{"id":2962,"date":"2026-05-08T20:08:06","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T20:08:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/colby-and-china-ea333\/?post_type=exhibit&p=2962"},"modified":"2026-05-10T05:38:25","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T05:38:25","slug":"decision-to-leave-china","status":"publish","type":"exhibit","link":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/colby-and-china-ea333\/exhibits\/john-lee-1935\/john-lees-education-in-china\/decision-to-leave-china\/","title":{"rendered":"Decision to leave China"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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By the late 1940s, the balance of the Chinese Civil War had shifted dramatically. As the Kuomintang government steadily lost territory to Communist forces, uncertainty spread across urban centers like Peiping. For families associated with Christianity, Western education, international business, or ties to the United States, the future became increasingly precarious. John Lee\u2019s upbringing placed him within all of these worlds at once.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Lee family\u2019s close association with American institutions and culture made the political transition especially dangerous. John\u2019s father had built his career through the American film industry as the North China representative for Universal Pictures, while John himself had been educated almost entirely in missionary schools and American-influenced universities. As conditions in China deteriorated, the possibility of studying abroad became not simply an educational opportunity, but a path toward survival and stability. Through years of exchanged letters and continued encouragement from Peter Mills, John ultimately decided to accept Mills\u2019 earlier suggestion and pursue higher education at Colby College. That decision would permanently separate him from the world in which he was raised and begin the next chapter of his life in the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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By the late 1940s, the balance of the Chinese Civil War had shifted dramatically. As the Kuomintang government steadily lost territory to Communist forces, uncertainty spread across urban centers like Peiping. For families associated with Christianity, Western education, international business, or ties to the United States, the future became increasingly precarious. John Lee\u2019s upbringing placed him within […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"parent":2954,"menu_order":0,"template":"","institution":[],"place":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/colby-and-china-ea333\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/exhibit\/2962"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/colby-and-china-ea333\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/exhibit"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/colby-and-china-ea333\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/exhibit"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/colby-and-china-ea333\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/exhibit\/2962\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3301,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/colby-and-china-ea333\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/exhibit\/2962\/revisions\/3301"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/colby-and-china-ea333\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/exhibit\/2954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/colby-and-china-ea333\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"institution","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/colby-and-china-ea333\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/institution?post=2962"},{"taxonomy":"place","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/colby-and-china-ea333\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/place?post=2962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}