L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2014 www.italoamericano.com 10 Dear Readers, September, the month we honor Labor and applaud early emigrant efforts and success, I am happy to share with you the story of Evaristo Caretti, a Piemontese youth, who joined the Italian Navy to "see the world" and wound up trading his sailor cap for a silk top hat while living in a Far East "palazzo" as the Director General of the Chinese Postal Service, Mr. Ko. "Grazie" to Piemontesi Nel Mondo of Northern California, Boletin Editor Andrew M. Canepa and to Piemontesi Nel Mondo membership chairman, Vincent Fausone, Jr. who met Evaristo's son, Giovanni Vincenzo Caretti, back in 1996 and after learning of his Piemontesi connection, urged him to write the history of his father's Chinese experience so it could be shared with the world in general and all Piemontesi Nel Mondo and their "bambini" too. Evaristo Caretti was born on October 28, 1879, at Pinerolo. His father, Giovanni Attanasio Caretti, was a medi- um-level public employee with a wife and two sons. Evaristo did not relish a quiet provincial life, and in search of something more thrilling, unlike the great majori- ty of Piemontesi, joined the Italian Navy as a lowly seaman. Trouble was brewing in the Far East. 1899 saw the outbreak of the great Chinese Boxer Rebellion, a secret society in China, the object of which was to drive out foreigners and uphold the reigning dynasty the emperor and empress, against foreign oppression. To quell it, Western powers speedily dis- patched fleets and armies. Italy in those years counted as nil, a small agricultural country with few industries. Yet the reigning king, Umberto I, not wanting to miss the chance of siding with Great Powers, forthwith dis- patched several warships and troops to China. Part of this fleet was the Cruiser Lombardia, with Evaristo one of its crew. Moving frequently with the Lombardia, Evaristo became familiar with many ports in China, Korea and Japan. In Shanghai, he met a fellow Piedmontese, Achille Scagliotti, who was working in the British- controlled local Customs. Scagliotti had two daughters, the youngest of which was to become the mother of Clotilde, wife of Giovanni Caretti, son of Evaristo. In 1903, with the Lombardia due to return home, Achille suggested to Evaristo and, after reaching Italy, he resigned from the Navy and traveled back to China. The year 1896 had seen the birth of the Imperial Chinese Post Office. Evaristo applied for employment in the Postal Service and, after diligently studying English and Chinese, was accepted. Like similar Imperial Customs, the Post Office provided the Chinese government with funds to cover the heavy indemnities imposed on it after the long-past Opium Wars and the Boxer Rebellion, funds which would otherwise have been embezzled by the host of provincial governors and warlords. To ensure cor- rect administration, both Customs and Postal Services were managed by foreigners with Chinese lower staff. For centuries, foreign officials were given Chinese names and Evaristo Caretti's was given the Chinese surname Ko. All junior postmasters were sent to faraway places that were reached by river junks, sedan chairs or horseback after long weeks of bandit-infested trails. On arrival, they had to set up an office, hire help, start postal ser- vice, and then live there for 2 to 4 years before being trans- ferred elsewhere. Evaristo was a hard, punctil- ious worker, much esteemed in the Service and by his staff. On landing in China he possessed no knowledge of any foreign language; only ten years later he had mastered fluent English, French and Chinese. Senior Chinese Customs and Postal Service employees were among the world's most well-treated. High-ranking direc- tors (called Commissioners), responsible for provinces larger than France, Italy or Germany, could earn as much as 6-8,000 U.S. dollars yearly in 1905-10, a princely amount in a country where living costs were very low. In addition, they were enti- tled to fine residences paid by the Service and staffed by many servants. After each 4 to 5 years of service foreigners were given 6 to 12 months paid "home leave", enabling them to revisit their homelands. In 1920, Evaristo was granted his first home leave. He spent his holiday in Torino and his favorite pastime was strolling along Torino's boulevards and enjoying aperitivi and caffé espresso in the many fine bars, greeting people with a cheerful "Cerea" and chatting delightedly in piemonteis. At this time Evaristo met a girl called Giuseppina Colombo from Lombardia and courted her. The couple were married in Milano in September 1920 and departed soon there- after for China. Upon returning to China, he was promoted to Commissioner and entrusted with the Postal Service's International Department at Peking. Evaristo owned one of the few cars in Peking and the cou- ple experienced a rich social life. *** 1921 and 1922 saw the births at Peking of a son, Giovanni Vincenzo Caretti, and his sister Maria Francesca. Four years later, when the family was due for a second home leave, the two children refused to leave their amah, who thus accompa- nied them to Italy, attracting crowds. People had never seen a real Chinese woman with bound feet.
 A third home leave took place in 1929-30, followed by EC's transfer to Shanghai's International Postal Department. In 1934, Egypt hosted Universal Postal Congress, with EC taking part as advisor to China's Delegation. Shortly thereafter, EC negotiated postal agreements in Hanoi with the Government of French Indochina, for which he was rewarded Emperor Bao Dai's Order of the Dragon of Annam. Several Chinese decorations were already his, when King Victor Emanuel III appointed him Knight Commander in the Order of the Crown of Italy.
 The family took their fourth and last home leave in 1935 and much of it was spent touring the whole of Italy. Evaristo tried hard to accustom his son and daughter to Italian culture and the Italian way of living. They, however, found themselves unattuned and out of their depth and missed their English schools and friends in Shanghai. Giovanni succeeded in fitting properly only in 1939, when he entered the Naval Academy at Livorno, where comradeship and a sense of belonging was as strong as at the USA's Annapolis.
 The 1930s witnessed the rising power of the Kuomintang regime, headed by Marshal Chaing Kai-Shek. Nanking became China's new capital and Evaristo and his family were transferred from Shanghai to Nanking.
 Shortly, after an end- less series of incidents between Chinese and Japanese troops, Japanese forces began to occu- py North China, including Peking and other northern cities. Their invasion spread out along the coast and to Southern China. Chaing Kai-Shek's gov- ernment retreated to far-west Szechuan. The Directorate General of Posts set itself up in the extreme south. The Directorate wanted to keep in touch with enemy-occupied ter- ritory, and to this end, ordered Evaristo and two other Commissioners to take over all postal services in the three northern cities of Peking, Tientsin and Kaifeng, a master- stroke, since the three men cho- sen were all Italians, then on friendly terms with the Japanese, who would find it hard to oppose or eliminate them.
 In Japanese-occupied North China, the Postal Service continued operating, paid by Chang Kai-Shek and using his government's stamps! 1939 brought the start of World War II. Japanese interference and surveillance hindered Evaristo's duties. The end came on September 8, 1943, when Italy signed an armistice with the Allies. The Japanese promptly retaliated, arresting Evaristo and his wife. They were sent to a large concentra- tion camp at Weihsien, Shantung Province, where they endured great hardship for two years until being rescued by the U.S. Army Air Force in 1945.
 Evaristo and Giuseppina went back to Tientsin, to hand over the Service to the new postal staff. Then they left for Shanghai where Evaristo was pensioned. Their dream was to retire in Peking, but the war changed everything and Mao Tse-Tung's era loomed ahead. Their son was a Navy Officer back in Italy and their daughter Maria Francesca, married to an Italian diplomat, had moved to Thailand. China had nothing more to offer them. Torino wel- comed them back... *** Evaristo Caretti, Italian Navy, circa 1898-1900

• Cover