Nick Cherniavsky Memoir - University of Illinois Springfield

Nick Uerniavsky 88
Another detail that canes to my mind is that before got married, I
transported all of my belongings and all of ny wife-to-be's belongings on
that bicycle frm our respective hrrmes to the apartment which FLR =re
renting. That ws also a trip of same Eiw or six miles and I had to make
a nuaber of trips that way which is an indication of h lnodes of
transportation that e had to we in Tsingtao durhg the war. Hardly
anybod had autaaobiles. The only person in the Ehsssian camallnity that I
hew &t had a car wrs a fellow who hos md&g his living as a jockey at
the race track. We ms the son of a mrchant tlho in the last days of the
Russian civil wr-in the Vladivostock area--- the top civil officer of
that Russian Rite goverrnrrent for that region.
END OF s1m ONE
A: J3is father, following his deparmre frm Russia, and following the
collapse of the Russian W te armies there, becam chief political advisor
to one of those war lords in Shantung. This Fnklr lord, prior to that, tas
his cook in Russia. So after he cam back to his native China and assed
carmand of military and civil camand as military gwemor and cammder
in chief of the Shantung province army and laming that his fomr employer
was now in China, he appointed him chief politial advisor. He also azrployed
a ruanber of fowr Russian military people, officers and enlisted men in
his amy. And this particular episode is covered in a number of books on
that era of Chinese history.
Anymy, the son of this person was tihe only one dm had a car that he used
in Tsingtao. And, as a matter of fact, it ww his car ddch ms wed for
getting me and my wife to the ckrurch on the day of our tr~dding. k of
ourfx~pi~usup]Lnthatcaranddroveustso~cl.rurch.
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All other transportation in Tsingtao iq those days c e almst to a standstill
because of lack of gasoline. All city kxses, for instance, =re being
operated an the gas xhich was produced by coal firing paraphernalia hich
installed in each bus in the back and had to be stoked every so often
by the driver. He mld stop the h18 and of cwrae the dmle thing resulted
in a trenrendaus loss of powr for the engine. So having to traverse
through all the hills and grades in the city of Tsingtao, those bses
were actually making very slaw and very painful progress. @ite frequently
tk passengers d d be asked to get off the b and walk dang side it as
the hts wild be very slowly and torturously coming up to the top of the
grade. kerybody d d be Mted to ccane back on board again and the hs
d d go on its my.
Q: Umt =re they using for fuel? Charcoal?
A: Charcoal, right.
Q: Do you suppose this is one of the reasons the Japanese
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brought so m y
horses with them?
A: bu're recalling my mntion of the profusion of Japanese horses in
Sha@mi in 1932 and 1937 when they ere stabled. That in Shanghai.
'Ihat ms a long time before that and no, that wasn't the reason. They had
Nick Cherniavsky Memoir, vol. 2 - Archives/Special Collections - Norris L Brookens Library - University of Illinois at Springfield - UIS