The Inn of the Sixth Happiness - Differentiating the Fact from Fiction

When I was young I was often asked " Do you have a Christian name?". We are fourth generation Methodists of Sibu. My aunts(third generation Methodists)  were given Christian names by Mrs. Hoover. And I strongly believe that my father was called George because there were evidence of his signatures in some of his books with  both Christian and Chinese names. My cousins were given Christian names like Gracia and Ivy by Aunt Grace because their mother and Aunt Grace were best friends studying in the same class. Dolly and Ivy Chong are cousins too and they have brothers like Samuel and David. Perhaps that was because their Grandmother was a Catholic who preferred the Chongs to have Christian names.

During one year in my Primary School days we were taken to see a movie called "The Inn of the Sixth Happiness" about a nice Christian missionary  Gladys Aylward. So just out of perhaps self defence and also in keeping up with the Joneses I called myself "Gladys" secretly and from then on wrote my name Gladys XXX on every book I owned! I have been inspired to do good in God forsaken land since then.

Later in secondary school a few friends who were more than cheeky and very biased ....told me that that name was very old fashion and it was for a woman of 60 years of age. Poor silly me but no less still starry eyed...added Yvonne to my name because that was the only nice name I could find beginning with a "Y".. Well now I do smile..YG...and not YC were my special initials a long time ago...Those were the days.

 Today I am more confident with my Chinese birth name and absolutely happy with just one single word as my name (which coincidentally means Happiness in Chinese) and a surname to say which Chinese clan I belong to. I do not carry a middle Chinese generation name. I don't care if some of my Chang  (Zhang) ancestors were bandits or men of ill repute in Chinese history. I am sure up the line there were fabulously good people!!

Below is some info on the book and the movie from which I got my Christian name .

 My literature teacher taught me to differentiate very critically  facts from  fiction and he asked us to use a movie based on a book we have read to do some research. So I studied this particular book and watched the movie again to write the essay. I often in later years used this book and the movie to help my own English students to differentiate facts from fiction.  That skill is still very important to me today.




Gladys Aylward in cheongsam when she was older

The Chinese wish each other five happinesses: wealth, longevity, good health, virtue, and a peaceful death in old age. The sixth happiness one must decide for oneself.

The movie, The Inn of the Sixth Happiness is based on a real life story— that of the Englishwoman Gladys Aylward (1902-70), who in 1930 went off to China to ‘serve’ the people there. 40 years after her death, she is  regarded as something of a national heroine.

Ms. Aylward, turned down by the China Inland Mission, spent her life savings in 1930 to go to China as a missionary. She founded the Inn of the Six Happinesses and for a time she served as an assistant to the Chinese government as a "foot inspector" by touring the countryside to enforce the new law against footbinding young Chinese girls. She met with much success in a field that had produced much resistance, including sometimes violence against the inspectors. (see Wikipedia for biography and movieinformation). In 1938 when the Japanese invaded China, this incredible woman led 94 orphans over the mountains and across the Yellow River to safety.

The movie, released in 1958, was taken in large part from the book The Small Woman by Alan Burgess. One reviewer of the book said that the written material was more action-packed than the movie. The reviewer described Aylward as one "who had to deal with unbelievable conditions and reconcile her actions with her religious beliefs."


Ingrid Bergman played Gladys in the movie which included some fictionalised scenes and storyline. In real life Gladys Aylward was  dissappointed with the movie:

"a well-produced, heartwarming movie starring the great actress Ingrid Bergman it was a thorn in the side of Gladys Aylward. She was deeply embarrassed by the movie because it was so full of inaccuracies. Hollywood also took great liberties with her infatuation with the Chinese Colonel Linnan, even changing him into an Eurasian. But Gladys, the most chaste of women, was horrified to learn the movie had portrayed her in 'love scenes'. She suffered greatly over what she considered her soiled reputation."

Still, I do recommend the movie. Just read the book first.

I still have a copy of the book so if any one in Miri wants to read it you can borrow it from me. And I am sure one day I will be able to get a copy of the DVD version of the movie and watch Ingrid Bergman once again.

With Ching Ming coming soon I think of relatives and friends who have gone before me... They have left their names on their tomb stones. And most of them did not bring their adopted names to the next world because their relatives only "carved" THEIR CHINESE NAMES ON THE TOMBSTONES.

I won't think further here on this tombstone issue at this point of time.....

What's the Sixth Happiness you desire? 

So here is Gladys Yvonne Y.C. (ANOTHER SMALL WOMAN) signing off today......May you be blessed by Six Happinesses.....