More than 45 years ago, Tess Johnston left the security of her life in Virginia, United States, to become an American diplomat abroad. She spent seven years in Germany (both East and West), then returned home to finish her Master's degree and teach at the University of Virginia.
In 1967, Tess then took up an opportunity to serve USAID in Vietnam for seven years during the war. It was this experience that inspired her to rejoin the Foreign Service, which proceeded to take her to India, Paris and lastly Shanghai in 1981, where she has lived ever since.
Retiring from the Foreign Service in 1996, Tess has stayed on in China to become an author, researcher, lecturer, architecture buff and an expert on the Western presence in old China. She consults to local media, visiting scholars and former residents seeking to trace their family history in Shanghai.
Expat Women's Interview With Tess
Expat Women:Tess, you are one of the most experienced expat women we have ever met, with 45 years abroad to your credit. What do you remember of your days in the American Foreign Service? As a Western female posted to (East and West) Germany, Vietnam and then China, did you ever feel intimidated or threatened?
Tess:When I started writing my memoir of a peripatetic life (Permanently Temporary: From Berlin to Shanghai in Half a Century), a lot of details popped up that I had long ago forgotten. Regarding feeling intimidated or threatened, I am such a wimp that I try not to put myself in situations where I will be either. I grew up in the early 1930s in the male-dominated South in the USA, one of the last bastions of the patriarchal system. I never thought to break down any barriers, and indeed did not even regard them as such. I just lived my little life happily in a safe and rather cloistered world until I joined the Foreign Service in 1954, and then I moved into a wider world.But even there, I never felt intimidated or threatened. I was a very small cog in the big wheel, I never had much ambition, and was just lucky to stumble into a career that perfectly suited my personality, one that offered a life of spasmodic adventure and excitement without any responsibility whatsoever for the outcome. A great combination!
Expat Women: What spurred you to stay on in Shanghai once you had retired from the Foreign Service?
Tess:When I retired (mandatorily - or I would still be working) in 1996, I and my co-author/photographer already had three books under our belt, and maybe ten more book ideas in our heads, so why stop? But to do them with him I needed to be in China as that is their subject matter (specifically, Western architecture in old China). I loved Shanghai and the Chinese people, no longer had strong ties to the USA - where I had not lived for over three decades - so why not stay here and continue to write books? And so I did.
Expat Women: To date, you have published 25 books predominately focusing on the western presence in old Shanghai. What was your impetus to begin writing and what prompted you to write on this particular subject?
Tess: When I first saw Shanghai in 1981, it was a city preserved in amber. Nothing had been torn down and nothing had been built. It was only after 1992 with China's "reform and opening up" that progress destroyed what economic stagnation had spared. But I was amazed to see that no one, neither Chinese nor foreigner, had written anything about the city's wonderful Western architecture that, shabby and neglected, still added a Western grace and charm to a grim grey cityscape. So I stepped into the void and started trying to find out who built the buildings and for whom. It was not easy, as nothing had been written about them since the founding of the PRC in 1949, but by collecting old books in English I gradually assembled a great library - the joy of researchers to this day. When I finally found a photographer in 1991, I was on my way and our first book followed shortly.
Expat Women: You are obviously passionate about the preservation of historical buildings as part of China's history. This cannot be easy in a rapidly developing country which sometimes seems more focused on the future than preserving the past. What words of advice can you share with others who may be up against cultural odds when trying to achieve something they strongly believe in?
Tess:
You nailed it exactly! We foreigners - or at least some of us - look to the past, treasure Shanghai's fine old buildings as mementos of the past, whereas the Chinese look to the future. Here they love the glittering, ever-loftier, high-rises, while we find the magnificent old buildings a delight and the apogee of architectural splendour. Regarding your last question, I try to remember China's motto (as concocted by foreigners): "Everything is possible but nothing is easy". We are foreigners, guests here, and hence preservationists with no power to preserve. We can only hope to try and educate the Chinese on the value of the old.
Expat Women: You have been living abroad for longer than you have lived in your home town of Virginia, USA. What has your lengthy period abroad done for your cultural identity? Do you plan to repatriate to the United States at some point?
Tess: I am first, last, and always an American and no matter where I live, I will always remain one. I plan someday to return to the USA, perhaps sooner, perhaps later.Thanks to modern media I can watch CNN, I read the International Herald Tribune and the New York Times book reviews, I Google, I constantly correspond by email with my American friends, and - this is critical - I go home to the USA for a month each Fall especially to watch the pro football games. Now you cannot get any more American than that!
Expat Women: As a seasoned expatriate, what words of wisdom can you share with our readers?
Tess: Do what you really love doing, and nine times out of ten there will be some expats and locals, somewhere, who will be drawn to it. Then give something back to the country in which you live: cuddle an orphan, teach English to those who cannot afford lessons, knit warm clothes for the dispossessed; there is always enough misery around to afford plenty of opportunities to help somewhere. And in both your own pursuits and in your charity ones, you will get to know a lot of people whom you would not otherwise ever get to meet. That is the pay-off - treasure it.
Expat Women: Tess, thank you very much for sharing your experiences and all the very best with your 26th book!
