Abstract: Camel trains bringing wool to her father’s rug factory, picnicking on the ruins of the Great Wall, and life under Japanese occupation during World War II are some of the memories Elise Shabas Kazanjian shares at the Conference. It is the Tianjin of her childhood where she spent the first eleven years of her life from 1935 to 1946.

Her father Hagop H. Shabas was the general manager of The Karagheusian Rug Factory that produced hand-loomed Chinese carpets in Tianjin. The factories on Rue Pasteur, Rue Verdon and Rue Chaylard in the French Concession were run by Hagop Shabas who first came to Tianjin in 1925. The factories annually produced over a million square feet of Chinese carpets. Under the Imperial Pagoda logo, the Karagheusian embossed carpets were prized in homes all over the world.

In 1941, the factory was taken over by the Japanese and the Shabas family, like other foreigners in Tianjin, became prisoners of war. Following the end of World War II, the factory was regained from theJapanese Army,to be taken over a few years later by Mao Tze Tung, thenew political force in China. The factory still stands as Factory #5 inTianjin.