, was visiting the United States as the head of Zhejiang Province, based in Stuart's hometown of Hangzhou. At a party in Washington, Xi met Major General John Fugh, who mentioned his personal quest to bury Stuart's ashes. Fugh's father had been Stuart's secretary in China, and Stuart lived with the family in the United States before he died. Fugh himself became the first Chinese-American to become a U.S. Army general.
Stuart had wanted his ashes buried in the cemetery in Beijing where his wife, who died in 1926, is interred, but a burial in China's political center seemed impossible. Perhaps, Fugh said, Stuart could go home to Hangzhou instead? "He made it happen," Fugh said of Xi's help. "He did a lot of work behind the scenes. We're very indebted to him."
Last year, the city of Hangzhou even turned Stuart's birthplace into a museum, an old house where his honorary citizenship, presented in 1946 before his political fortunes turned, is on display. "It's right to say that Hangzhou is Stuart's second home," said Hangzhou's vice mayor, Tong Guili. Chinese and American officials, including Ambassador Clark Randt Jr., stood in front of Stuart's grave in a Hangzhou cemetery Monday and spoke of history and change, almost 30 years after the normalization of U.S.-China diplomatic relations.
Stuart's ashes were interred beside a black marble slab with his name in both languages. The burial began with a surprising burst of music from a CD player hidden among the mourning bouquets of flowers. "Amazing Grace" and then "The Star-Spangled Banner." It ended with the officials and a small group of gray-haired students from the former Yenching University in Beijing, where Stuart had been president, bowing three times to his grave. Afterward, the former students gathered near the grave. Most never met Stuart before he left China, and most had forgotten whatever English they had learned. But they were proud to pay their respects to his memory.
