[ { "id": 211402, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1988", "page_number": 118, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "94\n\nA SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY INTO THE PAST OF\n\nTHE CHAN AND JONG FAMILIES*\n\nVIOLET MEBIG CHAN LEW\n\nIntroduction\n\nI have tried several times to get started on tracing my roots but have found several factors hindering my progress. Although I have gathered together quite a bit of material, I have been somewhat frustrated by my inability to read and write Chinese fluently or to find help with it. Also, ages given are often confusing because some are reckoned according to the lunar calendar and some according to the Gregorian system.\n\nOn one occasion I wrote, \"On this the 16th day of October, 1973, I am on a United Airlines plane with my husband, John, bound for Honolulu, which is 'home' to me. It seems that as long as one's parent is alive and is living in the same locality where one grew up, that place remains 'home'. It is the place where one has friendships bonded as far back as memory carries one. The older one becomes, the more one looks backward and recalls with pleasure incidents that have enriched one's life. I have been toying with the idea of putting down in English an account of the migration of my grandparents to Hawaii and the assimilation of the family members into the Western culture. Already, within three generations extending over a span of about one hundred\n\n* Editor's note: Violet Mebig Chan Lew was born in 1906. At the age of 71, she decided to investigate the history of her family, the Chan and Jong clans, which had emigrated to Hawaii from Hsiang-shan county in Kwangtung. Consulting public documents, genealogical records, personal correspondence, her diary and interviewing as many people as she could, Violet Lew spent ten years gathering material for this endeavour. A retired teacher and social worker, Mrs. Lew now lives in Boston and Honolulu with her husband, John. The Journal discovered this manuscript in 1986, and persuaded Mrs. Lew to allow it to be published. Mrs. Lew writes in her correspondence with the Journal: \"I wish to acknowledge the help of Dr. Wing Tsit Chan and my cousin, Toby Chen, in the translation of several sections of the Chan genealogy; the help of Pyun Kyau Minn with the organization of the project; and especially that of Betty Liu in getting this project published. I am also grateful to those who have contributed what they remembered of past events or enlightened me in the translation of Chinese characters.\" Mrs. Lew dedicates this article to her parents, Ping Yip and Jong Hung Chan.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211418, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1988", "page_number": 134, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "110\n\n mourning for one year. He expressed his hope that Grandfather would marry again.\n\nWhen Uncle learned from Father's letter of 11 February 1900 that Grandfather, Aunt Yim and her husband had been taken to a camp, along with others, for quarantine during the Honolulu Chinatown fire on 20 January, he wrote that he was sorry to receive such news of ill-treatment and discrimination against the Chinese. At the same time, he announced the birth of a son named Ting Kin (Toby), who was growing rapidly and smarter by the day. Uncle sent Aunt and the infant to the village to escape the violence of the Boxer Rebellion in 1900. To avoid being accused as a Nge Mow Tsz or being killed, he bought a queue to wear whenever he alighted from his sedan.\n\nThe next letter preserved was dated 22 February 1902, when Uncle wrote from Canton that he had resigned as house surgeon from the Bok Chai Hospital\n\nwhere he had been assisting an American whose name in Chinese was Dr. Kwan. Uncle was not able to save from his salary of 60 dollars a month and he was kept busy night and day taking care of emergency cases, and consequently felt too confined. He thought he would teach physiology and chemistry for two hours a day at the Shi Man School and would start private practice. He also announced the birth of a second child, a daughter named Moo Ching, on 5 February\n\n1902.\n\nWhile still in Canton, he wrote on 21 October 1902 that Grandfather was indeed wise to have chosen a ‘large-footed' girl to be Father's wife, because women in China were beginning to unbind their feet, and that Second Aunt was thinking of doing it also. He stated that Ting Kin was anxiously waiting for the parcel Father was sending him and had asked many times what the gifts would be. Uncle's office was located on 12th Street in Canton. On 9 March 1903, while on board the Rajaburi on the way back to Hong Kong from Singapore via Swatow, Uncle informed Father that he was considering Manila or Honolulu as the next place for him to practise. Butterfield and Swire had retained Uncle and several other physicians to be ship surgeons, but the health authorities of Singapore only allowed ships with Chinese Physicians from the Alice Medical College in Hong Kong to enter the harbour. Uncle was not considered qualified because he only had three years of medical school.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211447, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1988", "page_number": 163, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "139\n\nAs reasonable as these amounts seem to us today, Father could not continue without financial help. Highly motivated, he again turned to his brothers for assistance, because he felt that men without an education were like 'dumb cattle driven by others.' First Uncle replied on 6 July 1898 that he felt 'miserable' because he could not help. He compared himself to a well, drawn dry and needing time to be refilled, because his responsibilities had increased with so many relatives dependent upon him. However, he promised to do what he could. Second Uncle, who had gone to Shanghai, wrote on 29 August 1898 that he was in no position to assist and added that he was glad Father was earning money by teaching and that Father should go on to college and study law, medicine or dentistry.\n\nThe next year, on 3 May 1899, First Uncle again wrote, urging Father not to discontinue his schooling until the end of the year unless he had the consent of Grandfather, even though the job offer he received from a local newspaper might be tempting. Father must have finished the school year, for on 7 July 1899, First Uncle wrote to congratulate him on his graduation, noting that he had accepted a position with the Honolulu Chinese Times Bar as translator and reporter, and regretted that he was unable to advise him about going into business because conditions were not the same in different places. Second Uncle also wrote on 19 July 1899, commending Father for choosing a 'good' subject to deliver at the graduation exercises and encouraging him to continue to study while working.\n\nFather probably was looking for a job and business opportunities at the same time. He corresponded with friends in Kauai, in Hilo, and as far as Australia. A friend, Au Goon Bick, who had gone to Kapaa, Kauai, wrote in July that he was working for Lum Keed and that Yim Goon Siu of Honolulu was visiting him then. (Yim was the uncle of Cousin George Yim and was also working for the Honolulu Chinese Times. He later went to Shanghai where he ran a printing business.) Yim also wrote several times to Father about this Kauai trip - how he became seasick as soon as the boat passed Waianae and how he forgot his discomfort as soon as he met a number of young ladies with whom he had much fun singing. He expressed surprise that one of them, a sister of Wong Fat and a student at Kamehameha School, could speak English as well as both the Heong Shan and Nam Long dialects. (I suspect that", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211448, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1988", "page_number": 164, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "140\n\nthis lady was Mollie Wong Yap, a Chinese-Hawaiian, who became a teacher and later lived on Vineyard Street near the Foster Gardens.) He described his landing at Nawiliwili, his visits to Kapaa, Lihue and Hanapepe where he met Wong Fat, Au Wai Bun and Fong Chock Kee. He enjoyed the sight of a river winding through Waimea and concluded that the land, not yet cultivated, would be good for farming. He was overwhelmed with the warmth and hospitality of the Chinese there, because they offered him food and lodging as soon as they learned who he was, and he felt that one's reputation was very important. Another friend of Father's at Hop Kee ✩ in Kolon wrote that his business was poor and his expenses were great.\n\nFather must have consulted First Uncle about joining friends in Sydney, because First Uncle wrote advising against the move. In a letter dated 22 August 1899, First Uncle said that Grandfather and Aunt Yim were not in favour of this move. Moreover, he felt that one could not become rich on a salary and thought that Hawaii was good for the Chinese and for their investments. Several letters written in 1903 and 1904 brought news from friends in Australia. A newspaper article from them revealed that the Australians were feeling threatened by the Chinese, who undercut wages, sent their savings back to China, and did not assimilate. So Shai Lum, a friend in Tamworth, New South Wales, wrote that he had invested in a business selling groceries, furniture and dry goods, and that it was doing well. Another friend, Ng Yook Tong, ran a fruit store in Sydney but was only able to make a living. A third, Go Bing Mun wrote he was with Sam Kee in Tingha not far from Tamworth.\n\nFather also communicated with friends in Hilo. On 8 September 1899, he received a letter from the Rev. Yee Tin Kui about a job opening with Man Sing Company in Hilo, should Father decide to discontinue his schooling. The salary would be 17 dollars a month and he would take care of invoices, billing and other bookkeeping chores. Furthermore, he would have an opportunity to become a partner. Thereupon, Father wrote Chee Fong, the owner, to ask about the likelihood of employment, explaining that he had already given up his position with the Honolulu Chinese Times and the one following with the Hawaii Hardware Company, because he had been hired without any consideration of his lack of experience. No doubt his application was accepted, for in his undated letter to Au Goon Bick in Kauai Father wrote that he was leaving", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211464, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1988", "page_number": 180, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "156\n\nmore emancipated, she underwent surgery several times for a uterine tumor, for hemorrhoids, for a gastric ulcer and gallstones, and finally for intestinal obstruction at the age of 79. She was fortunate to come under the care of excellent surgeons Dr. Wah Kwai Chang, Dr. Samuel Yee, and Dr. Livingston Wong. And Dr. Richard Chun treated her for many years for hypertension and a bad heart.\n\nI do not think that Mother had ever worked through her feelings of repeated separations and losses. At the tender age of 16, she became separated from her family by marriage, only visiting once or twice a year, although Kaneohe was only about 12 miles from Honolulu. The death of Grandmother Jong in 1907, the departure of Grandfather for China in 1909, never to return, the gift of Me Yuk to First Paternal Uncle Chan before she could walk, her death at five years of age, and Grandfather Jong's rejection of Mother when he learned that she had embraced Christianity and wrote that he had lost his daughter — all these increased Mother's feelings of loss. When I was growing up, I would sometimes come upon her with tears in her eyes. Although it troubled me, I never thought to ask her the reason and I was too young to understand and to give her comfort. These experiences no doubt coloured her outlook on life, for whenever any of us left home, she would cry and worry unnecessarily. Oddly her fears were often confirmed.\n\nMother was never pressured by Father to become a Christian. An elderly Chinese Bible woman, whom we addressed as \"Fourth Aunt\", would visit us in Iwilei, talk with Mother, and teach Ruth and me to sing \"Jesus Loves Me, this I know\" in Chinese. At Christmas \"American\" ladies would come by and give us cornucopias filled with candy. We still have a booklet from them, pasted with pictures of Bible stories and a photograph of Central Union Church on its cover. I used to look at the pictures over and over again, and was particularly struck by a picture of a boy lying on the ground and a woman sitting beside him in a prayerful attitude with her face turned towards Heaven. I later learned that it was Ishmael and his mother in the desert after Abraham sent them away.\n\nIn 1911 when we moved to our home on Board Road, Mother became acquainted with two staunch Christians, Mrs. C. K. Ai and Mrs. Edwin Cooper, under whose influence she became more enlightened and\n\nPage 180\n\nPage 181", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211466, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1988", "page_number": 182, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "158\n\nRuth's death in 1932, after several years of illness, was a physical and emotional drain on Mother, but surprisingly, she took this loss with much fortitude. In times of adversity and loneliness, she must have found support, solace and strength in her religious faith, in her loving family and in her close friends.\n\nMother died on 20 November, 1974, following a stroke, at the age of 87. We three daughters had tried to make life easier and happier for her. She had the companionship of Dora and her two sons since 1950 when they returned to Honolulu to live with her. Mother had made several extended visits with Helen in Chicago and with me in Brookline and had travelled with me by car as far north as Bar Harbour and as far south as Philadelphia, and across the United States through the Southwest via Yosemite Park to San Francisco. I earnestly hope that we had given her some real happiness. We are grateful for the sacrifices she had made without expecting anything in return. A simple, unobtrusive and intelligent lady, devoted to husband and children, loyal to family and friends, and strong in her religious beliefs this was my Mother. She had been my support, my counsellor one who gave me life and nourished me with love. I shall miss her always.\n\nMy Sisters and I\n\nWe were a family of five girls\n\n―\n\n▬\n\nRuth, Me Yuk, Helen, Dora and I. The three older ones were about 20 months apart in age and were born in our first home on Prison Road. In those days Chinese women did not have the benefit of either prenatal care or professional attendance at time of delivery; they relied on the help of midwives or experienced relatives. Although Mother had arranged for me to be delivered by a midwife, the latter could not keep her commitment because my arrival was too close to the lunar New Year. It was fortunate that a Hawaiian neighbour was available. She cleaned my eyes, massaged them so that they would become large and round, and sucked my breasts so that they would grow large and full.\n\nI have no recollection of Me Yuk as she was sent to California while still a baby. Ruth and I were each other's playmate most of the time in those early years. I recall having only one doll between us named To Gai and Tong Chen (words without meaning that we had concocted),", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211485, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1988", "page_number": 201, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "177\n\nof the most tragic periods of my life. The students were bright and eager to learn. They were tolerant of my inadequate command of Chinese and were helpful in teaching me a more refined use of the language. Among them was Sally Sun, the adopted daughter of Sun Yat-sen. She followed me to Honolulu and lived with us while she attended the University of Hawaii until she left after her freshman year for Pomona College. To this day I am in touch with many of my former students.\n\nI was glad for the opportunity to meet many relatives, some for the second time, and to know them better. I felt welcomed in the homes of First Paternal Uncle and Cousin Toby. The former lived in a traditional compound on the bank of a small river in the Lai Chee Wan district\n\nin Canton, an area where the elite of the old regime resided. He also maintained a home on Kennedy Road, in Wanchai, Hong Kong, a sturdy building of British design. About once a month, on pay day, I would invite Bertha Young, Sarah Mao, and Miriam Simpson, teachers at True Light, to spend a weekend at Uncle's Kennedy Road home. This gave us a chance to savour foreign food, perhaps to see an American film, or to attend a tea-dance at the Hong Kong Hotel.\n\nCousin Toby and his wife Louise lived in the Tung Shan I section of Canton where many westernized Chinese congregated. Staying with them on occasions was a pleasant change. Sometimes I would go with them to the Euro-American Club for a night of dancing.\n\nBecause my salary was only 120 Mex. dollars a month (about 20 U.S. dollars), I could not see as much of China as I would have liked. I was able to visit Father's birthplace and our Chan relatives a second time, and to pay respects to the graves of my grandparents and great grandparents during the Ching Ming Festival. I also paid a short visit to the home of my maternal grandmother in Shekki where we had lived in 1919, and to the new home of Aunt Pong nearby. In the summer of 1934, with Bertha Pang, Tiu Kei and Suk Kei Chan, and Ethel Au, I set out to see Peking by rail from Shanghai. I found Peking a charming old city and was thrilled to visit the Great Wall and the Imperial City and other attractions, so rich in history. People here seemed more refined, more cultivated; even the salesmen were very polite. On the way back, we stopped at several well-known places. We met and were joined at times by Daniel Yee, William Leong, Deborah Kau and Elizabeth Ching.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211491, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1988", "page_number": 207, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "183\n\nMaine, from 1953 to 1958. With some help from us and from scholarships, both managed to obtain a college education on their own earnings, Gar Shucy from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst in 1960 and Gar Ling from Pembroke College in 1962.\n\nBefore long I was working temporarily as an interpreter with the U.S. Immigration Service and later as a typist for the Library Mutual Insurance Company. In November 1954 I found permanent work as a social worker at the Children's Unit of the Metropolitan State Hospital in Waltham. I left this psychiatric setting for a day care agency, the Associated Day Care Services of Metropolitan Boston, in September 1959, because I felt that preventive work with young children was more effective than attempts to restore their mental health. It was depressing to feel the guilt and anguish of those parents who had mentally-ill youngsters. The day care experience proved to be challenging and rewarding. By the time I retired in 1973, I had become Director of Social Service under Mr. Sibley Higginbotham, a very sensitive and understanding administrator. From August 1975 to October 1976 I served there once more to fill a temporary vacancy. I am now enjoying permanent retirement with time to appreciate married life with a calm and supportive husband, and an excellent relationship with other members of the family and with my friends.\n\nDuring my years in Brookline, I brought Mother home several times for extended visits or have gone to Honolulu whenever she was ill. Since her death in 1974 John and I have continued to make an annual trip to the place of my birth, no doubt to recapture precious memories and relationships which have made my life so meaningful. In my twilight years, always aware of the fragility of life, I have endeavoured to record some aspects of my life and of those people who touched upon it, with the expectation that in the future someone in the family might become interested in his roots. It is also due to my own need to leave part of myself behind. In addition, it is my hope that what I have gathered would give a bit of historical perspective of the early Chinese immigrants as reflected in the history of our families; that it would give an insight to their industriousness, sacrifices, and handicaps, their hopes and ambitions, and the opportunities opened to them; and that it would give a glimpse of some of their social and cultural practices. I am a simple, uncomplicated person, intelligent and of good common sense, but subject", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 } ]