Shortly after this, a group of British Commandos and Anny consultants asked if they could share the quarters at H.B.I. and have English meals with Charles. This was an interesting respite for Charles who loved to chat and play cards in the evening with these young men. There were few foreigners in town, and they would often try to get together to exchange talk, speculations and rumors. He was also delighted to receive cans of coffee and a few special canned meat treats. It had been four years of war now in China with the Japanese, and not much church work seemed to be accomplished. Charles decided to spend Christmas in America and so applied for his American visa. He had reservations to fly from Hong Kong on December 7, 1941. However, his U.S. visa did not arrive, and Pearl Harbor was bombed on the day he was to depart! Suddenly America was at war with Japan, and the door to America was closed. Again he escaped. In the spring of 1942, the Japanese made another attack on Changsha in an effort to complete their control of the railway between Beijing and Hong Kong. Charles knew he could not stay in Changsha any longer, because now he would become a prisoner. He closed down the Institute work and went to Chungking, the war time capital of China, and to his very good friend, Mr. Ernest Yin, the Finance Minister for the cotton and textile department in the Chinese wartime government. Mr. Yin was a dedicated Christian, a graduate of the Harvard Business School, and a supporter of the church and a Christian school called The Holy Light in Chungking now called Chunggqing. He had formerly been the treasurer of all Hunan and kept it in the black for over 5 years--unheard of before! Charles was fluent in the Chinese language and knowledgeable about matters of Chinese culture. Thus Mr. Yin put him to work teaching Bible in the Christian School and holding Bible studies for some high profile Chinese government people. Among them came General Chang Jih-chung whom he had befriended and supported during the Changsha fire. He became a confessing Christian. Mr. Yin frequently sent Charles at night~ by airplane behind the Japanese lines to buy large bales of cotton desperately needed for the manufacture of soldier's uniforms. Word was sent to the farmers that on a particular night a
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