Friends and students In Memory of James Tong

From CK 陈中健: Our beloved Professor James Tong  passed away peacefully this morning at 1:20am Saturday, October 3rd, 2020.  His wife, Marita , was with him.  He is now in heaven with our Lord.  We still continue our prayers and still hear his favorite song “One Day When We Were Young”

From King-Kok Cheung: When I was UCEAP director in China (2015-2017), I received a long distance call from James Tong out of the blue asking me to recommend 3-4 talented young teachers / students versed in ancient poetry who could learn Chinese palindrome from his then 95-years-old friend TSE Kwok Hong 谢国康, a poet as well as a scholar who knows how to set Tang poems in their original melodies. Subsequently, in August 2016 he invited LI Hanping, WU Shuang, XIE Cun to LA to learn from Mr. Tse; Ivy Liu Hao couldn’t join on account of a professional conflict. All four of them were deeply moved by James’s warmth, generosity, hospitality and remained in close touch with James since. James’s magnanimous act was motivated by both his literary passion to pass the baton from Mr. Tse to a younger generation and by his staunch friendship and loyalty to Mr. Tse. In preparation for his friend’s 99^th birthday in August, James undertook to publish 4 volumes of Mr. Tse’s poetry, with prefaces by the four Chinese scholars and himself. He had also planned to invite the four scholars to LA to celebrate Mr. Tse’s 99^th birthday, before the pandemic derailed his plan. On his birthday Mr. Tse was looking all over for James—even contacting Wu Shuang and Xie Cun in Beijing out of desperation. Little did the centenarian know that his devoted friend was lying unconscious at the UCLA ICU.

我还在做加州大学驻华中心主任的时候（2015-2017），有一天突然接到James的越洋电话，他请我推荐三四个有古典诗词才华的青年教师或者学生，去跟他95岁的忘年交谢国康学习回文诗。谢老先生是诗人，也是饱学宿儒，对诗词曲的音韵格律造诣颇深。

随后，在2016年8月，他邀请吴爽、解村、李汉平来到洛杉矶向谢老学诗，刘昊因为与工作时间冲突而未能成行。他们四人都被James的友善、慷慨和热诚深深感动，并自此与他保持着密切联络。James的仗义之举（他独立资助此行，花费甚巨）一方面缘于他的文学情怀，希望谢老的绝艺可以薪火相传，另一方面也缘于他与谢老的深挚友谊。为了准备这位忘年好友今年八月的99岁大寿，James着手出版四卷谢老的诗作，由四位才子才女和他本人作序。他还计划邀请他们四位来到洛杉矶为谢老祝寿，但无奈被疫情所阻。在寿辰当天，谢老四处打听缺席的James的消息——甚至联系到了身在北京的吴爽和解村。这位将满百岁的老人不知道，他的挚友当时正躺在UCLA的ICU里。虽然不省人事，但冥冥中一定没有缺席，就是阴阳相隔，他俩的情谊还是长长久久，至死不渝。

James总是鼓励学生“求真、择善、爱美好”，在或长或短的人生修行中交出A等答卷。他可曾知道，在我和很多学生心目中，他早已赢得A+。

张敬珏 恸怀

From Letian Wang: “Professor James Tong is a role model not only to his students but also to his colleagues. I have taken all the courses he offered at UCLA — they were the most difficult ones, which have given almost all students headaches. After he handed out the syllabus the first day of class, nearly a quarter of enrolled students would give up instantly, another quarter would leave in the coming weeks. However, for those who chose to stay, James’ care would change their lives forever, including mine. James’ thorough explanation of political events, incidents, and theories in class cannot be matched up by any other. I believe anyone who has taken his class can write down long testimonials, so instead I will focus on one exchange between James and I that shaped the direction toward my life goal. During one of the countless talks I had with James, he asked what my goal was, I told him “to make China a better place.” He started to tell the story of his mentor Michel Oksenberg, who orchestrated the normalization of Sino-U.S. relation, along with Jimmy Carter and Zbigniew Brzezinski. “You have to become somebody before you can make changes,” he said, “it is very hard to start from the bottom of the system and achieve what you want to achieve.” I asked what his goal was. “To live up to Oksenberg and 留低一本傳世之作 (to leave the world an enduring masterpiece),” he replied, “Oksenberg cared for his students in the most selfless way, and was still contributing to the academia in his last days.” I think James has lived up to what he looked up to, he lived a prosperous life that changed many. I will always remember him, my teacher, my mentor, my friend, my life coach.”

From 潘裕诚

驚聞噩耗 不勝唏嘘。两三年前 多承引介， 得識 汤教授 颇有一见如故之感。 其後又数次在 府上与 华强兄處 相遇 已选定多项有共识话题；盼再暢谈 不意今日天人永隔。

徙呼奈奈 亦天意之残酷不仁！唯 望 湯兄安息於天上 日後或能再续前缘！

裕诚 敬悼

From Hannah Nahm: I have come to know James through my adviser King-Kok Cheung (KKC). While I was not his student directly, his life and person have taught me the essence of what it means to live the good life. He was devoted to his work and research till this end, teaching me that a life worth living is where you remain passionate and true to your calling. As busy as he was and as crazy as he was about his scholarly calling, he still made quality time for his friends and students, feeding us good food–I’m talking about exquisite delicacies, the likes of Chinese lobster dishes and such–and always treating us with stimulating conversations. James also taught me about humility and strength in human frailty: He was learning Tai Chi with KKC, and due to his health issues, he was stiff and awkward. He was not good at Tai Chi. But he pressed on and persevered, making incremental progress everyday. He didn’t give up. James also taught me about about generosity: Despite his crazy love affair with his work and his equally crazy schedule, during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, James agreed to serve on my dissertation committee knowing full well how much of a time commitment this would be, given my propensity to write tomes and epics). James’ life has also taught me about the importance of not taking yourself too seriously and about the redemption of humor: He would sneak into his UCLA office everyday during the statewide Covid-19 lockdown, thereby becoming a trespasser in his own space. He has left us, but he still owes me a signature.

From Russell Leong: James Tong: Teacher/warrior/poet, colleague: may your spirit once again climb Lion Rock Hill, taking in the color of dawn on a clear, bright day.

From Qingling LI 李庆玲: 悼念访学导师James Tong教授

James Tong教授病逝的噩耗传来，我们感到震惊和悲痛。往事回忆，历历在目。

作为访问学者，我们于2018年5月30日来到加州大学洛杉矶分校，有幸跟随James Tong教授从事访学的研究。记得第一次到教授办公室见面，他哪深邃的眼睛给人一种智慧过人的感觉，我们坚信接下来的一年，一定能收获颇多。按中国的礼仪，本应该宴请老师的，不想James Tong个教授反而招待了我们。以后，随着接触的频繁，我们彼此的了解也更深了。他是一位实在、博学、敏捷、豁达、善为他人着想的学者，与教授接触，时时能感受其谈笑风生、纵横捭阖、逻辑缜密和犀利探寻的风采。他经常对我们谈起时事、文学、词牌、城市发展文化等前沿理论、发展进程。他认为，学者的使命应是精于理论，勤于实践，一生追求真理。在导师的指引下，我们要么在图上馆看书、要么去听课、听学术报告。一年的时间，很快就结束了，我们于2019年5月初结束了访学，回到自己的教学岗位。

2020年1月13日，我们特意来洛杉矶，再次与导师相见，交谈甚欢。我们真没有想到，这次重聚，竟然成了我们和James Tong教授的最后一次见面。如今，斯人已逝，影响长存。

仅以此文，悼念我们内心十分敬重的James Tong教授。

I met James at Prof KK Cheung’s home last year.  I was captured by his sense of humor and interests in everything around him.  Talking to him was such joy and pleasure.  I felt his sincerity and passion for people around him.

I am looking forward to talking to him after the pandemic, and now I can only keep him in my thoughts.  James will be in my memory.

Deepest sorrow

From 谢国康:

From Dora Hsu M.D

I was fortunate to have met Professor James Tong two years ago at one of the sessions organized by Dr. King Kok Cheung. Professor Tong was a very benevolent person, very knowledgeable with intuition and insight of world events. At that time 2019 , Hong Kong was under great political turmoil. I liked to listen to his perspective on the events and learned a lot. We share a common background in that our earlier high school days were in Hongkong. There  was much to talk about especially the home cooking food, the common celebrated festivals, the barbecue/picnic spots in the outlying islands, and many more. Though my acquaintance with Professor Tong has been short, he will always be remembered. The indelible mark he leaves attests to the fact  that he is someone worthy of praise and respect which go far beyond. Professor James Tong you will be sorely missed, may your soul rest in peace.

Submitted respectfully