It was four years later when Helene received her doctorate degree at Oxford. Her thesis was “Excavations in Etruria.” She had become increasingly intrigued with the Etruscan civilization, which was a pre-Roman civilization. Realizing that little work had been done with respect to them, she ventured to Italy, and spent two years in excavations of the tombs that littered the countryside. Almost two thousand years old, there were grass-covered mounds, like small hills, littering central Italy, between the Tyrrhenian Sea in the west and the Apennines in the east. Within those mounds funeral sites were being excavated.
Some of the Etruscan settlements were at Tarquinii, Vulci, Caere, Veii, Rusellae, Vetulonia, Populonia, Clusium, Cortona, Perusia, Arretium and Faesulae. Working with Italian archaeologists, she uncovered various tombs in the mounds, retrieving the various artefacts left there at the funerals. There were the skeletons of the dead, plus ornaments like magnificent candelabra with human figures, and bronze mirrors with carvings on one side. But what intrigued her most were the tomb walls, where there were magnificent paintings showing the life of the Etruscans at that time. Many were of funeral games, and one tomb was named “Tomba delle Olympiadi.” Athletes were shown on the walls running, throwing the discus and javelin with a throwing device called an amentum, long jumping with halteres or hand weights, chariot racing, and so on. Many tombs were ruined through the seepage of water down the walls, but those that survived were magnificent in their colour and the social life they depicted. The Italians were very happy that she would write up a section of the work as her thesis, so her main concentration in the thesis was on these particular wall paintings and the possible Greek influence in Etruscan life.
These were all historic finds, something like those of Sir Arthur Evans in Crete when he discovered and named the Minoan civilization, and Helene was soon presenting papers on the Etruscans to archaeological conferences around the world.
Throughout all this Helene and Wei-min had corresponded, though his letters were infrequent. She began to realise, through his guarded correspondence, that the ideals of communism, and the practice of communism, were two entirely different things. Various newspaper and magazine articles that she read described the real picture: a massive brain-washing and regimentation of the population, purges of intellectuals and so-called enemies of the state, a lack of freedom of expression and a restriction of movement within and outside of China.
One of his letters was very sad.
Dear Helene,
A very tragic event occurred here yesterday. My wonderful grandmother, Lin-Shi-an, passed away. She was 80 years of age, and was ever an inspiration to those around her. She influenced the lives of so many, including myself.
We are all devastated here. I had a long talk to her a few days before she died. One of her hopes was to meet you and your parents before she left this earth. Unfortunately, that was not to occur.
She also told me her own love story. I did not know she was unmarried. I was always told that her husband was an Australian lieutenant who was killed during the Boxer Uprising. She hoped that one day I might meet his family in Australia. That now sounds like an impossible dream.
Will you please pass on this terrible news to your father? She loved him like she did her own son.
Your friend,
Wei-min.
She was desperate to see Wei-min once more, but it was now 1960, she was 30 years of age and Wei-min 36. She knew she had to do something dramatic, as it had become increasingly obvious that Wei-min could not come to her. In the four years since her Ph.D. she had become a world figure in archaeology, working at various digs in Crete, Italy, the British Isles, Greece and Turkey. Both her parents were still alive, and they would more often than not accompany her on her excursions. At the same time, they increasingly passed over to her the responsibility of the Henry Luce Trust commitments, which now embraced Lima, Peru, and Delhi, India. Whenever she travelled with them to these places she was always taken aback by the abject poverty they were confronted with, and was always particularly happy to travel to Arizona, to see the fine Indian students that their program had developed. As they had hoped, there were now doctors, dentists, lawyers and the like who had made it to these professions through Luce monies.
While on site and at home she diligently learned Chinese, often employing tutors to assist her, and she became, in the process, very fluent in the language.
Occasionally Chinese archaeologists would be at conferences she attended, and she would immediately corner them and enquire about research possibilities there. They were mainly presenting papers on the Xian excavations and those of the so-called ‘Peking Man’, and in particular she got to know those in the latter group. After a great deal of thought she formally wrote to them applying to work in Beijing as a Research Associate, pointing out clearly that she would be self-funded, and that any publications or presentations that might accrue would have to be approved by their Management Board.
About three months later a fateful letter came.
Dear Dr. Luce,
Our Board of Management has considered your request, as has the Archaeological Committee of the Communist Party. We are in agreement that you be invited as a Research Fellow – not Associate as you requested – attached to our Institute.
You will be issued a three-year visa to work with our team here. This will be done on the condition that you will be entirely self-funded, and any publications will be approved by the Institute and will carry the imprint of the Institute.
We might add that you are the first foreigner to be so invited. We have been very impressed by your contribution over the years, and the fact that you have learned Chinese has demonstrated your sincerity.
Our facilities are very limited, as you know, but we will be able to supply you with a room on site. It is not lavish, but it should be sufficient for your purposes. If you wish to stay at a nearby hotel, we can recommend some to you.
If you formally apply to me, I will make arrangements for your visa. I have enclosed a document for you to fill out. That will be all that you require. We understand you may need your passport, so a photocopy of it will be sufficient.
We hope all this meets with your approval.
Yours
Dr. H. Wang.
P.S. It should take four or five months for us to finalise all these arrangements. Things do not move rapidly here.
She immediately wrote Wei-min, who ever since returning to China had been assigned the role of a school teacher at Tengehow. In his letters to Helene he never said much about it, but it was certainly not a position which would assist in the regeneration of his country, particularly as he was one of the few Oxford graduates in the land. However she wrote:
Dear Wei-min,
I have done it! I will be seeing you in approximately six months. I can hardly wait, our separation has been so long. It seems ages since I last bade farewell to you at Oxford Station.
I have been granted a three-year visa to work as a Research Fellow at the Institute of Archaeology where ‘Peking Man’, as it is called, was discovered. My sole purpose is to see you once more. This at least will bring us together again, and then all we can do is hope that things will work out after that. As you said once to me, all this was fated. I never believed in fate before, but I do now.
I am so terribly excited. I will see you again, Wei-min, I will see you again.
Your Oxford companion and friend,
Helene.
At the time all this happened she was at Eynsham. Her parents, who were back in the USA, had held on to the house in the small town, and she had been staying there while doing research in the Bodleian Library for a presentation she had been asked to give.
She immediately rang her parents to tell them the good news. She was totally unprepared for what she was to hear. Her mother answered the telephone
“Joanne, my darling, is it really you?” Her mother could not go on, she broke down completely.
“Mother”, Helene implored, “what is wrong?”
“It’s… it’s your father… he has had a heart attack… Oh, Helene, I can’t believe it… I can’t believe it… I love him so… what will I do, Helene?… What will I do?”
“Mother”, pleaded Helene, “when did this happen?”
“About… about an hour ago… the doctor just left… your father, my only love, is dead… dead, I can’t believe it… what can I do, Helene, what can I do?”
“Mother, just get hold of yourself. I will leave Oxford immediately and get to you as soon as I can. Just get hold of yourself.”
“It’s impossible”, said her distraught mother, “I just cannot live without him. He is my one and only love.”
Helene made it home before the funeral, and was astonished when she saw her mother. She had aged immeasurably, almost overnight. She refused to eat, and would simply lie on her bed, clutching a photograph of her husband, Henry, and crying inconsolably.
Helene tried everything to snap her out of it, but it was impossible. After approximately a month, she called Helene to her, and gave her the love ring. “My hope, Helene”, she said in a weak and faltering voice, “is that this ring will give you a love like your father and I had.”
The following day, her mother died. It all seemed so unreal, as if the world had suddenly gone crazy. Her world had turned upside down. Her father was dead, and her mother had died of grief. It was unbelievable.
She fingered the ring. Could it really bring a love equal to that of her parents?