178
SUNG HOK-PANG
There is a stone tablet near the bridge with an inscription carved on it which can be roughly translated as follows: --
"My grandfather's official name is Kam(); the name for his friends to call him by is Kui Haam(&). My father's official name is Ch'ung Kwong(★★) and the name for his friends to call him by is Wai Cheuk(). My mother's surname is Wong(#). My mother bore Tsun Yuen (myself) and my younger brother Yin Yuen(£). We two brothers were unlucky, in our youth we were without a father to rely on. My mother lived alone as a widow, and had to practice economy and diligence. She gave us good instructions every day and night. Now when Tsun Yuen (myself) grew up, I married a wife named Ch'an() being ashamed to be a useless son, but fortunately I begot two sons, the eldest named Tung Ping(#) and the younger Shing Tak(). At that time there was peace at last with the bandits and in the 43rd year of Hong Hei(A) in Kap Shan() year I rebuilt my dwelling house at my original home in Shui T'au village. My younger brother and my mother did not come back to the home, but they still lived in T'aai Hong Wai, on the other side of the stream. My mother paid great attention to her baby grandsons, day and night she came to see them, and kept on coming backwards and forwards from her house, each time having to bear the difficulty of crossing the water, and obliged to hum the song of "The difficulty of crossing the water" as she passed. Therefore I have exerted myself to build this bridge for the convenience of my mother, and give it the name of Ping Mo(£#), (to convenience my mother). If anyone says that I build it to relieve many people, in the hope of obtaining happiness, I do not dare to have such an idea." (See plate 38),
"Hong Hei(a) 49th year, in Kang Yan(P†) year. Winter month, lucky day, Tang Tsun Yuen erected this stone tablet."
The following is a rough translation of another reference to the mother of T'sun Yuen, written by Tang Wai K'ui(✯✯).
"My Tso Pei(int) (deceased grandmother), Wong, was the wife of my ancestor, Wai Cheuk(2). When she was twenty-one years of age, her husband died. She cherished her fatherless children, and maintained her purity in poverty. When the children were young she bore great fatigue to nurture them, and when they grew older she taught them in a proper way. She always kept on friendly terms with her neighbours, so that they all admired her highly.